I have a bit of a situation here, I had a accident at work about a year ago. A machine dropped on to my left hand. So now i dont have much movement in my left Index finger. And my whole hand hurts if i use it much.
I played guitar for a couple of years and really loved it. It was my passion. I really struggle now I even get emotional when I hear guitar music.
Does anyone have any tips what i could do i went to doctors and fysio and everything but my movement does not get better anymore.
I would really love to get some tips on what i could do.
Hmmā¦You are not a leftie, I guess ā¦ Your left hand is your fretting hand?
Have you thought about trying to learn to play left-handed? Maybe using your right hand as fretting hand could mean less stress for your injured hand? Or maybe experimenting with alternate tunings could allow you to play a bit?
Hi Gino!
Firstly, so sorry to hear about your injuryā¦ I really feel bad hearing about someone who loves to play with difficulties like yours.
The only suggestion that comes to mind is to play either slide guitar or a lap/pedal steel guitar. Both styles make a lot less use of the āfrettingā hand. You either put a slide on one finger or hold the steel bar in the fretting hand while your non-injured hand plucks the strings.
Hereās a Wiki article about styles of lap steel & Dobro guitars which also talks about some of the popular music styles in that type of playing!
Sorry i forgot to mention i am right handed. I think learning left handed is the only complete option. But it is going to be challenging to start over again.
Playing the guitar can be very therapeutic for your hand and can help rebuild strength in the tendons and muscles.
Take it real slow and donāt push it and it could actually bring you hand back to almost the way it was.
While doing that you could also learn slide to keep from getting bored from slow progress.
Justin Johnson has really good slide guitar lessons both blues and lap if that interests you at all.
It sucks when injuries get in the way of something you love. But there is a road back it wonāt be easy but anything worth doing usually isnāt easy.
Try and keep a positive mind set and know you can lean on the forum members here for help.
But it not the most you can do. We all have things that inhibit our playing.
I broke my ring finger on my fretting hand at the second knuckle so it doesnāt bend very much any more. I had to figure out a way to continue playing. Took me the better part of 2 years to get my play back to about 80% of what I could do before I broke it.
Joni Mitchell had polio and had no strength in her hands so she played using open tunings. Toni Iommi had the finger tips on his fretting hand cut off so he made finger tips out of leather and became the guitarist for Black Sabbath.
Django Reinhardt lost the use of two finger on his fretting hand in a fire and is one of the best Gypsy Jazz play in the world.
Theres a guy on the internet has no arms so he play with his feet.
You have options (slide guitar, open tunings or just do what you can) explore them and do your best. Thatās really all any of us can really do and I still think playing guitar can help your hand get better. Maybe take your guitar to a good tech and have it set up for really light strings with very low action.
This will make it easier to play. It will probably buzz but who cares, it will help you play which in my opinion will help you heal.
Sorry if this sounds like a lecture but Where There is a Will Thereās a Way
And as Iāve mentioned before, Keith Richards was asked if the obvious arthritis in his hands has limited him. He said whenever thereās something he canāt do anymore, the guitar shows him a different way to do it.
Hi there
Iāve read all the posts so far and theyāre good advice for sure. Iād like to add that you could try ukulele. I know it seems boring after guitar but thereās way less stress on your left hand and it can be a lot of fun strumming along to songs. Of course if you played electric guitar and lots of riffs and leads then the ukulele probably isnāt going to be helpful. I really feel for you as Iād be devastated if my left hand became injured. But I play both ukulele and guitar and theyāre both joyful.
I had the misfortune of injuring the middle finger on my fretting hand some years back due to the combination of a power tool and stupidity on my part.
Fortunately it didnāt hinder my playing long term, in fact it actually helped.
But I had 3 months where I could not play and fret anything while it healed. Yet I still managed to playā¦ using a slide that fitted over my injured finger and getting familiar with the blues and open tunings.
I was thinking about slide guitar. I really like the music of justin johnson. You said that you have putt the slide on your injured finger. For me thatās my index finger. From what i have read this finger is almost never used with slide guitar. Because of control or dampening the noise with other fingers. Is this true, i never played slide before.
If there really is no other option, wouldnāt putting a piece of fabric or a specially made strapping thingy around the first fret be a good solution for this?..I see this with various artists who do not play slide.