mishaps

[Twitch]

I was reading in the technique threads about the guy whos hand cramps up on him and couldnt help but applaud silently DonPs response to the docs about removing muscle tissue from what I assume is his fretting hand (real trooper, someones got his priorities strait!!). That got me thinking about some of my mishaps that have gotten between me and my playing and made curious of others mishaps, war stories if you will.
The worst one(or ones as the case may be) for me would be the fact that Ive cut my left index finger to the bone 3x (2x my own stupidity) 2 of which having stitches. Me, being the hard headed not too accepting of advice from those who have letters before or after their names, ignored the docs "no guitar for 2 weeks" idea and played anyhow. Stitches hurt like hell when they get caught on the edge of fret wire!!!
Curious to here others stories of "I almost lost the ability to play my guitar" stories.

[Evol]

Oh yah, I've got a couple.

I smashed my left thumb on a drive cage which tore the flesh to the bone, right on the knuckle. I couldn't play for 6 weeks while it was in stitches and a splint. When it came off I could barely move my thumb, it took a couple of months of stretching just to get back to normal.

But the worst, and most likely the LAMEST event that ever happened, was I freaking sneezed once while sitting in a chair...and a shooting pain went up my left arm and deep into my elbow. It was excruciating to the point of almost passing out. After a couple of days it subsided for the most part and off I go to band practice ( I hadn't picked up a guitar since the sneeze) and the on the very first chord the pain shot up from my hand to my elbow all over again. I made it through practice somehow, more on determination and lots of hope that it just needed to be worked out. But it only got worse. Gripping anything hurt like holy hell, and after not being able to play guitar at all for a couple of months, and knowing our band was waiting on me and missing gigs because of it, I informed them all I was leaving and why. Doctors had no solution, so I was pretty much thinking I wouldn't be able to play again. Then one day almost 6 months to the day later, it completely stopped. I picked up a guitar and was able to play like nothing ever happened.

The band was re-shuffled, one guitar player went to drums, one to bass (they were both better at those than guitar anyhow), and we went to a single guitar band. But it didn't work out, things were just weird, so a month later we all went our separate ways.

So there you have it, a band of almost 4 years destroyed, and a guitar player who has been playing for 25+ years at the time almost lost the ability to play. All because of a fucking sneeze.

Told ya it was lame!

[Twitch]

Yup, definently would have been sh@#$% to lose the ability to play over a sneeze. Good story though. Keep em comin.

[DonP]

Curious to here others stories of "I almost lost the ability to play my guitar" stories.

It's hard to say, but what about the opposite? After my accident the doctors (seemed) to put as much metal in me as possible. I have a bunch in my right wrist. It seems fine, but I wonder if that extra metal makes me a better "metal" player

[Twitch]

It's hard to say, but what about the opposite? After my accident the doctors (seemed) to put as much metal in me as possible. I have a bunch in my right wrist. It seems fine, but I wonder if that extra metal makes me a better "metal" player

If thats your picking hand does the metal in your hand disrupt the magnetic field of you p/u at all??

[Wayniac]

Tore the sheath around a tendon on my frethand 2 yrs ago (probably a thread on it somewhere here if you search)... haven't been the same since. Hard to rotate wrist to playing position, and changing positions is still not the same.

Basicaly had to rehab the entire arm (elbow froze from 6 weeks in a cast) and my bicep and tricep had withered away... basically rehabbing as if I had a light stroke (no nerve damage, but the muscle atrophy was about the same).
My fine motor skills in my left fingers are still not where I want them to be, and coordinated moves are tough (pedal tones)

[Rich#6]

Back in HS I had my ring finger on my fretting hand bent back to my wrist. My fingers still don't line up if I fold my fingers so that the tips touch the top of my palm(I'll take a picture if that doesn't make sense).
I also sprained my wrist while flipping my 4x12 cabinet up into the trunk of my car getting my hand stuck-I couldn't move my wrist well for a few years and couldn't hold a pickup very well for a year or so more.

[DonP]

If thats your picking hand does the metal in your hand disrupt the magnetic field of you p/u at all??

It is my picking hand, but I think the wrist is far enough away from the pickups to make a different.

The metal is picked up with a metal detector. The kids got one for Christmas one year and had fun finding all the metal in my body

[nateb]

This is a repost from a few years back. Had severe carpal tunnel in both hands. Couldnt play for a while and it took a LONG time to get back to where I was. Glad I had it taken care of.

[VitaminG]

managed to slice my hand open pretty good on a dirty old piece of glass when I was working in my yard. This thick piece of window glass was buried in the dirt and as I dragged my hand through the dirt, the glass poked its head up and left a nice deep cut through the meat of my palm. Fortunately no tendons or anything serious were hit.



I couldn't use my picking hand because of the stitches & all the dressing, but after a few days of not playing I had to pick up a guitar again. Playing strictly legato for a couple of weeks actually helped my fretting hand a lot and it's something I should devote more time to again.

[Jayster]

I am severely lucky, or ridiculously careful. In work situations I've watched 2 people lose fingers on their left hands.

The first incident was because the "company" hired someone to do a job they weren't trained for, and the poor bastard didn't know what happened until after the fact. I was in a different part of the facility and heard panicked screams on the radio(from another guy, not to adept at dealing with OTJ injuries). The kicker is the big manager on site wouldn't let us call an ambulance, so we gave him and his severed finger(still in a glove(leaking blood like an old garbage bag does beer)) a ride to the hospital.

The other incident was because, sometimes folks should lay out of work on Saturday morning if Friday night was too intense. I had just talked this poor bastard into buying a guitar(ironic), he wasn't fully cross-trained in the cabinet department of a previous employer. However, he felt he could do it and with it being Saturday we were short handed(no pun intended). So, a few minutes later he came running into the metal shop(where I was), his hand folded in half. Stating he needed to see a doctor, his calm demeanor was uncanny and I told him to wait a minute(so I could finish what I was doing). That's when he opened his hand and the index finger almost fell off, there was a tiny bit of gristle holding it on. So off to the hospital we went! He ended up losing most of that finger and never did learn to play guitar....

Strange thread ....

[TommyD]

mishaps

> Mine wasn't a mishap,just a combination of poor physical technique and severe overwork.

In the very beginning,I had NO talent,just a Sears Strat copy I was given by an uncle just before we moved to Tennessee. I also had no exposure to good local players from 8th grade till I was almost a junior in high school. I found an old guy that showed me how to tune up and play basic chords after about 6 months of direction-less wanking and making it LOOK like I could play. I also had a friend that was about the same level,in fact we discovered natural harmonics together.

After another 6 months of noodling,I started trying to play along with tapes. The first song I ever learned from beginning to end was Rainbow In The Dark.

About halfway thru high school I met a couple kids that were just enough past me that I REALLY started putting the practice time in,to compete. They introduced me to a guy that was a senior that they said could play ANYTHING. They were right,and not only was this guy almost a Dweezil/Dimebag/Paul Gilbert-type player at that age,he was cool and articulate as well. He showed me a bunch of stuff.

Then I went overboard and was spending the time that most high school guys spend getting laid/drunk/high,with my guitar in hand,almost to the point of neglecting my social life.

I graduated,and decided kinda late in the summer to go to school to pursue a degree,with my goal of becoming a session ace like Lukather or Michael Landau,writing music for video games,etc,in case I never found a band I could get signed with.

By this time,I was playing stuff like Far Beyond The Sun,Eruption,and Scarified in front of other players and starting to get a rep.

About a year and a half later,after a long session of trying to get Flight of The Bumblebee up to 180 on the metronome,I started getting the good old "pins and needles" sensation in my left wrist,like it was asleep.

I lightened up some,and it went away. Then it started happening more and more. After a couple weeks of this,it got to where my whole arm would just go numb for an hour or so after playing for 30 minutes if I played anything hard.

The conversation with the Dr I went to left me with 2 options. Put it down for 6 months,or have surgery. At the time,carpal tunnel research and treatment wasn't very advanced. He showed me a picture of a scar the operation left on another patient of his. The scar was an inch wide,almost from the wrist to the elbow.

I completely quit playing and left school. I picked it up again over a year later and same thing,whole arm was numb.

I tried again in 6 months,same result. I'm starting to find other things to fill that 50-60 hours a week void.

After close to 2 years,I picked it back up,and was having no problems,but women and the desire to play champion-level pool left me with no time to resume playing regularly.

Eventually,the chops eroded to the point that I never got the enjoyment out of it that I got when I played well. I can only play about 1/2 the 80's stuff now,and it's just not the same. Tommy D.

[SEEGERMANY]

I once got my dick stuck in a groupies mouth. Best solo I ever played!

[Wayniac]

I once got my dick stuck in a groupies mouth. Best solo I ever played!

go for the slighty older ones - they don't have braces ! lol

[Rsmacker]

On a normal, quiet Monday night, I dropped into a pub in town to taunt the band who were playing that night. Except they weren't that bad, so I stopped and had a couple of pints..........

..........Just before closing time I stood on a bench, pulled down my trousers and grunts down and whilst my friend distracted another mate, pushed my bare hairy arse across the table. The distracted fellow was then allowed to turn back round, therefore planting his mush into my bumcrack.
Astonishingly, he didn't think this was such a wheeze as the rest of us, and with a roar, pushed me forwards. Directly in front of me was a brick pillar with a drinks shelf all round it. This shelf had a stack of empty pint glasses on it. Putting my hand out to save myself, I put it straight through the bottom of the stack.

Now, I took a look at the damage, could see a lot of claret and a bit of white, which apparently was the bone in my hand (oo-er) but because I was rat-arsed, I thought "Ah fuck it, only a scratch" and went to the bar for a plaster.

Luckily for me, I was on a first date with Lovely Lucy, the Big-Titted Nurse, who realised it was more than a scratch, took control of the situation, and soon we were in Casualty. I went for a piss, got my knob out and the next thing I know, I'm being wheeled into the treatment room, bell-end out in the breeze, covered in blood, piss and stale beer.

They stitched me up, and it was almost exactly like Vit G's Backpacker murdering wound above. I thought my guitar playing days were over, my friend was mortified, I got many many pints out of him for that one, I'd wince and rub my palm and the drinks would keep coming. It took months before I could hold a guitar properly, little shards of glass would work themselves to the surface now and again (the perils of going to A&E whilst pissed, they just want to sew you up and get you the fuck out, rather than doing a thorough clean-up), and now, 22 years later, there's a barely noticeable scar there.

I can't bear any pressure on the scar though, and my little finger tingles if I touch the edge, a strange kind of painful tingle, like when you put your freezing hands into hot water.

Worse, I never got to paw Lovely Lucy the Big-Titted Nurse's massive mammaries, indeed I don't even think I saw her again (fog of booze from those days). I might get my black book out and tell her I'm a reformed character......no, her tits are going to be like a Spaniel's ears by now.