My poorly finger

Gents,

This is about as horrifying as it gets for guitarists, so i've linked it for those of you of a nervous disposition.

Here's a picture of my finger. It was trapped in a doorway a few weeks ago and the end was severed (middle finger right hand; i'm right handed, and my first thought was "thank god it's not my left", but fingerpicking is going to be a bit of a struggle from now on). I've lost about half an inch from it.

Hide behind the sofa now:
http://themelee.com/images/DSCF1446.jpg

The main reason for this topic is to ask if any of you have suffered similar or know anybody who has, and have any tips for me retraining my right hand (or just advice in general). Thanks in advance!

Alan

1/2 an inch! It's hard to think of much that's cheerful, apart from to saying our bodies are incredibly adaptable. My advice would be don't sit and look at it because you'll loose mobility if you do ... use it as soon as it's healed enough to play with and you'll probably learn to work around it.

Django Rheinhardt only had three fingers on his left hand .... (2 were fused together). He played most of his solos using two fingers.

AlanN said:

Gents,

This is about as horrifying as it gets for guitarists, so i've linked it for those of you of a nervous disposition.

Here's a picture of my finger. It was trapped in a doorway a few weeks ago and the end was severed (middle finger right hand; i'm right handed, and my first thought was "thank god it's not my left", but fingerpicking is going to be a bit of a struggle from now on). I've lost about half an inch from it.

Hide behind the sofa now:
http://themelee.com/images/DSCF1446.jpg

The main reason for this topic is to ask if any of you have suffered similar or know anybody who has, and have any tips for me retraining my right hand (or just advice in general). Thanks in advance!

Alan

Click to expand...

OUCH! I'm sitting here eating my breakfast when I had a peak at that. As you said be glad it's not your left hand. Forget about finger picking for awhile but rather focus on flatpicking.

Look on the bright side - Jerry Garcia of the Grateflul Dead was missing that finger entirely.

Good luck and feel better.

Django's proven a great source of inspiration, though I feel incredibly lucky compared to what happened to him - must have been devastating for him at such a young age (I think he was 9 or something) as a celebrated child prodigy.

Apologies for interrupting your breakfast Marcus - hope it wasn't sausages!

I can't bring myself to look at the picture, but I'm sorry to hear about your injury, Alan. It's one of those nightmare scenarios - what if anything happened to one of my fingers? Sorry you've had to face that in reality.

I do have an old video somewhere of Albert King playing a gig somewhere in Europe with the ring and little fingers of his left hand bandaged up so he couldn't use them. So he's playing all those 4 fret bends with just two fingers on his left hand...

The Django connection has already been mentioned, and there's Tony Iommi too, I suppose. I hope you recover as well as can be expected very soon.



Mike

Dont really need to tell you this, but you can get finger picks that will slot over your finger.Ive split and crushed my little finger on my right hand ( im right handed ),all off my end joint is fat and split and my nail grows like a talon + i had a big black cat banger go off in my left hand after i picked it up as it hadnt gone off ( stupid ) but then it did go off and i thought as i do every time i injure my left hand ( my guitarin ) but all there was was a black mark,nothing else lucky or what ,i dont know to this day how i got away with it,even the wife and kids who saw it happen talk about it even to this day.

Anyway John i hope all goes well for you :wink:

that looks FRIGGIN AWEFUL dude..............

first thing is you want to MAKE SURE you receive the proper medical attention

the biggest factor is to avoid any & all complications, mainly from infection, or God forbid, gangrene

secondarily to wanting to avoid any complications, you want to be able to retain the severed flesh, if at all possible

I suffered a severe table saw injury in June 1983; had a 5 hour surgery later that day, and two subsequent surgeries 6 & 13 months later

this was an injury to my left hand, and as far as guitar playing goes, it cost me about 1 year of playing time

in June of 2003 I was bitten by a huge dog, also on my left hand, which broke 3 bones, and nearly severed one of the two tendons that flex the hand

I have two stainless screws in my hand from that one; they will always be there

the dog bite also cost me about 1 year of playing time

my left (fretting) hand has been through 4 surgeries, and 3 intensive therapy regimens, between the table saw incident & the dog bite

all I can say from my experience is get the proper medical attention ASAP, avoid infections, follow the therapy regimens, and stay away from saws & large dogs :lol:

best of luck with your injury :wink:

Ouch, sounds painful Rossi! Hopefully a pick will do the trick.

Thanks for the concern MIJvintage! The injury is now 4 weeks old and now looks much better than the picture suggests - I had surgery pretty much straight away. Sorry to hear you've been through the wars too - that dog attack in particular sounds horrific

The therapy is going well, and I've now got maybe 90% of movement back in that finger, but I know my aim is going to be all over the show when it stops being too sensitive to play with.

No saws, no dogs - got it


Everyone - thanks for the reassurance and advice; it's very much appreciated, and knowing it's not impossible to get up to speed again within a reasonable timeframe has made me feel much better.

Don't forget Rick Allen from Def Leppard. Lost an arm and carried on drumming 8)
________
marijuana card

THIS IS NOT A PISS TAKE :evil:

Look at this guy WOW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkKIMykyU3Y&feature=related

Triumph over adversity......WOW


Mick

That's not good mate make sure you look after yourself, damaged several bones in right hand (my own stupid fault) aches a bit, don't forget Sabbath's Tony Iommi he used the top off a washing liquid bottle heated and shaped, don't rush take it easy and build up strength.

You will be fine my friend.. the body is truely amazing in its healing ability.

in 2004, I was shot at work by a gang banger. one round went through the left forearm and the other in the center of my chest(im a police officer so i had my vest on). The bullet that went through my left arm damaged my ulnar nerve so i was paralized in my ring and pinky finger. I thought it would never come back, but after about 6 months it did 100%..

MIJ Vintage, I feel your pain, because............

Then!!! in 2007, our own police dog thought I was the bad guy and bit me on my right forearm causing muscle and nerve damage. again it took 8 weeks for several of my fingers to come back 100%





Have faith, you will recover just fine..