i played air guitar for years

have been learning guitar for about 4-5 years now
Have a Tak Acoustic and a Ronnie Wood signature ESP.

I mostly play Stones, and Keef, Ron and Mick solo stuff.

freaking love it !

i do still play, primarily bass guitar these days

I do.
Amateur. In both senses.
I mean, lover of the instrument, also.

Mickschix,

If the old saying "Where there's a will, there's a way" is true, I have no doubt that you will find a way to play again.

Reading your post as a teacher (I've been teaching guitar & bass for nearly 14 years), you said some of the magic words that all teachers dream about hearing from their students: Practice nightly, Passion, Knew my Limitations, Have A Good Ear.

Without knowing any specifics about your hand/fingers, obviously I can't give you specifics as to how to start working again. However, I’ll share a bit of insight…

Ironically, my 11:30 student tomorrow morning has only two (surgically adjusted) fingers (index & middle) on his left hand plus a “stump” for his thumb and a toe in place of his pinky. This was all due to a birth defect. When I first started working with him (on bass) he was already an accomplished trumpeter. He is now a good bass player (though he tends to overplay a bit!) and last November started working on guitar. One thing I’ve learned from working with him is, how everyone else does something is not necessarily going to be how he does it. How is your patience? He has tons of it as well as lots of the passion you mentioned.

I wish I could give you some specific advice and would be more than happy to try to help you if you’d like me to. My student and I are just kind of “making it up” as we go. We’re not using any specific books just gearing things to his desires and his hand. I did a search online and found that there may be some books that may offer some guidance for you depending on your desires and your hand’s abilities.

I guess my first piece of generic advice would be to pick up your Strat (it sounds beautiful), tune it up and see what you can do. I wouldn’t worry about chording, just play some scales or melodies. After seven years off, it will take a bit to get yourself back in shape so to speak. You’re going to have to start again sometime, right? Unless you’ve got big plans for the weekend, tonight would be a good time to start!

I wish you all the best! The teacher in me will be cheering you on! Feel free to contact me if you’d like.

Peace,
Mr DJA

Thank you, Mr_DJA, that was helpful and encouraging. I don't have any missing fingers but the index and middle finger on my left hand ( my chording hand) are a bit shorter than they should be...some folks don't notice it but I am very self-conscious about it. The real problem is I can't bend them enough to form chords..they do bend somewhat but it's tough. Plus the tips are hyper-sensitive with the exposed nerve endings, even after 7 years.I wear little finger caps to protect them from paim and cold. I have picked up my guitars periodically and tried, but I didn't push ahead enough. Your bass-playing student has real guts and patience....I think I need to just make it my goal to keep going.

Been playing to some capacity for 24 years (first guitar when I was 12) but have been playing it seriously (for money) for 18.

[thepowergoats.com]

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mickschix
Thank you, Mr_DJA, that was helpful and encouraging. I don't have any missing fingers but the index and middle finger on my left hand ( my chording hand) are a bit shorter than they should be...some folks don't notice it but I am very self-conscious about it. The real problem is I can't bend them enough to form chords..they do bend somewhat but it's tough. Plus the tips are hyper-sensitive with the exposed nerve endings, even after 7 years.I wear little finger caps to protect them from paim and cold. I have picked up my guitars periodically and tried, but I didn't push ahead enough. Your bass-playing student has real guts and patience....I think I need to just make it my goal to keep going.

You're very welcome MC,

I think you just took your 1st step when you typed that last line...

Here's wishing you all the best!

Mr DJA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-26 21:16 by mr_dja.

Count me as one.

Well, NickB, there are some things that just happen that we have no control over; I think that at first I was so glad to be alive, and to be able to walk that I did not feel sorry for myself...that came later when I realized what I'd lost, along with finger tips. Playing guitar was such an escape for me, it took me out of my miserable self and to a peaceful place. I really miss that but as I said to MR_DJA, I have to keep trying to play again. There are times when I watch a great guitar player, someone I admire, when I actually cry, it is so painful to realize I can't even practice the piece that they're playing.. not like I used to. That's why I brought this up, to see if I'd find suggestions or ideas as to how to work around it. I'm going to find the name of that guitar player who plays quite well with 2 missing fingers.

It's TONY IOMMI, who played with Black Sabbath, to name just one major band. He lost the middle and ring finger of his left hand and had to learn to play from scratch, using thimbles on the stubs. (I just GOOGLED it). BY GOOGLING it, you can see other guitar players who had to relearn it right from page one. Very inspiring.

Hi Thommie. The Hagstrom is a D2h Les Paul copy. I love its sound, very pure. And the fretboard is easy to slide across, not too dissimilar to the Strat I once owned.

I do.

After spending my life since age 15 with eyes glued to guitar players, and seriously what their hands were doing when playing chords, I was given an acoustic guitar in August 2001 and started playing - looked up tabs online songs I knew and liked. When I would find one with chords I could figure out I played them over and over. Did this for weeks, learned quickly -- it was really fun. When I found a song with hard chords I'd learn the chords, tho many many I didn't learn -- didn't get to bar chords -- my hands are petite plus accustomed to violin and mandolin, very different. Was good enough to play with people around a campfire (you don't have to be very good to do that) at a party on Labor Day that year. Then 9/11 happened. A friend has a video of me playing Angie on my roof that evening. the kind of thing you pray doesn't get posted to your friends' facebook page. After 9/11 I got into political activism and a new relationship, and never played again.

I love hearing people, admittedly mostly guys, talk about guitars and amps. I don't know why. I guess because they love it so much, and anything that people are really into is fun to hear them talk about. So I often will read the guitar threads tho I'm not a guitarist.

Started in 1974 with a spanish guitar(nylon strings) Later with a western guitar and in 1978 my first electric.
Meanwhile(back at the ranch)learned to play with bottleneck in open and standard tuning,
Bassguitar.
Lead and background vocals in many bands.
Harmonica.
Piano.
Drums.

Yes, due to the Stones/C. Berry. With a Tele and Fender JR Blues amp.
But I need a hand transplant! Fingers too short to reach some chords or do effective baring. Slower blues numbers a lot easier. With the Stones on loud, my mistakes are more tolerable.

I play guitar and harmonica and mess around with bass, lap steel and four-string electric mandolin.

As a former colleague said many years ago, more people j-rk off than play the violin!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-27 09:07 by baxlap.

Did pick up the ole geeetar the other week, a good fortnite ago..
First time in fifteen years.. Took some time, but pretty quickly
it felt like I've never done any break in the playin'.. Felt really good!

Got my first guitar for my 13th birthday in 1963, think my parents regretted it ever since. I'm an acoustic player 'cos I couldn't afford an amp, seriously into 12-string guitar & Leadbelly & yes, I did own a Vox Phantom 12-string in my hippy era

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Richard from Canada
Hi Thommie. The Hagstrom is a D2h Les Paul copy. I love its sound, very pure. And the fretboard is easy to slide across, not too dissimilar to the Strat I once owned.

This one?
[www.hagstromguitars.se]
(Yes, I can hear the sound on the site )

me too

Hey I play guitar... you can hear some stuff down below... please review me...hehehhe

Guitar and Drums

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the juf

my one and only attempt....1964.

Eat your heart out Keith Richards. Nice pic.

JumpingKentFlash

I've been playing for about 40 years now. Teaching part time for about 34. Yeah I have to thank the music of The Stones for getting me into it! As a kid I remeber being fascinated with The Last Time.
Just remember everyone to watch out for some guitar authorities on here. There is one in particlar that will just pull false info out of a hat just to say he knows everything. I've proved him wrong a few time and he stomps his feet like a little boy.

Been playing guitar for many years and it continues to give me great times. Started at about 15 after getting into classic blues through the trumpet (even the trumpet was a bit rebellious - I played French Horn more seriously, but got into Jazz, swing and then the blues). It was easier to bend a note on the guitar than a trumpet. I suppose I also thought girls preferred guitarists to trumpeters. Play mostly for fun, although it was my main income for a couple of years in the eighties. Now play mainly acoustic and have a pub session once a week. Don't really have time to do more at present due to work, etc.

Main guitar at present is a Martin D-18. Got a tele (of course), a strat and a gibson les paul double cut (like a special, but with a tune-a-matic bridge) which I love. Got a Martin 000-15S for pickin' and a beat up Gibson J-40 that I've had for about 25 years (it wasn't beat up when I got it). Various other guitars including a Johnson D-18 copy that I got really cheap from Coda music as the company changed its name to Recording King as Johnson was becoming increasingly used as a slang term for a penis. A real banjo killer that I am happy to fly with!

Got a couple of mandolins, a resonator for slide and an old lap steel that I'm trying to learn in C6 tuning (to sound like old Hank Williams records)

Playing for about 25 years, been in many bands with audiences ranging from 5 to 5000, trading and selling for 10 years, lately mostly into repairing and maintanance of guitars and old amps, mainly Ampeg, Boogie and Fender.

Mathijs

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More Hot Rocks
I've been playing for about 40 years now. Teaching part time for about 34. Yeah I have to thank the music of The Stones for getting me into it! As a kid I remeber being fascinated with The Last Time.
Just remember everyone to watch out for some guitar authorities on here. There is one in particlar that will just pull false info out of a hat just to say he knows everything. I've proved him wrong a few time and he stomps his feet like a little boy.

think i know who you mean! at least there is one person that i often think the same about.

i play for 28 years now. had classical teachers till i was 12. and then wore out every teacher i could find till i was 19.

i am very happy i own and play some really nice old fenders and gibsons through old fender amps. and my old gibson acoustic must be one of the best pieces of wood ever built together. this is my desert island guitar.

i also play some keys, drums, bass.

I have been professional guitarist and composer for 20 years.I have several radio hits (incl few no.1`s ) in Poland.Stones , american and british music from 60`s and 70s and punk rockers were always my main influences.

HA HA! Just curious - what is the meaning of "play"?

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skipstone
HA HA! Just curious - what is the meaning of "play"?

Within the context of the question posed the answer can and has ranged from a casual strummer to someone who makes a living at it. Where do you fall in this spectrum?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-02-28 21:59 by ChrisM.