What dose an old Guitar player do when his or hers hands give out????

[Donald Rich]

I now have a numb left hand, no more music for me.

[danno]

a friend of mine had both wrists keel-hauled at the mayo clinic and he's playing better than ever, he really shreds. but he has to pace himself and pay attention to how his hands feel.

keep the faith, see a doc.

[danno]

yeah, that's very important. when you play, make sure it's on .008 strings, tuned to D#, on a gibson scale guitar, that's 24 5/8 i think.

[danno]

i was only speaking to scale, not the brand, we've always just called it the gibson scale. the size of the neck figures in there too, but i don't even look at 25 1/4 guitars any more.

[Donald Rich]

I have had both wrist operated on for carpal tunnel, The Dr. said there was not any more he could do. the chiropractor has helped some.

[John Carter]

I had a friend who cut off about half of his left hand with a circular saw. He learned to play left-handed. Or you might consider keyboards. One of the best organ players I ever saw only had two fingers and a thumb. These are extreme cases, tho.

[Tom Towle]

Hey John,

Thanks for the referral! I am guessing you are Sue's husband. I did not realize you were a musician.

I was a guitar prodigy in 1969, broke a finger on my LEFT hand and took up keyboards then. Played keys in the 80s in a jazz band. Picked up bass in the 90s, still played guitar. Now, my LEFT hand and specifically my middle finger, (recently jammed in a boating incident) feels arthritic, sore and numb sometimes...I am getting prepared for switching back to keyboards and have joined a rock band playing keyboards. I still play bass in a jazz quartet and rhythm guitar in a garage band.

[Bob Martin]

My left hand, from time to time, gives me trouble. Most recently, trigger finger. I've gotten a Weissenborn acoustic lap steel and am learning to play slide guitar. Doesn't require nearly the dexterity in your left hand that regular guitar does. And the sound from a Weissenborn is just incredible.

Bob

[danno]

that reminds me of james galbraith, a professional classical player i went to see. he has changed to playing the guitar like a cello, still picked, but upright like a cello. i can't remember what he said happened, but his wrists couldn't take the regular posture any more so he changed to upright.

[Rickey Ellis]

27 years ago my right hand went numb. I discovered I had a very rare disease called: "acromegaly" It was causing my hands, feet, forehead, anything outward to grow. This caused the soft tissue in my wrists to grow as well, inhibiting blood flow. This was a tumor on my pituitary gland. Tumor was removed successfully and I've had no problems in 27 years. My hands became very large though and made it more difficult to play. I wouldn't fool around, I would have this checked out, to make sure it's nothing too serious! Goodluck! :)

[Shadow]

I've often thought of what I would do if my hands gave out and I couldn't play guitar. If it happens, I plan on learning to play the harmonica.

[Jeff Summers]

Occupational therapy does a lot of work with hands, dexterity. Find out from your surgeon who is the best in the area - there is a huge amount of variability.

[Donald Rich]

Sorry to say No. Its turned to never damage. All I can play is the Radio.