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11 May 21 - 12:23 PM (#4105692) Subject: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen In the last three months I've reconnected with several old folkie friends from the sixties. They were all fine pickers and singers. None of them play guitar anymore. Some have arthritis, but more commonly it's because they haven't played for ten years. For some, Dementia has wiped the slate clean. Playing an instrument or singing is not like riding a bike. If you don't play for a couple of years, if you're lucky you'll just fall of the bike for awhile and walk around with skinned knees and elbows. It could happen to you. It has started happening to me although my memory is still strong. Last night I was trying to recall a song I learned from Wolf River Songs :The Spring of '65. I was lying there in bed and all I could remember was the line "His spirit being willing and his arm a being strong, he played the Crippled Kingfisher about four hours long." I couldn't remember the melody or the title of the song. I couldn't believe I could ever remember all the lyrics. I didn't sing the song alot, and it's probably been at least forty years since I sang it. Then I remembered part of the first verse. After a couple of minutes, the first verse came, and I had the title of the song: The Spring of '65." I looked up the song on youtube and there are several different videos. If you don't use your head, and you don't keep singing, you'll lose the songs. Just to be on the safe side, it's best to keep singing and picking :-) |
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11 May 21 - 01:11 PM (#4105695) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: leeneia I agree, Jerry. I'm glad you got yoursong back. Oh, and if you can't play guitar anymore, try a mountain dulcimer. |
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11 May 21 - 01:22 PM (#4105698) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen Thanks, Leenia. My guitar playing has not only come back, I sound better now than I did three or four years ago. I haven't been up to snuff for three or four years. Life impinged. |
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11 May 21 - 01:56 PM (#4105705) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: GUEST,Stan Ellison Use it or lose it. Sad but true in my case. In the space of less than one year, last year, I went from being as able as ever to play to not being able to play at all. Exacerbated perhaps by a calcium supplement I was prescribed for thin bones, my knuckles have now almost completely lost the ability to bend. I still know where to put my fingers but I can't get them to go there. Luckily I taught myself to notate music some years ago, standard notation, ABC and LilyPond. So I can still write tunes and songs and that is compensation enough. An ironic addendum is that for the first time in my life I have really strong fingernails! |
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11 May 21 - 07:16 PM (#4105734) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen I'm very sorry to hear that, Stan. I have a friend from the early sixties Greenwich Village (I was his Best Man at his wedding back then,) Who has arthritius so badly he can no longer make a D chord, which is his best key for singing. He was a big fan of a song I wrote back then based on the murder of Solomon P. Sharp. I keep forgetting about the song and have never recorded it. He keeps reminding me of the song. He's going to see if he can play it in C. It's the D chord that is impossible for him, now. I realize that this could happen to me at any time, which is why I'm working on a new CD. The CD won't sell for beans (literally) but I have some songs I probably should record some of my older songs, for Posterity. You know posterity... Tom Posterity. Unfortunately, he's even older than I am. :-) |
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13 May 21 - 09:23 PM (#4105968) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: leeneia Try the song in both C and then E, and see which works better for your friend. I personally find the C chord (and its sidekick F) hard to play. E is a dream. |
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13 May 21 - 09:48 PM (#4105971) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen Thanks for the suggestions, Leenia. I'll pass them on. Stan: you are blessed to have another creative way to express yourself. In recent years, my writing has surpassed my music. I still love and can play instruments, but that most likely will pass. But then, so will I.. :-) |
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14 May 21 - 01:41 AM (#4105997) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: The Sandman finger exercises,, vocal exercises stan how about the harmonica |
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14 May 21 - 08:12 AM (#4106015) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: GUEST,Stan Ellison Hi Jerry, good points. One thing that has surprised me is how liberating it is to compose without a guitar in my hands. For me a large part of composing is 'problem' solving. When I played guitar my 'solutions' were based on what I found on the instrument. Now they are based on what I hear in my head and it feels very 'freeing'. Dick (Sandman), I hadn't thought of harmonica, cheers. I read up on the internet and made myself a plastic D whistle, which can be played with straight fingers. It's going rather slowly but I give it some time every day. Ten or so years ago I tried out Anglo and English concertinas. I could get out the occasional tune but never took them any farther. I'll dig them out and see if my fingers can fit with them. Concertinas will work to accompany singing which is more than can be said for a whistle. |
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14 May 21 - 10:14 AM (#4106022) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Nick Jerry I'd be tempted to suggest DADGAD D A D G A D one finger D - 000200 D B D G B D two fingers G - 020020 x A E G A E two fingers A7 - x02002 x B D A B D three fingers Bm - x20220 The A doesn't have a C# but who cares? And you noone has to play 6 string chords. Those 4 chords would see a lot of people through And some of the one fretted string chords are really nice |
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14 May 21 - 10:31 AM (#4106025) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: gillymor I've had a couple of surgeries on my left (fretting) hand and while recovering I took up slide guitar, mostly in Open D- DADF#AD. Lots of fun. I also started playing my electrics more which are much easier to fret. |
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14 May 21 - 10:32 AM (#4106026) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Nick Perhaps a slightly weirder thought. You could buy a spider capo and tune to DADGAD and move things up and down. I just tried it and you can make a reasonable sound on a guitar (with a few sus 2's thrown in) quite quickly and no fretting required. If you want a demo I can show you. |
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14 May 21 - 10:51 AM (#4106030) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: leeneia Nick, you gave me an idea. I went to YouTube and searched for 'make acoustic guitar easier to play,' and up came a dozen videos. Worth checking, I'm sure. |
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14 May 21 - 10:57 AM (#4106032) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Charmion A very important discussion for us aging farts. I have Raynaud's Syndrome, a circulatory problem that drastically reduces blood flow to the fingertips of my right hand whenever it is even slightly chilled. The immediate effect is numbness, and over a few weeks -- say, from Thanksgiving to Remembrance Day -- it causes painful fissures in the skin. Consequently, I have become a flat-picker. When my husband and I moved across Ontario nearly four years ago, I lost my session connections and almost stopped playing both guitar and mandolin. Last summer, when the pandemic restrictions were eased for a while, I started playing tunes on mandolin with a fiddler I met a couple of years ago at the Goderich Celtic College, a diddly music boot camp. At that point, I had not played at all for a year. Oy, the pain, but the calluses came back within a week. I also found that the arthritis in my left hand is still mild enough that I regained almost as much mobility as I had at 50, although two fingers are usually locked in trigger position when I get up in the morning. Most days now, I do about fifteen minutes of guitar scales and half an hour of jigs & reels on the mandolin as part of my fitness routine; the other thing that really helps is washing dishes in scalding hot water (wearing gloves, of course). But I find it difficult to sing by myself. |
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14 May 21 - 10:59 AM (#4106033) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Nick With a spider capo you end up with something a little like an Autoharp I suppose There's usually a way I play with a guy who can't always straighten his finger but he's a hell of a good player (and soloist) He increasingly uses partial capos to make life easier. The thing is a tool. It doesn't have to be in one tuning. It just has to make a nice noise. I remember at some point in the past a conversation with Sandman which led me to a different tuning which just made something easy that was hard before. I have never used it since because of lockdown or need. It's like I like EADGCE tuning (what!) and EADGBD# (What again) but most people I know don't. I must go and find out what the tuning was because I might need it again |
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14 May 21 - 11:21 AM (#4106037) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: gillymor One thing that's made life easier for me (YMMV according to hand and finger size)- wider nuts. On my instruments, that is. |
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14 May 21 - 11:35 AM (#4106042) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: gillymor and I recently purchased a 24 3/4" scale guitar (my other guitars are 25 1/2") which makes stretches a bit easier. I also went in the other direction with mandolins and had a June mandolin made with a 14 1/2" and a Davy Stuart with a 15" scale as the more common 13 7/8" scale was just a little too cramped for my old hands. |
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14 May 21 - 12:12 PM (#4106043) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: The Sandman spot on nick, i have a partial capo which if put on the second fret in standard tuning puts you in the equivalent dadgad. capo on 543 strings if part capo is put onstrings 234 you are in open a . so youhave two optins open a and dadgad. |
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14 May 21 - 12:16 PM (#4106046) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen WSHat a r8ichg load of good ideas. I couldn't offer a single one. At 86, my fingers are basically arthritis free. I don't kow how much longer that will last. If I can playi comfortably at 90 I will indeed be blessed. I will keep all thse suggestions, should I start to lose my strength and flexibility. Thanks so much. With somne of my friends, and to some extent with me, I think it's a lack of getting together andc playing with other musicians. Playing in edw situations and combination of people stretches your mind as much as your fingers. It's hard to keep focused when you are always playing alone. "There's nothing as long as a cold winter's night And nothing as welcome as friends at the door And nothing as useless as stories to tell Or tunes to be played when there's no one to hear." JUst an OldFioddler - by Jerry Rasmussen |
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14 May 21 - 01:13 PM (#4106049) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: The Sandman stan, with the english keys of c and f and g can use mainly index and middle finger[particularly c major, up and down middle rows and particularly if youare playing single line melody or single harmony line |
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14 May 21 - 01:21 PM (#4106050) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: The Sandman oh yes and you can play fifths apart with one finger [index generally if you have finger mobilty problems |
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14 May 21 - 04:51 PM (#4106072) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: GUEST,gillymor Keep after it, Jerry. You're an inspiration to whippersnappers like me (68). |
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14 May 21 - 07:26 PM (#4106085) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen My definition of "old" is ten years older than me. "Young" is ten years younger than me. Yoyu are indeed a whippersmapper, gilly. |
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17 May 21 - 11:12 AM (#4106369) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Charmion To me, an old person was of voting age when the Berlin Wall went up, and a young person doesn't remember the day it began to come down. The rest of us are middle-aged. |
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17 May 21 - 12:36 PM (#4106377) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: punkfolkrocker During autumn I suddenly developed what I suspect to be trigger finger.. A quick Google matched the symptoms. I've not got round to seeking medical advice, or treatment, yet due to pandemic lockdown. So just keeping an eye on it it and hoping it doesn't get much worse. One day my fingers were fine, the next they started locking.. The worst affected is the right hand middle finger. That locks closed and clicks noisily frequently during the day. Luckily I'm not an American - that finger is one of your most important communication devices.. Left hand index finger sometimes feels like it's starting to play up but doesn't progress any worse.. Due to family circumstances I've barely touched any guitars since last year. But I'm not a finger picker so could cope if my right hand fingers deteriorate with advancing age. If the left-hand starts playing up more, I suppose I better get to the doctor's ASAP... I was born in 1958, and I'm nowhere near as valuable or desired as a Gibson Les Paul of the same age... |
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17 May 21 - 12:37 PM (#4106378) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen Charmion. I've met 23 yearc olds that are old. and eighty year olds who are young. I measure youth or age by Inquisitiveness, openness, enthusiasm for life, a sense of humor, acceptance of all races and background, generosity, and a positive outlook about the future. And most of all, a love for others. Someone was asking about you in another thread. I don't know you, but I hope you are alright. |
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17 May 21 - 12:53 PM (#4106380) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen Charmion: I went back and read your post on here about Reynaud's syndrome. Is there and treatment for it? My partner of the last two years, Donna, has numbness in both hands. WHen they're not numb they are often painful. It's difficult for her at times to do everyday tasks. She doesn't play an instrument, but the numbness is very frustrating. I have a good friend who is a carpenter whose hands have no feeling. He can't feel that he's holding a hammer or screwdriver. He's had surgery twice with no imnprovement. He is still working, but needs an assistant to do some of the work. If washing dishes helps for you, you could draw a long line of people offering to have you wash theirs. :-) |
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17 May 21 - 06:41 PM (#4106422) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Bill D I don't have anything like obvious & serious Raynaud's Syndrome, but when sorting things in the freezer or in very cold weather my fingertips do get 'soft' and almost white. I can usually warm them ok, but I can tell that my circulation is not the Gulf Stream it once was. In Winter now, I never go to bed without a couple of 'warmy bags' made with rice in a double layer of old, soft cotton socks. I microwave them to suit, and often wear a soft jacket with pockets that I can put a couple in. I think we have maybe 8-10 of those in various sizes and they really warm up the bed before climbing in on a chilly Winter night. |
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17 May 21 - 07:38 PM (#4106431) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Charmion To the best of my knowledge, Jerry, Raynaud’s is as yet poorly understood and essentially untreatable, unless you count not getting cold a treatment. Do Donna’s hands go grey, then purple and even white when they go numb? If so, it's probably Raynaud’s, in which the peripheral blood vessels slam shut at the slightest provocation. I wear serious leather ski mittens in winter, the kind with thick wool liners, and my fingers still go numb whenever I’m outside, or even if I sit still too long indoors. It’s a blasted nuisance, especially when I’m driving. Like Bill, I use warmy bags. I keep mine in the kitchen and nuke a couple as soon as I come home in winter. One doctor I consulted speculated that my hands might be showing signs of long-term damage from frostbite. Maybe, but my toes and ears have also been frostbitten and they don’t go blue and numb the way my fingers do. |
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17 May 21 - 08:10 PM (#4106435) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen Donna is going to see a neurologist. She has none of the symptoms you mention. It has to be a challenge for you to modify your daily life toi deal with Old Man Raynaud. My heart goes out to you. |
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18 May 21 - 11:05 AM (#4106512) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Charmion The part of Raynaud that worries me most is the skin fissures, which form spontaneously on the digits I use the most. They bleed and hurt like the dickens, they are highly vulnerable to infection, and it's very inconvenient to have to keep the tips of the thumb, index and medius of your master hand bandaged for much of the time. I can wear plastic gloves for cooking and housework, but hand-washing is an issue and some days I wash my hands more than a dozen times. The fissures appear by mid-November and don't heal until the cold weather is over, well after Easter. It is, indeed, a bitch. But I'm getting much better with the flat-pick on the guitar than I ever thought I would. Silver lining! My grandmother was a professional pianist for most of her life. I noticed the other day that my hands are now just as knobbly, mottled and wrinkly as hers were, if square, short and callused instead of long, spidery and carefully groomed. The other day at the supermarket, the cashier asked if I play guitar -- "Your nails," he said. Clipped to the quick on the left, longer on the right. His were the same, plus manicure for reinforcement. Music student at his day job. |
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19 May 21 - 06:43 PM (#4106720) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Tattie Bogle I now have intermittent trigger finger in the middle finger of my left (non-dominant) hand: it's most obvious in the morning when I wake up: fortunately has not so far affected my playing of piano, guitar or button accordion, but no doubt it will eventually! I also have a lot of "palmar nodules" in the palm of my left hand which seemed to develop after a day playing at a djembe workshop, and hitting the rim too often and too hard with that same hand: that was over 10 years ago, but fortunately they have not progressed much in this time: however, my mother had Dupuytren's contracture in her hands in later life, so maybe this is on the cards for me! "Auld age disnae cam itsel' " - as my patients used to tell me! |
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20 May 21 - 05:58 AM (#4106754) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Ebbie Interesting discussion. Yesterday I met -outdoors- with four friends and we played and sang for a couple of hours. I had literally not done either in more than a year. Actually, that is not quite true- three times in that period of time I picked up my guitar and strummed a few chords- and put it down within five minutes. Calluses, of course, are long gone but the muscle memory is intact. Anyway it was a lot of fun yesterday, although my voice was squeaky and the index finger of my left hand cramped for a while this morning. Incidentally, finger cramping is a really odd feeling- not painful but kind of eerie. Charmion, there is a product that I use for fissures and other sores that works great. It is a Polish product and was given to me by a Polish friend, but one can get it online, which I plan to do when this tin is used up. It is called 'Bambino Krem', formulated for a baby's bottom. Great stuff. Couldn't hurt to try it. Good to 'see' you again, Jerry! |
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20 May 21 - 08:58 AM (#4106769) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: GUEST I have a tremor that developed in the thumb of my right hand. This slowly spread to the rest of my hand. A consultant diagnosed 'focal dystonia'. It is not noticeable or a problem whilst my hand is not doing anything. But as soon as I start a task or try to play my guitar, it starts. The problem I am told is not curable and I have tried beta blockers without success. I am now resigned to strumming instead of finger picking, my left (fretting) hand is not affected. Any other Mudcaters have the same problem? |
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20 May 21 - 09:49 AM (#4106773) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Charmion That’s interesting, GUEST 08:58. I have known people whose hand tremors stopped when they embarked on a task, but no one whose tremors work ‘tother way about. But of course I’m not a doctor, let alone a neurologist. |
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20 May 21 - 11:20 AM (#4106780) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: punkfolkrocker I'm not in a particularly happy place these days... The last 8 years have been dominated by caring for my mother's worsening dementia and incontinence.. So I've just not had time or positive motivation to play my guitars and instruments. I've barely even looked at my guitars in the last couple of years. All I've done to switch off late at night, is to cheer myself up by finding online music gear and software bargains. Which I buy heavily discounted now, ready for a future when I do have time and freedom to get my own life back again.. .. And now, at last, adult social services have finally agreed to help fund a place for my mum in a high quality safe and secure full-time care home; and I'll soon be free of the day to day responsibility, problems, and stress of enabling her to continue living independently in her own home.. Everyday we were living with the life and health draining anxiety of mum falling all alone in her house, and not being found until to late.. We barely scraped through three dramatic ambulance rides to hospital in the last 12-months of pandemic panic, with the risks she might catch it on a ward.. Thankfully all that is behind us, we know she now couldn't be in a better more caring place; where she'll become part of a community, rather than the lonely life imposed on her by our local health authorities missguided cost-cutting policy of 'independent living'.. So just as life is starting to look positive for me and my wife again.. Just when I can finally regain my own life as a musician, to start planning ahead for new projects, and finishing off old ones that were set aside.. Just as I've had two covid jabs and can now feel less fatalistic about being finished off too prematurely by coronavirus.. Just when I should be looking forward to my musical life again. ..cruel mother nature is now amusing herself by starting to impair my fingers.. I swear mother nature is an erratic sadistic cat...!!! Still, mustn't grumble, stiff upper lip and all that... |
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20 May 21 - 12:25 PM (#4106787) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: gillymor For people suffering with trigger finger there may be a happy ending. I had it in my left hand for about 15 years and it was manageable most of the time up until about 5 years ago when my hand was so stiff that I couldn't close it around the neck of an instrument without considerable pain. I finally had surgery which in my case involved making a small incision in the tendon sheath where the palm meets the base of the middle finger, it just took a few minutes. There is an even less invasive procedure called percutaneous release that can be done in the doctor's office. I was back playing music in a month and it hasn't bothered me since. |
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20 May 21 - 01:17 PM (#4106793) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: The Sandman pfr, well done for caring for your mother. |
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20 May 21 - 02:22 PM (#4106801) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen I took care of my wife, Ruth for several years when she had Parkinson's andDementia. I ended up with a heart attack a few months after she passed. My guitar asnd banjo playing were almost forgotten. Thankfully, my hands still work, and I've got my picking back completely. |
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20 May 21 - 02:27 PM (#4106802) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen I've had "Familial hand tremors" for the last few years. They come and go, fortunately, they rarely affect my finger picking. I smile at the term "Familial tremors." My oldest son who is in his early fifties has them. It's such a heart-warming term. I'm thinkg I could get my whole family together and we could all have Famial tremors at the same time. Maybe we could all learn to play washboard. :-) |
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20 May 21 - 02:39 PM (#4106805) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jerry Rasmussen Three years ago, I had a heart attack. The Doctors weren't able to determine what to label it, so they called it a Cardiac Event." It couldn't have been an "Event," I said. Who catered it?" I asked. I'm not going to any event if it's not catered!" |
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21 May 21 - 12:43 PM (#4106874) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: leeneia A friend of mine received some good advice. Play your instrument two minutes every day. |
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23 May 21 - 08:38 PM (#4107302) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jack Campin Focal dystonia is horrible and recovery is very slow if it ever happens. The pianist Leon Fleisher is the only musician I know of who ever got over it - after about 40 years. The bagpiper Hamish Moore has it, and he has adapted by using his right pinkie for what his ring finger used to do. Looks bizarre but it works. It's basically caused by the brain rewiring itself in a counterproductive way. There was a useful series of articles about ut in Piping Times, under the title "Losing It". |
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23 May 21 - 08:39 PM (#4107303) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: Jack Campin *Left* pinkie, bugger it. |
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23 May 21 - 10:13 PM (#4107306) Subject: RE: Absence makes the fingers grow stiffer From: punkfolkrocker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga9W4p3WI-0&ab_channel=FranBlancheFranBlanche start watching from 11 mins 30 secs.. Then maybe this direct follow up video, How I Deal With My Arthritis which is nearly 40 mins long. But I've only watched the first few minutes so far, while I'm typing this... |