three fingers on fretting hand

Hi, I am new to this forum, and was wondering how many, if any, guitar players are out there that have had part of there fretting hand amputated. I had my left hand pinky amputated almost four years ago. This is a serious issue, so please, no comments on D'JAngo, Iommi, or Garcia, or just play the blues man....thanks

This is to find out if anyone has had a succesfull prosthetic device made for this, as I had a prosthetic made, but it was a dismal failure.

Any help would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by: 3fingeredbluesno comments on D'JAngo, Iommi, or Garcia, or just play the blues man....thanks

I'm sorry to hear you've lost you finger. I'm a little confused why you wouldn't want comments about these guitarists though? I've always found them inspirational, the fact that faced with such circumstances, they're thousands of times better guitarists than myself...

I hope this is useful, and not offensive. (If it is offensive, then please accept my appologises in advance - it's honestly not my intention!) I'd just like to say that there's many guitarists who don't use their little finger - they find a way that suits them and their playing style. Do you need a prostetic to continue playing guitar?

I don't know of any specific devices, but I do remember reading about research that was being done. Have you tried searching google for cases similar to yours? I'm sure there's a doctor out there who plays guitar and has tried to assist...

Hope that's of some use to you!

Well welcome 1st off. But truthfully there's prolly not that many of us (if any) that can say, "yeah, I know how that feels, and here's what I'd do." Ultimately, you'll have to find what works for you.

Originally Posted by: WilldridgeI'm sorry to hear you've lost you finger. I'm a little confused why you wouldn't want comments about these guitarists though? I've always found them inspirational, the fact that faced with such circumstances, they're thousands of times better guitarists than myself...

I hope this is useful, and not offensive. (If it is offensive, then please accept my appologises in advance - it's honestly not my intention!) I'd just like to say that there's many guitarists who don't use their little finger - they find a way that suits them and their playing style. Do you need a prostetic to continue playing guitar?

I don't know of any specific devices, but I do remember reading about research that was being done. Have you tried searching google for cases similar to yours? I'm sure there's a doctor out there who plays guitar and has tried to assist...

Hope that's of some use to you!

Thanks for the reply Will,

The reason I didn't want to hear about these players is 'cause they've allready been thrown out there too me so many times....and there paticular cases are very different....

Iommi - missing just the very tips of two fingers, so thimbles were actually a pretty easy solution to his problem

D'Jango - He still had partiall use of a third finger, and his accident ocured when he was 12 yrs old...lots of time for a child to adapt...I had allready been playing for 15 yrs. at the time of my mis-hap

Garcia - he was missing part of his ring finger on his PICKING hand....big difference (plus I just don't get it w/ the Dead....)

And no, I don't need a prosthetic to continue playing, as I still play all the time, and quite well for that matter....not to brag, but you'd never be able to tell by listening to me play....you see, the thing is, I was really breaking through some new platues in my playing and was heavily into Satch, Johnson, and DiMeola...so I hope you could see how that little finger would be a bigger deal than it would seem on the surface. I used it for more than nose pickin'! lol

Finger tapping lines in legato to compensate just sounds diiferent, and sometime "wrong", for some linjes that are just begging to be picked, y'know? And I just don't have the physical ability to pull off some of the wide intervals and complex chords that I still hear in my head.

I spent the last 4 years diving headlong into blues, and it was a great help to me to know that I could still be proficient in that genre, but I yearn to do more...

I've even considered having one of my toes transplanted, and I would do it in a second if I could afford it, but the cost is prohibitive....

Thanx anyways....the search continues....

Just a few weird thoughts, but my SIL has only 2 fingers on her left hand. She plays left handed, so thats her picking hand. By using her dominant hand, she is acturally faster than me at chord changes.

If you're into blues, why not slide all the way?

If you are into country, slide dobro or peddle steel?

Thanks for the thought MFerguson, but I don't have enough little finger left to support a slide, and as I stated before, I want to move on from these styles of play, and get back to what I used to be able to do. Electric guitar through molten tubes is what gets the hair on my arms to raise up....not dobro, or lap steel. I like the sounds of these instruments, and I enjoy a good player, but it's just not my bag....

I wish I could just flip the guitar over and play leftie, which would seem to make sense, but I forgot to mention that this is not an option as well, because I also injured my right wrist....smashed the interior radial ulna into 12 peices, and I don't have the flexibility in that arm any more...to achieve the proper fretting position with my right hand, my elbow would have to be at my belly button, and that is quite uncomfortable. To pick with the right, luckily is no problem, but the motion in that arm and wrist is severely limited.

Thanks again for the thoughts....

Geez...and I bitch about a little arthritis....

I have seen a guy play a guitar one-handed. It is on the BET-Jazz music channel on my local digital cable system. He just touches the strings and the guitar makes noise-no picking-he acutally has one on his neck and one on a stand in front of him an plays 2 and a time. I cannot remember his name, but the next time I see him, I will reply. Perhaps someone else knows of him. He is a younger black gentleman and can really wail-You could use both hands and play guitar like a piano, essentially.

As far as the slide, I meant you could put in on one of the other fingers.
Check out some Leo Kottke stuff-learn the style and then electrify it-Who knows-maybe we will all be in line trying to get a CD of that "new sound."

Originally Posted by: MFergusonGeez...and I bitch about a little arthritis....

I have seen a guy play a guitar one-handed. It is on the BET-Jazz music channel on my local digital cable system. He just touches the strings and the guitar makes noise-no picking-he acutally has one on his neck and one on a stand in front of him an plays 2 and a time. I cannot remember his name, but the next time I see him, I will reply. Perhaps someone else knows of him. He is a younger black gentleman and can really wail-You could use both hands and play guitar like a piano, essentially.

As far as the slide, I meant you could put in on one of the other fingers.
Check out some Leo Kottke stuff-learn the style and then electrify it-Who knows-maybe we will all be in line trying to get a CD of that "new sound."

Thanks again MFerguson, but I really like the sound of stacoto(spelling?)picking, and the some of the complex chord voicings that I hear in my head. I could, and do sometimes play slide but it still doesn't solve my "problem" with these other issues.

And if you do get the name of the fella with one arme that can play 2 guitars DEFINATELY let me know...I got to see it.
Reminds me of an old indian proverb - "I once cried because I had no shoes, untill I met a man that had no feet"

check out the solo playing of eric clapton he barely use his pinky

Thanks again for another well intended reply, but again, I can allready do that sort of thing with what I got. It's an issue about complex chords and intervals and regaining something lost. I used to be able to shred, and I guess in a way I still do but I am trying to find out if anyone out there is a doctor that knows a good imaginative protheticist, or if anyone out there is a good prostheticist, or if there is a rich philantropist that would like to pay for a digit transfer.

Have you asked this question in a medical forum? I'm ignorant in such knowledge, but maybe they could even transplant your own pinky from your other hand?

Originally Posted by: R. ShackleferdHave you asked this question in a medical forum? I'm ignorant in such knowledge, but maybe they could even transplant your own pinky from your other hand?

Good idea....but I was thinking of a toe rather than the other pinky...I use it for a pivot while I pick...

I know, I guess I'm too picky and should just be happy that I still play at all, and make my living working on guitars.

so lets stop the "dude, just listen to clapton" stuff becusae thats not what hes after. if someone took away my guitar and said "you cant play this anymore, but you can play bass!" it would break my heart. given, thats not even as big of a deal as this stuff, but the main deal is youve got to do some deep research onto the prosthetic pinky thing. what did you have in mind? like, a (pardon the double entandre) strap on? i know this sounds kindof ****ed up, but what about like a metal rod implanted into your hand that acts as the framework for a pinky? i dont know if that would work becasue 1.im not a damn doctor, and 2. that could **** up your whole hand. sorry, jsut trying to thow anything remotely helpful out there. i hear you, man. its not about trying to forget what you used to love, the real struggle is trying to find out how you can shred like you used to again. you can do it bro, just gonna need some expert help.

It is what it is man.....I just don't "get" the Gratefull Dead...I've tried, and I've tried to find merit in their music, figuring that there had to be something to it because of the huge following they had, but I can't. They did a few songs that I thought were "good", or "OK" but that's it.

I saw them live in Seattle in the old Arena at the science center, and from what I could tell, the audience (and myself) were so drugged out on LSD that it wouldn't have mattered if we were listening to a jet engine. I finally figured that it was the hippy culture and the acceptance of the behavior that goes along with it that made for there huge following, because it wasn't the musicianship.

BTW, thanks for the empathy.

Originally Posted by: quickfingersso lets stop the "dude, just listen to clapton" stuff becusae thats not what hes after. if someone took away my guitar and said "you cant play this anymore, but you can play bass!" it would break my heart. given, thats not even as big of a deal as this stuff, but the main deal is youve got to do some deep research onto the prosthetic pinky thing. what did you have in mind? like, a (pardon the double entandre) strap on? i know this sounds kindof ****ed up, but what about like a metal rod implanted into your hand that acts as the framework for a pinky? i dont know if that would work becasue 1.im not a damn doctor, and 2. that could **** up your whole hand. sorry, jsut trying to thow anything remotely helpful out there. i hear you, man. its not about trying to forget what you used to love, the real struggle is trying to find out how you can shred like you used to again. you can do it bro, just gonna need some expert help.

Thanks for a meaningfull post Quick!