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....