Playing with burn scars on my left hand

[artilleryo]

So my left hand was burned when I was a boy and while I have enough mobility in that hand to get around just fine in most of my life, I do notice limitations when I'm playing.

I'd thought about having surgery do get it fixed (if possible) but about that time, I stumbled across Django Reinhardt and while looking at a picture of him one day, I realized his left hand looks very similar to mine in terms of what being burned did to him. That and having to go through physical therapy to regain use of my hand (again) convinced me stubborn, not surgery was the answer. Why is stubborn the answer so often?

I do fine picking, although my pinky only gets used on the A and occasionally the E string. When I'm playing chords, I find I do ok by playing triads with the roots on the G or D string and playing up the neck as necessary. This gets me a good mix of major, minor and a handful of Dominant VII chords. I also do the root on the A string, but this seems more limiting to me. I played my first bluegrass jam last week and found myself gazing in a mixture of awe and jealousy as the other mando player was doing all these big 4-fingers chops that I just can't do. But she was a really good player and a very nice person so that made it ok.

So. Anyone else have any similar stories?

[lenf12]

Big 4 finger chop chords are a staple in BG music but seemingly in no other genres of music. Shouldn't be much of a consideration. A weekly BG jam I attend also draws 2 or 3 other mandolin players all dutifully chopping away. Adding my own 4 finger chop chords does nothing for the jam and I find it pretty boring so I usually try to play anything but chop chords. My fallback chords are as you describe with the roots on the G or D strings or using the 3rd on the G or D strings i.e. G = 4 5 2 x, A = 6 7 4 x, D = 2 4 5 x or 7 4 5 x, etc. You can also use the dominant shapes i.e. G7 = 4 3 5 x, etc. There's lots of interesting ways to skin that cat.

You are wise to use Django as a role model for overcoming what can be perceived as a handicap by some but not by you. Also, there's that banjo player (name and band escapes me at the moment) but he has no fingers on his left hand. Man, you should hear him play the snot out of his instrument. Rather than focusing on self perceived limitations, you have chosen to find a way to make your injury work for you which I find to be highly commendable. Good job and keep at it!!

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Rosemary Philips]

The banjo player with no fingers is in Mountain Heart. Amazing player. Watch a video of him sometime...

[EdHanrahan]

A guitarist jam-mate for the past several years chopped off the last inch of his left middle finger, in a lawnmower way back when, but you'd never know it from his playing. Worried that he might not play again, but the stump became pain-free after some time.

+1 for finding your own voice and not duplicating others in the jam. And even Sam Bush hits a fair number of 3-note chords.

[greg_tsam]

When I was 20 years old and going outside to mow the grass, the 2 car garage door fell off it's tracks just as it passed overhead. The glass panels swung down and would have decapitated me or severed my spinal cord leaving me paralyzed and dying in a pool of my own blood. Or so the doctors say.

Instead I ducked my head, put up my right hand and had glass cut my wrist from skin to bone. I felt a hot flash and took a look at my hand to see a golf ball sized hole in it. Yep. Got me good. It completely cut the median nerve and partial on the ulnar not to mention the tendons and blood vessels, veins, etc... The median nerve controls all the muscles of your right hand except the pinky pad (That's the ulnar.) So I lost them. All of them. I also lost all the feeling and mobility of that hand. Completely numb and motionless. Had 3 surgeries, 3 tendon transplants and a nerve transplant within 2 years and countless hours of professional and personal rehab.

"I ain't broke but I'm badly bent."

It took me 10 years to recover to 50% sensation but it was during this time I learned the power of stubborn tenacity. I learned to control the reworked tendons. For example, one of the two tendons used to straighten you index finger had been cut and re-routed from the back of the index, towards the pinky, across the palm and eventually terminates at my thumb. This let's me pull my thumb together with my index finger so I can grab things. The index tendon transfer that allows 10-15 degrees towards the thumb. The thumb has a 2nd transplant that allows it to squeeze towards the index. The two work together to make a clamping action.

I could go on but you get the picture. It's a mess. I have none of the "normal" range of motion, very little pressure to clamp a tiny mandolin pick (I use a BC CT-55) and can't even tell it's there without looking at it or hearing my sound/tone change as the pick slips loose/rotates/fall out of my "clamp". But when at age 33, I decided to learn an instrument and not let the little things stop me. So I figured out alternative ways to do things, persevered, pushed through and remained stubborn.

Now, when I play, no one can tell there is anything wrong with me except they might notice I hold the pick "funny" and/or I play almost entirely from the elbow. (All the tendon transfers hinder the supple wrist movements.) But I get by and do quite well if I may say so myself. Now, instead of folks saying "you should hold the pick like this" and "you should pick from the wrist", they simply say "Sounds great!" and "How do you do that?" I laugh at that last one since the only way to do what I do, the way I do it, is to have my body and my injuries.

I'd trade my successes in adapting for an able body any day but I can't so I make lemonade every day of my life any time I use my hand.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome is the unofficial mantra of the US Marine Corp. Make it yours too. It works and it's necessary for those of us with disabilities and handicaps. Although I completely understand where you're coming from when you see someone physically capable doing something you physically can't, you can't do anything about that except to figure out your own way to do it.

This is my similar story. And if I can offer some advice to anyone facing challenges it would be this hard earned lesson. Stay stubborn when pursuing your goals and dreams but remain open to the paths you must take to achieve them.

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome.

[Bertram Henze]

Stay stubborn when pursuing your goals and dreams but remain open to the paths you must take to achieve them.

Here's a master of putting into one short sentence what worked for me all my life, and not just with physical handicaps.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Well,you picked the premium example of what can be done in picking out Django Reinhardt,& as Rosemary says,Barry Abernathy from Mountain Heart also shows what can be done despite physical impairment.My advice to you would be to forget what others can do & concentrate on what you can do (or can't do), & try to get there your own way.You'll only get the greatest respect doing that,in just the same way that DR & BA did /do.There are lots of player who,without any physical damage to their hands have problems,especially those with very small hands.You might have to move around a lot more with your left hand,but do it,play your own way,it's as valid as anybody else's way !!. For what it's worth,you already have my respect for even trying,so many others wouldn't,
Ivan

[Rosemary Philips]

You guys are inspirational!

[Beanzy]

You can get a good chop sound out of what you're doing already with those three finger chords rooted in D&G. What you need to do is use the pinky to mute the strings as soon as they're struck, the pad will kill off the E string totally. Worth a go if you'll be doing BG jams & sounds really snappy too.

[artilleryo]

Thanks for all the encouragement.

I'm going through the process of becoming a peer supporter for burn survivors. Tenacity is necessary when you are going through the healing process and learning how to live your life again. I don't know whether I'll ever inspire anyone to play or not, although it would be cool if I did. Learning to live with the changes you have just gone through nearly requires an unusually high degree of tenacity (and a high tolerance for pain).

[Rvl]

I was holding a gas can when it caught on fire,the explosion was heard inside the hotel
I use 2 finger chords , mostly because I am lazy.

[greg_tsam]

I was holding a gas can when it caught on fire,the explosion was heard inside the hotel
I use 2 finger chords , mostly because I am lazy.

How many fingers do you have left? How long ago?

[Bertram Henze]

Reminds me all a bit of this one (from 1:05 on in).
Keep on picking!

[250sc]

I think Django prooved that the music is in the person and not in the hands. I have no doubt you can work around any limitation. I've seen many mando players play 2 or 3 note chords and when you close your eyes and listen you can't hear the difference.

[Bertram Henze]

when you close your eyes and listen you can't hear the difference.

Django makes them close their eyes

[Rvl]

How many fingers do you have left? How long ago?

It burnt off all the skin from the knuckles to the wrist and a little bit from the wrist to the elbow
Fortunately fingers are ok
It happened 21 years ago , just after I moved to Japan

Thanks

Robert VanLane

[greg_tsam]

Man, you got lucky on that by keeping all the fingers.

[Santiago]

Django Rheinhart lost several fingers on his left hand in a fire, and learned to play with just two. While his playing was unconventional most folks would agree he did pretty well despite physical limitations.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Django could play better with what he had left than i ever could if i had 10 fingers on my left hand. As Barry Abernathy is want to say (apparently) when asked about his playing,he's told a few people 'you've got too many fingers'.Overcoming physical barriers like that speaks volumes about a person's determination & self belief. Regardless of our hands & our physical limitations or not - that's what we ALL need -the determination & the self belief that we can do it.That's what drives us all to at least 'try' to excel in all we do. Without those 2 qualities there's not much of a way forward. Even 'with' those qualities,some find it harder than others,but at least they make a start & usually end up 'doing it',as the OP will do. Some folk give up before they've begun,& i find that quite tragic. The OP didn't,that's why he'll make it, maybe more slowly than others - but hey ! - it's not a race,
Ivan