Work Injury = No Playing = "The Vinyl Mandolin Project"

[G.B. Harriis]

A freak work accident has rendered the tip of my fret hand index finger useless for the time being which leaves me with a bit of extra time that might otherwise have been spent practicing. Instead of cursing fate and staring longingly at my mando, I figure I can get in a bit of listening to the vinyl I have started accumulating.

Tonight I listened to Jethro Burns "Live", which happily arrived on my doorstep today. Released by Flying Fish, the album was recorded live (go figure!) at Amazingrace, in Evanston, Illinois. The playing, all around, is absolutely fantastic and listening to Jethro play on the electric mandolin is a treat.

Any thoughts as to what I might consider grabbing next? The only rule I have is that the album must feature the mandolin and must be available on vinyl.

[mandocrucian]

Why does that preclude you from practicing?

Simply don't use the index and adjust your fingering accordingly. Use the middle finger for the 1st/2nd fret, ring for 3/4, and pinky for 5/6. It'll give your other fingers a more thorough workout, plus increasing your mental flexibility - instead of focusing on on "which finger do I use to fret the note?", your thinking shifts to "which fret needs to be fingered?"

15 years or so back, during my blue belt test, I tried blocking a kick without having my left hand entirely closed into a fist, and the kick hit me on the tip of the left ring finger, probably giving it a hairline fracture. (I never had it x-rayed). But I couldn't use it to fret cause of immediate shooting pain if I did. Unfortunately, had about a bunch of gigs in the following two weeks which I had to pretty much play Django style with mostly the index and ring fingers.

Rethinking fingering on the fly wasn't that much a problem for me as I had played plenty of alternative fingering games/drills....if I only had to play just mandolin. So jamming really didn't diminishing my playing that much excpet for chordal stuff. However (on gigs), I was also simultaneously kicking organ bass pedals (why pay a bass player?), so I had to dumb down the mando leads somewhat so I wouldn't mess up the bass lines by exceeding my multi-tasking RAM.

NH

[UsuallyPickin]

NH gives good advice. Back to Back Tiny Moore and Jethro Burns. Anything by Dave Appollon, Norman Blake and Red Rector.... heal well and give that pinkie a workout.... R/

[Jim]

Been there with a left hand index finger injury while playing in a 3 piece Blues band ( guitar) . I was able to use my Index for Barre chords just the tip was injured. If you can, without compromising the recovery of your finger, I would continue to play with the remaining digits. I know nothing about what's available on vinyl, but would find it very hard to listen to alot of Mandolin w/o NEEDING to play mine. Good luck & speedy recovery.

[G.B. Harriis]

So my latest listen on the turntable has been "Mariachi El Bronx II", which has proven to be a lot more fun than you might expect. I am particularly fond of the mandolin on "Bodies of Christ". Definitely worth a listen!

Not being able to use the index finger has been a drag... thanks for the advise from all those who commented. I have found it to be far easier to work on a couple of new tunes than to fumble through some of my favorites using the different fingerings (easier may not be the right word... perhaps just less frustrating).

Tonight I think I'm going to give a listen to some David Grisman while searching for a clean copy of Back to Back!