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Thread: Question on playing with limited dexterity

  1. #1
    Registered User Zipperclub's Avatar
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    Default Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Hello all,
    I want to learn to play the mandolin but have a issue with my left hand. When I was 8 or 10 years old (i am 51 now) I cut the palm of my left hand on a piece of broken bottle while climbing up a bank.
    After the wound healed my left ring finger and pinky are connected in movement to some extent. How is this going to affect me learning to play, can I learn to play, and is the left pinky vital in playing?
    Thanks for your help.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    It can be done, but you have to work around it. Some of it has to do with the kind of music you want to play. You just have to adapt your playing to your limitation. Chords can be played with 3 fingers instead of 4 and because of the short neck, you can reach with your ring finger. Phil Keaggy is an incredible guitarist but he's missing half of his middle finger on his picking hand.

    Good Luck!

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    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    The left pinky can be very useful in playing, but there are a lot of great players who never use their pinky at all, or only use it rarely. The playing style is a little different. You have to be more mobile moving up and down the neck as you get more advanced, but that can be a good thing in itself. I would get with a really good instructor to get you started. If you don't have one available, I can strongly recommend the Academy of Bluegrass online. You could do a placement video for Mike Marshall and explain the issue to him and I am sure he can advise you well.

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    Registered User Zipperclub's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Thank's ya'll. This is very good news.
    I'm in Southern West Virginia, any instructers in the Beckley area ya'll know of?

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    Mandolin User Andy Miller's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Ever hear of Django Reinhardt? He had a couple of fingers on his left hand fused together in a fire as a kid, played more or less with two fingers, and played circles around everyone. You can adapt!
    Last edited by Andy Miller; Aug-22-2012 at 8:20am. Reason: grammar

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    String-Bending Heretic mandocrucian's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    The question is.....are you already playing a (fretted) stringed instrument? Guitar, banjo, etc.

    if not......and you would be starting from scratch with both hands: In the numerous "Left-handers" threads on the Cafe (do a search - upper right hand corner of the screen), the usual response is that "both hands are involved with playing" and the lefty is advised to play right-handed (usually coming from right-handers). Well, if it doesn't matter if lefties play righthanded instruments, I'll throw that right back at them with "If that's the case, it shouldn't matter if a righty (with a damaged hand) plays lefty."

    If you were 20-30 years younger, I'd say, play LHed if you want the full use of all four fretting fingers. However, you don't have all those extra years of playing ahead of you where would be using the pinky to full advantage. So you may only ever reach a level where you can get around just as well with three fingers instead of four, and the question is beside the point.

    However, if you decide you want to play rhythm guitar, if you learn mando LHed, then you'd have the fretting coordination in the LH, and you would be able to play guitar chords using all four fingers, and that would be an advantage even if you don't have any aspirations to be an advanced picker.

    NH

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    Registered User Pete Summers's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Playing without using the pinky finger is standard procedure for many, many old-time fiddlers, including some great ones. They typically slide the third finger up the fingerboard for those notes that the pinky might be used to play (such as C and D on the E string, for example).

    However, learning to use the pinky can be very useful, especially if you intend to play up the neck. Most people can't move the little finger independently of the ring finger without considerable practice. That's pretty normal, I think. So maybe if you did some exercises for the 4th finger and practice a couple of tunes with an easy stretch for it, you might gain more control as you progress.

    I wouldn't see it as a make or break issue though. The pinky is certainly useful, but not absolutely necessary, especially if you play folk styles.

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    Registered User sunburst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    We all have limited dexterity to one degree or another. Nobody has perfect and limitless movement of their hands so we learn to work with what we have, be it missing fingers, of digits the likes of Chris Thile. Go for it! You can get as good as you want to!

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    Registered User Zipperclub's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Thanks for all the help ya'll.
    "An idle mind is the Devil's playground"

  10. #10

    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    I'm right there with you, Zip. I play with a pinky that bends completely weird and I can't reach the good big chop chords and have to slide up the neck to reach the 7th fret. So I find ways around it and chop on the lower 3 strings, slide up the neck, etc. John Moore once told me that if I was a horse, they'd shoot me, but since I'm a mandolin player, I get to adapt instead. Works for me!

  11. #11
    Gone Fishing Tiderider's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Quote Originally Posted by mandocrucian View Post
    The question is.....are you already playing a (fretted) stringed instrument? Guitar, banjo, etc.

    if not......and you would be starting from scratch with both hands: In the numerous "Left-handers" threads on the Cafe (do a search - upper right hand corner of the screen), the usual response is that "both hands are involved with playing" and the lefty is advised to play right-handed (usually coming from right-handers). Well, if it doesn't matter if lefties play righthanded instruments, I'll throw that right back at them with "If that's the case, it shouldn't matter if a righty (with a damaged hand) plays lefty."

    If you were 20-30 years younger, I'd say, play LHed if you want the full use of all four fretting fingers. However, you don't have all those extra years of playing ahead of you where would be using the pinky to full advantage. So you may only ever reach a level where you can get around just as well with three fingers instead of four, and the question is beside the point.

    However, if you decide you want to play rhythm guitar, if you learn mando LHed, then you'd have the fretting coordination in the LH, and you would be able to play guitar chords using all four fingers, and that would be an advantage even if you don't have any aspirations to be an advanced picker.

    NH
    I agree, if this is your first stringed instrument, start lefty. You'll have less inventory to choose from but your left hand shouldn't be an issue holding a pick.
    Lee Hill

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    Registered User Bill Baldridge's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Quote Originally Posted by sunburst View Post
    We all have limited dexterity to one degree or another. Nobody has perfect and limitless movement of their hands so we learn to work with what we have, be it missing fingers, of digits the likes of Chris Thile. Go for it! You can get as good as you want to!
    I don't think can be said better than this, but I would be happy to be wrong.

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    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Quote Originally Posted by Andy Miller View Post
    Ever hear of Django Reinhardt? He had a couple of fingers on his left hand fused together in a fire as a kid, played more or less with two fingers, and played circles around everyone. You can adapt!
    People bring up Django a lot when it comes to these kinds of issues. Would that we all were Djangos! -- alas, very few of us are. Nevertheless there are good suggestions for you in this string. Best of luck.
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

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    Slow your roll. greg_tsam's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    I don't think it would be as much of a problem as a work around. Three fingers is all most players use. There was a post recently about someone preferring 3 finger chords over the 4 finger variety and they could do both. Personal preference.
    Breedlove Quartz FF with K&K Twin - Weber Big Horn - Fender FM62SCE
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    Whether you slow your roll or mash on it, enjoy the ride.

  15. #15
    Registered User Zipperclub's Avatar
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    Default Re: Question on playing with limited dexterity

    Thank ya'll

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