Geezer Hands & Guitar Specs

[zombywoof]

Guess I just need to vent a bit.  Over the past couple of years arthritis has been slowly taking its toll on my  hands making it increasingly a challenge to play certain guitars I absolutely love.  Initially I dealt with it by changing the way I approached a guitar.  If this finger did not do what it once was did use one which will.  But that ain't working as well as it once did.  While the warm summer weather brings some relief pretty much from December into late-March or early-April the only guitars I find myself turning to are my 1920 L3 and 1932 L1 Gibsons and the 2013 Fairbanks F30 Smeck.  As my right hand is bearing the brunt of the onslaught what these guitars  have in common is a more generous  string spacing at the bridge. While the Gibson specs are not as definite as they could be the spacing on the L3 clocks in at 2 5/16" while the L1 and Fairbanks have a 2 3/8" spread.  Even though my left hand fares better I find the L3 with its 1 13/16" nut the most comfy of the three.  Luckily I like the lo-fi scratchy 78 RPM sound.

Knowing I cannot be the only one out there with old fart ailments, I am wondering how you guys deal with it.  One guy whom I play music with keeps telling me I had better learn how to use a flatpick.  Not exactly what I want to hear.  

[jedzep]

I thought you went both ways Z, and like you, age and (maybe) frail strained tendons have caused me to adapt to the guitars that don't cause that electric-like shot I get below my three fret hand middle fingers when I have to contort into certain chords and fills.  Big difference is I'm all flat pick, and though I try and work in some fingerstyle to keep options open, all the songs I like to play are in that mode.  I would be dismayed if my picking hand was the problem, as mostly the fret hand struggles first.   Bought a lap slide and tone bar for the bad days.

I know the drill with traditional medicine and arthritis, but I have a Tibetan friend who works with acupuncture/pressure and herbal/CBD cremes to amazingly good results.  Maybe sign on to something like that to see if it loosens you up.

Or this...

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by jedzep

[QuestionMark]

Recently I’ve been reducing  the gauge on the string set I use to reduce an occasional fingertip stress feeling on my left hand fingers, which has seemed to help so far.  I’m now in the era of whatever makes it easier to play is what I’m doing.  The heck with no pain no gain. With the reduced gauge, it’s feeling great to play and I’m amazed how good it actually sounds with lower gauge strings.  Who’d have thought.  (Maybe they’re made better than they used to be years ago?). 

I’m a melody finger picker with a plastic thumb pick and three plastic finger picks on my right hand…something I’ve been doing in one form or another for years and years since I was 9-10 years old.  So far so good although I have been trying to remember to do some warm up exercises before playing.  Something I never even thought to do previously.

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff 

 

[zombywoof]

26 minutes ago, QuestionMark said:

Recently I’ve been reducing  the gauge on the string set I use to reduce an occasional fingertip stress feeling on my left hand fingers, which has seemed to help so far.  I’m now in the era of whatever makes it easier to play is what I’m doing.  The heck with no pain no gain. With the reduced gauge, it’s feeling great to play and I’m amazed how good it actually sounds with lower gauge strings.  Who’d have thought.  (Maybe they’re made better than they used to be years ago?). 

I’m a melody finger picker with a plastic thumb pick and three plastic finger picks on my right hand…something I’ve been doing in one form or another for years and years since I was 9-10 years old.  So far so good although I have been trying to remember to do some warm up exercises before playing.  Something I never even thought to do previously.

QM aka “Jazzman” Jeff 

 

Again, it is not as much my left hand as my right.  So string gauge does not come into play as much although I have been thinking I should still go with a lighter gauge anyway.   When it comes to playing though I rely on my middle finger with only sparing use of the first and third.   It has, however, forced me to try and make peace with fingerpicks.  Those which seem to work the best for me are the ProPik Fingertones where the tip of the finger remains exposed.  With regard to plastic fingerpicks those made by Kalena hold out some promise.  They are similar to Alaska picks but with sturdier tangs.  I bought some and feel if I trim the tips just right they might work out.  Getting comfortable with thumb picks though has been a long hard pull.

[jricc]

Sorry to hear this zombywoof.  Hope you can figure out how to deal with it...

[Gasman]

I understand what you are saying Zombywoof.  For the last year or so I am having troubles just holding on to a pick - mainly because of nerve damage in my right hand. 

Hang in their - Hope things get better.

[tpbiii]

Well I am old -- my picking style has been in transition for 60+ years -- it still is, and it still seems to be improving.  I am always trying to find tricks where I can use old styles in new ways.

I am a sound nut, and I love songs to sound different.   I have a lot different guitars and a lot of necks -- also banjos.  My favorite style is bluegrass when I can find it -- the loss of my singing, bass playing wife and covid has mostly stopped the band. 

I seem to have an odd skill.  I seem to be able to play almost any guitar equally well (badly).  Because for 50 years we seldom perfected a particular song/guitar/rhythm/key/harmony, but loved variety.  As most of you know, I have 200+ vintage instruments and that tonal palette is beyond ethereal.  Whenever I pick one up and start to play, I am immediately frustrated -- I make mistakes.  But after a couple of songs, my right brain click in and I never think about it until I change instruments.  It is both an impediment and a skill -- I never planned it that way.

The other odd thing is all my guitar styles have suddenly merged.  I tried this unsuccessfully for 40 years, but now it works.  The separate styles that provided existing skills were bare finger picking, alternating thumb ragtime,  Scruggs style banjo, and clawhammer.  The fingerboards are related so the melody, scales, and chord positions in ways that are close enough.  I use a heavy bumble bee thumb pick and Pearse metal finger picks.  Same exact set up fr guitar and bluegrass banjo.  The breakthrough came when I allowed my palm to lightly touch the bridge as a reference.   Then I could grip the thumb pick exactly like a flat pick and curl the finger picks out of the way, and all that flat picking rhythm and lead just came along,  I can cross pick with the thumb pick or use triplets like the banjo, which actually is faster. 

Now what I can;t do is grab a guitar and stars showing off -- I guess you would say I have to warm up to hit the notes cleanly. 

Best,

-Tom

[Murph]

I've always been a flatpicker. Have used fingers from time to time, certain songs, certain recordings, but 99% flatpick a guitar.

When I picked up a banjo, I struggled with a thumbpick staying on, and the 2 fingerpicks hurt/bothered/annoyed me. After getting the resonator, that stuff has improved, and now I mostly clawhammer the banjo.

Mandolin is obviously flatpicked with the rounder picks.

I did construction and demolition work for a few decades, and also some logging / tree cutting in my youth. Labor jobs that required beating up my hands, sometimes with my own hammer. The results were strong, calloused hands and a high tolerance to pain. I've been blessed to not have had much issue with the big A as of yet and can still play about anything I attempt. I still build, tinker, smash and grab things I shouldn't, but I know my day's coming.

 

[j45nick]

6 hours ago, tpbiii said:

Well I am old -- my picking style has been in transition for 60+ years -- it still is, and it still seems to be improving.  I am always trying to find tricks where I can use old styles in new ways.

I am a sound nut, and I love songs to sound different.   I have a lot different guitars and a lot of necks -- also banjos.  My favorite style is bluegrass when I can find it -- the loss of my singing, bass playing wife and covid has mostly stopped the band. 

I seem to have an odd skill.  I seem to be able to play almost any guitar equally well (badly).  Because for 50 years we seldom perfected a particular song/guitar/rhythm/key/harmony, but loved variety.  As most of you know, I have 200+ vintage instruments and that tonal palette is beyond ethereal.  Whenever I pick one up and start to play, I am immediately frustrated -- I make mistakes.  But after a couple of songs, my right brain click in and I never think about it until I change instruments.  It is both an impediment and a skill -- I never planned it that way.

The other odd thing is all my guitar styles have suddenly merged.  I tried this unsuccessfully for 40 years, but now it works.  The separate styles that provided existing skills were bare finger picking, alternating thumb ragtime,  Scruggs style banjo, and clawhammer.  The fingerboards are related so the melody, scales, and chord positions in ways that are close enough.  I use a heavy bumble bee thumb pick and Pearse metal finger picks.  Same exact set up fr guitar and bluegrass banjo.  The breakthrough came when I allowed my palm to lightly touch the bridge as a reference.   Then I could grip the thumb pick exactly like a flat pick and curl the finger picks out of the way, and all that flat picking rhythm and lead just came along,  I can cross pick with the thumb pick or use triplets like the banjo, which actually is faster. 

Now what I can;t do is grab a guitar and stars showing off -- I guess you would say I have to warm up to hit the notes cleanly. 

Best,

-Tom

Tom,

Thanks for this. It was really informative and helps explain some things I am discovering about my own playing these days. Some things have to be flat-picked. Others cry out for fingerpicking. In between, there is a huge area where I can play the same songs either flat-picking or fingerpicking, with an oddly similar feel and sound.

[CAMELEYE]

I find CBD ointment, an Advil and some pre-playing exercises necessary before I play anything these days.

[zombywoof]

7 hours ago, tpbiii said:

Well I am old -- my picking style has been in transition for 60+ years -- it still is, and it still seems to be improving.  I am always trying to find tricks where I can use old styles in new ways.

I am a sound nut, and I love songs to sound different.   I have a lot different guitars and a lot of necks -- also banjos.  My favorite style is bluegrass when I can find it -- the loss of my singing, bass playing wife and covid has mostly stopped the band. 

I seem to have an odd skill.  I seem to be able to play almost any guitar equally well (badly).  Because for 50 years we seldom perfected a particular song/guitar/rhythm/key/harmony, but loved variety.  As most of you know, I have 200+ vintage instruments and that tonal palette is beyond ethereal.  Whenever I pick one up and start to play, I am immediately frustrated -- I make mistakes.  But after a couple of songs, my right brain click in and I never think about it until I change instruments.  It is both an impediment and a skill -- I never planned it that way.

The other odd thing is all my guitar styles have suddenly merged.  I tried this unsuccessfully for 40 years, but now it works.  The separate styles that provided existing skills were bare finger picking, alternating thumb ragtime,  Scruggs style banjo, and clawhammer.  The fingerboards are related so the melody, scales, and chord positions in ways that are close enough.  I use a heavy bumble bee thumb pick and Pearse metal finger picks.  Same exact set up fr guitar and bluegrass banjo.  The breakthrough came when I allowed my palm to lightly touch the bridge as a reference.   Then I could grip the thumb pick exactly like a flat pick and curl the finger picks out of the way, and all that flat picking rhythm and lead just came along,  I can cross pick with the thumb pick or use triplets like the banjo, which actually is faster. 

Now what I can;t do is grab a guitar and stars showing off -- I guess you would say I have to warm up to hit the notes cleanly. 

Best,

-Tom

More than interesting thoughts here.  Like most of us I have preferences when it comes to specs but that does not mean I cannot or do not play guitars which do not meet them.  As I said, it is the cold weather which brings what ails me on with a vengeance forcing me to put aside certain guitars while going with others.    As long as it remains seasonal I will be able to muddle through which has kind of become my motto for everything lately. 

My style really has not changed a whole lot.   I played with my bare fingers because I like the control.  And I continually fall back on the same old "tricks" I picked up along the way such as playing D7 with F# in the bass, Blind Blake-esque thumb slips, reverse hammer-ons, or tossing in some jazz junk by running two diminished chords betwixt 7th chords played up or down the neck.  It is my approach which I have had to change.  Kind of a you tell the doctor "it hurts when I do this" and they respond "then don't do that" thing.  This is one of the reasons I do find solace in listening to guys like Rev. Gary Davis.  He could get anything across using only his thumb and index finger.  At the moment I am simply substituting my middle finger for the 1st.

[zombywoof]

36 minutes ago, CAMELEYE said:

I find CBD ointment, an Advil and some pre-playing exercises necessary before I play anything these days.

I use that Voltaren cream.  What I have found helps is knowing the winter months are coming I start wearing a compression glove.  Kind of a Michael Jackson look.  It does seem to keep the swelling down though.  Lawdy, I am starting to sound like my grandfather who would sit there and regale us with stories of what homemade remedy he was using for this or that.  I do admit I have heard worse ideas than having a shot vodka every morning upon waking up.

Edited May 16, 2022 by zombywoof

[MissouriPicker]

I do have some arthritis in my hands (fingers and wrists).  They seem to bother me when I’m not playing guitar.  Don’t notice it while I play.   Doesn’t seem to affect my fingerpicking much, but how would I know if I wasn’t playing well…..lolololol……Anyway, I get a tiny bit of swelling and stiffness on both ring fingers.  I use Voltaire’s and it helps.  In all sincerity, “I’ve got to play,” so I’ll push through it so long as I can move my fingers.  It’s not bad, but it’s there now, and it wasn’t a few years ago.

[4beagles]

I can tell you that sometimes there is no substitute for surgery- which I put off for years......it's the base of the thumb joint where there was really bad arthritis and no cartilage left............and made fretting with my left hand painful. I took the plunge about a year ago and could not be more pleased- but 6 months recovery was long and not playing drove me batty..............now back and gigging with no pain...........so depending  on what you have consult with a hand surgeon if necessary.....

 

[Dave F]

1 hour ago, 4beagles said:

I can tell you that sometimes there is no substitute for surgery- which I put off for years......it's the base of the thumb joint where there was really bad arthritis and no cartilage left............and made fretting with my left hand painful. I took the plunge about a year ago and could not be more pleased- but 6 months recovery was long and not playing drove me batty..............now back and gigging with no pain...........so depending  on what you have consult with a hand surgeon if necessary.....

 

Ditto on the surgery. 
I had a trigger finger on my right hand that was making everything difficult. Had it fixed last fall and couldn’t be happier. 

[tpbiii]

I did have double surgery on my left arm to correct numbness in two different sets of fingers on the left hand -- carpel tunnel and moved a nerve in the elbow.  I had to play a festival a week later, and I just played harmonica -- that was fun too, but not a real replacement in any sense.

 

Best,

-Tom