gearbasher Posted September 18, 2008 Share Posted September 18, 2008 I just had the worst bicycling accident of my life. Three of us were taken down at 25-30MPH. The other two riders walked away with road rash. Me, 2 days in ICU, 8 total in the hospital. Here's the shopping list: collapsed lung, busted collar bone, 10 fractured ribs. 3 fractured (chipped) vertebrae. All is healing painfully well, except for the clavicle. It will need 6 weeks on it's own or up to 6 months if surgery is required. So, no guitar for that amount of time. Question is: What is the longest amount of time you were not able to play your guitar? And to answer the question that will be asked. Yes, I will ride again. I already did a pelvis and a hip, and that didn't stop me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnt Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I just had the worst bicycling accident of my life. Three of us were taken down at 25-30MPH. The other two riders walked away with road rash. Me' date=' 2 days in ICU, 8 total in the hospital. Here's the shopping list: collapsed lung, busted collar bone, 10 fractured ribs. 3 fractured (chipped) vertebrae. All is healing painfully well, except for the clavicle. It will need 6 weeks on it's own or up to 6 months if surgery is required. So, no guitar for that amount of time. Question is: What is the longest amount of time you were not able to play your guitar? And to answer the question that will be asked. Yes, I will ride again. I already did a pelvis and a hip, and that didn't stop me.[/quote'] Hells bells mate that's a bummer! Thought you'd been quiet (LOL). What hit you? Not that it matters a lot I suppose. Seriuosly I wish you a fast and speedy recovery, do as the doc says and let your body heal naturally, standing on the garage roof playing "Les Bicyclette de Besize" won't speed it up mate. For different reasons I haven't toiuched a guitar for three weeks and its our wedding anniversary this weekend so hopefully I won't get much time for practice then either ( Nudge, nudge) Get well real soon Best regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Gearbasher, I think you are taking your name a little too literally. Hope your recovery is a fast one and remember the guitars will be waiting for your return. "Yeah, but you should have seen the state of the other bloke!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Johnt - please mate, it's:- Les Bicyclettes de Belsize BeLsize (and plural bicycles....) I should know - my teen years were spent in that very location, Belsize Park. And gearbasher - that is a long time without guitar, a long time. I did five or six weeks once with a broken arm out in the middle-east and in the end got a friend to saw it off just so that I could play because I was going crazy. Hope you get playing a soon as possible. Sympathy to you..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Space Pup Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Sorry to hear about the accident. I hope you get well soon. In answer to your question. When I turned thirty I made the decision to stop playing in bands and work for a living. I figured that if I hadn't made it by the time I was thirty it wasn't going to happen so I had better find a good job with some benefits. I got rid of everything but one guitar and that sat under by bed for about three or four years before I started playing again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertjohn Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Question is: What is the longest amount of time you were not able to play your guitar? I started playing in 1977 when I was 15. Played in a few bands until I graduated from University in 1984. I had 2 Yamaha guitars, an electric and a 12er acoustic. The electric went into my parents loft and the acoustic to my brother - can't remember why. I didn't play a note again until 2001 and that was because my dad wanted to take the electric to the local tip so I went over and recovered it. I then got thinking and rescued the 12er which needed some repair and was recommended to Robbie Gladwell aka Dr Robert with whom I now gig and have lessons. Changed my life forever! So the answer is 17 years! (Granted not through injury, but mere neglect!) I'd be quite good now if I'd kept at it. Never mind, I love learning. Get well soon GB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 get well soon, GB. i didn't play for a couple of years (in my 20's) but that was because it was crossroads time for me, metaphysically. i thought guitar was a distraction from 'real life', whatever that is and i put it down to concentrate on a 'real' career. im 42 now. still waiting. lol! anyway, i sympathize with your situation. i can tell how bad you'd like to play. glad to hear you're on the mend and hope you can pick it up soon. the longest i've been unable, like yourself, to play would be the 8 hours i'm asleep every night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWilson Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Sorry about your mishap, Gerabasher. That sounds like no fun at all and I wish you a speedy recovery. I broke my hand in college karate chopping a cue ball and had a cast on for 8 weeks. (Yes, beer was involved and a wager).In the early 2000's I just drifted away from it and didn't play for about 3 years. No real reason, just wasn't fun as I had lost contact with people I had played and learned from and basically just got sick of myself and my lack of anything new to play. I mostly play for myself (No, Johnt, not "with") so if I don't like it, that's a bad thing. Anyway, get well soon. PS-Nik, sorry to hear you had to have your arm sawed off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 oooops - that came out wrong. I persuaded them to saw the CAST off. Not my arm, thankfully. The arabs out in the desert re-set it (three times) before they could vac me to a hospital. There, it was put in plaster by some of 'my' locals, but really badly - everything set fine, just with kinks in it (I quickly got to kick enough a$$ to get to see the x-ray shots, and went ballistic at the jerks who put the cast on for not checking it first - but it was too late - well, no it wasn't, but no way could I face another re-set). All said and done though, when I read gearbasher's list of injuries, I got off lightly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannusguy Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 get well soon, GB. can i assume you were wearing a helmet? man, that's rough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jefleppard Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 did you say "put me back on my bike" to the medics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vourot Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I hope you heal up fast, thats quite an ordeal you are going through. As far as guitar playing goes I seem to be a streaky type. I go weeks playing everyday and then can go weeks without even thinking about guitars. It gets kickstarted again when I hear a song that I want to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nid2007 Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 get well soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesLawrence Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I wish for a speedy and full recovery for you, GearBasher. My guitar hiatus lasted over 40 years. A sailor friend of my Uncle picked one up in some port for $10 and gave it to me when I was 11 years old. I played that till I got a better one in college. One of my first paychecks was used to buy a Martin. Then I put it aside and eventually gave it to my son. Last year (after 40 years) , I picked up a used Seagull and started taking lessons. When it became apparent that I enjoyed it enough to stick with it, I bought my Sheryl Crow. Hope to keep on playing until I can't hold it any longer. Cheers, Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooseguy Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Gearbasher: I wish you a speedy & complete recovery. No playing for a while will probably make you a Les Paul when you do resume. Why? Because you will have forgotten all your bad guitar habits due to your present great distractions. Imagine starting over with only the hottest licks at your fingertips! Now I'lle wake up, quit dreaming and hit the usual klinkers. GET WELL SOON. Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooseguy Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Gearbasher: I wish you a speedy & complete recovery. No playing for a while will probably make you a Les Paul when you do resume. Why? Because you will have forgotten all your bad guitar habits due to your present great distractions. Imagine starting over with only the hottest licks at your fingertips! Now I'lle wake up, quit dreaming and hit the usual klinkers. GET WELL SOON. Moose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosewoody Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Mooseguy may be right: "No playing for a while will probably make you a Les Paul when you do resume" I think Les was involved in a bad accident and was unable to play for a long time. Drove him nuts. Came back stronger than ever. Jeff Beck was laid up for a while too. It may cause you to be better than before, right? Best of luck, Gearbasher. I have laid a bike down more than once, and it sucks. First question is usually "how's the bike," but it sounds like you were in a really serious mashup and I feel for you. Here's hoping for a quick rebound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 . . Lester Polfus actually had his badly damaged arm set at a slight angle so that he could play guitar - if they had set it 'straight' his playing would have been very limited. Hopefully gearbasher will not be permanently set into a 'pose'..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearbasher Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 Thanks for the well wishes. And to answer a few questions No, I didn't say: "Put me back on the bike." I couldn't breath. I haven't seen the bike, yet. We were a group of about 40 and one of the guys has it. He says it's ok. Finally, sad to say, if the shoulder needs to be "set to position" it will be cycling position. I think I can get my Martin backpacker under the arm. But, finger-picking is all I'll be able to do. I might try in a day or two. I suck at finger-picking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermionik Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 . Everybody on here is wishing you well gearbasher, and I would bet a dollar to a nickel that quite a few of us are thinking 'there, but for the grace of God, go I.....' Keep us updated as you progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Tough Break man. (Sorry!) Be glad you didn't damage your left hand. Broke my ring finger 3 years ago. Took a lot of therapy to get the complete range of motion back. Had bent it all the ways backwards. The way to look at it - I think - is to take the time to reflect on how much you appreciate being able to play. More positive thinking than negative - or thinking about the past or future with regret or fear. G'luck! Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Hope you make a quick recovery Bro. My longest guitar exile was self-imposed rather than caused by injury or illness. Back in the early 1980s, I just got to a point where I did not want to play and put the one guitar I did not sell under the bed for a couple of years. But ya hear those stories - Django, lying in a hospital bed with his hand and side horribly burned and while doctors debating whether to amputate his leg or not asked for someone to bring him a banjo so he could play. Or Les Paul, after suffering a broken arm, having it set in a position so he could still play. Not sure if stories like these are inspiring or just downright depressing for us mere mortals. I have played with raging fevers and a fractured left wrist (I ended up played slide for a bunch of gigs) but nothing really too serious. Anyway, hoping you get back on your feet fully as soon as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawkeyenfo Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Ouch!!!! Hang in there, the good news is that you WILL recover! Had my share of bike crashes but nothing like yours. For me the playing has been hot and cold over the years....probably the longest I've gone without playing is about a year and half. Didn't miss it ....just stopped playing for a while. Good luck in your recovery!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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