Disabled left hand

Hey,
Thanks for the message.
I’m not missing any part of me hand or fingers, they just don’t work as they like they should.
The bad one is the first finger, it really doesn’t do much and although I urge it on it just won’t do what it’s told.
But I’ll battle on regardless.
Cheers

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Then the first finger will be your muting finger. Is that a job it can do?

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Nah probably not.
I tend to find it easier to mute with my right hand.
I’m thinking I might sack a video up to show you guys the issue.
You have all been amazingly supportive so if you could see the issue it’ll help you all understand.
I’m not sure if it can be done but it try.

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Hmm, bass players supporting other musicians. What a novel concept.
:laughing:

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That is incredible. Thanks for sharing a piece of the family legacy!

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You can literally play walking bass lines with one finger. Many people do.

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:joy:

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@rory , you’re going to wind up inspiring a lot of people, because you’ll learn to play the bass well despite your (for now) limitation. Go to Google and enter Danny Mo Morris into the search line. He’s a pro bassist and a professor in the bass department at Berklee School of Music. He plays using only one finger on his left hand, and he is an absolute monster. See what you think.

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Hey,

Thank you for the kind words and I certainly hope I will become a real bassisit.
I will have a look at Youtube.
Thank you for the name.
I find stuff like that really eggs my on.

Cheers

Rory

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Sorry @T_dub did not see that . Im not that bad it’s lost the tips bone exposed and stitched back up so a thin layer of skin. Up until 10 days ago my maximum fret time was 3 minutes. I bought a guitar glove and now I can fret for as long as I want. My arthritis also does not feel as inflamed. No differnce in the tone either , I’m well impressed. :slightly_smiling_face: :guitar:

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Wow @Jamietashi, I may try a glove if it helps with arthritis. Wonder if it helps with circulation?

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@T_dub it feels like it. They are similar to the compression socks/stockings you can wear on long haul flights. I wear them to avoid DVT as I sit all day.
One thing follow the measuring guide to the letter.

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I have a damaged left middle finger. The top joint is immobile and I lack sensation in the tip, nerve & tendon damage.

I played bass a little bit when I was a teenager and have wanted to take it up again for years.

This injury is holding me back though. Do you think I can (learn to) play with limited movement and sensation in the fret hand?

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Short answer: yes. If you really want to do it.

I’m right-handed, and I lost the fingertips of my left hand in an industrial accident when I was 16, right before my senior year in high school. For the two years prior to that, I had immersed myself in learning guitar, practicing many hours a day, every day. So, I was devastated after the accident.

A good buddy visited me a few days after my surgery. Seeing I was depressed, he asked how I was doing. I replied, “How do you think I’m doing? All I wanted to do was play guitar, and now I can’t.”

As only a kid can think, he replied with three words that forever changed my life, saying “Have you tried?”

In my funk, I had not considered that to be a possibility. But I reached for my no-name, Asian-made Strat-esque guitar with rusty strings (I was a kid, after all), and I gingerly fretted an E chord with my injured fingers. It hurt like flaming hell, but the chord sounded - not cleanly, but it was there. That marked the day that led to decades of playing guitar, then piano, then sax, then bass.

The point is: Try. Try as much and as hard as you can. If you want to do something enough, you will find a way. Good luck.

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Hi @Sander_Koop and welcome to BassBuzz!

We’ve had people with lots of different injuries and disabilities. You can do it. It’ll be harder for you, but you can do it.

@MikeC Well said, sir. You summed that up beautifully.

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there are videos (some probably in this thread but i’m not going to look) of people playing bass with one fretting finger. josh has done it in a video. is it pastorius, no. but it’s surprising what you can do, and you have way more than one working finger :smile: find what works for you.

edit: btw, tony iommi :love_you_gesture:

Sander, you can do it. My biggest fun factor was when I realized I don’t have to fulfil some imaginary standard. I have to go for it and be myself playing. It’s called playing for a reason. :pbass: :hugs:

Also, feel free to say hi to the forum:

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