The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 01-04-2020, 11:45 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Twin Cities
Posts: 8,083
Default Arthritic hands

Another thread mentioned having to play typical chords somewhat differently due to arthritic hands. Many of us are getting into that stage of life (some might say "ageing"... :0 ), and might need (or want) to consider changing our approach to playing guitar in addition to getting smaller instruments.

Here is a recommendation that I am finding allows me to continue to play solo fingerstyle, and might be helpful to some of you. There is a player on youtube, Lex Von Sumayo, who does arrangements of standards, pop tunes, and some beautiful Filipino folk tunes. He has a lot of Beatles and top 40 from "our era".

You can check him out on youtube, as well as at his site. He offers notation/TAB of nearly (if not everything) he plays on youtube, though his videos provide a clear view of his fretting hand, so you can certainly learn from the videos.

What he does that would be of interest here is to use a capo so that all of his arrangements are easy to play, using mostly "cowboy chords", very few barre chords, and no long stretches. Despite this, all of his arrangements carry the original feel of the tune while still being easy to play.

Where we often find that arrangements that are relatively simple and easy to play are also rather disappointingly simple to listen to, I have been enjoying listening to his music in my car. It is relaxing and musically fulfilling. Lex has really accomplished something here.

Though Lex uses a classical guitar, I can easily manage these on my Taylor K14ce, with its 1 3/4" nut and 2 3/16" saddle spacing. Using this guitar and the capo, the resulting string spacing is very comfortable and the stretch from low E to high E is very easy.

Here is a link to his web site:

https://www.lexvonsumayo.com/

Here is a link to his youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/VonLexSumayo

Here is a sample video:



Tony
__________________
“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.”
— Franz Schubert

"Alexa, where's my stuff?"
- Anxiously waiting...

Last edited by tbeltrans; 01-04-2020 at 11:57 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-04-2020, 12:05 PM
Riverwolf Riverwolf is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: OREGON
Posts: 4,274
Default

Thanks!
I am one of those
Both of my pinkies are pretty well useless for anything beyond simple G and B strings stretches.
I will check him out.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-04-2020, 01:02 PM
Mr. Jelly's Avatar
Mr. Jelly Mr. Jelly is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Sioux City, Iowa
Posts: 7,835
Default

Thanks for sharing.
__________________
Waterloo WL-S, K & K mini
Waterloo WL-S Deluxe, K & K mini
Iris OG, 12 fret, slot head, K & K mini

Follow The Yellow Brick Road
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-09-2020, 05:21 AM
offkey offkey is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 856
Default

Thanks for sharing these links. I printed a couple free tabs and have found them simple yet very enjoyable. I am going for the Beatles ebook now. Should be fun!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 01-09-2020, 12:44 PM
DaveKell DaveKell is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Ft. Worth, Texas
Posts: 1,358
Default

I've recently developed pain in the big joint of my fretting hand thumb. Even the weight of the sheet in bed laying on it will awaken me. It's to the point where it makes it difficult to play for very long fretting a guitar. I had an xray of the joint and the diagnosis was clearly evident arthritis. The joint appears to be displaced an eighth of an inch. Nothing can be done about it. Never was interested in playing a dobro but might have to consider it before long. Getting old is no fun but it's a privilege denied to many.
__________________
1972 Yamaha FG200 (shop guitar)
1982 commissioned Kazuo Yairi DY90
2015 Martin HD28 VTS custom shop
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 01-09-2020, 12:48 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Twin Cities
Posts: 8,083
Default

I am glad that folks here are finding Lex Von Sumayo to be worth looking into.

By the way, regarding old, it is said that the problem with getting old is that all the wrong things get stiff. :0

Tony
__________________
“The guitar is a wonderful thing which is understood by few.”
— Franz Schubert

"Alexa, where's my stuff?"
- Anxiously waiting...
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 01-10-2020, 06:34 AM
offkey offkey is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 856
Smile

Quote:
Originally Posted by tbeltrans View Post
I am glad that folks here are finding Lex Von Sumayo to be worth looking into.

By the way, regarding old, it is said that the problem with getting old is that all the wrong things get stiff. :0

Tony
I was whining to my wife that my skin and nails and everything else is getting soft, when I caught myself and corrected, well not everything. And she without missing a beat smiled and said" no you were right the first time".
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 01-10-2020, 03:36 PM
mcmars mcmars is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 553
Default

I am am member of this club, I got diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis and some other forms of "autoimmune hell', as I not so fondly like to think of it. It hit me like a brick wall in 2004 and I had shooting nerve pain radiating through my hand, wrist and arm so bad I gave up guitar for 10 years along with many other things in my life. I sold most my guitars except 2 favorites, my 63 Gibson SJ I bought at age 16 and a Kalamazoo KG 12 Natural I had for a few decades and a gifted luthier friend re-set neck and did a refret. Of all the things that devastated me emotionally and psychologically about the sudden onset of RA, it was that it stole a lifetime of my guitar music from me, and it happened in a split second of time.

But the good part, about 3 years ago, while recovering from a knee replacement surgery, I decided I wanted my music back. I knew I had some time on my hands during recovery and I had worked my way through the various toxic meds for RA to finally graduate to some of the "as seen of TV" biologic meds and might be able to play without the nerve pain being so intense.

I started with a 5 string banjo. I had one years back that was stolen by the dude that made it when he closed his shop and vanished (long story), but I found a nice White Lady copy on Ebay. The banjo was pretty easy really with the low string tension. I love blues and figured out some cool melodic blues tunes while on the couch and ended up parking it in my bed at night near my pillow and away from my dog at my legs. When I would be woken up in pain, I would grab the banjo and play an hour of melodic music instead of going for the opioids as a distraction from my pain. It worked quite well, I think it maybe had to do with how the brain is wired, left/right and the creative vs the more memory side or whatever the call it. I think letting my brain go to the creative side and work on new banjo licks instead of playing a guitar which I was way more versed in, made a big difference in controlling my pain, how interesting!

So moving forward, after a few months of banjo and building hand strength and coordination, I switched to an electric hollow body I got in a pawn shop with a crack in the head stock. $35 for my luthier to do a quick repair and some lacquer spray and I had an great guitar! I got pretty comfy playing the electric and relearned my old repertoire and some new tunes.

Then the challenge to play on acoustic. I figured out short scale guitars made a huge difference and custom lights (11's) helped as well. I had a tough time holding flat picks due to the base of thumb OA pain and more and more just finger picked with bare flesh and nails. I went though some guitars to finally narrow it down to the ergonomics you get on a typical waterloo guitar, the WL-S being my favorite for tone and feel.

About 18 months ago I started messing around with thumb picks as my right wrist would always **** up when trying to get a good alternating or mono bass thump. It seemed only way to get some nail into the string for a good tone was to **** my wrist in a way that was not very comfortable or correct. I thought maybe the solution was to go ot a thumb pick which I always disliked when younger. I started with fred Kelly speed pick, the white one, and after a few months, I found out the orange one was the holy grail of TP's for me. I now play mostly with the thumb pick, some exceptions for different tone and more a frailing style, but the TP did keep my wrist at the correct angle. And it was like having a metronome with thumb and foot picking a and tapping beat while finger could pick a syncopated melody against the beat. How cool!

I have also modified my left hand style, no more full E position barre chords, fingers do not bend that way any more. And even a 1st position F chord without the low E string fretted to 1st fret is almost unbearable with index finger pain, but is doable if I have to and I can also wrap my thumb enough to barely fret the low F. But the big modification is becoming comfortable playing up and down the neck with partial chords and double stops or triads. Drop D is wonderful and various D tuning and G are even better.

I have been working up all kinds of original and personalized covers of my favorite performers, Memphis Minnie being my favorite, and my style has evolved to where I am enjoying guitar more than ever and think my skills are also better than ever. I perform locally, play my blues around town, in my living room, music fest campgrounds and music workshops and have decided that life as a inspiring musician is not about the next gig, it is being able to enjoy the whole process of learning and evolving your style and skills on a day to day basis. If others also enjoy it, great, double bonus, but it the gift of being able to enjoy learning and playing in real time is what is important.

I just got hired for an upcoming gig and have a local stand up bass player who jammed with me last fall joining me. I have hopes of a weekly gig there this year and getting some more at other venues in town, maybe be being able to perform on a regular basis like I did in my youth. But if it does not happen, I will not be losing sleep over it, my music is for me first and gigs for others others next.

so final ending of my story, or perhaps the new beginning, is never give up or fall into the hole of depression due to aging, accident or medical issues. Be realistic, you are not 20 anymore and things change including your health and body. Enjoy every day as a gift of life and be grateful for what you can do, not what you can't. If you cannot play something like you used to be able to, than adapt your style and figure out another way to make it work for you. Life is short and you have to make what you can of your time.

I am healing now with a major foot surgery, 3 pins skewered through 3 toes, 4 weeks out and 2 to go. After this one, maybe other foot in next year?? Part of the deal with RA. I play harmonica and have a dobro coming my way in next few weeks, figure I need some back up if I cannot use my fingers down the road, lol.

I hope me story is not all about me. I hope my story can help inspire others to not give it up. I think of it as when the glass is 99% empty, you better be looking at the 1% of greatness left! I would love to hear how others are dealing with arthritis, injury, medical or aging issues!

Here is a song I got in drug/pain induced dream state 10 years ago while healing a major back fusion surgery. I dreamed I was playing and singing this song at a blues workshop to rest of students. I heard a loud thumping heartbeat bass line and looked down to see myself in my dream playing the song. Woke up and wrote down the words and tweaked them a tad to get this song I like to just sing acapella when I am feeling down:

Autoimmune Blues Acapella in A blues beat

I said, “Doctor! Doctor!” I'm hurting from head to toe
My gut is so swollen, I just don't know where I can go
She says you got dem blues…..
You got the rheuma-fibro-thyroid blues
You got da blues, you got da blues, the rheuma-fibro-thyroid blues

2nd verse
My doctor she gives me a pill, I tell her I'm hurting so bad
She says it's up to me to keep from feeling so so sad
I got dem blues….
I got those rheuma-fibro-thyroid blues
I got da blues, I got da blues, the rheuma-fibro-thyroid blues

3rd verse
My body has attacked me, Docs don't want to care
Feel like I'm going crazy, Just want to rip out all my hair!
I had dem blues….
I had the rheuma fibro thyroid blues
I had dem blues, I had dem blues, I had the rheuma fibro thyroid blues

4th verse
My hands hurt so bad, I think I need a cast
Doc said never give it up, just play each day like it was your last
I feel dem blues….
I feel the rheuma fibro thyroid
I feel the blues, I feel the blues, I feel the rheuma fibro thyroid blues


Last verse
Now when I'm hurting and lonely, and feeling so so bad
I know I gotta be grateful for everything I have
I lost dem blues…...
I lost the rheuma-fibro-thyroid blues
I lost those blues, I lost those blues, I lost those rheuma fibro thyroid blues.
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > PLAY and Write

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:59 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=