Feeling a little bummed about my playing right now

[Tatosh Guitar]

Ever since my accident a couple years ago, my shoulder hurts at times. Nothing excruciatingly bad, but enough to be more than an annoyance, if that makes sense.


I had been practicing more than usual before that and my playing was getting to a point I was finally starting to feel confortable with it. That went thru the window after my injury, as I had my whole right arm on a cast for over a month and had to start therapy after that.


Ever since I "recovered" I don't really practice the same, but I play to get the itch off. I will play whatever the hell I feel like playing, some riffs, some chords, some leads, and call it a day. And for the most part, I am happy doing that.


The I started thinking I should be playing whole songs, and practice more exercises for speed and dexterity. YouTube is full of all the stuff I want and need.


So I started doing that this weekend, and after about 20 minutes, I got a painful reminder that my shoulder is not what it used to be. At one point, my arm just froze. I felt a cramp from my shoulder to my hand, and had to totally stop.


Normally I can do stuff like pinch harmonics and heavy riffing without breaking a sweat. Yesterday, I couldn't even go thru the entire freaking Smoke on the Water.


So far, It had not being an issue because I was just fooling around to scratch the itch. The moment I got serious, my body just can't take it.


To say I got a little bummed is over simplifying it. I got downright depressed. I took off my guitar, and went to bed. I am probably gonna give my orthopedist a call later today.


Sorry for the long post, but I needed to vent. If any of you guys have gone thru something similar, I would appreciate any suggestions.

[Dr Nick]

So sorry to read this - must be extremely frustrating.

Dare I ask exactly what the injury is?

Can't help myself.

[Tatosh Guitar]

Dr Nick said:


So sorry to read this - must be extremely frustrating.

Dare I ask exactly what the injury is?

Can't help myself.


[/quote]
No worries. I am not entirely familiar with the medical terms, but I basically broke something the place my arm joins the shoulder. I think it's a bone on the shoulder side. I might be able to find the x-ray, actually.


It was a bad fall. I tripped, fell and tried to stop the fall with my right hand. The weight of my body damaged my shoulder, as far as I was told.

[Dinosaur David B]

FWIW, and I've had 4 shoulder surgeries over the last 20 years - (2 on each shoulder), if it's still bothering you, it's probably not a bone issue. Bones heal relatively quickly and relatively well. Not that it can't bother you later, but it sounds like you did some soft tissue damage too. Those things heal slowly, and not particularly well.


When conditions permit, you might want to revisit what's going on in there. Get an MRI and and perhaps try some PT. I'm not a big fan of PT, but I'm forced to admit that after my last surgery (a year ago), the PT was the ONLY thing that got me back to where I could sleep comfortably on that side of my body.


You could also try cortisone shots. I LOVE those, but it's usually a short term band-aid.


On the playing side, I can tell you Andy Gavin has (shoulder or back) issues where he can't wear a guitar on a strap. He plays pretty much exclusively seated, without a strap. And I need my guitars to be on the lighter weight side, and even so, be mindful of taking breaks.

[eduardoritos]

Look at one of Vai's last videos. He seems to be injuried on the right arm, so he plays left hand legato only.


You can use this hard time to work on not so hard but interesting things like vibrato, slide up and down (bottleneck style), bendings... It's less hard to your pain, but very usefull.

[merlo_zeppelin]

I feel you Tatosh, I had a nasty wirst problem almost 4 years ago that still comes back to haunt me from time to time.

I comoletely understand your depression but it's important to avoid falling in it, and be proactive in the search of solutions. Like me, you sound like a guy who really loves to play, and you won't be happy if you're not able to do it, so there's lots of things you can do to try to fix the problem. Don't just try to power through it and play the way you used to, that's only going to lead to more frustration.

Try to seek out health professionals that work with musicians especially, so you can find a type of physical therapy that works for you. You could also try to find other guitar players who were injured, maybe even someone with an injury similar to yours. You're probably gonna have to re work your technique and re learn some things, you can see it as an opportunity to grow and improve as a player. I had to develop a much softer touch, it was hard, but very beneficial.

I'm sure your situation will improve, just hang in there.

[Tatosh Guitar]

Thank you all for the comments and support. Yeah, I did PT back then, but it's been over a year I set foot on a facility (due to the pandemic and the fact I got laid off, so no medical coverage now) but I need to do something about that or I will regress, I am afraid.



Dinosaur David B said:


FWIW, and I've had 4 shoulder surgeries over the last 20 years - (2 on each shoulder), if it's still bothering you, it's probably not a bone issue. Bones heal relatively quickly and relatively well. Not that it can't bother you later, but it sounds like you did some soft tissue damage too. Those things heal slowly, and not particularly well.


When conditions permit, you might want to revisit what's going on in there. Get an MRI and and perhaps try some PT. I'm not a big fan of PT, but I'm forced to admit that after my last surgery (a year ago), the PT was the ONLY thing that got me back to where I could sleep comfortably on that side of my body.


You could also try cortisone shots. I LOVE those, but it's usually a short term band-aid.


On the playing side, I can tell you Andy Gavin has (shoulder or back) issues where he can't wear a guitar on a strap. He plays pretty much exclusively seated, without a strap. And I need my guitars to be on the lighter weight side, and even so, be mindful of taking breaks.







[/quote]
I think you are spot on. I was actually told that something didn't heal right, but my Dr didn't recommend surgery (too ugly a scar and too small a gain, he sorta said). I know something didn't heal right. I can feel it. I slept on that side last night and I can feel it now, so yeah, as I wrote above, I will have to return to PT of some sort.


Thanks for the suggestions.

[Tatosh Guitar]

eduardoritos said:


Look at one of Vai's last videos. He seems to be injuried on the right arm, so he plays left hand legato only.


You can use this hard time to work on not so hard but interesting things like vibrato, slide up and down (bottleneck style), bendings... It's less hard to your pain, but very usefull.




[/quote]
That video is sick. SICK. That guy is a monster.


I am not a good legato player. Never have been. I used to take pride my right arm, cause runs like Gary's were much more my style, specially once I got the alternate picking thing going. Guess it doesn't hurt to try to work on my legato and those sort of things now.

[Dinosaur David B]

Get a cortisone shot. That may really help. Even if only to calm things down so you can do the PT without aggravating things further. You could get 4-6 months relief from that if they give you a nice strong dose -- like 40mg.


Also what the MD told you was very vague. Get an MRI (and perhaps a 2nd opinion). Find out what the real problem is. You could have rotator cuff tears, labrum tears, acromion issues. All of these can be cleaned up pretty easily with arthroscopic surgery. Getting your shoulder scoped isn't a big deal. It's usually outpatient surgery. Followed by some PT.

[merlo_zeppelin]

Dinosaur David B said:


Get a cortisone shot.



[/quote]
I had a nasty allergic reaction to one of those. And it was a small dose of cortisone. Please check with your doctor first