Needing guidance, regarding my injured hand

Joined
Jan 18, 2019
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9
Location
Near Nashville TN
I have been learning to play the guitar for a year now and couple months ago I cut through a tendon and nerve on my left pointer finger and I cannot bend the tip and half bending in middle joint of my pointer finger. I also lost quite a bit of feeling. MY QUESTION is would I be able to continue to play the guitar right handed or should I switch to left handed guitar? Appreciate direction in how I should proceed.
 
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That’s how Eddie does it...

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If Eddie and Django can do it, I’m positive you can find something that fits you. There is no wrong way.

Keep us informed of what you try and what works.
 
I agree that with a bit of experimentation you should be able to pick with the right hand. I would certainly go that route versus trying to go lefty which you mentioned in another thread. The bad fingers would be much more problematic on the fretting hand - at least for me.
 
I have two numb fingers on my fretting hand, and it’s better not to have that, so I agree with everyone else. Don’t switch hands, hold the pick differently.

One thing you might try has been done by others - if the pick is difficult to grip, try a thumb pick.
 
Should have mentioned the impact of the bad fingers on fretting. That's what I'm fighting now - certain chords are a struggle when my index finger isn't fully flexible. I can usually get it there, but certain moves are still impacted.
 
After CTRS surgery on my fretting side, I thought about playing slide for the 13-week recovery.

Eventually I just started building back my rusty chops with an LPjr strung with eights.
 
Should have mentioned the impact of the bad fingers on fretting. That's what I'm fighting now - certain chords are a struggle when my index finger isn't fully flexible. I can usually get it there, but certain moves are still impacted.
alantig my injury is on my left fretting pointer finger and loss 25% bending on middle joint and 100% on tip joint. I would either need to play strings with three fingers or go left handed guitar
 
alantig my injury is on my left fretting pointer finger and loss 25% bending on middle joint and 100% on tip joint. I would either need to play strings with three fingers or go left handed guitar

Ok so your fretting finger is affected. You will likely find that trying to swap to left handed is very very difficult. I suggest visiting a shop and trying a lefty guitar. It will give you some idea of the huge adjustment you would be taking on.

I cant give you definitive advice, I dont know how your index finger feels, but consider this. Django was an incredible player who used just 2 fingers to fret with.

I myself have developed osteo arthritis in both thumbs. Playing chords is painful, but if you just keep playing, you find ways of doing things to overcome pain and disabilities. If you play frequently enough, you might not even be aware of the corrections you are making. I suggest you will probably be better off staying with a right handed guitar.

Good luck and check back to tell us how you fare!
 
alantig my injury is on my left fretting pointer finger and loss 25% bending on middle joint and 100% on tip joint. I would either need to play strings with three fingers or go left handed guitar

DOH - totally glossed over that. My bad.

Yep - I feel your pain. My situation isn't as bad as yours, but when it gets bad, there are certain things I can't play.

Swapping to playing lefty would be pretty tough, I'd think. Your brain will know where things are supposed to go, but training your hand to do that will be almost like starting over. On the plus side, since you'd be switching to your dominant hand being your fretting hand, you'd already have a good bit of the strength you'd need.

Dumb question, but there's nothing they can do to help w/the bending? Surgery is no fun (and I'm going to need it for my finger fairly soon), but if it can be fixed, that's probably the best course. I'm assuming you've already looked into that, though.
 
Oh. Fretting hand! Didn’t get that.

If you’ve just started sure, I’d switch to left handed.

If you have been at it a while, I’d likely try to adapt.

Clapton only plays with three fingers, never uses his pinky (well, hardly ever). Not the same I know, but Django only had two, effectively.

Richy Havens retuned his guitar and only used his thumb! Not from injury, just the way he figured out how to play.
 
Oh. Fretting hand! Didn’t get that.

If you’ve just started sure, I’d switch to left handed.

If you have been at it a while, I’d likely try to adapt.

Clapton only plays with three fingers, never uses his pinky (well, hardly ever). Not the same I know, but Django only had two, effectively.

Richy Havens retuned his guitar and only used his thumb! Not from injury, just the way he figured out how to play.

Good idea, Rusty - I didn’t think about altered tuning. drop-D might be a good place to start, or one of the slide tunings. If the OP can use his index finger as a barre, that frees up the other fingers.
 
DOH - totally glossed over that. My bad.

Yep - I feel your pain. My situation isn't as bad as yours, but when it gets bad, there are certain things I can't play.

Swapping to playing lefty would be pretty tough, I'd think. Your brain will know where things are supposed to go, but training your hand to do that will be almost like starting over. On the plus side, since you'd be switching to your dominant hand being your fretting hand, you'd already have a good bit of the strength you'd need.

Dumb question, but there's nothing they can do to help w/the bending? Surgery is no fun (and I'm going to need it for my finger fairly soon), but if it can be fixed, that's probably the best course. I'm assuming you've already looked into that, though.
Alantig I have had the tendon reattached and a cadaver nerve placed in my finger but due to scare tissue the tendon on the tip isn't able to move. Focusing on the positive. I either will need to play with three working fingers or switch to left hand. Good news, I've only played right hand for 10 months. Learning to play guitar online and so new to it, I wouldn't know how to play chords normally used four fingers when I can't use but three? Which 4 string chords would I skip
 
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After CTRS surgery on my fretting side, I thought about playing slide for the 13-week recovery.

Eventually I just started building back my rusty chops with an LPjr strung with eights.
I learned to play slide one Summer when the corner of my left thumb was cut off and I couldn't fret notes for about six weeks.
 
To the OP:

Playing without the use of the index finger on your fretting hand probably could be done but it would require major adjustments and some commonly used chords forms might be impossible. As others have said, certain musicians have made do with worse and become excellent players.

Still, given that you haven't already been playing for years, IMO switching to lefty might be the best option in this case. You'll need to evolve a grip for the pick which works for you but I imagine that will be far less of a handicap than fretting without an index finger.

Just my take on the situation. Good luck man.
 
Barre Chords maybe won't be too much of an issue as you use the index finger across the strings. You may find a way to make it work for you with practice and overcome the problems you have. Fretting single notes may be a problem but you may find it less of an issue than you think. Not being as accurate may help to mute the nearby strings and if you do need to be more accurate, you can always use your middle finger. A lot of single note play can leave the index finger planted and the rest of the fingers are doing a lot of the work - hammers and pull offs, bends, vibrato etc.

I think its a good idea to try a leftie guitar to see how it feels, whether you think you can make it work for you. It could set you back further to and with practice, you could make either way work. If there are Chords that require 4 fingers, you can find a way to make this work - either by finding a barre chord alternative or by being less accurate with the index finger that may mute a string or touch one that has a finger on further up the neck. For example, an open Gmaj with common fingering would have the index finger fretting the A at the second fret but it wouldn't matter if you end up touching the bottom E as the middle finger is fretting on the 3rd fret or if you mute the D as the other 5 strings will still ring out a G chord.

There is no right/wrong option - you can make either way work with practice.
 
I think any chord where you use the index as a barre would be fine. The "cowboy" chords - the ones in the open position - would probably be more problematic.

For me, the chord form that gives me the most problem (usually) is a first position Bb (and taking that form up the neck) - index finger on the first fret first string, middle and ring on the third fret second and third strings. I have trouble curling the finger to get it underneath like that.
 
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