Playing while disabled!

[dminer]

I'm sure at least a few of you have had to play in a handicapped situation. Here's my new dilema: I fell through the sheetrock ceiling at a job recently and broke my heel Well, a trip to the emergency room and a couple of outpatient visits later and I'm told I'll be back on my foot again in THREE MONTHS. It is a slow gig time for us and we only have a couple of dates on the books so far and I should be up and walking by the start of the festival season. However, my left foot is in a boot and I can't put any weight on it until probably march/april, which means I'm going to have to sit and play at gigs, practice and in the studio.

Now, the band's been great and they've all volunteered to move my gear, set up my chair ect. I can still drive (it was my left heel) but it sure is going to be wierd sitting down during three or four sets of Rock R&B and Blues

The only other time I had to play while injured was years ago when I was a cook and sliced open the palm side of my index finger the day of a gig...lots of wraping and some duct tape got me through that one but this is just gonna be so strange sitting the entire night...I've had a couple of acoustic gigs over the years where it was stools and coffee house time but that was elective, not mandatory...and of course I've played with the flu/crup/cold/cough an several occasions.

Anyway, I'm not looking for sympathy here and I know that I am very fortunate that my injury wasn't worse (my hands, head, groin ect.) or even fatal (15' drop onto a marble floor) But I would like to hear some of my fellow TBer's war stories. Thanks

[onosson]

Our singer/guitarist took advantage of gigging in a city where his dad's friend lived ... his dad's friend was a dentist, and he needed his wisdom teeth out. Teeth were extracted during the day, we played a show that night. The combination of painkillers (T3s?) and booze made for an amusing set, but I don't think he remembered much of it afterwards!

[BassBob1]

i played football in highschool. i was the starting linebacker and fullback. At the beginning of the first scrimige of my senior year i broke my left thumb right in two just above the knuckle/joint by your wrist. I had a cast half way down my forearm up to and past to knuckles on the rest of my hand, it also covered my whole thumb. I had the cast on for a month and a half. I cut some of the top of the cast off for better fingering mobility. I basically just had to simplify my basslines. I made due but it sucked. I still go to play football too, they just had to wrap it up in layers of foam so i couldn't use it as a weapon.

[jive1]

I used to play basketball alot, so I got jammed fingers once in a while. My bandmates would get pissed if I played ball the day of a gig, and I showed up with fingers taped.

[Depth_Charge]

I don't know if it counts as an injury but I played a show where I was doubling over in pain, bolting to the mens room after every set, and whincing through the whole performance hoping the pain would just go away.

Turns out I have diverticulosis and was in the middle of a raging infection during the gig. I ended up in hospital and almost needed an emergency bowel resection, and I was only 34 at the time!

[Phalex]

I've played with cut fingers myself.

I used to be in a band with a keyboard player who totaled out an 80's Mustang 5.0 when he T-boned it on his Triumph. He embedded his motorcycle in the door of the car, and flew something like 100 feet through the air. He was a big boy at the time (350# or more) and they said that's what saved his life as he bounced down the pavement before coming to a stop.

He lost most of the hearing in one ear, his large intestine (It was a good idea to stand back when you herd that colostomy bag gurgle), one of his wrists was full of pins and had very limited mobility, he lost a couple inches of bone in one leg, and was confined to a wheelchair when I first met him. (He uses a cane most of the time these days.)

The guy was the best honky tonk piano player that I've ever seen! The one wrist that doesn't bend, doesn't seem to matter at all.

On the plus side, he gets the best parking spots where ever he goes.

He can't ride a bike anymore, but after about 10 years or so he actually fixed his Triumph. Last time I saw him (Maybe 7 years ago) he had it finished and was putting it up for sale.

[Ripley]

I put a drill into the side of my right index finger, years ago. They cut my finger open about 2/3 of the length, to make sure there wasn't serious nerve or tendon damage, then sewed me back up. I tried playing with a pick between my thumb and middle finger, and chewed up the back side of my middle finger on the strings.

Not pleasant and took me off the bass for about three weeks. And it took a long time before I had full feeling back in my index finger.

[s_mcsleazy]

i know its not the same but vid chesnutt

[Richland123]

I have played while very sick, including the swine flu but the two worst disabling situations involved cutting the tip of the middle finger on my right hand off on a Monday. The surgeon sewed it back on with 12 stitches. All I kept asking was how I was going to play my bass. I had band practice on a Wednesday and played gigs on Friday and Saturday. I usually played finger style but had to use a pick but everytime I hit the strings, it hurt badly. I had to sit down to play.

Another issue was I had a very bad hernia and played with it for a couple months and after I had my surgey, I had a large incision with 14 staples in my gut and played 10 days later and it was awful but the show must go on. It took me a while to heal up and gigs were very painful for a couple months.

[thesilence]

I've had three knee surgeries and have played the week after the surgery and the actual injuries, for that matter, every time. I think the hardest part was staying alert while on the vicodin haha

[MakiSupaStar]

I broke my foot and was on crutches for about 4 months. We cancelled all our gigs. The guys in my band didn't want to set up and lug my equipment.

[pstyle]

If you sit on a tall barstool, you'll look more cool and nonchalant than disabled.

[Cycho]

I've lost the use of my left little finger to arthritis. For a while I was getting by by taping it up, but although that made the pain manageable it also made the finger pretty useless. I am in the process of relearning everything with three fingers. This has been easier that I thought and can now play better with three fingers than I could trying to use a taped up little finger. Naturally, I would rather have the use of all my fingers, but I certainly can't give up playing!

[BigOldHarry]

Originally Posted by pstyle

If you sit on a tall barstool, you'll look more cool and nonchalant than disabled.

Been there, done that with a severely sprained ankle...

[Phalex]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

I broke my foot and was on crutches for about 4 months.

I remember that! That was funny!

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

We cancelled all our gigs.

That sucks.

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

The guys in my band didn't want to set up and lug my equipment.

I think I'm in your band.

[jregghead]

I can't complain about anything, because this drummer has it all over me. He broke his back on a cycle and re-learned to drum in a wheelchair.

he uses a combo of acoustic and electronics, with one bass drum pad on each side so he can use either hand to keep the bass going while playing snare, toms, and cymbals. He also uses his pads to recreate cross-snare, some highhat sounds, claps, etc.

Pretty amazing. It's fun to watch it dawn on people what they are watching, because they wouldn't know he can't use his feet by just listening.

The only weakness I can hear is some highhat bits where he can't get the open/close thing going the way he used to do it with his foot. On the other hand, his double bass work is just outrageous now.

[DiabolicLow B]

20 years ago I had a very serious motorcycle accident in which I broke both legs and a vertbrae in my lower back.

I played an outdoor festival a month later in a wheelchair and two leg casts, the guys had to lift me on and off the stage, not to mention trying to go to the bathroom.

We played a 40min set and it was actually quite fun and drew a lot of attention!

[tharv]

I'm currently living with a broken/crushed middle finger on my right hand. I really haven't been able to play (or go to work) for a month now. Doing anything with any of the fingers on that hand hurts like a mother.... And the constant ingestion of pain killers kills the mental focus to say the least.

Thankfully/unfortunately, I'm not currently in a band. I was really hoping to find/start something after the Jan. 1, but I'm still no closer to playing.

This sucks.....

[iamoldschool]

I had bi-lateral hip replacement (I'm only 48), played a gig 2 Saturdays after I got out of the hospital. I didn't say it was easy, but I did it. Funny thing was, the gig was at the very hospital where I had the surgery for a Seniors group. I like to tell everywhere we play now that I am officially, the hippest member of the band.

[Zooberwerx]

Gigged two weeks after a heart attack (2 stents) and one week after an emergency nephrostomy. What doesn't kill me only serves to screw me up royally for a long time.

Riis