The guitar has been a major part of my life since i was 11 i am 47 now.15 months ago I had the weirdest thing happen to me I banged the inside joint of my thumb on the neck of my strat and got a shock like when you bang your elbow, in my thumb.Iknew something was wrong after after a day when every time my thumb touched the neck i felt a shock.I have been diagnosed with a neoroma a small lil tumor entangled with nerves i was told to wait a few months to see if the nerves would die.The longest i ever went without playing was 11 months 8 years ago I'm now at 15 and looking for a top surgeon who understands how important the guitar is to someone who plays.After a few months i would just watch tv and alternate pick open strings now im able to play 3 note per string runs as long as i keep my thumb dead center of the neck but I cant bend a string and am at the point of having a meltdown.If anyone has ever heard of hearing about a neuroma and what they did Id be grateful .All you true players can just imagine what im going through. KEEP ON ROCKING

I'm very sorry to hear that you might have a play ending condition.

I know that I would be quite upset - I don't know anything about the condition that you described, so I can't be of any direct assistance.

All I can do is to send you some mojo and keep you in my thoughts.

Gil

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Ouch... I can picture it exactly... all those little knocks you get in daily life would become unbearable if you knew you were going to get them every single time you touched something...

I wish I knew something about neuroma... I would hope that it's something like a plantar wart -- in that it kills if you step on it the wrong way, then one day it's just gone... but waiting around for nerves to "die" doesn't sound great.

If no remedy presents itself but you can still play after a fashion with your thumb on the back of the neck, you may want to consider learning some of that classical stuff you always meant to one of these days (O.K., that might seem worse than no guitar to you, I don't know). Any time you put into that won't be wasted, I can assure you. Spent a good ten years doing that myself, but I feel you on the string bending... that was what finally made me pick up the electric guitar again; you just cannot wail like that on any other stringed instrument.

Hopefully it won't come to this for you, but you might take heart from players such as Django Reinhardt... lost the use of his left hand, and never regained it in his third and fourth fingers... Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath lost the tips of his first two fingers on his left hand in an accident when he was 17, and had to make thimbles (!) for himself so he was fretting notes with something other than bare bone... gah!

I really hope you can get to the bottom of this thing, though, and regain your rock'n'roll dream... good luck...

sc , bro , hang in there , i was a medic in the USAF but i've never heard of what you have , the doctors will help you get better , keep the faith , the forum bros are with you .

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Dave Mustaine of megdeth suffered radial nerve damage (i think). To the point of paralysis of his left arm and hand. He managed to recover despite a diagnosis of never using it again. It may be worth chasing his methods of physiotherapy or whatever.

All the best to you mate. Best wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery.

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No no and no

Hey man, I like most dont know anything about your condition, and am not a doctor so wont even try to advise on what to do there. Just remember some unbelieveable guitarists have had awful accidents but keep playing:

Tomi Iomi lost the tips of the fingers on his playing hand in a machine accident. He retaught himself to play again and well, look at him now, affectionately known as the father of modern metal.

Les Paul was in a car accident and shattered his left arm, preventing him from playing. the doctors were even considering amputating the arm, but instead Les opted to have the elbow joint seized in place, leaving his arm permanently bent in playing position. this is the man that pretty much invented one of the most iconic guitars ever, a guy that at the age of 80( or close to it) can still tear up the fretboard with jazz virtuosity and energy of a young man.

And of course theres Django Reinhardt. One of the greatest players ever. As a young man from a very poor family who lived in a caravan where his mum used to make flowers from tissue to provide some income, one night he came home and knocked over a candle, and with their small caravan full of flamable flower making material it went up in smoke. Django's left hand had two very badly burned fingers. This sounds awful, but then you see a live video of him playing with only 2 fingers. he has more speed and technique in 2 fingers that 99% of players will ever have in their whole body! Please try to find some live recordings of this man playing, it will give you hope.

I know the conditions expirienced by these players is different to your condition, but the point is that when it looks hopeless, its generally far from it.

Even if the worst came to the worst and you couldnt grasp a guitar neck again, the condition doesnt sound like it would prevent you becomming awesome at slide.

Look for the silver lining, keep the faith, strive for innovative ways to over come this drawback and you will come out the other side better for it.

Best of luck man.

Hey straycat113: from your user name I presume you're a Setzer fan. Awful to have to put those kinda licks aside for the time being, but previous suggestions are good. Learn some classical stuff - or just play your regular with the thumb on the back of the neck. That's no bad discipline in its own right - though obviously not a complete solution.

And the slide suggestion is excellent. Use this enforced opportunity to take up the bottle neck: you may look back on it as a blessing in disguise.

Meantime: hopefully ZZDoc will look in with some insights on the medical side of things. One or two of us happen to have discovered that that gentleman knows his stuff!

Cheers - C

I'm going to send you Major MOJO and add you to my prayers.

I went for about 6 months not being able to play for longer than about 5 minutes at a time before my hands went numb. Mine was caused by one of my meds being to strong, as soon as we figured it out and adjusted the med everything returned to normal.

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

man, that sucks. but if you really love playing, you gotta find a way to soldier through. Mike Gurley of dada has tendonitis in his fretting wrist (i read somewhere it was carpal tunnel, but i think he's calling it tendonitis). anyway, you can imagine what thats like. he has to constantly ice his wrists while backstage to numb the pain. all in all, he still plays like a champ, truly awesome guy and player. hope that inspires you

heck, Beethoven was deaf, Stevie wonder and ray charles were blind, rick allen from def leppard only has one arm since 20 years ago, and jazz guitarist (why cant i remember his name? someone here will) only has 3 fingers on his fretting hand. look where they got

Hi straycat, sorry about your condition and I also will pray for your healing.
In your descripition of the pain would playing lap style (like Jeff Healey) would be less stressful. Iknow its a lame suggestion but its better than not playing .
hopes for a complete recovery

I am sorry and I hope you get better. I will pray for you.

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"IT'S NOT ABOUT LOVING WHAT YOU WANT, IT'S ABOUT LOVING WHAT YOU'VE GOT."= SHERYL CROW

damn i knew i left someone out!

Sorry to hear this, I hope a solution presents itself, you never know.

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Hopefully everything works out for you TS. I couldn't imagine not being able to play anymore, and I've only played for 5 years. If you aren't able to play guitar with your thumb bothering you like that, you might wanna try playing slide guitar if that doesn't hurt.

[quote="straycat113"]

Dr. Scott Wolfe is Chief of Hand Surgery in the Department of Orthopedics at The Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. Google the Hospital and find the link to Hand Surgery and you'll bring up his page. After a look at his bio you might consider consulting him.

Keep us posted.

Doc

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