Bugger! (cooking and fingerpicking = bad idea)

Tannin · September 2023

Well OK, I wasn't really cooking. Not proper cooking.

I was just slicing a tomato and the knife was dull so I sharpened it ... and somehow managed to cut a short, deep gash into the tip of my right index finger.

I can still play, using thumb, middle, and ring fingers, but it's just not the same. It is surprisingly easy to more-or-less play most of the stuff I do with the wrong fingers, but it is unsatisfying, like sex with a condom. With a missing finger, my playing lacks creativity (I'm working hard to reproduce stull I can already do on auto-pilot and not thinking about creative enhancements) and some things really don't work, especially things where I pluck 3 or 4 strings and can only do 2 or 3 (depending on whether my thumb is in action).

Anyway, it will only take a week or two to heal but in the meantime, what useful things can I learn from the temporary handicap?

* Learn to use my little finger? Probably a bridge too far. It is much softer and weaker than the others.
* Learn to play with a plectrum again? I doubt it, the injury is in the wrong place for that and anyway, I suck with a pick.
* Forget trying to play actual music and focus on some technical exercises? Such as -
- Scales (I don't need 4 fingers on my right hand to play scales)
- Weird and wonderful chords?
- Some kind of left-hand tapping thing?
- Strumming practice (don't laugh! I can still strum with my other fingers and I need to improve my style and learn some tricks)
- etc., etc.

Whether I'll actually DO any of the exercises people here will kindly recommend, well, that's anther question. With any luck I can spin out discussion of the best exercises to do with a wounded right hand until after the cut has healed.

Kilgore · September 2023

Well OK, I wasn't really cooking. Not proper cooking.

I was just slicing a tomato and the knife was dull so I sharpened it ... and somehow managed to cut a short, deep gash into the tip of my right index finger.

I can still play, using thumb, middle, and ring fingers, but it's just not the same. It is surprisingly easy to more-or-less play most of the stuff I do with the wrong fingers, but it is unsatisfying, like sex with a condom. With a missing finger, my playing lacks creativity (I'm working hard to reproduce stull I can already do on auto-pilot and not thinking about creative enhancements) and some things really don't work, especially things where I pluck 3 or 4 strings and can only do 2 or 3 (depending on whether my thumb is in action).

Anyway, it will only take a week or two to heal but in the meantime, What useful things can I learn from the temporary handicap?

A serrated tomato knife is an indispensable piece of kit for guitar players to avoid this scenario.

GoFish · September 2023

Ouch! I vote for left hand chord fun. Using the little finger / other fingers can be a fun enough diversion too. You can go full Django and see how much you could get done with just the minimum. It's amazing how we compensate and even excell with these limitations.

Another idea would be some keyboard sounds or set up that DAW session you've been meaning to do... just some other stuff for a week or two, as Cliff Richard almost certainly never sang.

BillDL · September 2023

It's quite annoying having a cut on your index finger because it makes it difficult to hold a pick, and that's my primary picking finger along with my thumb. I find it pretty much impossible to hold a pick between my thumb and my middle finger. It's amazing how we do certain things without really thinking about what fingers we use. Somebody I know got a shard of glass in his forearm that severed the nerve to his pinky and left him with numbness in that finger. When it came to doing simple tasks like buttoning up shirts and tying shoelaces he discovered how much he had used his pinky either for manipulating or moving things or just for supporting the ring finger.

Why not try a thumbpick for a while and just miss out your index finger while doing a kind of hybrid picking?

ArchtopDave · September 2023

As someone, who isn't God but used to do some Hand Surgery during my working career, I would suggest not doing any guitar playing for at least a week, and then reassess how the cut is healing and how your finger is looking overall. The last thing, that you want to do, is accidentally catch it again in a few days time and to pull it apart. Also you do not want the finger to swell unnecessarily with use, and cause extra problems. Just carefully exercise the joints of all your fingers from time to time to keep them mobile.

I would also add that I had the edge of a glass break off whilst washing it a couple of years ago. I had quite a deep cut in the web space between my little and ring fingers. I washed it, dressed it, and then taped the two fingers together to stop the cut gaping open for the first week. I didn't pick up a guitar for two weeks until I was satisfied that the cut was sufficiently healed not to pull apart again.

Tannin · September 2023

It healed up nicely and quite quickly. I followed @ArchtopDave's advice, and also @BillDL's to try a thumbpick. I was happy to play normally after about 8 days or so, and no trouble at all. Better than ever..

And then tonight ... you wouldn't bloody read about it ... I had finished cooking and was getting ready to wash the dishes and I gashed the tip of my middle finger in the same place on the top of a tomato can. F$#@@#**&***@!! Not again!

For those curious - yes, both of you - although Mrs Tannin is a good cook our arrangement is that I do (almost) all of the cooking; she does other household tasks. This is because (a) I like cooking, and because (b) Mrs Tannin reckons I'm a lot better at cooking than I am at vacuuming.

PS: typing is difficult at present, so only short posts from me for a while. (Everybody cheers!)

stufisher · September 2023

Last year I cut the corner off my left index fingertip when I was chopping an onion ... what a feqqup that was

Frustratingly, I had to refrain from any guitar playing for c.15 days or so ... I had to let the wound dry out, let the skin harden up and let the nail grow enough so that I could then trim it/file it smooth below the cut line.

Amazingly, that first playing session after the hiatus was superb by my standards ... I was fluid, right on it and absolutely fired up ... couldn't stop playing.

I think I must have been concentrating so well to protect the finger and play accurately without too much down pressure that everything clicked.

Maybe I should hack my fingers to bits more often ... when I'm injury-free I play and sound like utter dog turd

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Bugger! (cooking and fingerpicking = bad idea)

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