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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I was diagnosed late last year with Parkinson's. My right hand suffers from intermittent tremors. Some days are better than others, as far as guitar playing goes. Strumming isn't too bad, and 95% of the stuff we play in our band is strummed. But I love to fingerpick, and that can be problematic when your picking hand decides to go spastic. I'm taking Carbidopa/Levodopa which helps to a greater or lesser degree. I've tinkered with the idea of using an easy alternate or open tuning. I've adjusted strap length, tried anchoring my picking hand, not anchoring it, etc. I have no trouble singing or playing percussion, but I sure would hate to have to give up guitar. It's a part of who and what I am.
I'm curious to see if anyone has the same issues, or just someone who might have some suggestions.
Thanks! |
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Joined:
August 2011
Posts: 887
Location: Always beautiful canyon country of Utah | I have no suggestions but I sure do have sympathy/compassion for your predicament. I have thought about what would happen should I have to give up guitar. Sometimes what life dishes up es no bueno. Hoping you can continue to play and enjoy every millisecond for some time!! |
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Joined:
May 2011
Posts: 755
Location: Muenster/Germany | I have several "kind of tumors" in my left arm which are slowly going to destroy some nerves, and I experience that guitar playing is slowly getting worse and more and more painful to me, so I can understand what you are going through. But I have no problem with my right hand, so I`m not sure if I really can help you.
But like you I am only half the person I use to be without my guitar.
Thus I changed to lighter strings, and guitars that are easier to play with low action(like Ovations).
Maybe for your right-hand problem it could be good to try guitars with a little greater string-spacing like the Ovation Folklore, not too light strings (that you have more string contact).
What tunings did you try so far? I find open G (DADGHD) and open D (DADF#AD) or DADGAD very nice to play. And you should try a partial capo (KYSER) which only covers the first 5 strings so that you can play with an Drop D tuning but can also use normal chords, it helps a lot. They also make a DADGAD-capo which covers only the ADG strings on the 2nd fret and the result is very interesting when you play in G mode. |
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Joined:
January 2009
Posts: 4535
Location: Flahdaw | Sorry to hear of your diagnosis, Rick. This may help cut some of the tremors apparently.
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/11/15624314/microsoft-project-emma-w... |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10582
Location: NJ | Rick
I have no answers for you but to say first not to give up
A close friend suffers from severe diabetic neuropathy and cannot feel the strings
He continues to play and has developed a style and technique that works for him
As you have reported and for him too some days are better than others |
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Joined:
February 2016
Posts: 1802
Location: When?? | Curious.. when the spasms occur, do your your fingers and hand do the same thing every time? I once took a linear stab between the finger webbing.. small cut, but the blade tip bottomed out deep inside my right palm and nerve shock basically spasmed my fingers into the same configuration regularly for months. It was all about creating and learning new shoulder and elbow position and action to fake at least some form of finger picking, which sucked, I admit, but it was better than nothing and actually made for some new moves I never knew I had before (and were difficult to re-create after healing). So basically what Al said about his friend. A new style and technique. I understand that my experience is not the same thing as you have happening, but I did realize at the time that if I had somehow magically known the injury was coming, and what the finger configuration would be, I could have *somewhat* prepared in the same manner beforehand. But that was with fingers I knew would be essentially in the same orientation daily; hence, my curiosity about the consistency of your finger position. I am definitely wishing you all the best with the situation and a hopeful resolution!
Edited by Love O Fair 2018-02-08 10:58 PM
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Joined:
August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Love O Fair: The spasms are random; fingers of the picking hand jerk indepently, which makes it hard to hit individual strings in sequence. I have always used a hybrid thumpick for strumming, even before Parkinson's. I cut the tip off a conventional thumb pick and graft a Jim Dunlop .38mm light gauge pick onto it. My strum style has always been an amalgam of Eagles/Lightfoot/America - open pendulum strumming without too much regard for individual notes. It works fine for the band; I get a nice, light, airy sound and haven't noticed any drop off on my strumming skill.
Since I posted this, I've been trying to work in more practice and have been working my arms with Dumbbells. I have noticed an improvement in the fingerpicking - not enough to attempt it in front of a live audience yet, but who knows?
Bob: thanks for the info! |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12755
Location: Boise, Idaho | Not to make light of this disease, but I went from thinking about my difficulty finding someone to jam with to this thread. I had high hopes for a jam partner a few years ago after a friend thanked me for getting him back to playing a guitar after a long layoff. I copied my book of favorites for him, but our partnership never came about because he suffered hearing loss from a scuba diving incident. The connection between the two threads is my friend's name is Parkinson, so I had trouble playing with a different type of Parkinson. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 597
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA | Hello, Rick,
Mike S. from Ottawa, ON., Canada here. As a guitarist who has played with CP all my life, I know that there are constant physical challenges every time I play. I started playing when I was 9, and that was over 50 years ago. I can't type worth beans, but, somehow, I can still play guitar?! Go figure. For me, it was always a matter of constant practice, and just plain not giving up. At one point, I was practicing up to 8 hours a day, and I developed chronic hand dystonia, so now I have trouble with some chords, but my lead/melody lines are great, or so I've been told. My first guitar teacher, a jazz player, literally wore out the nerves from his neck down, on his left side, from playing big guitars standing up with a strap on, but then he just played from memory, even though he couldn't feel anything in his fingers. About 10 years ago, here in CANADA, LIONA BOYD lost all feeling in her left hand during one of her classical concerts, with the same hand problems I had, and has since made a great recovery, but just plays chords and sings now. I also remember that Leo Kottke literally wore out both of his two hands in the the same way, but I'm not sure what his recovery was like, because it happened some time ago. I want to encourage you to please keep on playing your guitar. DON'T GIVE UP, OKAY? There are always new ways to do something we guitarists have such a passion about. Music is meant to be shared, and it will never fail to give much joy to your listeners, I'm sure.
Mike S.
Ottawa, ON.,
CANADA |
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TRYING TO PLAY WITH PARKINSON'S
