Oh, BTW, Warder, there's a guy named Jack over on the Big Road Blues forum who calls himself One Armed Bandit, having lost one above the elbow in a truck wreck. He's made himself a device to play slide guitar, which he now does quite successfully in his church band.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
That's cool he was able to do that Rico.
I've often thought about what I'd do if I lost something.
Yep, you can either let it beat you into submission and sink into depression, or you can figure out a way to carry on. Don't know how I'd react in the same situation. (Though I did take up guitar while rehabbing from wrapping my right arm around my back. It was a challenge, painful at first and really hard to play for more than a few minutes, but great fun and well worth it.)
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Billy Hew Len, one of Hawaii's most prominent players, lost his left hand in an accident when he was a young man.
Here's a totally amazing video of him playing, with close ups of his steel bar equipped leather cuff - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IrSq1rOoL4
Also, that's a really fine illustration of techniques including slants, partial barres, tilting the slide to just hit the first string, and lots of hammer-ons and pulloffs.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Playing with arthritis? well - it hasn't affected me yet - I'm 51, but maybe someday it will. My biggest problem re slide guitar has been my little finger - it's been broken so many times over the years I've lost count. All - well, maybe most, anyway - of the great slide players will tell you to put the slide on your pinky.
I can't do it, that's the plain and simple truth. My little finger is so bent it makes Gary Glitter look straight....it's been broken so many times I've lost count. Here's a pic....this was taken just after I severed a tendon in the back of my left (fretting) hand, I didn't think I'd ever be able to pick up a guitar again. Couldn't bend the middle finger at all - it took about a month, after getting the plaster off, to play even simple chords...E, D and A. Couldn't play slide at all - hand was so swollen it just wouldn't fit over my little finger. Then again, it never would - even before that particular accident. You can see from this pic how bent the knuckle is.....
So I had to re-group. After severing that tendon, and after a month in plaster, I virtually had to learn guitar all over again - thought it'd take years, but I was SO determined that a little thing like that wasn't going to put me off, it took me about a month to get back to normal. Or whatever passes for normal. Whatever - I just wasn't going to let it beat me.
I'm a better guitarist now, two years later - that determination came in handy. I was NOT going to be beaten by a trivial little thing like a severed tendon! The bent pinky, on the other hand, has severely handicapped my slide playing - I can not fit a slide over my pinky with any degree of comfort, no-how, no way! I have to use a slide over my ring finger....
But again, that's okay. I've learned to fret certain chords with my middle and pinky, rather than middle and ring, fingers when playing in an open tuning - that pinky's now a lot more mobile with constant exercise! I don't think I'll ever be able to buy a slide that'll fit my pinky....but then again, I know my limitations, I'll get one (soon) for my ring finger. (Are you ready, Ian McWee? It's one of your Diamond slides I lust after....)
To sum up - since the accident, my left - fretting - hand's better than it's ever been. Lots of hard work and practise gone into that - hell, I can even use the "dead" pinky on the occasional note if I happen to do a solo. But using a slide on the pinky? Out of the question - it might be able to move these days, but it sure as hell hasn't got any feeling. So slide guitar, for me, will be forever restricted to my ring finger. I can live with that - I'm going to have to live with that! I'll never be the next Ry Cooder or George Thorogood - but as long as I can get a RECOGNISABLE tune out of the guitar playing slide, I'll settle for being ME!
Just keep playing - it'll come together in time. Trust me, one day it'll all start to make sense! And hey, how good was Django Reinhardt? he had two working fingers on his fretting hand - he didn't do too badly! As Clint Eastwood said in "Heartbreak Ridge - "You adapt. You overcome. You improvise."
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Has anyone tried the resonator guitars from Rondo and if so how do they stack up?
What about these? http://cooldiscountinstruments.com/shop/Electric-Guitar-Lap-Steel-Guitars/c105_120/p1125/Black-Lap-Steel-Guitar-Electric-6-String-Pedal-Slide/product_info.html
The scale length is very short, only 20.75" while the shortest of the 'grown-ups' are 22.5".
I've bought 3 guitars from Rondo. Not only have I been well impressed with their value for the money, I've had the opportunity to deal with Kurt about problems and am VERY impressed with the lengths to which he'll go to stand behind his product and make you happy. I really like these folks!
I also have one of the other lap steels linked above. It's not bad, but the SX one Rondo sells is much nicer overall.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
