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Injured left index finger, trouble with cords.
Several decades ago, about five if I’m being honest, I tip of my left index finger against a circular saw and lost a bit of the tip. The tip now is flatter and fatter and I’m having trouble with cords and not muting the neighbor string. I’ve ordered silicon tip covers to see if they will help. Any other suggestions? The tip is sensitive but not painful and I can practice quite a while at a time. Thanks for any help.
Steve
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8 Replies
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I hope the tip covers help you. Did you ever have surgery to address the damage?
Black Sabbath’s guitarist cut off the tips of his middle and ring fingers and he had a pretty good career.
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Yeah, I know about Iommi, my injury was nothing compared to his so I have hope for the silicon tips. I did not need any surgery, just a dressing and time to heal over. Even when I get the tip on the sting there just doesn’t seem to be enough room.
Thanks for the reply.
Steve
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If you’re a beginner player, welcome to the club! Everyone who starts thinks their fingers don’t fit into the spaces they should or aren’t able to reach. This is all a part of the journey.
Iommi also tuned down his guitar relieving tension on the strings – and heavy metal was born! You might experiment with some alternate tunings. Joni Mitchell invented hundreds of them as she was recovering from polio.
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That’s something to consider. I am working on some adaptations in placement of my finger. It works at times. More work to be done though. I will consider the ideas of alternate tuning though.
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The photo does not show much arch in your fingers. Your finger tips, up by where the finger nail ends and the finger pad begins, need to be the only part of you finger that touches the guitar string.
My hand palm is resting right up against the fretboard/neck joint of the guitar as this puts more arch on your fretting fingers and allows you to just use the finger tip, at downward angle, to fret the string.
Takes a bit of time and effort to get used to this. See if that helps.
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That’s Tommy Iommi’s hand in the photo, @jorgemac ! lol!
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just goes to show what works for one may not work for others. Nothing against Tommy! Two of the oddest (guitar players player’s) playing styles are Elizabeth Cotton’s and Jimi Hendrix’s.
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I’m working on that. On playing chords I take it on string at a time and adjust my fingers to get a clear tone. I’m hoping eventually my brain will remember the fingerings.
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