Loraine
Forum Replies Created
-
UPDATE 1.1.25 — HAPPY NEW YEAR! May 2025 be a cut above 2024, at least I’m hoping for that personally.
The surgeon was still happy with the progress Im making, and he gave me the go ahead to try and see if I can play a little guitar, but to also not push it. It is very painful still and I don’t have the strength in the hand or the fingers for certain chords or barre chords at all. I’m playing fairly simple songs that only have maybe three chords give or take it’s hard not to play a song though because most have barre chords in them.
I did have a big scare this past week on my flight home from the Carolinas. I was rushing to get to my gate and I went through the big passageway to where the gates were and there was a threshold that was raised slightly going through the opening and my toe caught, and I went flying and fell, and I fell on my left side, which is the wrist that was broken. My only concern at the time was getting on the airplane and not missing my flight because there were no more flights that day. As embarrassing as it was, they put me in a wheelchair and said that I should be requesting transport anytime. I’m at the airport from now on. The good thing about that is you get on the airplane a lot faster ha ha. They wanted me to see medical personnel before I left, but the plane was already late boarding and there were no other flights that day. I was coming home early on Christmas Eve and my only concern was getting on that airplane. When I was in the airplane, I realized that I had fallen on my left chest, and I must’ve gone down on my forearm. Somehow I think I was trying to protect my wrist and my left ankle were painful.
I ended up going to the emergency room on Christmas Dayto get x-rayed and just make sure that I hadn’t refractured anything in my leg or my arm or hand. The leg previously had a severe tibial plateau break about 10 years ago luckily they did not see any new fractures and so I thought things were fine. I went to the occupational therapist yesterday and she wants me to see the surgeon again, Monday just to let him know what happened and have him check the wrist himself. He’ll x-ray check things out himself. I’m just cringing at all the bills that I’m getting.
But the icing on the cake as I’m excited that I’ve been able to at least play a few songs. It’s difficult for me not to want to keep playing. I have to keep telling myself to back off because it is painful and I don’t wanna overdo it and set myself back, but he did say let life be my therapy. We’ll see how that works out.
-
Great thread @BrandonK I need to contemplate this one a bit more. I broke my wrist the first week of October, so I haven’t played since then, because I’ve had 2 surgeries on my wrist and hand, and I’m still having a lot of pain. I’ve just begun trying to play a few things, but it’s slow and painful.
My first goalis to get back playing, and build back up a practice routine. I haven’t been able to do finger style much, because of tremors in my hands. I’d like to find a workaround of some sort. I would like to do a live open mic. I’ve done virtual open mics for years, and I belong to 2 in person jam clubs, so I can play to small groups, but I still fear in person open mics. I plan to continue to build and strengthen my go to songs that I think I can perform well in an open mic.
@Skyman911 , I too went on meetup.com and found jam clubs an pd virtual Jo song groups and virtual open mics. You’ll grow as a player by playing with others.
-
Hey @jmead , it’s a valid question that has been asked by some, and I’m sure there are many that just don’t ask. TAC teaches the fundamentals that are necessary to play guitar. These are things that you’ll encounter as you continue your guitar journey and venture into learning songs.
In TACs former life, before they developed the new website a few years back, Tony’s lessons were more of a bluegrass type. He had what was called a song vault with fingerpicking and flatpicking songs. It was only available if you paid a separate fee to have it added to your account. When Tony was redesigning the site, he wanted 5o focus on the foundational skills, so he did not incorporate the song vault. However, for those that still paid for it, he created a site for it. II don’t believe the word site was meant to go public, but people began sharing it openly in the forum. So, here it is. https://hub-lkx8655w8n.membership.io/
As mentioned, Its songs are more bluegrass. If you prefer a different genre or current songs, you’ll need to do some research. There are many sites that teach you how to play specific songs. Just Google them. I won’t mention competitors of TAC here, but I can send you a DM with some sites, if you like. The Ultimate-guitar App is a large databank of song chord sheets, tabs and lyrics.
-
Great job @Moose408 !! I’m not even familiar with drop box, except in hearing its name before. Sounds like it’s a great workaround for the copyright issues others have encountered on YouTube.
-
Everyone in case I don’t talk to or see anyone that right now before the holidays I wish you all a happy holiday, and a safe New Year!
UPDATE 12.24.24
I went to the surgeon right before I left for North Carolina this past weekend, and he was very pleased with the healing of my wrist, and his response was kind of funny I thought, but last time I was there, he said to go ahead and try playing the guitar and when I went to see the therapist, they said no! So this time the surgeon said he didn’t see any reason why I needed to wear my wrist splint anymore and I could just let life be my therapy and I could bypass going to my therapist for physical therapy so I had an appointment with them right after it I went and saw them and they went no! They said I could do exercises that moved my wrist up and down and as if I’m throwing a dart so just a little bit at an angle, but still forward and that’s to build the muscle in the arm, they don’t want me moving my wrist left and right whatsoever at this point and they shake their head whenever I tell them what the surgeon says. They both work for the same company so it’s just kind of funny so I tend to go with whatever the therapist says what is funny is the surgeon bought a guitar because of me and I’d given him the attack site and he basically has decided to go a different route, which is fine. He used to play guitar and I he said that I was truly inspired Thinks that I will go very far based on my attitude and how much faster I’ve healed the most of his patience so that made me feel good that I still won’t listen to. I’ll go to my therapy sessions, but I am doing exercises I did go through the airport. I’ve been wearing my wrist brace a lot Because I’m carrying luggage or doing things with other people outdoors and it just feels safer. I have not tried to play the guitar yet, but I’m flying home tonight or this morning actually and that’ll probably be one of the first things I do tomorrow afternoon is try to place something or make some chords. It was too painful Just goofing around a couple weeks ago with it so I’m not sure How far I’ll get? I’m very excited that I can kind of see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. It may be my next post will be about me playing actually I am gonna take it slow though I’ve lost all my calluses. Want to make any fast moves with my wrist because it is painful it turns a certain way and I’m not willing to damage my wrist in order just to get back to playing.
-
Great question Brandon and one that a lot of people ask. It’s often a surprise to people to learn that singing is difficult while playing, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible as you can see from so many that have learned the skill.
I asked the same question for probably a good year. It baffled me. What helped me was to find a very simple song that you know, forwards and backwards, such as Happy Birthday to You, Jingle Bells, or any song that matches the melody. First thing is make sure you know how to play the song fairly well so that you don’t have to think too much when you’re trying to sing along with it once you can basically play the music forward and backwards without thinking much you can just add the words because they’ll be well known to you and match the melody.
It is often much easier to sing while playing when you only strum one time per chord instead of trying to do a strum pattern where you might have to think about what you’re doing too much.
-
Hey Stephane!! Good to see you! What have you been up to?
-
The 14 frets simply is the length of the neck from where it meets the body. Actual frets are 17 up to I think 24. Typically you find the full scale and cut aways on larger guitars, but there are some smaller sizes that have cutaways. The smaller the guitar, and cut aways can take away from sound too. There really isn’t a need for 14 frets or cut aways, unless you’re playing a solid body electric and need to rip all the way up the neck. The cut away allows you to reach the higher frets.
But if your mind is set on a cut away, the Martin’s do have one of the biggest voices, and there’s no need for electronics. But don’t limit yourself to only Martins. There are many great guitars out there. I would try and stick with a parlor, 00 or 000 size, just because of your stature. That might limit your choices for guitars with cutaways, but there are a several choices.
Here’s a link. copy & paste it to your browser. These are already sorted out by size and cutaway. Many great guitars. I don’t know what your budget. You mentioned buying some used off Marketplace. You can probably find a cutaway for less that way too, but you run the risk of whether a guitar needs work or not.
sweetwater.com
Cutaway 6-string Acoustic Guitars - Sweetwater
Looking for Cutaway 6-string Acoustic Guitars? Sweetwater has 55-Point Inspections, Easy Payments, and FREE Shipping for 6-string Acoustic Guitars!
-
@Squirrel Welcome ro TAC! The excitement is so cool to see on new tech members faces and posts. I still get excited after over four years so for a teacher like Tony to hold someone’s attention for that long and still be able to have them be excited about where they are in their journey is a testament to him and his teachings. Keep up the fantastic work that’s all it is is you know doing the minimum and often times adding to it you will continue to get better and grow. Can’t wait to see how you progress.
-
Hahaha. I find guitar fix everywhere in the funniest place was in the dogs water bowl. I have no clue when or how it would’ve gotten there, but he was just drinking around it. He wasn’t paying any attention to it.
-
OMG Terry – this brought tears to my eyes, tears of joy and happiness, and I was just so grateful for people like you being able to teach the veterans and to see the joy on Rod’s face was priceless, and he was enjoying himself. You were enjoying the moment, I thought just thought that was so cool to watch. Thank you for sharing this! Someday I might have the guts to do something as brave as that I would love to work with the veterans and give back. I just feel that you are so much more advanced than I will ever be. And I’m not jealous or envious in anyway I’m extremely happy for you and how far you’ve come in a short amount of time but it just happens that way with certain people and it’s been a joy to watch you and you know a few others that have that gift you’ve brought me many Smiles and times of laughter. Kudos to you, my friend..
-
Thanks for asking Brandon. The wrist and hand are doing better. I’m definitely gonna have some arthritis and some additional pain that I wasn’t having previously. It’s still going to take a long time to feel comfortable playing. I’ve lost a lot of strength in that arm and fingers, and I still haven’t got full range of motion. It’ll be a little bit longer probably and I’m trying not to overdo it. Like trying to play the guitar now, but I just wanna jump right back into but I’m afraid of causing damage that’ll put me back you know like a month or two and I don’t want that.
-
I really appreciate the prayers Rodeo. Thank you!
-
Thanks Terri. Wishing to you and your family a happy holiday season and safe New Year.
-
I’m glad you found your way back. I haven’t been on JMG or the VOMs since early in the year. I pop in occasionally to Scones to listen, play, or just say hi. But that’s the extent of my involvement in them. I belong to a few local jam clubs and go to them, and I found a few open mics through meetup.com. But I fell going to a Warren Haynes concert the first week of October, and I’ve had 2 surgeries since. I just bent my wrist forward and backwards for the first time since then. Thebroke my wrist in places and dislocated 4 bones, and had what they called PTSD Carpal Tunnel from the force of the fall.