h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

After a request from Elfrida (prompted by subtle hinting from me in my Guild persona ) I've started this conversation for people to discuss the injuries that can be caused by that seemingly innocuous instrument, the guitar...

My own personal 'favourite' is, when playing a particularly extravagant downwards strum, catching the side of my index finger on the edge of the centre pick-up. In one gig I bled all the way through the second half of the set...

So, how have you managed to damage yourself with a guitar. If there are enough replies, I might turn this into a collaborative Entry...

a-ha! a place to natter and grumble at last!

yes, yes, about my guitar injury now... ironically, it wasn't even *my* guitar that injured me; it was my friend's. she'd just started learning to play, and had gotten a steel stringed guitar - which she didn't know how to tune. so i did it for her. while tuning the first string, i noticed that the e was unusually flat. i must have been overzealous in my attempt to get it into proper pitch because half a moment later the string (steel, mind you) had snapped over the back of my hand, leaving a supremely painful welt and beads of blood... well, i should be thankful that it didn't break the bones, and that i was wearing glasses...

What a nice new place...thanks, Danny! I like the 'seemingly innocuous' description. *shields eyes from the picture of D's bloodstained guitar* That sounds like devotion to 'the show must go on ' above and beyond the call....!
Farlander...ooch! What if you hadn't been wearing your glasses? *shudder*
Do you think there's a guardian who keeps a look-out for guitarists?
*settles down on floor cushions in front of tray of coffee and biccies*

Ah, well, my finger wasn't bleeding *that* much Unfortunately, I was playing my bright-blue guitar, rather than my dark-red guitar, so any blood might just have shown up

And acoustic/folk guitarists might have a guardian Surely rock/metal guitarists are more likely to have a guardian

Then there's the other sort of string snapping injury...

- I see you have a guitar. Mind if I play?
- Go ahead

*twang*

- Hmm... seems a little out of tune. I'll just tune it for you...

*wind wind wind*

*SNAP*

- Hey, you've bust my guitar!

*SLAP*

I remember at one gig about a year ago, my bass attacked me. The strap-lock at the neck end just broke, and my strap came off. Of course, worried about damaging my bass (that thing is the reason I have a poor credit rating- I'm not letting it get hurt, it cost too much!), I bent my head down to check it, which had the unfortunate consequence of the headstock slamming into my face at a speed normally reserved for F1 cars. One night in hospital and a broken nose later, I could begin to feel really stupid....

Great gig apart from that though.....

That's a fantastic story...

Erm, I mean, oh dear - I hope you've recovered

Your bass broke your nose, Ency?! But wasn't it really indirectly a strap-induced injury? I have a crazed theory that guitar straps feel unappreciated and occasionally stage a coup so that they can be centre-stage.
I was singing at a friend's wedding - I'd hoped modestly to be somewhere inconspicuous but for the sake of the wedding video I had to stand in front of the altar-rail, a sort of wrought-iron picket-fence thingy with pointy bits on top. ('Too Much Architectural Detail', do I hear you cry, gentle reader? Bear with me...all will become clear...)
All went well until the end of the song, when I thought I'd slip the strap off and walk elegantly back to me pew. The loop of the strap caught round the altar-rail which fell forward onto my leg...No major problem apart from the indignity and a scratched leg from the pointy bit...Except at the end of the collapsing altar rail was a tall stand with an enormous and elaborate flower arrangement on top.... *sigh*
No amount of pleading and financial inducement would persuade my friend's new spouse to edit the debacle out of their wedding video. I keep praying it will never turn up on telly!

Danny...that dialogue is horribly familiar! *shudder*...but how do you stop well-meaning fiends - I mean friends - from insisting on tuning your guitar? I met a guy from the Isle of Lewis who told me that he never let anyone do that - if they protested any of the strings were out, he'd simply look hurt and say "But it's my favourite Hebridean tuning!"
And as for the or debate: fair point, but some of the stuff I've heard in 'folk' venues would frighten the wings off any self-respecting

danny, it looks as though you're going to have enough material for a collaborative article pretty fast!

does anyone here play the trombone? and if so, has anyone ever slammed the slide back into first position at what encybass calls 'speed normally reserved for f1 cars'?

i haven't *dared* touch steel-string guitars since that episode. not to say my own guitar hasn't injured me before, understand - like danny's, it has the tendency to draw blood...

Yep - looks like this is going to be a fun article to write. It'll have to wait a while, 'cos I'm going away next week, but when I get back I should have plenty of material to work with

And...

"But it's my favourite Hebridean tuning!"

I have *got* to remember that one for future use...

Just wondering... do headaches count? The guitar player in my band has this thing for feedback, y'see, and we're all lucky if we leave practise without bleeding ears....

That *definitely* counts... Earache, tinnitus, burst eardrums - all part of being in a band

....ture, true...but has anyone discovered really good ear-plugs that keep the nasty deafening wavelengths out and let the music in? (Even though I play acoustic, I love to listen to amplified guitar, and, let's face it, any bass that you can't feel through the soles of your feet is just turned down too low!)

Aah! The holy grail of musicians everywhere! I'm actually going shopping for earplugs tomorrow, so I'll keep an eye (or ear) out........

Farlander...considering the amount of damage I can do or have done to me with a simple guitar, just think what havoc I could wreak (sp?) with a trombone!!

Woohoo! Ency...hope you find 'em!

Well, I looked high 'n' low for decent 'plugs----
No, they don't exist.

In Stoke, anyway

...intend to scour Cardiff for the holy-grail-of-'plugs! But Stoke's a great place all the same!

Well, I'm a bassist, and at a gig a few years ago I was pleased to find that the jazz band I was in had been given a decent piece to learn for the concert, a nice number called "Phunky Speakin'". As the name suggests, it is actually quite funky and I was delighted to see that I got a slap bass part. I was young, and easily pleased. And not very good, either! My inexperience proved to be my downfall...back then, I was soft and vulnerable.

Come the night of the school concert, I thought I'd really give it some, despite feeling slightly sore from practising. I let rip, and was quite pleased about the result. It was only afterwards, as I grinned at the audience, that I noticed that my thumb had split parallel to the nail, and the E and A strings had gone the same colour as the paintwork!

I left that night feeling slightly sheepish, but nevertheless quite proud of being able to say that I had played 'til I bled!

Oooch! But isn't it amazing how adrenalin (or summat) blocks the pain at the time? I played the second half of one gig through a blister on my thumb; it was only a few minutes after I got offstage that I felt it...