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

owww. i've had the bass guitar give me calluses when i tried it once, but i'd never before split open *anything*!

lets see here...my most recent one was on my stratocaster, and it was a little like encybass's. The strap knob came out of the hole in the strap, and at that moment, I did a really big downstroke, so the headstock catapaulted up into my face, and i got a face full of tuning knobs. black eye, split lip...after that i stuck some duct tape on to keep it on, but thats gone now.

The other one was when i just started playing, and i was using my mums steel string. I did too much finger-sliding and sliced my middle finger.

Keep 'em coming

I will get round to writing this up shortly (I hope!) but the more I have, the better the Entry will be!



Danny B.

PS. While I'm here, I'll add: stabbing my thumb and most of my fingers with the ends of steel strings while restringing my guitars. Small injuries, but surprisingly painful...

that reminds me...first of all, you know on the ends of strings, theres that little thing that the string is wrapped around to keep it from slipping out? Well, when i had just started, I broke a string, and thought that you had to keep it, so i suffered multiple puncture wouds trying to unwrap the string from it. plus, my fingertips were still tender and unweathered, so it slid in really easily.

I know you asked for guitar injuries, but I am going to give you a drummer-induced one. Last year at a gig I was signalling our drummer that the time had come for his 15 seconds of fame in the middle of a song. I did this by pointing at him with my right index finger, one of the two I use to persuade my bass to produce any sound (of the two fingers, that is, not two index fingers!). He had chosen that very moment to whack one of his cymbals, clearly with the intention to send it flying from the stage "with the speed normally...". The drumstick hit my finger instead. And allthough it didn't fly from my hand with the aforementioned speed, the finger instantly became useless and stayed that way for the best part of the gig.

Sorry, shouldn't laugh...

I think that still counts as an injury sustained while playing a (bass) guitar, and will definitely feature in the article.

When I get round to writing it

Perhaps not a physical injury, but one of the best "accidents" I have ever seen: One of my mates is a bass player in a rock'n'roll band. They are a really tough looking lot and their gigs are always somewhat sinister and menacing . One time my mate Bill (not Wyman) decided to jump off the stage in the middle of a song, with the intention to continue playing while strolling through the audience.
Unfortunately, the stage was a trifle higher than he expected, so that when he landed he pulled the lead out of his amp.

To make things worse for him it took three frantic attempts and considerable support from members of the audience to get back up again! His Ego was a bit dented after that...

Terry

Great stories

This won´t compete, but anyhoo:
..Cut meself pretty messy once, when using a chopped-off bottleneck for a slide ("hat´s off to Roy Harper")..
But at the time it felt absolutely right and in perfect accordance with the painfull blues.. Probably due to the fact i´d just lost me woman, and had taken great personal interest in making absolutely sure that the bottle was emptied, prior to altering its shapes to suit my artistic demands..

..

Feeling in awe of many awesome guitarists here - I'm new to it (8 months in )
The worst I've done, apart from chipping a HUGE amount of wood from the fretboard and then stepping on it (it's wooden... yowie), is managing to fire a plectrum at a mate (ouchie) and also not having any plectrums for my lovely new acoustic when I first started... therefore i have tough fingertips and also the cuticle on my second finger is shiny and raw...

Still waiting for my first gig (and serious injury)
great idea btw

Lou

Right... the Entry is written and in Peer Review Why not drop by the thread (F48874?thread=296455) and complain about how I've misquoted you, taken you out of context, made you look like the sort of person who'd hit themselves in the face with a guitar and so forth

Danny B.

How weird... I was just looking for this thread to say what a great job you'd done when you posted!

It's fab

Hope it gets edited :-d

And thanks to you all for all the stories!

I'd like a £10 note for every time I've caught that "wrist knuckle" bone on the saddles or ashtray of one of my teles. When done during a good whang it really smarts.

PP

I manage to regularly injure myself with my bass. Mostly wrist pain or back pain (being about 6'3 I have to stoop down at alot of bars). I also often pull or tear the muscles across my forearm. One of our regular closing songs is a funk/rock number that consists of pretty constant sixteenth notes at a tempo of about 130. The song goes into an extended jam, and eventually goes into a twelve bar speed session. By the time that climaxes into the last note, the song is moving along blindingly, probably well over 180 clicks. Despite using four fingers this still takes a good deal of arm movement. Thus a regularly swollen fore arm.
The most gruesome injury I had was in my high school jazz band, about 8 years ago. When I use an upright bass I play very hard so that people can really hear it even with a full horn section. At the time my callouses hadn't quite formed and I'd end up pretty ripped up. We're in the middle of a Mingus number, probably Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting and I feel a tear. The piano player yells and I look over where a nice strip of my skin is hanging from her sheet music. Beautiful.
Anyone else ever break a string on an upright? That's a great way to open a nice gash on your forehead.

nope. that guitar first string across my hand was bad enough, thank you which string (on the bass) did you break?

I've broken them all on my electrics, but on the upright I'm popped my e and g strings. With the force on that g string it flies up too quick to duck and can slash you pretty badly.
I know a guy who was doing some repairs to an upright when the end peg snapped, sending the end piece flying straight at his head. He luckily was bent over picking something up and it missed him by about an inch, because it ended up taking out a huge piece of drywall. If he'd been standing up it likely would have cost him an eye, if he'd even survived.
Crazy stuff.

Heh, great stuff here. I don't have any grand injuries sadly. I remember awhile back some guy was trying to teach me slap-bass. I just couldn't hack it, he said I was "too aggressive". He must've been right because I split my thumb right where the nail goes into the skin at the side. No free-flowing blood though.

Guitar strings have cut fingers/hands, but nothing life threatening.

They do exist in Chichester anyway. I've got two sets which I use depending on the level of noise. I've got a set of Docs pro plugs and a set of er 20 ear plugs.

As for guitar related injuries, I was tuning a nylon strung classical guitar and got a little over zealous. Needless to say one of the strings snapped flying back, straight across my face. I'll never forget the embarrassement of having to walk round with a red line down my face. Luckily I didn't take my eye out.

If there's anyone still subscribed to this...

Presumably, as guitar players, you all have favourite guitarists. So, who are they, and why are they true guitar heroes? I've started a collaborative Entry (A3384317) and would like to get plenty of people involved. There is a conversation thread at the CWW (F57152?thread=543854) and one at the Musicians' Guild (F52166?thread=543857), so please let me know what you think!



Danny B.

I have a nasty tendancy to move on stage, so my guitar slams into my hip bone from time to time.

Does anyone else feel a mild but nagging sort of arthritis at all, or is that just me?

Tinnatus is another one, when you're playing something heavy or complex you've just gotta crank it up, anyone else hear that ringing?

Apart from that i'd usually nasty cuts and grazes from the strings. I played a gig and during a solo a snapped a string and it whipped the back of my hand, it bled for a while but it was apparently a good effect?!