Help - advice needed - playing guitar with cut fingers

[pstamler]

Hi folks:

Well, I was dumb. I have a big two-night playing gig this weekend (2 hours Friday, 3 hours Saturday). So I was in the kitchen and first cut my left index finger tip with the vegetable peeler. Not quite on the tip where it hits the strings but a little to the side; anyway it bled a lot and was reluctant to stop. Finally made it quit with some really tight Band-Aids and a little gaff-tape for tightness.

Then, to an injury to injury, I cut the tip of my middle finger with the knife while chopping an onion.  Straight cut, near the tip, which stopped bleeding more quickly.

I peroxided eveything and put on Band-Aids. But -- how the $*&# am I going to play the gigs? I got some special fingertip Band-Aids, and while I was discussing the matter with the friendly pharmacist, a lady sitting waiting for her prescription joined the conversation and recommended making a pad of moleskins over the Band-Aids, on the tips of the fingers. She's a percussion player, not a guitar player, but it sounds like good advice to me.

So -- any suggestions? I can't cancel the gigs or get a sub -- not possible or desirable. I was planning to play mostly acoustic but it looks like more of a Telecaster weekend after this.

Any and all suggestions welcomed!

Peace,
Paul (trying to find a way to kick myself)

(Oh, the lady in the pharmacy also had some other advice: don't cook on the day before a gig.  She's right, too.)

 

[mnats]

Super glue?

 

[pstamler]

Well, I thought about that -- one of the bass players I work with always puts it on his fingers. I'd be worried about it pulling the cuts open, though.

Peace,
Paul

 

[kepeb]

actually, i recently discovered micro- pore tape.
the stuff they wrap around bandages.
its supper sticky, very strong and very plyable.

wrap a couple layers over the tip of your finger and push all the tape folds to the back(over the nail instead of the pad) then a strip around to hold it together (not too tight) you can mould it to your fingers shape.

this works AWESOME!
best method I have ever used honestly. stays strong through vigorous slides, bends and playing with 12's

not fond of super glue, pretty much all plaster/band aids are rubbish and flop off.
most other ways leave folds or flaps that catch the strings.
you could market this stuff for guitarists fingers tho.

 

[Emperor-TK]

I haven't tried the micro pore tape, but that sounds interesting.  Short of that, I'd second the super glue.  I don't think you will reopen your wounds.  Medical grade SG is pretty common for closing wounds.  The closed up my wife's 10" incision with it after some major surgery (only internal staples and external super glue, no stitches).  I also had it used on my thumb after ripping it open in a Darwinian drill press accident (again, no stitches).  While it wasn't getting as much action as a fingertip, I was able to play guitar/bass immediately without reopening the wound.

 

[okgb]

Play muted or minimal chord forms and keep the rhythm , maybe introduce some slide playing & accept it
polysporin helps speed the healing , & ibuprofin , good luck

 

[pstamler]

Play muted or minimal chord forms and keep the rhythm 

That's what I do anyway! The problem last night was that I can't make a clean C, E or D7 chord w. the Band-Aids on my fingers.

maybe introduce some slide playing & accept it
polysporin helps speed the healing , & ibuprofin , good luck

My brain has never wrapped itself properly around slide. If I had a few months to practice...

I think that Super Glue or Second Skin may be the best answer. Thanks, all! I'll let you know how it comes out.

Peace,
Paul

 

[okgb]

Right  , so you mute notes and play the rhythm more so than the notes
start slide with pentatonic things where you can play several notes in a " straight line "
or melodies on one string , C'mon paul , you can do it !

 

[sr1200]

Theres a back to the future joke here somewhere...

 

[pstamler]

Well, I made it.

The first night, I got a bottle of NewSkin spray, put three layers on the bad fingers, then heated my hands in hot water (necessary to keep them from cramping up). Then I added a layer of brush-on SuperGlue. It worked, and somewhat surprisingly I found it was equally easy to play the acoustic and the Tele. I stuck to boom-chuck rhythms all night. The weird thing was that at the beginning of the evening I didn't have a proper sense of where my hands were in space, probably because there wasn't much feeling at the tips of my fingers. I adjusted, though, and renewed the SuperGlue at the midbreak (it got pretty frayed).

The second night, I had a big advantage: the mando player, who usually does one or two numbers on the guitar, had brought along his National, and played a lot more than usual. So I had some backstopping (from the guy who I think is the best guitar player in town). I started out to do the same thing as the first night, until I found that the spray-on NewSkin wouldn't spray, though there was plenty of liquid in the bottle. Seems the nozzle had cemented itself shut. So I ran across the street to Walgreens and bought a bottle of brush-on NewSkin, since they didn't stock the spray. It worked, though it was grosser to look at. This night's gig was three hours, and I renewed the SuperGlue twice, since it had a tendency to crack and form ridges which plucked the strings when I lifted off, especially on the electric. The night went well, and I even managed to pull off a solo on the electric, on the Carpathian Tune which is a heck of a lot of fun to play. It worked out fine, although by the end of the night I was down to rock bottom; if we'd had one more tune to play I would have needed a re-up of SuperGlue. But we didn't, and we played the last waltz, and the night was done.

Here's something weird which has only happened to me once or twice before: when I was playing the solo, it was kind of like it was playing itself and I was listening to it, or I was listening to somebody else play. The fingers were doing it of their own accord.

Thank you, one and all, for the suggestions and help -- they paid off! I appreciate it more than I can say.

Peace,
Paul

 

[12volts]

Well, the food you started preparing, what did you make and what did it taste like?


Frank B.

 

[pstamler]

Well, the food you started preparing, what did you make and what did it taste like?

Curried potato salad, and it tasted good. (The added salt from the blood was minimal.) Recipe follows my sig. Just be more careful than I was. BTW, I made a triple recipe, since this was for a large function. There's still a bunch left.

Peace,
Paul


CURRIED POTATO SALAD (4)

3 large potatoes, peeled (I use Yukon Golds)
1 sweet onion
1-2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/16 tsp (just a pinch) cayenne pepper
1 cup fatfree sour cream
2 tbsp. raisins
1 chopped Granny Smith apple
3 slices bread-and-butter pickles, chopped

Chop the potatoes into cubes and boil until hardish -- dump into a colander and rinse in cold water briefly to remove excess starch.

Combine the curry powder, allspice and cayenne in a small dish. Caramelize the onion until it's nicely brown; add the combined spices. Meanwhile mix the sour cream & raisins, and let sit while you saute the onions and spices. Put the potatoes in a bowl, making sure they're not too hot (heat makes fatfree sourcream turn to chemical waste); lukewarm is about right. Pour out the contents of the skillet (scallions, spices) over the potatoes and mix well; scrape out the skillet so you don't lose the spices.

Blend in the sour cream mixture; add apples and pickles. Serve at room temperature or chilled (I find it's best after overnight refrigeration). Note that this is safer than most potato salads, containing no raw eggs (mayonnaise).