Why I can'y play 8 any more. =(

[CONTEMPT]

Today is a sad day. Well, it's been a sad few months as I come to the awful realization that I simply can't handle 8 strings anymore.

On 12/31/09, I sustained a herniation to one of my disks in my lower back while working. During the battery of MRI's and things that followed, that discovered that I have a very advanced case of Degenerative Disk Disease, a genetic condition where the soft tissue in one's spine is essentially crumbing. This has lead to a lot of pain in my lower back and nerve pain that shoots down my legs if I stand for too long, or sit for too long, or lie down for too long...oh, .... it, who am I trying to kid? It's just pretty much always there.

Flash forward to a few months ago. The degeneration has spread to my upper back and neck, causing nerve issues with my left hand (AKA my very-important fretting hand). Some days it's numb, some days it's ok and even other days I can't accurately control the fingers on my fretting hand. What's more is that any guitars with strings greater than six have too much fretboard and actually physically hurt my hand and wrist to play. I've experimented borrowing 7's off of my friends and the only thing that's even remotely comfortable these days is a 6'er, and it kills me.

I've been playing on 7's pretty much exclusively since I was a teenager. I've spent years taking flack from closed-minded guitarists about my love of 7's and ERG's, even been asked to leave bands over it. But here I am.

I don't even know why I'm posting all this here, maybe simply because I'm having a tough time dealing with this reality today and maybe it'll make me feel better. If anyone wants to buy an eight-string, let me know. I can barely even play it these days.

Thanks for letting me vent, guys.

[Konfyouzd]

Could be worse. What if you had to stop playing altogether? Change isn't always welcome but that doesn't mean something good can't come from it. Keep your head up, man.

[urklvt]

Man, I'm sorry to hear about your pain, but I appreciate your sharing it.

If you haven't already, please start a journal or blog and document your emotions and experiences. It can really help you deal with the though times ahead.

Also, please don't sell anything unless you desperately need the money, and definitely don't give anything away or we'll be putting you on suicide watch. It may hurt to look at your 8 string but its absence will cause you far more grief.

Hang in there man. Love and life are far more important than guitars.

[vampiregenocide]

Is there no surgery you can get or treatment?

[Barney]

I'm really sorry about that. Sometimes it's hard to face facts life presents you and pushes down your throat. Be strong and make something good out of it. I don't say it's easy and you'll be able to do that in an instant. It takes time.
When I think of Jason Becker, I don't feel any sadness. I feel respect and joy. He's a fantastic human.
Or... check this guy out:
Please don't misinterpret what I'm trying to say or don't think that I'm a huge christian.
The important thing is to find something to believe in. I don't think any religion or religious philosophy is necessarily better than the other.

[CONTEMPT]

Originally Posted by vampiregenocide

Is there no surgery you can get or treatment?

I've visited one spinal surgeon, while the case was still under the umbrella of worker's comp. It was someone my work insurance chose, and this guy spent 45 minutes making me feel like an asshole by saying things like 'your symptoms are disproportionate to what I see on this MRI' and then told me that there was 'no herniation that HE could see (to cover my own ass I had three other doctors confirm the herniation on my MRI after I saw him - although I should have been busy recovering and not running all over New Hampshire trying to make sure that the insurance company for the people that basically did this to me isn't going to sue me - but this is another story involving corporate greed and the private investigators they had follow me around to doctor's appointments and sit in front of my house for eight months).

I've got an appointment on 2/23 to see a new doctor that's on our new personal insurance rather than tied to any sort of Worker's Comp, so we're hoping that this guy will actually follow his Hippocratic Oath and put my interests as a patient before the interests of a corporate insurance company.

[troyguitar]

While I can't say anything useful about the medical situation (other than see more doctors which you're already doing), I can suggest tuning your 6-string FCGDAE to make up for the lack of strings.

[Grand Moff Tim]

Get a beer bottle and use the 8 as a lap steel. Imagine the open tuning possibilities!

[sun_of_nothing]

Maybe you can try playing lefty? I'd be willing to try it to keep playing the guitars I love...

[Bigfan]

You could consider going full-fifths if you're after the range the 8-string provides.

[Konfyouzd]

Originally Posted by Grand Moff Tim

Get a beer bottle and use the 8 as a lap steel. Imagine the open tuning possibilities!

Look at this guy thinking outside the box...

[vansinn]

I'm so sorry to hear about your condition, and can seriously say I at least partially know what you're going through, though I had a different situation, which has since been almost resolved.

I'd like to do a few short stories about situations which has seemed mission impossiblea, but nevertheless had a different outcome..


Almost three years ago, I sustained a serious damage to my left hand, preventing any playing, feeling pretty sure I'd have to sell all.
Doctors said nothing to do, put it in warm water and such. I finally had a good examination, showing no serious damage to bone and joint structure, though no MRI was done.
Fortunateoy, I have extensive training in holistic treatment, incl. some chiropractics, allowiing me to judge how treatment and retraining could be done.

I have since then spend lotsa money on private treatment outside the public system; the mentioned holistic chiropractics (here in dk called body self development system), acupuncture and more..

I now shred as before, and can play a seven string bass, though with some problems reaching over for the lowes string.


Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath) at around age 19 had the very tips of playing hand fingers cut off when working with sheet metal.
They were put back on, worked, but he was numb in the very tips.
His boss was a Gipzy Jazz lover, and lend albums to Iommi, among those some with Django Reinhardt.
How much of an inspiration it must have been for Iommi hearing such great playing by a man having only three fingers on his playing hand...


A good friend of mine in the US almost lost his wife due to a damaged liver. Insurance would pay up to us $1mil - provided doctors would say she'd surely have a sufficiently prolonged life.

It took him, family, friends and our community of friends and players a full year of battle with the legal system to make it happen.
Three times during this process she was so almost gone he litterary gave up, but we all kept pushing.
She's alive and well today; go figure...


My point is: Never give up, keep fighting!
Best of wishes to what lies ahead..

Ohh, and I was actually seriously considering moving over to be a slide player..

[Stealthdjentstic]

I feel you man. I got diagnosed with spinal stenosis a few months ago. While its not as bad as degenerative disk disease it still ....ing sucks. I haven't been able to go to the gym since August, can't walk around for very long and I have some very similar effects as your experiencing. Your leg pain shoots down the left leg/asscheek and does your foot go numb as well? My conditions been getting better (thank god) but one bad fall and I'm fubar again. You should look into these chinese pad things, I have no clue what they're called but a friend of mine gave them to me. They're basically a pad that you apply to the affected area. It'll heat up and get really ....ing hot. Once I started using them the pain went away by quite a bit. I havent used one in two months or so but the pain is still going away. (although I'm doing traction therapy as well at the moment). They will provide you with some pain relief, they won't fix the underlying condition though.

If you'd like I can try and grab some pictures of the stuff a little later. I'm dead serious though, you have to try these out, the pain relief is awesome and it beats taking a billion anti inflamatories a day.

[Stealthdjentstic]

Originally Posted by CONTEMPT

I've visited one spinal surgeon, while the case was still under the umbrella of worker's comp. It was someone my work insurance chose, and this guy spent 45 minutes making me feel like an asshole by saying things like 'your symptoms are disproportionate to what I see on this MRI' and then told me that there was 'no herniation that HE could see (to cover my own ass I had three other doctors confirm the herniation on my MRI after I saw him - although I should have been busy recovering and not running all over New Hampshire trying to make sure that the insurance company for the people that basically did this to me isn't going to sue me - but this is another story involving corporate greed and the private investigators they had follow me around to doctor's appointments and sit in front of my house for eight months).

I've got an appointment on 2/23 to see a new doctor that's on our new personal insurance rather than tied to any sort of Worker's Comp, so we're hoping that this guy will actually follow his Hippocratic Oath and put my interests as a patient before the interests of a corporate insurance company.

He must be a really big piece of shit then. ALL doctors know that the amount of herniation or stenosis etc.. is almost ALWAYS out of line with the amount of pain you're feeling. Some people will have very herniated disks and experiance next to no pain while others with have their bowels emptying with no control.

[Mordacain]

Originally Posted by CONTEMPT

Today is a sad day. Well, it's been a sad few months as I come to the awful realization that I simply can't handle 8 strings anymore.

On 12/31/09, I sustained a herniation to one of my disks in my lower back while working. During the battery of MRI's and things that followed, that discovered that I have a very advanced case of Degenerative Disk Disease, a genetic condition where the soft tissue in one's spine is essentially crumbing. This has lead to a lot of pain in my lower back and nerve pain that shoots down my legs if I stand for too long, or sit for too long, or lie down for too long...oh, .... it, who am I trying to kid? It's just pretty much always there.

Flash forward to a few months ago. The degeneration has spread to my upper back and neck, causing nerve issues with my left hand (AKA my very-important fretting hand). Some days it's numb, some days it's ok and even other days I can't accurately control the fingers on my fretting hand. What's more is that any guitars with strings greater than six have too much fretboard and actually physically hurt my hand and wrist to play. I've experimented borrowing 7's off of my friends and the only thing that's even remotely comfortable these days is a 6'er, and it kills me.

I've been playing on 7's pretty much exclusively since I was a teenager. I've spent years taking flack from closed-minded guitarists about my love of 7's and ERG's, even been asked to leave bands over it. But here I am.

I don't even know why I'm posting all this here, maybe simply because I'm having a tough time dealing with this reality today and maybe it'll make me feel better. If anyone wants to buy an eight-string, let me know. I can barely even play it these days.

Thanks for letting me vent, guys.

Hey man, that sucks majorly. I also have Degenerative Disk Disease (or so I was told after months of MRIs, doctors & specialists trying to isolate my sudden an unending back pain.

I was in a pretty bleak place, though I was having trouble with my legs more than my hands (numbness, sciatic pain, etc). The discs I have a problem with are mostly L2-L5 but I've also started having problems with my upper thoracic and lower cervical vertebrae as well (which I think is due to how I adjusted my posture to release pressure from my lower spine).

I suppose I am fairly lucky, as I changed out furniture (to memory foam from springs) and altered a lot of my posture patterns enough that the swelling was able to decrease. Honestly, I ran out of insurance coverage at the point where I was to start physical therapy (rather the Physical Therapists that dealt with spinal issues were out of network) and I couldn't afford to pay out of pocket. I developed my own routine to develop core strength that helps alleviate the day to day pain. Its a long, hard, painful process. The good news is, (at least the way it was explained to me) once your discs turn from soft tissue to a harder, flatter disc, the pain is greatly lessened (and I think this is ultimately what happened to me). Your mobility suffers a bit since your bones don't have the cushion they once did, but I can largely do just about anything I used to. I am still trying to rebuild my core strength (the period of laying down constantly lasted months and I gained lots of weight and lost lots of muscle) but I'm much better than I was. I generally only suffer pain now when I overwork myself by carrying heavy weights for prolonged periods of time (no helping friends move anymore). I also get pinched nerves in my shoulder blades very frequently which I think still has do with rebuilding the atrophied muscle.

I don't know if my story helps any and I don't have any great faith in what the doctor's told me concerning my condition but I wish you the best and hope your spine stabilizes to the point you can start to rebuild your old way of life!

[Mordacain]

Originally Posted by CONTEMPT

I've visited one spinal surgeon, while the case was still under the umbrella of worker's comp. It was someone my work insurance chose, and this guy spent 45 minutes making me feel like an asshole by saying things like 'your symptoms are disproportionate to what I see on this MRI' and then told me that there was 'no herniation that HE could see (to cover my own ass I had three other doctors confirm the herniation on my MRI after I saw him - although I should have been busy recovering and not running all over New Hampshire trying to make sure that the insurance company for the people that basically did this to me isn't going to sue me - but this is another story involving corporate greed and the private investigators they had follow me around to doctor's appointments and sit in front of my house for eight months).

I've got an appointment on 2/23 to see a new doctor that's on our new personal insurance rather than tied to any sort of Worker's Comp, so we're hoping that this guy will actually follow his Hippocratic Oath and put my interests as a patient before the interests of a corporate insurance company.

Damn that sucks man. The specialist told me the same thing. He was saying how he saw some compression here but nothing major. Have they mentioned trying cortisone shots or surgery to open the boney structures inside the vertebrae that pinch on the spinal cord?

[CONTEMPT]

Originally Posted by Mordacain

Damn that sucks man. The specialist told me the same thing. He was saying how he saw some compression here but nothing major. Have they mentioned trying cortisone shots or surgery to open the boney structures inside the vertebrae that pinch on the spinal cord?

They did 3 cortisone shots into my L4-S1 (base of the spine) back when I was still being treated. basically what happened is, despite the herniation setting my DDD forward about a decade or two, no doctors would put it on paper, so when the insurance thought the herniation 'should be treated by now' all my medical was cut, so I haven't been treated for it in about nine months. At the end of this month I get to go see another doctor (who's being paid by private insurance and I'm hoping this makes the difference) to actually see what can be done after these nine months of stagnation and progressing symptoms.

I want to say how much I appreciate everyone here and all their kindness, this has been taxing on me emotionally, watching myself fall apart, and I thank you all for the support and kindness and hope that you're all giving me. Thanks much, all of you.

[GATA4]

So sad to hear about this, man . Also sorry to hear that your work is out to get you, and that you've got to deal with snobby physicians. I think urklvt made a REALLY good point about keeping what you have...just keep it man! Don't let this get you down. Keep the 8's and 7's even if you can only get away with 6. I really hope you don't have too difficult a time coming to terms with this situation, and I also hope that someone out there helps you recover as much as possible.

Music is such an important part of life, and musicians NEED it. Be strong dude! Something amazing will come out of this!

[arsonist]

That sucks brah.
Ultra millions of support, figure out a way that you can still make music and express yourself!!!! I'll be listening!!

[CONTEMPT]

Well, I managed to get a decent solution to the guitar problem, at least. I treaded my Schecter 8 to my 17 year old nephew (who, I might add, has been LUSTING over it since I got it) for his Ibanez JS100 that had a broken high-e saddle on the bridge.

I took the JS100 down the my local guitar store and got the 'nice-guy-hookup' from a firend there and walked out with a brand new Schecter Blackjack ATX C1.

It's nice. It's cozy to play and doesn't hurt my hand. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I'll update everyone here about what they said.

I can't thank you all enough for the support I've gotten here. It's been tough as I'm essentially a shut-in at the moment because I can't get too far from my house on foot. Lots of time to play this new guitar, though. Always look on the bright side of life, *whistles*

[Tristoner7]

Man, I'm really sorry to read this. Don't give up on music though.

[Opion]

Dude, I remember reading this when you posted it, and the other day saw your NGD - didn't realize it was you though! I had a scare where I shocked the nerve of my index finger on my fretting hand a year or so back and couldn't play guitar for about 2 weeks...I broke down though and couldn't resist, and it still isn't the same (didnt heal properly - I can move my right index finger faster than my left when comparing them). There's nothing scarier than going to play a riff or scale and your fingers not agreeing to do it...so with this I know where you're coming from. It still never healed properly but it pushed me to develop dexterity in my pinky/ring I hadn't had before.

That being said, I'm glad to see you're still playing! There are alternatives to the extended range as mentioned above...the most important thing is you can still widdle away on some strings rather than none!

[zeaoth]

I had a nightmare once where I lost my hand in a car accident. It was horrible. Just can't imagine not playing my 8 string.

I def feel for you bro. I'd go with a 6 string baritone. Better than playing nothing. Keep your head up man, a positive attitude does wonders.

[80H]

and here i was scared of getting carpal tunnel. it hurts to hear stuff like this, but thanks for sharing, i'm sure putting the neck down is as difficult as climbing to the top

[Shashing]

Hey it sucks but you'll pull through maybe use this as an opportunity to expand your musical.. thing lol. Try playing around on a keyboard or pick up slide guitar/lap steels, there's lots of options for instruments that shouldn't put strain on your back. Good luck and remember to never give up on what makes you happy