# Just cut my finger open while playing guitar



## Harry (Feb 11, 2010)

Fuck yeah!
Wasn't serious or anything, but I was just rocking out too hard and hit my hand on the volume knob and blood started coming out of my finger
This happened to anyone else here?


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## MaxOfMetal (Feb 11, 2010)

A long time ago back when my Charvette (super cheap super strat from the early 90's) was my main guitar I was playing a local show with some buddies and a raised fret nicked open my fretting hand 1st finger when sliding a barre chord down the neck. It was just about the second time I had played in front of people who weren't family so I was too pumped to notice, until I looked at my now RED maple fretboard. 

It was Metal as fuck!


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## Randy (Feb 11, 2010)

Yes sir. The worst I ever had was my first 4 hour long show, when I wore through one of my plucking fingers and tried to play through the pain. The pain was so bad that my fingers would lock up on ever upstroke and I was forced to alternate between my middle and ring fingers (which were almost as bad) and "picking" the strings with my curled knuckle for 2 1/2 hours. It was hell on Earth. And there was only 3 or 4 people in the audience most of the night.


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## Chelseadevil21 (Feb 11, 2010)

^^how the hell and why the hell would you play a 4 hour show???? that's insane


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## Origin (Feb 11, 2010)

I made my fingers bleed when heavily training on bass when I started out, same on guitar.

Recently I've bit my left index nail so badly that it shoots pain up my hand when I press down on a fret. I REALLY need to stop biting, I can't play for shit right now.


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## Empryrean (Feb 11, 2010)

I didn't cut my anything, but I hit my rhythm guitarist with my guitar whilst participating in a group headbang/windmill during a 'heavy' part and FUCK!! his noggin whacked two of my tuners slightly crooked


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## Arminius (Feb 11, 2010)

I've got a scar about the thickness of a guitar string on my left middle finger. It came from attempting to play my home depot guitar


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## Empryrean (Feb 12, 2010)

Aysakh said:


> I've got a scar about the thickness of a guitar string on my left middle finger. It came from attempting to play my home depot guitar



Isaac, thats hardcore


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## Arminius (Feb 12, 2010)

I just wish i could say it came from an awesome gig, or trying to use bridge cables as guitar strings; but alas, no.


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## chaosxcomplex (Feb 12, 2010)

Chelseadevil21 said:


> ^^how the hell and why the hell would you play a 4 hour show???? that's insane


 Really? 4 hours is the standard when I play with my "bar band". It's kinda like a marathon...gotta pace yourself. Don't play too hard, and just relax.


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## poopyalligator (Feb 12, 2010)

I cant say that i have cut myself playing. Although this one time i tripped on stage and hit my head on the floor monitor. I had some blood streaming down my face during our set. It looked pretty metal.


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## MF_Kitten (Feb 12, 2010)

i´ve cut myself playing SG´s on stage. the saddles on the TOM bridges are so fucking sharp! one show i didn´t notice until i actually saw blood.


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## Bloody_Inferno (Feb 12, 2010)

Used to happen a lot when I had a bad habit of biting my nails... and the skin around it. 

Of course I don't do that anymore.


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## AySay (Feb 12, 2010)

I usually pierce a finger when changing strings. However never when playing. I'm confused how Kirk Hammett needs to tape his hand when he plays. How does he cut himself?


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## ShadyDavey (Feb 12, 2010)

Harry said:


> Fuck yeah!
> Wasn't serious or anything, but I was just rocking out too hard and hit my hand on the volume knob and blood started coming out of my finger
> This happened to anyone else here?



No...but I did spin my first ever guitar (squire strat) round on the strap, hit myself in the face and then dropped it on my bare foot. 

Yngwiewhothefuck?


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## MF_Kitten (Feb 12, 2010)

AySay said:


> I usually pierce a finger when changing strings. However never when playing. I'm confused how Kirk Hammett needs to tape his hand when he plays. How does he cut himself?



found this: Moving Pieces: Kirk Hammett: Why the taped hand?

i´ve experienced the exact same thing before, but it only happened if i was also playing a guitar with sharp TOM saddles. the type of injury is the same though: open cracks in the area below the pinky, as he explains in the link.


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## vampiregenocide (Feb 12, 2010)

Old schoolmate of mine was playing live and broke a string, which whipped up and sliced right into his thumb I think it was. Because it was so deep, he couldn't remove the string and had to go to A&E with his guitar, and the string still in his hand.


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## Randy (Feb 12, 2010)

chaosxcomplex said:


> Really? 4 hours is the standard when I play with my "bar band". It's kinda like a marathon...gotta pace yourself. Don't play too hard, and just relax.





I was in high school, though... so I always thought I had something to prove. As such, I'd headbang non-stop and jump around like crazy. Once the adrenaline and the endorphins leveled out, my neck had zero strength in it and would flop around like a spaghetti noodle. I'd seriously lay in bed crippled the entire next day. 

But, hey, getting a few hundred bucks in your pocket and getting to hang out in a bar when you're 14 isn't a bad gig.


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## Jzbass25 (Feb 12, 2010)

I only had bleeding from conditioning my thumb to press down in thumb position on upright bass. It hurt like a bitch to play so high with my thumb as the finger depressing the string!!!


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## AySay (Feb 12, 2010)

MF_Kitten said:


> found this: Moving Pieces: Kirk Hammett: Why the taped hand?
> 
> i´ve experienced the exact same thing before, but it only happened if i was also playing a guitar with sharp TOM saddles. the type of injury is the same though: open cracks in the area below the pinky, as he explains in the link.



 Thanks man, makes sense. I always thought it looked cool


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## chaosxcomplex (Feb 12, 2010)

Randy said:


> I was in high school, though... so I always thought I had something to prove. As such, I'd headbang non-stop and jump around like crazy. Once the adrenaline and the endorphins leveled out, my neck had zero strength in it and would flop around like a spaghetti noodle. I'd seriously lay in bed crippled the entire next day.
> 
> But, hey, getting a few hundred bucks in your pocket and getting to hang out in a bar when you're 14 isn't a bad gig.


 

HAHA...My bar gigging experience is a little different...we play more easy going, laid back stuff...It does a number on my fretting hand because I'm not used to playing full chords nonstop like that...I also have a habit of "wrapping" my thumb around the bass side of the neck when my hand gets fatigued...not a good idea...


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## MF_Kitten (Feb 12, 2010)

lol @ Randy! that´s pretty much me on stage, except not that crazy. i don´t bite off more than i can chew. i usually end up crippled and unable to move afterwards though. i only do it because when i first play a show, it´s a one-off thing, and another one won´t pop up for a long time. if it were a tour, i´d be more careful about brutalizing myself like that.

so if i´m playing a show, and there won´t be another show for a while, you can expect to see me going fucknuts on stage


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## Randy (Feb 12, 2010)

Hey, whatever it takes to stand out, dude. 

I get so bored seeing bands that just kinda stand around and disappear in the background. I understand that it takes a certain amount of attention to play some music, but that doesn't mean you need to stand in one place and stare at your guitar_ the entire_ time. I'm pretty sure a monster player like Jeff Loomis has problem staying really active, and still shredding like a fucking robot without breaking a sweat.

Jumping around and all that is a pretty strong extension of expressing yourself, and also, establishing an identity and a stage presence. Back when I had long hair, I'd windmill and all that crazy shit. It worked, but like I said, it left me a wreck. 

In an effort to take it a little easier on myself, I started looking at people who carry a huge stage presence even without being tremendously active on stage. Devin Townsend has become a huge inspiration to me, especially the way he could hold my attention, while only going totally 'bat-shit' a small portion of the time. He has this unpredictability about him, coupled with this steadied focus. Very powerful, in my personal opinion.

After I cut my hair and didn't have that as an option any longer, I definitely tried to take a page from his book while still doing a lot of my usual stuff. That helped to take some of the strain off of feeling inclined to totally rock-the-fuck-out-nonstop, giving me room to breathe periodically. My neck likes me a lot better for it.


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## Origin (Feb 12, 2010)

vampiregenocide said:


> Old schoolmate of mine was playing live and broke a string, which whipped up and sliced right into his thumb I think it was. Because it was so deep, he couldn't remove the string and had to go to A&E with his guitar, and the string still in his hand.



Jesus!


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## helly (Apr 6, 2010)

Band practice a while back, we have this one part where the guitar rings out and if we're practicing in stage presence mode, I'll just smack the body of my guitar above the bridge with my fist. Well, managed to smash it right on the tune-o. Ripped it open, broke my hand, kept playing because I didn't realize how damaged it was. Sucked ass for months as the break couldn't be set, it just broke off a piece of bone in my hand. I now have a weird bump on the side of my right hand.


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## -mouse- (Apr 6, 2010)

i busted my finger open playing bass once and bled all over the strings


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## Origin (Apr 6, 2010)

helly said:


> Band practice a while back, we have this one part where the guitar rings out and if we're practicing in stage presence mode, I'll just smack the body of my guitar above the bridge with my fist. Well, managed to smash it right on the tune-o. Ripped it open, broke my hand, kept playing because I didn't realize how damaged it was. Sucked ass for months as the break couldn't be set, it just broke off a piece of bone in my hand. I now have a weird bump on the side of my right hand.



Oldish bump, but good enough story that I totally don't mind. 


And yeah, bass was the first one to make me bleed...it does that well. =P


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## Esp Griffyn (Apr 7, 2010)

I've pierced my finger tip with the end of a High E string when changing strings more than once, and one time I lost a little fragment of high E string during a string change, which was quickly located by my big toe...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!


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## swayman (Apr 7, 2010)

MaxOfMetal said:


> A long time ago back when my Charvette (super cheap super strat from the early 90's) was my main guitar I was playing a local show with some buddies and a raised fret nicked open my fretting hand 1st finger when sliding a barre chord down the neck. It was just about the second time I had played in front of people who weren't family so I was too pumped to notice, until I looked at my now RED maple fretboard.
> 
> It was Metal as fuck!



I did the exact same thing, red fretboard, people cheered, was brutal...


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## CrushingAnvil (Apr 7, 2010)

Randy said:


> Yes sir. The worst I ever had was my first 4 hour long show, when I wore through one of my plucking fingers and tried to play through the pain. The pain was so bad that my fingers would lock up on ever upstroke and I was forced to alternate between my middle and ring fingers (which were almost as bad) and "picking" the strings with my curled knuckle for 2 1/2 hours. It was hell on Earth. And there was only 3 or 4 people in the audience most of the night.



_What I would have done..._

*dunununununununununununn dananananan DUN----* "What the fuck, you four? I'm off for a beer"


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## BrailleDecibel (Apr 11, 2010)

I was learning "The Price of Beauty" from Suicide Silence on guitar, and the combination of muting and switching strings for the main riff gave me a blister on the side of my right hand. Other than that, I can't think of many times that I've hurt myself onstage or off, knock on wood.


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## MetalNigga (May 2, 2011)

AySay said:


> I usually pierce a finger when changing strings. However never when playing. I'm confused how Kirk Hammett needs to tape his hand when he plays. How does he cut himself?



Its because of excessive palm muting


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## SirMyghin (May 2, 2011)

My band used to do 6 hour practices. My plucking fingers would literally blister and then pop regularly (bass). Fun times...


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## Nile (May 2, 2011)

Old thread is fucking old.


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## SnowfaLL (May 2, 2011)

cant say ive had anything too serious, other than blisters (esp when playing bass)..

One piece of advice I would give.. NEVER play within an hour of talking a shower/bath.. Your fingers are softened up from the water, and it just shreds your skin easily when sliding on strings. Least for me, I need at least an hour til my fingers are ok.

The only "injury" type thing that happened to me, im not even sure how but during a setlist-runthrough practice where I was playing bass, I somehow got a sliver of metal from the bass string lodged about 1cm UNDER my finger nail on my ring finger.. It was just barely sticking out so that any pressure on the tip of my finger would cause shooting pain through my hand.. and since it was a metal band, I had to do 3-finger speed plucking... That was just about the most pain I've ever experienced in a musical setting, every stroke was horrible. After it was done, I took a nailclipper and cut the nail down as far as I could (each cut hurt as hell too) til I could grab the metal shard with plyers to rip it out.. I still have no idea how it happened, but man it sucked.


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## squid-boy (May 3, 2011)

Yup. I was playing some Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains on this guys acoustic and I was strumming with my four fingers, since I myself didn't have a pick or the host and I smashed the strings reaaaaaaaaaal hard and my ring and middle finger tips got split open. 

It was brutal.


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## SirMyghin (May 3, 2011)

A good not string related one is the bass I learned on had a mustang style 2 barrel bridge with long studs, and no cover on it. No cover, until I tore the meaty part of my thumb to crap in a sudden movement. The stud literally ripped me a new one.


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## synrgy (May 3, 2011)

Used to happen to me all the damn time. It's the pointer finger on my right hand. Every so often the part of my finger just below the nail will hit the strings instead of my pick, and eventually it just opens up and I end up bleeding all over the bridge pickup.

Hasn't really happened since my teens, though. Then again, I haven't played any live shows since then, either.


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## steve1 (May 3, 2011)

I'm not proud of this story.

I used to be in a band that liked to do odd time signatures. There was a riff that I just couldn't get right, and I was already growing weary of writing in weird time signatures just for the hell of it. So I ripped all of the strings off my guitar and dropped it on the floor and walked out.

After calming down I found that the nut had broken, the fretboard was slightly coming away from the neck and a fret had fallen out. I replaced the fret by ripping one out of an old shitty guitar, however it was ever so slightly too long and as a result would tear up my finger whenever sliding my hand over it.

Serves me right for acting like a cunt.

The guitar was an epiphone flying v, not amazing but obviously that's no excuse.

Again, I am not proud of this story.


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## DrGand (Jun 9, 2013)

I've never had skin break open on my guitar while playing. Even through people's stories and explaining, i still find myself asking the same rhetorical question... 

...How the f*** do you cut your finger while playing?


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## Hyacinth (Jun 9, 2013)

When I was a novice and didn't have man calluses yet I was playing for about and hour and did a slide on the high E string and it slit my finger open. Not too crazy, but I got blood on my board and strings. I felt pretty badass after that. 

Now I pick up lit cigarette cherries with my calluses.


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## mr_rainmaker (Jun 9, 2013)

"USED" to have a les paul, bridge + heal of hand nuff said...


I`ll never own a guitar with a tom bridge ever again.


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## MikeH (Jun 9, 2013)

My stage presence is a bit eccentric, so I'm all over the place, hitting my guitar, jumping, spinning, what have you. The last 3 shows I've played have ended up with me having a split knuckle, and my 7321 covered in blood. Luckily, it's my beater guitar, so I don't feel bad when that happens.


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## myampslouder (Jun 9, 2013)

HOLY NECROBUMP BATMAN!!!!

anyway interesting thread. I'll contribute

My band was playing a battle of the bands in Charleston, SC and during our set we would play a cover of Refuse Resist by Sepultura. We would all get super into it during this song and midway through the song Ieended up ripping the skin off the back of my index finger on my picking hand by catching it on a string. I didn't notice till the end of the song. There were streaks if blood across my strings and spots and blood streaks down the front of my guitar.


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## sniperfreak223 (Jun 9, 2013)

Back in 2008, I really busted up my hand on a TOM bridge on my Polar White IT Speed V in the middle of a show. I played the last three songs in that setlist, then rushed to the hospital across the street and ended up with 6 stitches. Ironically, just over a year later, playing the same Polar White V at a bar gig, I managed to tear m palm open after some overly aggressive palm muting. That led to a further 4 stitches.I retired that guitar after the show, I really feel like it's cursed. It now hangs on the wall over the rack, blood stains and all, as a reminder of how nasty TOM's can be. It was sad to retire that guitar, I really loved the way it sounded and plated, and found it very striking visually, but to tear my hand open both times I played it live was just too much of a strange coincidence to pass off as "bad luck" to me...


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## Mprinsje (Jun 9, 2013)

I regularly cut open my picking hand at band practice and gigs because i'm an idiot who attacks his guitar instead of nicely playing it and i hold my pick like a retard.

doesn't matter which guitar i use, though it seems to happen more often on my telecaster.


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## MetalBuddah (Jun 10, 2013)

That happened to me on my first show ever with my current band. I was playing the intro to a song I wrote and noticed that my hand hurt like hell. I looked down and noticed my index finger of my picking hand was covered in blood. After the show I look a the carnage and my finger was in fact split open from it smashing into my strings a lot. Needless to say...my guitar was covered in blood. I have pics that I will put up later lol


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