United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi,all brothers & sisters of UBPN. I i'm wondering if anyone of you have any experience with trying to play guitar before & after your BPI incident? I looking for any encouragement for attempting or actually playing music with guitar,but would love to here about any attempt of playing music with any instrument and your experience with playing music for yourself or in a band. I have played guitar for 26 year's before my BPI and miss it like a broken heart.So If you know of any way to play guitar or a strumming machine for us with only one arm that works. Please let me know all your ideas.Im trying to build something to strum my guitar with a foot pedal, & learn to play left-handed. wish me luck. Please reply.
struggling with playing music!
Drew

It's hard to answer your questions because injury results are so different with every single person. No two people have the same injury or can use their arms/hands in the same way.

Here's videos of Matt Parsons in the UK - Better Off Alone shows how he plays guitar - you can see that his wrist is quite stiff however he can actually pick - not just strum and the music that comes out is really good.
http://www.youtube.com/leftarmrecords

My daughter Maia uses a lap guitar on occasion. Her left (bpi) hand has a very heavily weighted slide and rightie does the strumming. Since the guitar is on her lap or table, leftie can do what it needs to do to a certain extent. (She cannot supinate).

this is Maia's lap steel guitar
http://www.morrellmusic.com/pc-1539-10- ... herry.aspx

This is the resonator she uses - hers is very heavy so she doesn't have to press down too much.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=421090

Maia plays cello in an opposite way - rightie does chords and leftie holds the bow and gravity takes care of the motion.
here are videos of Maia playing her various instruments and she is a drummer in rock bands with School of Rock!
http://www.youtube.com/franlitz

Go to youtube and google it and you will probably find movies of different ways to play guitar. For Maia, we googled one arm drumming we were amazed at all the different methods.... holding drum sticks on with velcro straps, etc. It was so enlightening.

Anyway - just have FUN !!!

Hi F-Litz
thanks for the reply! ya your right everybodys BPI is different I wish I could move my arm as good as the people in the links you sent me,but I have no control of it at all.your daughter is great on the drums. Way to go Maia.I love the school of rock stuff.That has to be a great confidence booster for all the kids.. Her lap steel looks awesome,I would love to try that but i think I still need two hands.May be My arm will get movement someday. That Matt Parsons was good to! thanks for all the links & the ideas
peace Drew

Drew -check this guy out

http://www.tonymelendez.com/

just goes to show you that when there's a will there's always a way

happy figuring this out....catch ya on youtube soon eh?

Drew.. kept on thinking about how you could play the lap steel one-handed and I think it's possible if you create an extender for the resonator... half of your hand deals with the resonator (have an OT make a splint that attaches to the pinky side of your hand and attaches to the top of the resonator.....and your thumb and index fingers are free to strum and pick.

Do you have a big music school nearby? Call them and ask if they work with folks who have physical differences. They may have music therapists on staff or OTs on staff. They might be able to work with you on this --- or just a regular OT who is also a splint maker.

Drew - I keep on thinking that you CAN play guitar -just differently. Where do you live?

-francine

Background: Umm, I'm a 13 year old patient, and I play guitar.I had the surgery when I was born. I am supposedly the one with the best abilities. I have the most strength the doctors tell me and my mom.

Anyways, I play guitar REALLY good, like it looks like i don't even have what I do. I want my future to be me playing lead in a metal band
The problem:
Today I finally found my guitar strap and I attempted playing standing up. It worked really well, I can play the whole song of Nightmare by Avenged Sevenfold, and the lead guitarist of that band is literally the best. I tried playing a different song next, I can play it sitting down, but my arm doesn't have the strength to play it standing up. Here is the song (the verses strumming i can't seem to play): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bDg7n-chhU

Do you think that in time I will be able to strum like that standing up? Or will I be stuck like this -.-

Its just the top three strings I can't strum that fast.

I'm not familiar with guitar playing enough to know - what is the physical difference between playing sitting down and standing up? Are you able to rest your arm somehow sitting down and it gets more tired standing up? Or is the weight on your shoulder different?

We've been thinking about something like that for our Joshua, who is 7 and tends to run with his left elbow straight. It slows him down a lot. I thought maybe if I could construct or buy some sort of locking elbow brace that would help keep his elbow bent when he runs, it could help. Maybe something like that would help you, too, if the problem is keeping your elbow bent while you are standing?

Kate

I haven't watched the video yet but a thought came to me -- maybe you are doing more compensation than you think you are - meaning that there are other muscles in your body helping your arm do the work......

and if that's the case, get some visits with a trainer or a PT and get a home workout plan set up (or maybe at a YMCA or gym) and strengthen your core muscles and see if that helps.....

when Maia's core is weak, everything feels weak to her and she has pains
but when she's been working out for a while with her trainer and her core is more strong than not, her posture is different, her compensatory muscles don't get tired that quickly and things work a lot better....and she has the strength to play differently and play longer and play better....

experiment and see......

am curious to know what you learn about this

-francine

hi,
i played bass and sang in a punk rock band since i was 14. since my bpi i can't play and it breaks my heart as that was the biggest part of me. i lost all use of my left arm. if you think you can do it my friend , don't let anyone stop you. you will regret it if ya don't. everyday i think about it. i'm now four yrs into this and well everything that made me is gone. i wish you luck and hope to hear you play someday soon. sorry i can't give anything other than that.
play on ,
D~