Missing Middle Finger Left Hand | Forums

[C.Linton]

Don't forget the famous Jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt, played some amazing stuff with only two fingers on his fretting hand.

[C.Linton]

Oh yeah, I forgot the movie Road House. Remember the blind guy behind the fence? He died a few years back, but he was a guitar player who played lap style.

If you mean Jeff Healey, yes he was great, but the only "handicap" he had was that he was blind, there was nothing wrong with this hands.

[PRS_Rocker]

If you mean Jeff Heaey yes he was great, but the only "handicap" he had was that he was blind, there was nothing wrong with this hands.

I was just getting to the lap style, not his lack of finger. I was going to list Reinhardt, but he'd already listed him in the original post.

[C.Linton]

I was just getting to the lap style, not his lack of finger. I was going to list Reinhardt, but he'd already listed him in the original post.

I understand, I just wanted to make sure those not familiar with him knew the difference. And I missed that about Django in the OP. That's what I get for not paying attention.

[weirdscenes]

I was surprised at the fairly large response in such a short time - thanks again for the encouragement.!
I have always been a practical bloke (an engineer) and have a tendency to get sidetracked from the main issue (learning to play reasonably well - in this case).l'd like to respond to each post individually but there's too many.
One comment struck home most - the advice to practice, practice, and practice some more.
I think this is also the hardest to apply. In my head, I know it makes absolute sense - but nevertheless, I seem to repeatedly get sidetracked away from this/
For instance I will modify the guitar in the hopes of making it easier to play (even to the extent of building a copy of an ergonomic travel guitar so I can practice when I have spare time on my way home from work etc.)
Although this does help to some extent, I am fairly sure if I had used the time spent , building, researching, modifying, reading etc. in practicing progress would have been much greater (it is painfully slow).
So HOW can I make myself practice instead of procrastinating ???.

Point taken about risk of damage related to arthritis - my doctor seems to feel it's good for me and should stave off deterioration to some extent.
BUT that's my next stumbling block and source of frustration - I often tell myself I'm too sore to practice and put it off as a result. This means that sometimes I don't practice at all for as long as a week.
It would probably be best to practice between about 9am and 5 pm 'cos those hours are when my hands are most flexble - but those are hours when I'm at work !
Will Rocksmith do the job ? Should I concentrate just on this game ? It's the first thing I have found that seems to hold out promise for me.

Or is it better to focus on using something like Guitar Pro 6 and learning songs/tunes ? or practicing scales ? or chords ? or a mix of all these ?
I find myself just mainly practicing riffs - but due to slow progress and lack of a good plan I get discouraged

Finally, I would welcome any advice on frequency and duration of practice i.e. is 15 mins twice a day better than 1 x 30 mins ?]

That's all for now folks
T

[PRS_Rocker]

Any practice is better than none, but I suggest at least 30 minutes a day if not more. I typically throw a min of an hour into practicing, but sometimes 3 or 4. Depends on whether or not I have a gig. There's no one right thing to practice. Scales, modes, theory, songs... It's all good. Like any workout, you want to do what will move you towards your goal. I usually warm up with scales at a slow, metered time. Then I try to play different cliche licks (stuff you hear in every song) for a few minutes up and down the fretboard. The idea is to play the same lick in several places different ways. I might work on a few minutes of technique or just start playing tunes. I don't really worry about playing original music, so I just try to play the songs I hear. Make sure you include ear training, whether you hum songs or try to figure parts out. Get software that will let you slow down parts so you can play them at your pace. Riff Master Pro is helpful if your computer is handy when you practice. Otherwise, there are hardware phrase trainers like Tascam's LR-10/. I used to travel a lot, so I used both. The nice thing about the LR-10 is that you plug your instrument and headphones in, and you're flying.

Whatever you do, don't stop playing. You don't get better watching others. Get in there and do. Most of all, ROCK ON!