Twelve years have passed now, since the Bluegrass Bug cornered me and said, ”You like this stuff, eh?” After this much time, one might be very well adapted to an assortment of instruments used to play Bluegrass music. Well, that is the direction that has been traveled by this author. It has not been a road traveled without bumps. It did take a few years to get over having a cramp creep up every time the mandolin case opened up! And so along the way, age related medical maladies took over and predicted how many bumps would occur along this road.
It was just a beautiful day. Paid my green fees and off I went with my golf clubs in tow. Oh, around the fourth or fifth shot. WACK! Out went my left shoulder. The pain was enormous. But you know, as a guy, one just toughs it to out. Next, one needs to tough out a total rotator cuff replacement. Ouch!
As you can imagine, this just puts a screeching halt to playing most, if not all, Bluegrass instruments for a pretty long time. On the other hand, it was a great time to purchase a new instrument that wasn’t in the collection of a mandolin, fiddle, guitar & bass. At the time, the bass was getting more use than any of the others. So, wouldn’t one think that an instrument used for Physical Therapy would be valuable? You betcha it would. So after a bit of investigation and research the Resonator guitar came to mind. Perfect for moving and exercising the left shoulder. Ah, there has already been much music played on this instrument. What fun!
So now we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, right? Well, it does. And yes, it is another malady. This time with the hands that are used to grab onto and hold tightly, all of those instruments. Ever heard of “trigger finger?” It is when one bends their finger down to the palm of the hand and then the finger gets stuck, yes stuck! One needs to grab a hold of said finger and pull it back all the way to straight. There is no other might or strength to move it, all by itself. Well, both index fingers were afflicted with this malady. So off to the table, arms stretched out and awake, clip-clip here, clip-clip there. Everything is all good now. Nothing gets stuck anymore. The fingers sometimes feel like lead weights, but then again, who does’t experience this from time to time?
Next thing you know, I found myself in the ER. Doubled over in a chair for about eighteen hours. That would kill most of us, right? Wouldn’t you know, the last side effect from medication that had finished up for over a week had decide to take affect. Seems that pancreatitis was on a list of at least a thousand side effects. Oh Lucky Me!
Don’t you think, you’re getting out of here yet! Wouldn’t you know, that just as one would be getting back to playing all the different instruments. BOOM! Out goes the other shoulder and yet another rotator cuff repair and recovery to adventure through. Please try to understand that this up and down with playing and not playing would take its toll on any musician out there trying to get along in any sort of band. And it has.
So along the way some old buddies from high school called me up and wanted to put the band back together again. Rock and Roll band. So I went out and bought another set of drums because the other sets were all sold off, except for the cymbals. Next thing you know, from using my hands a lot playing these different instruments, some sort of calcium deposit has developed on the very tip of my left index finger. Sort of feels like one of those copper bee-bee’s, stuck right at the finger tip. Could I ask you to try to play a mandolin with a bee-bee stuck under the skin of your finger tip? I didn’t think so. It really hurts like heck!
Guess what? Yes, it’s true, the doc’s have decided to amputate right there just above the collar line! Yes, that will do it. Just put him out of his misery! Oh, I wish. Instead, once more the gas will come out and off to never-never land again. And once again, the trip back to all of the Bluegrass instruments will be a welcome sight. Full recovery will again bring out all of those Bluegrass instruments to again enjoy playing in jams at Festivals and Camp-outs.
I do hope to see everybody soon at the next festive Bluegrass activity. Healthy, wealthy and wise!
Thanks for Listening
Bruce Long
