I blew out a left bicep tendon at work and if I opt to get it repaired I will be facing 3 months without use of my left arm. If anyone has dealt with this kind of situation I'm wondering if you have any playing tips to get a decent tone using one hand??
if you check out Bobby Mercy Oliver on facebook you will hear some awesome tone. he has both arms working but he racks his harps with a green bullet and i have yet to hear better tone with no cupping in some decades now.
you might consider different positions like 1st and 3rd also. these give more variety to your whole thing. maybe you already use these other positions so you already know! ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Big John Wrencher lost his arm in an accident. He had monster harp tone and was a righteous singer. He breathed through the diaphraghm. His style was more reminiscent of Rice Miller or Howlin' Wolf. Play that way.
I feel for you. My father just had that operation after a skeeing incident (3 tendons in his shoulder ripped after a dislocation). Luckily they discovered that there was something wrong besides the dislocation fairly early on, and he had surgery very quickly (which is important! Another doctor said he just needed to rest the arm 6 more weeks, which would have diminished chances of recovery). He is now slowly regaining function over his arm, though he can't lift it up without help just yet. He started moving passively 2 weeks ago, and since 4 days is allowed to try to lift it up independently. He's 63 and training like a madman to regain function :), all happy he can move again.
The hard times are behind him now: very difficult balance to rest it enough that it can grow back together (you're not allowed to move at all at least the first 2 weeks, which was longer with him because it turned out it were 3 tendons), but not to rest it so much that you get a frozen shoulder. My father took long walks every day (like 2 hours), carefull not to fall of course. I think being very active helps the body to recover. Docter said he had astounding movability of the arm (they check by lifting it up, which he was allowed to do after - I believe - 4 weeks or something) given the circumstances.
So good luck recovering! It is really shitty not to be able to move your arm, but afterwards you forget soooo fast! And though they say it's a very painfull week after the surgery, my father just had two days of pain, and then he was fine. Pain wasn't too bad either. Just keep that body movin', and you'll be fine man! Definitely worth the hussle: you can regain full function. It IS after all, your bloody arm we're talking about!
Last Edited by on Mar 27, 2012 7:54 AM
i get a stabbing pain in my armpit and my right arm goes completely dead. i had a broken left arm i still played i would never miss a gig. deak and walter have tone and dont use their hands. wheres theres a will theres a way. tone can be in your mouth not your hands. good opportunity to learn something new. i had a bad habit of wrapping my thumb over the fretboard. i taped a pencil to my thumb to keep it straight. i never could use my pinky, i practiced bass with my pinky and ring finger together as one unit. sometimes handicapping yourself is all for the better.
A guy named George "Jersey Slim" Cook was a fixture for many years at the jam sessions at New York's Dan Lynch Blues Bar. He had two arms, but one was semi-paralyzed and more or less hung at his side. He held onto the mic and harp with one hand and played like that. He did just fine like that. He used a Green Bullet and got a pretty overdriven sound. It wasn't deep, but it was effective.
I went searching for Jersey Slim on YouTube and found nothing, but I did find him through Google, and when I wrote to him to make sure it was the same guy--I remembered his first name, George, but couldn't remember his last name--he wrote back right away. He's been living in Key West since 1999. He's doing a duo thing. I'd urge anybody down that way to check him out.
http://www.bandmix.com/jersey-slim/
One reason I wasn't sure it was him was that the guy in the photo is using both hands! So for those who find themselves doing the one-armed thing, there's always reason to hope.
PS: When you visit his webpage, make sure you check out all the images on the lower right side of the page. He's lived a long life in the blues!
Last Edited by on Mar 27, 2012 7:33 AM
There used to be damned good harp player in Chicago who played with one arm named Big John Wrencher. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
If it came to it id play one handed and tape the opening of tge back of my harps to what I can't cup one handed.
If needed id flip the harp upside down to switch my mic hand.
It is possible to get a complete seal around the mic to holes 1-6 or so for me while holding a fullsize bullet.
The thing that gets me is guitar. My left wrist is giving me significant problems and it is my fret hand.
The lonewolf tone plus is good if you can't get the bass you want as a gear crutch. It makes a thinner sound a little fuller. Not the best depth but it is a decent crutch.
Playing unvented covers helps If you have a useable treble and or presence knob really watching the values wvalues is huge. Most fender amps rolling the bass all the way up the treble off and the presence down or off then using the Mids to bring highs back is pretty tried and true.
Last Edited by on Mar 27, 2012 8:06 AM
been awhile since i broke my left arm and it was strapped immobile. but i tried just playing with my right hand and now i know why sometimes i play vertical. my hands long and slender. i can hold the harp in my right hand and get hand effects with my ring and pinky fingers. i blew into a uni directional mic on a stand at the time. if you really need to eat the mic and no hand effects i guess a clip on electret mic can be used. i have no problem getting a good seal up to 7.
Thanks to all for the input. I've been checkin' it all out. So last night I got together with the guys and spent part of the night experimenting with one hand harp. I put a mic on a stand, tried one hand cupping with no stand, dialed more bass than ever on the tone-plus. My American D-4T "salt shaker" mic was easier to play one handed than my green bullet. It was sounding ok but I will keep working at it. On a bright note, last saturday night I only had to move equipment you can lift with one hand.....
im holding with two because i made it to fit the old style proharp the leather inside came loose and the special 20 was kinda wobbly inside. but i used to play one handed all the time and turn the mic upside down and the pro harp wouldnt fall out.
