Hello, everyone.

I've not been super active this year and I'm finally back. The explanation follows.

Executive Summary for the Squeamish

In January 2014 I had an injury to my right hand. We were not sure if I would be able to play again. After 7 months of healing, physical therapy, and relearning how to play with my right hand, I am able to do this. If you'd like you can watch the video and skip the longer story after that.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cq64E0ROuk[/youtube]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cq64E0R ... e=youtu.be

Long Story, (contains a few injury details)

I hurt myself in a nightmare scenario for every musician. The index finger on my right hand was severely damaged by a power saw. There was lots of blood. As my wife drove me to the ER I was in shock and convinced my playing days were done. The pain was incredible. I couldn't look at my finger, I thought I would pass out from the sight.

Laying on a bed in the ER, waiting for the hand surgeon to arrive seemed like an eternity. When he finally arrived and started to evaluate, I was trying to read his face. I just knew he was going to recommend amputation of my finger. I was in shock and pain and could barely talk. My wife was there and took over. "He's a musician, we need to save his finger." The doc looked up and said something I'll never forget, "I play guitar, we'll do everything we can to save it." I could have kissed both of them.

For the next few weeks we didn't know if we would succeed. With every day that passed without infection or complications the chances increased I would keep my finger. At one point I went to a physical therapist for a splint. She looked at my finger and said, "Oh, you'll keep it, stop stressing. I've seen worse." I was very relieved. I shifted my focus to my job. Typing with my right hand was not possible and I had to do everything with my left hand. I'm left-handed and was able to do my job mostly OK.

I suspended lessons with Steve Adelson, he's one of the few people who knew about this from the beginning. I don't know why, but I was extremely embarrassed that I hurt myself. I am getting over it, but it has been hard. I didn't know what to do musically. I was going to keep my finger at that point, but we didn't know how much functionality it would have. It was very stiff and painful.

I couldn't just sit and do nothing. I decided to look for things I could do with just my left hand. I read lots of research on hand independence in music and many music teachers' thought on how to learn music. A common theme stood out, play Bach. It seems that Mr. Bach wrote pieces for his students with the intent to help them with hand independence on the keyboard. Bingo, I was in. The main pieces like this are the two-part Inventions. I started with Invention No. 1 in C major. That's too high for Sticks, even an SG12. I lowered the key to something that worked and started in. I got the left hand going at full tempo long before I could use my right hand. It turns out this is a good thing.

I was able to carefully start using my right hand after several months. First, it was on my computer typing. That was a relief and my work benefited. Then I started touching the strings with my right hand. Ouch. Day by day I could use more force and started to make a tone. Then I realize something. I could not play with my right hand the way I had been for seven years. I would have to re-learn how to use my right hand. Everything I knew was gone. I had to start over.

It has been many more months from that point and I have reached the capabilities you can see in the video, such as they are. Some of you can make whole CDs in seven months. I was able to play one piece that's a little over a minute in length. Oh, well. I can still play and I'm happy about that.

I am actually very grateful.

Thanks,

-Eric

Nicely done.

FWIW, losing a finger never stopped Phil Keaggy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Keaggy

Saw him at Interlochen a few years ago, great guy.

Holy lord man. Intense. So glad you are ok. I wish you the best , and you kick ass for persisting.
Cosmic rays of violet/blue are sent your way.

...a nightmare scenario..., yes, indeed...
...god bless you, Eric...
....best whishes for your health, and your musicianship...

Geez that's really rough. Absolutely wonderful that you've recovered and bounced back. Loved the video and would never have guessed that anything had been wrong with that finger if not prompted.

Wow, I watched the video before I read the story, really pleased you are recovering from the accident.

I think you deserve a lot of credit for sharing your story. It was lovely to see an SG-12 played - I have one on order which can't be too far away now, I only hope I can reach your heights on it (hopefully with all my fingers still intact!)

Wishing you good luck with your recovery.

-Marc-

It is borderline fascinating that you posted this at approximately the same time that my spastic self was touching a Stick for the first time. I do not say that lightly. I hope that you are not offended by this, but my experienced eye could see the work you have done to perform as well as you did in the video. You have my congratulations and deepest respect: this experience should make you at once stronger and more humble. If not, you did it wrong.

Let me know if you want a spastic's advice on anything.

Thanks for sharing your story and the video. I am so glad things worked out. In a way it was kind of a two way street. You wanted to heal and play music, specifically on The Stick and yet I am sure the Stick helped you heal far beyond any standard therapy. The healing power of music ... and of course your strength, determination and effort. Congratulations!

Excellent indeed. I was along for the before, during and after. Much discussion and soul searching during our Skype lessons. It is very gratifying to see/hear Eric's persistence in his journey. The music was the motivation. Inspiration followed
steve A

Glad you're back Eric and that you've come so far from that injury! Great video. I can only imagine how difficult and scary of a situation that kind of injury would be.