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brooklynfall

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 4, 2006
Messages
166
Location
New York City
Man, this hasn't happened to me since ... I don't even know when!

A couple weeks ago I reconnected with this band I hadn't played with since college (5 years or so). The band was a three piece - bass, keyboards and drums - playing mostly improvised live house/techno/breakbeat/jungle music - basically covering all the electronica/dance bases. If you've heard of bands like the New Deal and Lake Trout, you probably know something about what we sounded like.

Anyway, we got together to play this private party at a bar in NYC. I'm up there playing my Stingray through enormous blisters on my right middle finger, which is a rare occurance for me - usually I use a pick when playing loud, but a pick is not an option with this band. The music is loud and fast, and the basslines are necessarily busy, with lots of ghost notes and repetitive motion. So I'm playing and I notice a sudden pain in the blistered finger.

Of course, they've all popped.

The gig still has 40 minutes to go, so I'm in monstrous pain, trying to favor that finger. I make it through the gig, pack my stuff and don't take out my SR again for a couple days. When I do, I check it out and I find that all the strings, the pickup and the PG are all covered in dried blood.

:eek:

Needless to say, I was amazed and shocked that I didn't notice earlier. I spent yesterday cleaning it though and it looks good as new (same goes for my finger, thank goodness).

Man, I definitely felt like Sid Vicious or something. Made me feel ten years younger. Definitely gotta work on those callouses though ...
 

mammoth

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
327
Location
Stoke, England
furious and frantic finger use rules.. there is nothing quite like having that extra inch of dried dead skin on your fingertips :D

doesn't help when im flicking my mrs' bean though!!!! :eek:

i did once play with a dislocated index finger, man that was dedication to the cause:cool:
 

SLUGGO

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 5, 2007
Messages
270
I had a very similar thing happen!

I got up to jam with this band a few weeks ago. I thought I would only play a song or two so I didnt mind using the bass player's enrty level Ibby with ancient strings. Well, I would up playing a set and a half with these guys. About 30 minutes in I notice my entire tip of my middle finger is a giant blood blister!! I was having way too much fun to quit, but I had to pluck the hell out of that bass to be heard! Anyhow it took about 10 days to be able to play without pain again. But it made for too good a story!! 25 years of playing....1st blister!
 

Baird

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
481
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I just started playing bass seriously again last year after about 12 years away from it.

I must have played my SUB 4 for 4 or 5 hours straight the night I picked it up. I ended up with massive blisters on 3 fingers on my left hand and a gross bloody one on my right index fingers.:eek:

They were so bad that even 4 or 5 days later when I went amp shopping, I had to ask the sales guy to show me how they sounded as I couldn't play a note.:eek:

Anyways, the fingers are hardened again and all is good.:)
 

Disquieter

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2004
Messages
791
Location
WA
doesn't help when im flicking my mrs' bean though!!!! :eek:


hey! this is a family forum...:D ;)


i too have offered my blood up to the stage, one exceptionally brutal show in seattle, I had gotten my fingers squashed by some drum hardware earlier, so i already had some pain blood blistering, and during the show i managed to cut my arm open on something, and the guitar player hit me in the face with his guitar (accident...), so i had blood from the finger tips, blood from the arm, and a gash on the forhead from the rhoads V, it was way "hardcore". Oh, we finished out the set.
 

tombboy

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 7, 2006
Messages
246
Location
UK
I played a festival last summer after quite a lengthy lay off.. we rehearsed in the morning and done the gig late afternoon. By the end I had a blister like half a golf ball on my L index finger. Went along to first aid, asking them to lance and treat it. To my surprise I received the reply "Ooh no!! We can't do invasive procedures!":confused:
After a shrug of the shoulders I then asked for the guy's name badge, used the pin to pop the bugger, squeezed out the fluid then requested a plaster!!:D Healed up fine!!!:p
 
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