Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

ADVICE: do not cut your finger!

#1

Brothers and sisters in BanjoBenClark.com:

Here’s some good advice: DO NOT cut your fingers while cooking (or any other time)!

May 15 I was making some chicken salad for my lunch, and I cut my left ring finger about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch in, required 3 stitches, which came out today. Haven’t been able to practice that entire time, and what I found out was… practicing is every bit as much of my joy in the instrument as performing is — actually, it’s prob way more.

So, make a vow to yourself that you will not allow any accidents to happen (:thinking:), because you’ll be very sad if so.

(I’ve also lost feeling on the inside tip of that finger, and have no idea how long it will take to get it back!)

Keep pickin…~~ts

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#2

Best advice I have heard in years!!!

I too have cut fingers deeply and gotten stitches. Thankfully, no tendon damage and was back to full speed before long.

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#3

I’m truly wondering if I start practicing again too soon, will that hurt the chances for full nerve recovery, or is that more or less just going to happen no matter what?

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#4

Now you tell me! Last year (thankfully the week after I got out of the studio) I sliced the tip off my middle ring finger on a kitchen mandolin slicer. Couldn’t wear a pick for several months. I’m very fortunate that it was my right and not left hand though or I still wouldn’t be able to play any instruments and probably wouldn’t ever be able to again with that finger.

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#5

I shuddered reading this. I’m glad it sounds like you’re OK, given the circumstances anyway.

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#6

This is why banjoists should only cook ramen.

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#7

I still shudder thinking about it. But it’s definitely not as bad as it easily could’ve been!

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#8

In February of this year our dad was removing an auger attachment from his tractor and crushed/sliced both his left pinky and ring finger bad. He could still play bass after a couple weeks when they were less tender but he couldn’t use those fingers to press the strings. Again not as bad as it could have been. We were thankful!

Also just a couple weeks ago Lizzy Long was using a saw to work on a fiddle and sliced off a huge section of her left index finger. Down to beneath the nail. About as bad as it could get for a musician. :fearful: Apparently she got it grafted back on and I just saw her the other day and she said it hurts horribly but she was still playing. Someone else told me she’s taking like 8 pain pills a day.

It’s a little scary when you stop and think how precious our fingers are as musicians. Makes you want to wear gloves all the time :joy:

Detail to add: :smirk: There was a safety tool for holding the vegetables with. Timothy was cutting without it, flying across the blade with the veggie in his bare hand. :woman_facepalming:t2:

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#11

And sorry for the deleted posts. For some reason I typed everything above in separately posted paragraphs till it cut me off.

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#12

Yikes. I have a carpenter friend who’s in his 70s… he had a splint on his finger the other day and told me “If you want to keep playing your guitar, don’t do carpentry” :joy:

It does, however, remind me of the famous time when Tony Rice cut his thumb while whittling on a boot heel and had stitches in his right thumb where he held the pick, right before the New South cut 0044. He did several tracks like that before calling John Starling to take the stitches out in the studio. Apparently “Rock Salt and Nails” is where you can hear the effects the most.

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#13

I honestly don’t know so I won’t hazard a guess. If you saw a hand specialist, I would ask her/him.

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#14

Sound advice, one should also take care when playing with hammers and nails.

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#15

This will be me, more or less, when chopping onions from now on!

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#16

I cut the top of a finger off one time. I’ve had some fairly traumatic accidents in my life and cutting a finger is one of the most painful, amazingly!!

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#17

A guy who works in our shop cut off two fingers on his right hand in a work accident.
When it happened he asked the doctor, will I still be able to write with it?
The doctor said … Probably, but I wouldn’t count on it

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#18

Tommy Caldwell is a world class climber. When he was at peak age and top of his game, he cut off a finger (I think it was a table saw). It took him a ton of effort in rehab, but in the end he is STILL a world class climber. Given the exacting demands of the things that separate elite climbers, I would have thought that impossible.

Before Tony Iommi became a godfather of metal, he lost about 1/3rd of his first two fingers on his right (fretting) hand in a work accident. He tried learn righty. Failed. Then he made his own little prosthetics, put on very light strings and went on and became one of the most important rock guitarists of all time.

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#19

I worked in the print industry and I can concur that a PAPER CUT is so painful. My OP didn’t cause me the same amount of pain, mind you I was on a morphine drip for weeks before they weaned me off with pain patches.

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#20

The Tip Of My Fingers by ROY CLARK - YouTube

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#21

Bruh