Playing Ukulele with damaged hand

Hello,

I just picked up my first ukulele and I was just wondering if anyone could offer some advice to a beginning player with a damaged hand. By damaged I mean my pinky finger and ring finger do not lift (if I put my hand flat on a table I could lift my ring finger may half a inch and my pinky not at all) Where this is a problem is in lifting my finger off of the strings. It just likes to kind of stay there. I am not sure if this will improve the more I play or if I am stuck with it.

Does anyone else play with a disability that may offer some suggestions around this or exercises they have done to improve it?

Thanks so much!

Jmisquez

I'm in no position to offer medical advice, but from the purely practical point of view, have you tried playing left-handed (assuming you're right-handed)?

:agree: May be a little tricky at first, but others have done it for various reasons. Just need to switch strings around.

One thing that I haven't really found is a "two-finger cheat sheet" for ukulele chords. However, two-finger chord-alternatives are well-known for mandolin. I came to ukes from mandolin and tenor guitar, so I've tuned my ukes in fifths (GDAE and CGDA) for transition simplicity when jumping from one instrument to another. In doing so, some of the "two-finger alternatives" come along, too.

While some traditionalist folk may guffaw at tuning a uke CGDA, it's very easy to do (especially with a low-G GCEA string set), keeps the same basic tonal response and let's one take advantage of the "mandolin two-finger GDAE cheat-sheet" (same fingering for CGDA) which was created to help large-fingered (and arthritic) folk handle the very-small mandolin neck and fret spacing.

FWIW, tuning a uke CGDA using low-G GCEA uke strings is very simple. Swap the G and C strings, detune the E to D and leave the A alone. The sound output is pretty much the same, (except the E detuned to D). The set-up is effectively a "reentrant C" from a picking point-of-view. If one wants true CGDA with a low-C, then Aquila's 31U string set gives just that and is good soprano-through-tenor.

For me and my gnarled mitts, I'd rather adapt the instrument to me than frustrate myself trying to physically reconfigure me to the hardware. Musicians have been doing it both ways since the first "rock on rock" serenade - it's just a matter of choice.

The Fingerpicking book by Aaron Keim that I'm perusing right now doesn't require using the pinky and ring fingers. In fact, there's another guy I've learned here

http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-fingerpicking-nursery-rhymes/

(Fingerpicking technique) who has exact same pattern. Borrow a uke, try those 3 simple songs, and see if you can do it.

For strumming, it shouldn't be an issue, no?

It's going to depend on the nature of the injury.

Many years ago I had an accident which severed the median and ulnar nerves on my left forearm just below the elbow. I was told that I would never regain use of the hand or be able to move it again. At the time I was playing guitar for a living, so the news was somewhat devastating.

I began doing my own physical therapy, starting with small squeeze toys, progressing to tennis balls after a while and eventually riding motorcycles (clutch squeeze is good exercise and the motivation of the consequences of not doing it correctly makes you focus really hard) as well as playing bass and guitar. At first, it was nearly impossible to play at all and I still am nowhere near the level I was prior to the accident.

That being said, just playing is incredibly good physical therapy. It's extremely frustrating at times, but you have to focus on the little victories. You also have to adapt your approach to technique to fit your unique circumstances.

So in short - just keep plugging away at it until you get frustrated, then take a break.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I've regained enough use of the hand to play bass nearly adequately. Last night my group opened for a national act.

No advice, but maybe an inspiration?

"Gypsy jazz" swing guitarist Django Reinhardt lost the use of his pinky and ring fingers on his left (fretting) hand due to severe burns, but re-taught himself how to play with only two fingers.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=django+reinhardt

Good luck, and welcome to ukulele!

This has all been extremely helpful and I really appreciate all of the comments. I think I am going to have to just keep playing and hope for the best. maybe altering my technique to compensate as I go. Thank you very much everyone!

I don't know if you clarified which hand it is --- left hand fretting hand or right hand strumming hand (assuming you're doing it traditionally)... but for the strum hand, a lot of pickers plant their pinky and often their ring-finger too on the fretboard. So you'd be perfect right there. You could strum down with the thumb and up with the pointer finger. Regardless I do think it's possible. Also I would really emphasize getting an instrument with low action/ makes it easier to play / easier to fret. Maybe some light fluorocarbon strings since I find those easiest to fret myself.

Hello UU folks, first post here. I wanted to chime in because I also have an injured hand. I'm right handed and hurt my left hand a couple years ago. . . My problem is mainly with the thumb/grip strength.

If you are just getting started playing ukulele, I would strongly recommend using the injured hand for strumming, and your other hand for fretting.

If you have played guitar or other instruments in the past, it may be very hard to switch. . . Really it's up you... If you want to switch it's going to be very difficult at first, but; I believe it's possible.

Another option is playing with a slide.. If you want to try it, out lay the uke on your lap and use a cigarette lighter or battery as a makeshift slide. You could tune the A string up to C (gCEC) and get an open C tuning.

Check out Kimo Hussey's two fingered picking style.

https://www.youtube.com/user/KimoHusseyUkulele

As the OP's concern is with the chording hand (unless I read this thread wrong), I go back to what I mentioned in an earlier post of restringing/retuning the uke to accommodate the musician. I mentioned earlier on how to tune a uke CGDA (closest tonally to GCEA) and take advantage of two-finger chords developed for GDAE/CGDA.

The below chart shows the more popular two-finger chords for GDAE. To convert to CGDA, just "up 3" each chord label. For example the "A" chord fingering for GDAE is the "D" chord for CGDA; the "E" GDAE is the "A" CGDA; and so on. It must be realized that this is a "compromise" way to chord, but does allow one to play and, if dexterity and time allow, build on this to expand one's skill.

I don't know if this is something that would interest you, but have you considered learning to play slide ukulele? It's definitely the road less traveled...

It's mostly a guitar style, and really popular with folks playing blues on 3 string CBGs, which is how I know the technique. As it turns out though, there are a couple people who have played around with it on the uke. This video is a pretty good example.

So here is what I have learned after a few weeks of playing. My pinky on my left and right hand is completely useless when trying to fret (on my left hand) or do a roll (on my right hand). I have to tuck my left pinky behind the neck or it just lays there like a bump on a log (I cannot lift the finger off the fretboard at all).

More importantly...I learned that I CAN still play the ukulele. I just have to get creative and I still think it is a blast!

What's life without obstacles right? It will just make it all the more rewarding when I make progress!

JMisquez said:

So here is what I have learned after a few weeks of playing. My pinky on my left and right hand is completely useless when trying to fret (on my left hand) or do a roll (on my right hand). I have to tuck my left pinky behind the neck or it just lays there like a bump on a log (I cannot lift the finger off the fretboard at all).

More importantly...I learned that I CAN still play the ukulele. I just have to get creative and I still think it is a blast!

What's life without obstacles right? It will just make it all the more rewarding when I make progress!

Click to expand...

I have a degenerative condition called Dupuytren's Disease where the muscle sheath in my palm pulls on the fingers. My pinky is bent past 90* and cannot be straightend so it is useless and I tuck it in behind the fret board like you do. My middle finger will not straighten past a 45* and my index will not straigthen past 20*. I have switched over to ukes with radius fretboard so can play barr chords with the bent index finger.

As you said life is all about overcoming obstacles and challenges. The only people without any problems are the one resting quietly in graveyards. Thanks for starting this thread and having the courage to share this, you are not alone.

SteveZ said:

As the OP's concern is with the chording hand (unless I read this thread wrong), I go back to what I mentioned in an earlier post of restringing/retuning the uke to accommodate the musician. I mentioned earlier on how to tune a uke CGDA (closest tonally to GCEA) and take advantage of two-finger chords developed for GDAE/CGDA.

The below chart shows the more popular two-finger chords for GDAE. To convert to CGDA, just "up 3" each chord label. For example the "A" chord fingering for GDAE is the "D" chord for CGDA; the "E" GDAE is the "A" CGDA; and so on. It must be realized that this is a "compromise" way to chord, but does allow one to play and, if dexterity and time allow, build on this to expand one's skill.

View attachment 78840

Click to expand...

Thanks for posting this! It is a very interesting alternate that I think I might try on one of my ukes just for fun. Hopefully I won't need it too soon. I would rather try different tunings on ukulele before switching to a different kind of instrument (like a harp- I have considered that because no fretting, but I prefer the sound of the uke).
–Lori

I'll echo the idea of playing bottleneck/slide 'uke. I have a Mexican cuarto-menor from Paracho, sized like a thick mandolin (~8cm deep vs the mando's 5cm), very comparable to my tenor 'uke, but with four 3-string unison courses of steel strings. I have it tuned CGEC for slack-key and bluesy bottleneck playing. With or without the slide, those tripled unison courses just shimmer! And their width makes them easy on fingertips.

I often play it with a metal slide (a custom-cut piece of brass pipe, more bite than steel or glass) on my pinky. But I've also emulated a friend whose fretting hand was badly damaged -- he had a slide fitted to his barely-usable ring finger. I've done that too. By 'fitted' I mean I stuck my finger into brass pipes until I found one that felt right, then cut that to size and Dremel-polished the rouch edges. Cost: a couple of bucks.

Without a slide, it's a 'different' sort of taropatch. With a slide, it's sweet or funky, depending on the picking attack -- I can treat it like a mini-12-string blues guitar. Side note: Today I'll change old strings. As an experiment, I'll use octave-higher strings in the center of the two lower courses. Maybe that'll give it a 12-string guitar's richness, or maybe it'll sound weaker. We'll see.

Anyway, try slide-playing on an open-tuned 'uke. A damaged fingering hand can do that. Or emulate Django. He did an awful lot with only two fingers.

In my younger years I was always too afraid to try and play music because my hands didn't work properly and I was worried I would be made fun of. As I started to get a little older, I thought it's too late to start. Now that I have reached middle age and care less about what others think and have realized that time is short and if you want to do something you better do it now before time runs out.

I just want to play and having to find my own way, while challenging is adding to the experience. I will absolutely try some of the suggestions here as I am all for accepting help when it is offered. Thanks for the feedback and for sharing your experiences and knowledge with me!