Learning to play the bass again

Everyone knows I had shoulder surgery in January. And my recovery was relatively quick and painless. I say that tongue-in-cheek, of course, but I must be tougher than I look. Once I was able to really move my arm again, it really wasn't so bad. Physical therapy has helped tremendously.

I didn't get up and play again until our first show of 2012 on February 10 at Fat Jack's (A month to the day of my surgery). I was told I needed to play sitting down. (I didn't.) I think I only played "Barracuda", using the short-scale Jaguar. That's when I noticed a difference.

It wasn't the shoulder that seemed odd, it was how I hold my left hand. It didn't want to "turn over" like it should to hold the fretboard. It didn't hurt, it was just "different." All I could think was, "Gee, that's really weird."

I'm gonna have to re-learn how to do this. Something I've done for 27 years.

I got kinda busy and didn't take the time to practice during the weeks that followed. I only played at shows (and there are plenty of those!!), just "'Cuda" and "My Sharona," letting SmittyG do the rest. (And he's done a FANTASTIC job of that, by the way!) But this last week I had to take the Jaguar to Larry Hargrove, Guitar Tech Guru & Tony's Dad, to have it re-adjusted, and decided to bring the Warlock to the Hut and get back in the groove. My shoulder has gotten so much better I thought I'd try working with a full-scale neck again, at least for a little while.

Again, I can tell there's a difference. My shoulder's external rotation, before surgery, actually extended farther than it was supposed to, and I was able to get away with that for years. Now that it's been repaired and can only go so far, I can see how the repeated motion of bass playing eventually caused the damage it did. This is especially true for me, being a woman with short arms playing a big guitar. (God knows what would have happened had I learned to play stand-up! But I made a rule years ago that I would never play an instrument taller than me.) There's a different "feel" mainly in my wrist and forearm, and tightness in my hand, which I think is primarily just age and not having played much since the last dislocation back on the first of September.

Anyway, I played through the entire set list this week and felt the adjustments I've had to make, then concentrated on the songs I'm still playing. I'm pretty sure I can still do this(ha ha). About 2 weeks ago, at the La Fogata show, I realized how much I actually missed playing. Although being able to just concentrate on singing has been a blast because I get to sling my hair around and be all...rock diva-ish. And again, Smitty has been great. He's a great addition to the band and a phenomenal bassist. He's welcome to stay with us as long as he wants, and I think he's having a blast.

So, with all this in mind, we'll be back at Fat Jack's tonight, Friday the 13th, and in top form. The Jaguar is still "in the shop", so I'm gonna pull out the Warlock tonight and see how it goes, since I've never played it at a show. Let's ROCK AND ROLL!!! :)