TML

I began playing guitar at age 11 (I'm 62 now). In my teens and twenties I played in a lot of bands. At age 31' date=' I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis. Over the next fifteen years, the arthritis caused extensive joint damage in both hands and wrists, making it difficult or impossible to play the guitar the way that I wanted to. So, in my mid-forties, I stopped playing guitar entirely, and switched to bass.[/quote']

 

How did your hands manage that? Like so many guitarists, I have screwed around with bass a little bit but never got serious about learning to play it properly. Strangely, I think I get bass a little more than I do guitar. For example, I sometimes have trouble picking out strum patterns in songs but I can follow a bass line perfectly. Sometimes I can't relate the bass line to the song when it is played by itself, but I do hear it well in the mix and I assume that I would learn to relate it to the song if I had ever gotten serious about learning to play bass. That is probably a lousy way of explaining it but it is all I have after working all day.

 

Anyway, I have never considered switching from bass to guitar because I didn't think there was any way that my hands could deal with the thicker strings. My arthritis is primarily in the large knuckles where the finger joins the hand and I just assumed that, if those hurt when playing chords, they would hurt a lot more when playing thick bass strings.

 

I would be interested in hearing more about your experience playing bass and how your hands dealt with the thicker strings.

 

 

In my fifties, I decided to learn to play the drums. I took lessons for about 18 months, learning basic rock beats and fills, and a few rudiments. Then I took a long hiatus from drums until a year ago, when I began taking lessons again. I have a great teacher, and have made a lot of progress in my playing, The damage in my hands and wrists limits my range of motion, and I know I'll never be Jojo Mayer, but that's okay; I'm having a lot of fun, and I'm very motivated to keep learning and improving.

 

Fun is the main thing, especially for someone like me who only plays as a hobby.

 

 

 

Here's my advice:

1. You don't say if you're seeing a rheumatologist. If not, make an appointment TODAY. Every day that you delay increases the risk that you will suffer irreversible joint damage that may make daily functioning, walking, eating, dressing, etc., difficult, let alone playing a musical instrument. Rheumatoid arthritis can also cause other conditions, such as cardiovascular disease. A good rheumatologist will assess you and prescribe the best treatments for your particular form of arthritis, including drugs, PT, homeopathic treatments, diet modification, exercise, etc. Biologic drugs (Enbrel, Humira) were the only thing that stopped my arthritis in its tracks, but they came along fifteen years after I was diagnosed. Today there are many more treatment options available to you.

 

I am seeing one and have another appointment coming up shortly for arthritis in another area of my body. He doesn't seem overly concerned about the arthritis in my fingers because he says I still have good range of motion. It might hurt, but the fingers still move about (although gripping things can be problematic). I don't think he is necessarily ignoring my hands, I just have a much bigger arthritis issue elsewhere that needs to be proerly diagnosed and dealt with as it affects my mobility, which is obviously more important. But I will mention my hands again when I next see him.

 

 

2. Find a good teacher who emphasizes tension-free hand technique. If you start out with improper hand technique, you can do more harm than good. If you can't find anyone locally, look into Skype lessons with Bill Bachman at drumworkout.com.

 

 

I had thought of technique a bit as I am coming to the realization that I can do much more damage to myself with improper technique.

 

 

Hope this helps. Good luck and welcome to drumming.

 

It does and thanks.

 

My hands seem like they can handle swinging drumsticks. I a feeling some strain in my fingers but I am 100% certain that is coming from holding the sticks too tight. Some lessons and instruction on proper technique should fix that problem.

I picked up a cheap pair of sticks and an inexpensive electronic practice pad today. Screwing around with them a bit should give me an idea if my hands can handle it. From there I can take a lesson or two to see how things go.

Cool. Go see that doctor.

Thanks for reminding me...I needed to make an appointment with the specialist for something other than my hands. I'll make that appointment today and will discuss my hands when I see him.

Just an update after people were good enough to offer helpful advice.

I am playing slide but my left hand still hurts. I am going to give it another month or two to see whether it stays the same, gets worse, or improves and will then make a decision about giving it up for drums. Or maybe I'll keep one cheap guitar for slide in addition to starting the drums.

I spoke to a local drum teacher and he said that he has arthritis in his fingers/hands but can sit behind a kit for hours with no problems.Obviously everyone is different but that does give one hope.

Thanks.

The arthritis is degenerative. It is rheumatoid arthritis. There is a bad family history of it (both osteo and rheumatoid). My doctor has recommended that I use tumeric (he does) so I need to buy some of that.

At the moment I am going to learn slide guitar as that will make it easier on my left hand. If my right hand can handle picking using just the first finger, or the first and middle finger, I should be OK. But if I can't handle even that I will rent a drum kit for a week and bash around to see how my hands feel without having to actually buy a kit.

Another option is to sell one of my guitars (I would get more money for my Les Paul but would prefer to keep that one) and buy a kit after having rented one as mentioned above. That way I could learn drums while also continuing to play slide. If my right hand got bad enough I could sell the LP later on and, if I was doing well at drumming, use the money to buy a better kit.

I will read up on the Moeller technique now. Thanks for mentioning it.

have you ever sat behind a set of drums?

A set? No. But I did play drums in music class back in high school (a million years ago). Back then you started on the snare so I played that. You only progressed to more drums in subsequent semesters but I dropped music after taking the class in which I played snare.

I'm new to the forums and am considering taking up drums but wanted to ask for some info. I currently play guitar (just a bedroom player) but have developed really bad arthritis which is severely limiting my ability to play. It looks like I might have to quit playing altogether but would still like to make music so am considering taking up the drums.

But before I do that I wanted to ask - how hard is drumming on the hands? The arthritis is in my fingers and, just thinking about it, I think drumming might be OK because my fingers won't be required to move like they do playing guitar...I can basically just make fists to hold the sticks (I know that the grip isn't exactly a fist, but it is close enough for discussion purposes). Does this seem reasonable or am I out to lunch here? Is there any other advice anyone can give about playing drums with arthritic fingers? I don't want to give up music entirely and cannot think of another instrument to play.

Also, if I do take up drums how effective are the dampeners that can be put on drums and cymbals? Do they deaden the noise enough that you can practice when other people are home without disturbing them or do they just diminish the sound a bit?

Sorry if these questions are dumb, but I know nothing about drumming and want to get info before I sell off my guitars and buy a kit.