Need to switch to Left Handed playing - advice needed

BoogieMan

Blues Junior
Last year, after about 40 years away from playing guitar, I got the BGU Couse and started playing again. As the year progressed I developed severe osteoarthritis of my left thumb which prevented me from barring and limited my finger motion, not just the thumb. It got to the point that it was so painful and difficult to play, that I stopped.

The medical solution for my problem is surgery which, if successful, will take at least a year to get me to the point that I can start to play again. Well, at age 77, I don’t consider that to be an option, especially since it comes with no guarantees.
Your post is a timely one for me. I have problems with arthritis and a couple of weeks ago my left thumb developed a "slip" that is quite painful and is interfering with my playing, particularly barre chords. I appreciate all the advice on this topic, particularly Jalapeno's video (I have a Seagull Coastline S6) which gives me hope that I can get by without surgery.
 

HotLks

Blues - it's in me and it's got to come out.
Nice! I always knew you guys are the best!

gknola, I admire your fortitude. I salute you!

See you down the road! :thumbup:
 

BoogieMan

Blues Junior
Last year, after about 40 years away from playing guitar, I got the BGU Couse and started playing again. As the year progressed I developed severe osteoarthritis of my left thumb which prevented me from barring and limited my finger motion, not just the thumb. It got to the point that it was so painful and difficult to play, that I stopped.

The medical solution for my problem is surgery which, if successful, will take at least a year to get me to the point that I can start to play again. Well, at age 77, I don’t consider that to be an option, especially since it comes with no guarantees.

I'm in pretty much the same boat. I've tried a thumb stabilizer which helps a bit with the barre chords but tends to get in the way when playing licks. I'm also considering surgery but for the time being just avoiding playing barre chords (I am using the smaller chords on the first four strings). I think it would take me longer to learn to play left handed than to recover from the surgery. I may just decide at my age to put up with the limitation and hope it doesn't get worse.
 

Gunrunner

Blues and Bird Dogs
Wow, I applaud your courage in not giving up and your willingness to continue your music journey in spite of such a major obstacle. One other thing you might consider is trying to play overhand. There’s a local guitarist Sam Snyder, better know as Overhand Sam. He’s with the band Maybird, who recently cut a record deal and are touring. When Sam first got a guitar as a lad and was learning to play, he broke his left wrist while skateboarding. He wasn’t about to stop practicing for the 8 weeks he was in a cast, so taught himself to play while in the cast with his hand over the fretboard. He was making enough progress when the cast came off that he stuck with it, and he’s really good. On another note, I got to see Coco Montoya last summer, and he’s left handed but plays a right hand guitar upside down with no change to the string sequence; I couldn’t help but marvel at how anyone could learn with everything the opposite of what is conventionally played; both of these examples show what can be done with desire and drive. Good luck, George, you’re the man!
Mike
 
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