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Silly but Painful gigging injuries


Deep Thought
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This actually happened in a practice but has so far been my most painful experience.

Strumming away happily on an acoustic for my 4 guitar songs, drop my pick, continue using my nails, slight misalignment on an up stroke and I carve a high E string shaped slice through my index finger nail, about half way between cuticle and tip of nail- nothing for it but to trim it out carefully. A lot of blood and a fair bit of pain.

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Playing at an outdoor festival a few years back and we were supplying the P.A. I had helped set up the big cabinets and had gotten back to work setting up my part of the back-line when I got a call from the soundman to check out the output from the 18" speakers on my side of the stage. Now the stage was only about five feet off the ground but what I didn't know was that someone had put cardboard boxes under those cabinets to keep them away from some poison ivy tendrils coming through that part of the stage (yes, we were out in the country! lol).

I stepped in front of the cabinets onto what I thought was solid stage when "poof!" the boxes collapsed and I am headed straight down to the ground below with no warning. Fortunately, my martial arts training from years ago was still percolating around somewhere in my mind and I just tucked and rolled out of the fall. There were more than a dozen people at that stage who knew how badly my body had been savaged in a motorcycle accident a few years back. They were dumbfounded when I got up with little more than a scratch on me from where my shoulder had scraped against the stage on the way down. But, truth be told, and considering what might have happened, no one was happier with the end result than ME!!! lol

<><Peace

Edited by dadofsix
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Got my eyebrows singed by an electrical discharge from a wireless microphone I was setting up. You know, the old aluminium cylinders ones you see in 80's tv shows. Badly earthed system, inexperienced people, but it was 1990, so all is forgiven.

Playing with the smell of burnt chicken feathers for the whole gig is quite distracting :)

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Being both a very bouncy active player and a wise man, I secured my bass to my strap with some Schaller-style (but a cheap knock-off copy brand) locking strap nuts

Towards the end of one of the first gigs with the band, in front of all friends and family who'd pitched up to support, I was giving it large with some pogo action. Suddenly my bass is impacting at high speed with my big toe nail. Thought either the strap had broken or the securing screw had ripped out of the body, but it turned out the body pin of the strap lock had sheared right through!

Sat cross legged and finished the song while a laughing cousin brought me up a chair. Toe hurt for weeks afterwards and the impressing nail bruise took forever to grow out. Lucky not to have broken anything as it's a heavy walnut bass.
Whenever I ask around at the day job for folks to come to a gig I still get "but are you going to drop your bass on your foot at this one?"

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Here are some of mine (I'm an accident waiting to happen :P )

Last summer -outdoor festival - slipped carrying my cab off the stage as I stepped onto the grass, badly pulled a muscle in the back of my thigh and struggled to walk for days

February - lost my grip when lowering a lighting rig, it fell sharply onto my elbow and I chipped the bone and damaged 4 muscle groups around the elbow and I'm still having physio 2 months on!!

Yesterday - slammed a fire door shut catching my index finger on my right hand. It's was just about OK for the gig, but I did favour my middle finger in a rather Jamerson hook style for the evening!! (Today it's looking a little swollen but feels OK)

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I broke my foot about 15 years ago and have a loose piece of bone floating around in there. When it moves, it hurts. I was on a gig when, for no apparent reason, the bone went walkies and I was overcome with most appalling pain and associated waves of nausea. Got through the gig but had to pack up on my knees. Fortunately, at that time I was driving an automatic otherwise I would have been screwed.

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[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1428679964' post='2743766']
The best stories leave stuff to the imagination of the reader :)
[/quote]

Good gracious..! As many as that, eh..? You were lucky the bishop had a spare one, then..! Did the triplets get untangled in the end, or was that just another trick with mirrors and stuffed penguins..? :D

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  • 6 months later...

Not a gig injury, but I didn't want to start a separate thread for bass-related-non-gig injuries. .

I stubbed my little toe on my combo. The combo has to live in my hall as there's no room for it anywhere else. Dashing past it one day I stubbed my toe really badly.

The skin was broken and now an infection has set in! I've got a horrible, grisly infected TOE! Doctor has given me antibiotics which hopefully will clear it up soon

Now I need to think about some sort of padding for the combo, cos I'm bound to do it again. :-0

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I've done that. Sort of. My bass case was behind the sofa whilst we had some work done in the house so it was accessible. I kicked it, mid swing of a normal step, and broke something in the middle toe of my right foot. Funny colour foot, a toe at a funny angle and a trip to A&E in the morning.

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About 15 years ago I was setting up at a gig and was kneeling down plugging in my pedals while our manager was helping to set up our lights (T-bar rack of 4 Par cans mounted on a tripod). The venue had a high ceiling so the stand was being extended up as high as it would go when one of the lamps fell out of a can and hit me (spade connectors down) on the back of the head. Aside from the spade connectors slicing my scalp open so that my hair ended up all matted with blood, I also had concussion which meant I had to play the gig sat down on a bar stool so that I didn't keep falling over.
Fun times.

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I was on stage before a gig, taping down some cables with gaffa tape. I had left my penknife at the other side of the stage so I decided to bite the tape to get a tear started. The tape tore the skin off my bottom lip and it hurt like hell. It took ages for it to stop bleeding and I played the gig looking like I had a big sulky, scabby pout on.

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[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1428912519' post='2745759']


Good gracious..! As many as that, eh..? You were lucky the bishop had a spare one, then..! Did the triplets get untangled in the end, or was that just another trick with mirrors and stuffed penguins..? :D
[/quote]From what I understand, the actual answers were
1. Puff pastry
2. 1954
3. Three doors down from his uncle's house
4. No
5. Folded in half.

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[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1428591680' post='2742800']
Always carry a drill bit... [url="http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Drain-Your-Subungual-Hematoma-blood-pocke/"]http://www.instructa...ma-blood-pocke/[/url] And no, I don't.
[/quote]

Had this happen after I hit my thumb with a hammer, it swelled up like a golf ball. Throbbed like buggery. Went to A&E and they drained it by making a hole in my thumbnail with a thing like an Allen key, heated red hot in a flame. No anaesthetic. Cue smoke and lovely smell of burning nail. It worked, though. I'm much more careful with tools now.

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[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1446975748' post='2903778']
From what I understand, the actual answers were
1. Puff pastry
2. 1954
3. Three doors down from his uncle's house
4. No
5. Folded in half.
[/quote]

Exactly as I thought. :mellow:
([i]Sucks on imaginary pipe and taps side of nose knowingly[/i]...)

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First one was a festival gig years ago. tripped over a loose cable and fell forward. Stuck my hands out to save myself and the tip of my left middle finger got caught between two sections of stage and squished as I landed on the nearest section with all my weight. Pulled it out and it looked like one of mickey mouse's ears on the end.
Didn't hurt much until the ear filled with blood. Most of it was callus, so I cut the dead bit off and glued a bit of leather from a riggers glove over the bare flesh with superglue.
Took ages to heal but at least I could still play.

On a far less "stiff upper lip" occasion a couple of weeks ago, my band had not gigged for a couple of moths (summer recess) and we did a club gig where they wanted 2 one hour sets.
At the end of the evening I noticed my left index finger was a bit tender at the middle joint and realised I had strained a ligament! Alert the media.

Was in seeing my doc on the Monday for a regular appointment and mentioned it to him.
"Well that is because at your age, you can never take a break from playing - playing is the only thing stopping your hands from seizing up - play more regularly"

Gee thanks, doc.... :D

I can now see the funny side of it, as it all went away in a few days - done a couple of gigs since and am actually practicing at home for the first time in decades "just in case" AND warming up before I play.
Now how does "smoke on the water" go again?

Edited by ivansc
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