May 2022 Guitar Newsletter: Come Fire, Broken Bones, Strokes or Bullets: Keep Playing And Create Something Beautiful!
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The day before Good Friday my 10 year old daughter broke her left humerus completely in half by flying high off her school’s playground pull up bars. She is now forced to wear a velcro arm brace for the next 6-8 weeks. Quite a blow to a firecracker who thrives off of vigorous activity. The realization of lost opportunities, such as no horseback riding, missing out on the school trip to an amusement park and no rollerblading has become a sad reality. Yet, my girl has proven herself quite praiseworthy by keeping her chin up. Why am I sharing this in a guitar newsletter?
Well, it seems that musicians of all types are well acquainted with set backs of various sorts. Not only physical injuries, but also emotional struggles, financial losses, missed career opportunities and unfortunately, far too many deaths of fellow musicians. However, what always amazes and inspires me is how diehard artists are able to keep their spirits high and continue to march on sharing their gift with all. I’d like to use May’s newsletter as an opportunity to introduce you to 6 driven guitarists who continued to play despite terrible injuries.
The most famous example is of Gypsy-jazz, genius guitarist Django Reinhardt. In 1928, he was already a performing and recording artist at age 17. However that year, he sustained severe burns to his entire left side of his body when a fire engulfed his horse drawn home. After 18 months of hospitalization and nearly having his left leg amputated, he was told that he would never be able to play the guitar again. Despite this, he relearned to play the instrument using mainly his left hand index and middle finger of his badly burnt hand. His love for music kept him playing the guitar with vigor and passion, and he developed his very own style of playing. To this day, it is unsurpassed and has created an entire genre of jazz guitar known as Paris Gypsy Swing.
Ironically, it was after hearing about the fate and recordings of Django that Englishman heavy metal legend Tony Iommi made the decision not to give up his dreams of becoming a musician. Like Django, he was 17 years young and early into his playing career when the tips of his fingers were smashed off in an accident while working as an industrial welder in a Birmingham steel mill. Nearly 1/3 of the tips of his fretting fingers had been cut off by fallen sheet metal! Doctors and folks around him, including his own parents, said his playing days were over. But he got innovative by covering his injured fingertips with homemade plastic cap thimbles and restringing his guitar with the lightest string gauge possible. Talk about determination and not letting the negative talk of others get into your head!
In the snowy month of January 1948, on this side of the Atlantic guitar legend Les Paul was also confronted with beating the odds. He sustained many serious injuries and nearly died in a horrific car accident in the Midwest. 33 years old, into a career that had already taken off his car swirled off an icy road in Oklahoma. He and his wife Mary Ford careened down a ravine, and Les’s right shoulder and arm were broken so badly, that in later operations, specialists had to remove part of his hipbone and insert it into his right shoulder. He ordered the doctors to set the cast at a very specific angle so that he could strum a guitar once the shoulder was healed but inflexible. As in previous stories, most people doubted that he would ever be able to play again. Needless to say, Les went on to be the most important American pioneer of electric guitar playing and a recording genius. On a side note, Les Paul’s earliest and most important musical influence was Django Reinhardt. Later in life, he sought him out, and they became friends. It was Les who provided the funeral fees for Django, who died in 1953, at 43, after suffering a brain hemorrhage. I feel very fortunate to have heard Les Paul play in the Jazz Iridium club in New York City about 20 years ago, and he signed one of my favorite recordings of his!
In that same iconic jazz city, in the summer of 2016, jazz fusion guitarist Mike Stern suffered a horrible fall into a poorly closed off construction site at night. Similar to Les Paul, he broke both humerus bones, needed to replace his right shoulder and now deals with significant nerve damage in his right hand. Enduring multiple surgeries, involving 11 screws and ongoing nerve pain, the 63 year old, nonetheless, tried hard to keep his fingers moving and not lose all of his highly technical chops. However, his right hand was not able to hold on tightly to his guitar pick any more. After failed attempts of using scotch tape to keep it from flying off, he eventually found a special adhesive that did the trick! One year later on his next album titled “Trip” many of the songs were clearly penned in lieu of these frustrating times. They carry titles like “Screws” and “Scotch Tape and Glue.” Please check out this honest interview with Mike Stern. Doesn’t he, at age 66, embody staying in tune with your inner child believing and it is worthwhile to pursue and create something beautiful regardless of limitations?
Another famous jazz fusion guitarist that suffered an unspeakable tragedy with no fault of his own is West Coast studio session guitarist Larry Carlton. On April 6th, 1988, four days after Easter Sunday, he was shot in the throat as an innocent victim of gun violence in front of his Los Angeles home where he was recording his next album. He is alive today thanks to the immediate response of paramedics and the fortunate fact that he was not far away from a fire station that received the 911 call. His prognosis was extremely bleak. He lost vocal chords, sustained permanent nerve damage and atrophy of all left arm muscles, underwent a heavy depression and suffered much physical pain. Nonetheless, he started the slow process of regaining the strength in his left arm after tedious surgeries. Larry continues to play, record and perform to this day, and he remains standing on solid ground, the title he chose for his first album after the shooting. This album has been part of my guitar instrumental diet since it came out in 1989, but I had no idea of the depth of hardship behind it.
Perhaps the most stunning comeback in guitar history I have yet come across is Philadelphia based, jazz virtuoso Pat Martino, who in 1980 at 35, in the midst of a tremendous career in modern jazz, also found himself in L.A. nearly dead on the ground. Pat was teaching at the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) and, like Django, suffered a massive brain aneurism. This life threatening brain hemorrhage was the result of many years of being completely misdiagnosed, and the required surgery removed 70 percent of his left temporal lobe resulting in severe retrograde amnesia. His recovery of literally re-discovering who he was, getting back into a functioning lifestyle, re-learning to play the guitar from scratch and eventually getting back into the saddle of high performers is beyond miraculous! He lived to tell his story in his biography, which was published ten years prior to his passing in 2021. His comeback will puzzle neuroscientists for some time to come and reveals the amazing complexity of the human brain.
Can anybody argue that these real life stories are not remarkably uplifting? Take some time to grasp and contemplate that kind of will power to keep going and at the same time rejoice in the healing power of our bodies! On a much smaller, yet very real level, my daughter also continues to prove herself as a daily inspiration and role model to me. Of course her injury stands in no comparison whatsoever to any of the previous examples, but my point is that while I worry sick about possible complications, she on the other hand has not complained or worried and is making the very best of it with a positive mindset. At times, I even think she finds her new black arm brace somewhat unique as she wears it with style over her outfits. She has always had a knack for making the best of whatever situation she finds herself in! And, bringing it back to music, she is also continuing her piano lessons and daily practice with a creative lesson plan using only her right arm. Now is the time to focus on scales and jazz improvisation. Who knows what secret blessings might arise out of this?
The lifelong guitarists of all ages, genres and nationalities mentioned in this month’s newsletter, managed to keep their curious and active inner child alive no matter what the circumstances were. Perhaps, for some, it was also as down to earth as fighting for survival. Their lives are complex stories with many facets that, of course, come with the good and bad, but I will always respect a musician’s choice to stay on course and not let all the hardships and toxic mindsets rob them of their dreams. Surely, my music idols are fabricated in my head as invincible superheroes. And there is some good in that. We all need people that spurn us on, but no matter who we look up to, you can bet we only see half the picture at best. Thus, it becomes even more inspiring to discover how they are able to get back up and rolling after life hits hard.
May this month’s newsletter be an encouragement to all musicians who struggle with setbacks. The motto of all the guitarists in this article could be simply summed up with: “Keep playing!” Let’s also remember to be grateful for all the doctors and medical experts out there. Without their scientific knowledge and lifesaving training, none of these cats could have kept pursuing their callings and bless us with their music.
Happy spring with ongoing growth and renewal,
Chris
