Hi
I'm not a musician but several do use the forum, sure they'll be along ,perhaps there could be a musicians area formed?? within the forum, i don't have a fear of heights, but at the top of stairs i feel a compulsion that i will fall down them and hold myself back before going down, i also have regular vivid dreams about falling down them.
I play the guitar badly but have recently found it difficult to hold chords down. Assume PD is the cause?
I started playing guitar for personal enjoyment in 2013 (courtesy of the excellent "Rocksmith" computer programme). Symptoms started later that year/early 2014, diagnosed with PD January 2015.
It affected my right side, so I struggled with fast plucking or strumming. Also got back pain from wearing the guitar.
Now on Sinemet/Azilect combo and the Sinemet especially has made a huge difference. It will be a long time before I can give Eddie Vedder a run for his money, but at least I feel there's a real chance I can actually improve.
Hello,
Ted from Kansas City here. Yes, Parkinson’s takes a toll on playing guitar, singing, anything involving fine muscle control. Definitely get on either a dopamine agonist (ropinirole, aka requip) or a dopamine supplement (carbidopa/levodopa aka sinimet) or both. Also look into how forgoing sugar/carbs for a high-fat keto diet can help. Ultimately, supposedly surgical deep-brain stimulation is a “holy grail” - but doctors generally don’t want to do that until it becomes absolutely necessary.
I am a beginner and having a guitar out that is easily accessible is very helpful. I grab my electric guitar and play unplugged all of the time. When I’m at home, throughout the day I may find 5 or 10 minute bits of time where I can grab my guitar and run through some things.
Hi, It was playing bass on stage that first took me to the docs for what turned out to be PD. I play with a pick and i was finding that on the repetitive parts of a song my hand holding the pick would start slowing down, when playing the more involved riffs i was fine but the simple repetative single note stuff was making it differcult to keep time (my band members said they couldn’t tell the difference in my playing…charming) My other hand was fine and still is
10years on i can still play my bass after a fashion but after 1 or 2 songs my pick hand can’t keep up, it’s like it’s p****d off to the bar early! So given it would be a short set with me on bass and my iffy balence might have me head diving into the crowd i called it a day (I have got up and played the (easy) odd track with my mates when they’re gigging though)
My advice is don’t stop playing! It’s upsetting when you know the Parkinson’s is effecting your playing but don’t stop.
Greg
I played piano, guitar, bass and drums… nowadays I can only play drums for around 15 mins but still enjoy it.
Guitar about 5 mins before it all goes wrong so I don’t bother as my arm is buggered after so the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
Piano forget it as it depresses me trying.
I know what you mean! i had to stop playing bass live as my playing was worsening i was simplifing bass lines and runs so i could get through a song (other band members said they didn’t notice… not sure if that’s good or bad) and my balence was getting so it was only a matter of time before took a nose dive off stage.
I still pick my bass up now and again at home but i can relate to you getting low when you want to play and can’t