Thank you

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Thank you all for your wonderful support especially Ferryman who has struggled for longer than I have and still turns out fabulous music. I too have hearing aids in both ears but are not great especially when wearing head phones, the sound i hear is not the true sound of what i'm doing. Bar chords are virtually a thing of the past as my left index finger has bent to a rather strange angle due to arthritis so not too much rock and roll played now.
I do drop in for a listen quite often but rarely comment but it's good to hear the great standard of music produced by you all even with the hearing aids in.
Kind regards Willie

[64Guitars]

We're all getting older and there are lots of members here who are currently or will soon be facing health obstacles that make it increasingly difficult to play and record music in the way that we'd like. I think we need to stick together to support and encourage each other to continue making music in our senior years.

I think your music still sounds amazing Willie. You have a lot of talent and it would be a shame if you were unable to continue making music and enjoying the benefits of it. I hope you can find ways to work around your health obstacles and continue to enjoy making music. For example, if your arthritis is making guitar playing too difficult, perhaps you could collaborate with other members, letting them provide some of the guitar tracks and perhaps assist with mixing. That might give you more self-confidence about your posts. Hopefully, you can play well enough to record a rough demo of your song, then send it to another member to add or replace guitar tracks as you see fit. You're a legend here at Songcrafters Willie and I'm sure there are lots of members who'd be honoured to collaborate with you.

You could also explore the myriad of software that's available for making music without playing an instrument. At the very least, it might allow you to make demos of your original songs which you could then send to other members for their assistance in turning it into something that you're more comfortable posting. One example that comes to mind is Band-in-a-Box. And if you have an iPhone, I'm sure there are lots of apps available that will allow you to create music without playing an instrument. Normally, I'm not a big fan of this kind of software when used in the final mix, but I think it's perfectly okay to assist in songwriting and for making demos. And for anyone who is unable to play an instrument due to health issues, I think such software could even be acceptable in the final mix as long as the poster acknowledges its use and doesn't try to let on that they performed everything themselves (not that you would, of course).

Maybe some of our older, retired members could get together and form a virtual band called The Seniors or The OAPs.   I think that would be awesome! If The Rolling Stones can keep making music at their age, surely there's hope for the rest of us.

I wonder if there's any technology that could help you to continue making music for many more years. For instance, some hearing aids allow wireless streaming of audio from your TV or other audio source directly to your hearing aid. I'm not sure what their frequency response is like but they might be worth investigating. Perhaps your hearing care provider can recommend something.

https://www.hearingaidknow.com/dont-dream-it-stream-it

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hearing+aid+streaming&ia=web


And keep in mind that the members of Songcrafters have always been a non-judgmental, supportive and encouraging bunch, so don't be too timid about posting your music. I'm sure we'll always enjoy listening.

Hang in there Willie. Don't give up on doing what you love.

[64Guitars]

Bar chords are virtually a thing of the past as my left index finger has bent to a rather strange angle due to arthritis so not too much rock and roll played now.

Have you tried playing barre chords in the Hendrix style where you fret the 6th string with your thumb? It means that your first finger then only has to cover the first and second strings (like an open F major chord) instead of all 6. I've played barre chords this way all of my life and I think it makes a much nicer sounding chord. With the conventional barre chord, where the first finger covers all 6 strings, I find that the first and second strings often get muted by the fleshy part at the base of my finger, or at least sound a bit dull. But with the Hendrix-style barre chord, those first two strings ring out nice and clear. Plus it leaves my hand in a better position for throwing in the occasional lead lick or embellishment and quickly returning to the barre chord.

Many people I've spoken with about this say that they can't fret with their thumb as they find it too unnatural. But I think that fretting the 6th string with your thumb is very natural. If someone passes you a guitar or you pick it up from a guitar stand, you'll find that without even thinking about it your thumb naturally wraps around the neck to get a better grip. Try picking up your guitar by the neck, then look at your fingers and thumb. You'll probably find that their position looks very much like a Hendrix-style major barre chord. Granted, if you've never played barre chords this way before, it may take a little getting used to. But it won't be long till it becomes second nature and you'll wonder why you haven't always played barre chords this way.

Another option is to just mute the 6th string with your thumb or the base of your strumming hand and fret the remaining 5 strings with your fingers like an open F major chord but with the added 5th string. You can move that position up and down the neck just like a barre chord. Of course, you lose the root note but it can still sound pretty good, and it makes an effective compromise if you have difficulty fretting the 6th string properly with your thumb.

[Farrell Jackson]

Hi Willie....I totally understand your predicament with your hands and hearing. I'm 69 years old and have had similar health challenges for the last couple of years. I stopped playing for a full year while I dealt with my arthritis problem and now my hearing is degrading. You'll notice the amount of collaborations that I post where I just do the vocals and lyric. That keeps me in the music game when I can't play exactly want what I want to play. I've found a good rheumatologist that helped me out with meds that allows me to play satisfactorily. So far I've not done anything about my hearing except keep the volume way low on the headphones and limit my time spent under them when recording. One trick I've learned to use when I'm mixing with monitors is to cup my hands behind my ears, listen and then make the adjustments. Try it, you'll be surprised how much brighter the music sounds. Sometimes it's way too bright due to my high mids hearing loss. I do that several times on individual tracks and the whole mix. All the while making eq, volume, panning and effects adjustments until it sounds good with my hands cupped behind my ears...like a megaphone affect.

64 made some good suggestions for you to consider. If I can be of any help just send me a PM and I'll do my best to help out.
BTW, I do use my thumb to make bar chords as 64 suggested. But I can still make bar chords with my index finger as well.....good meds, lol.

All the best to you and I hope you hang in there. You're a great asset to Soungcrafters!

Farrell

[Ferryman]

Willie, the hearing thing has been driving me nuts. My hearing aids are excellent, so when I sit listening to music I have a great setting that compensates for all the hearing loss and recorded music sounds great. However, I do all my recording direct but I can't wear the aids under the phones. So because I have high frequency hearing loss (caused by playing in bands without hearing protection  ), something that sounds great under the phones sounds tinny and thin when played back over the monitors. That nearly prompted me to give it all up a few weeks back because it is so frustrating going back and forth just trying to get the basic sounds right.

The arthritis is kicking in like you in the left index. I can still do barre chords but can't make a some shapes on a guitar with a narrow neck (like a Tele). The other thing that was depressing me was all the gear I had accumulated over the years in readiness of having the time to use it (when I retired) on all this epic music I was going to create. I was gradually finding that I couldn't use some of it but it was all sat there looking accusingly at me.

So rather than give it all up, I decided to make a shift in direction. I'm not going to do big, complex epics. I'm going to do simpler, more instrumental stuff in the kind of ambient/post-rock genre and have fun playing with pedals, sounds and loopers. I bought a Bass VI which I can use as a combined bass and guitar. You don't play barre chords on these, nor can you play complex lead work. But it seems great for the stuff I am planning on doing and I'm hoping I will have to use my mind more than my fingers.

I have found getting into effects pedals is helping me. There is some amazingly clever stuff out there that you can use to create interesting sounds from the guitar just using a few strings. I'm probably going to get a Boss SY-1 synth pedal to help me make more varied lead and pad sounds from the Bass VI, and I have a very cool delay/reverb pedal (the Source Audio Collider) which can create amazing soundscapes from just a few notes.

I've got rid of all the gear that I won't use much and got rid of all my guitars except the Bass VI and the Squier Jagmaster that I can still play.  I also accept I'm not going to play live any more, so I got rid of the bass stack I had been holding onto "just in case".

So I have a different attitude moving forward and I think as we get older we have to accept our limitations and try to work with them. It seems other folks are also facing, and living with, similar challenges (I did not picture Farrell as a 69 year old!). As I said in the other post, keep doing what you can.

[Flash Harry]

Oh my word, I thought I was the only one...

I'm only in my twenties in my head, but my hips, arthritis in my left hand and standing too close to the hi-hat have done to me what it's done to many. Not on hearing aids yet, not on meds (other than blood pressure but that's more to do with the fekkin eejuts at work) and still gigging. I ain't going down easily.

But what's been said is right, there's loads of ways to be creative that doesn't need to exercise painful joints.

Oh, and Nigel - JUST TURN IT UP!!!

[SE]

Wow guys, great support and information, hope this helps Willie along the way to keep on producing music.
When things change in your life sometimes you've just got to adapt, my voice is not the same so I just sound different, maybe worse, who cares, I just enjoy playing some of my crappy tunes and if along the way someone else enjoys it great.
Keep trying to play Willie it all about the enjoyment.

[TPB]

As they say getting old is a bitch  I took a year off and only started playing and recording because I missed it so much My problem is the opposite sound great with the phones on but when mixed down and on the monitors sounds like crap but that could be just my playing and singing lol.  Willie I have always enjoyed your songs so keep on trucking
Tim

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Again, many thanks to you all for your kind suggestions and support. I hadn't realised how many of us are suffering from similar handicaps, I suppose we become a little more introverted and suffer in silence 'til we just drift away into a musical wilderness.
Thank you 64 for some great ideas and hopefully I shall be posting on a more regular basis soon.

Kind regards Willie

[Pine]

Hi Folks. Pine here. Remember me? I'm a guy who used to be pretty active on this site for years but then appeared to fall off a cliff. Well, i'll start with an apology because i think it's due and it'll maybe ease my guilty feelings. Believe it or not , i rarely go more then a couple days without stopping by (but never logging in) to see what's up and if the lights are still on. The handful of you guys that have "kept the lights on" are to be congratulated. Quitting is easy. I'm proud of you guys and often wonder what has become of guys like Greeny that , like me, just kinda vanished. Anyway, the reason i have logged on now is because of this thread. I found it initially a bit depressing.. but after reading all the replies a couple times, i found it to be strangely comforting (misery loves company?) and later almost inspiring. My apologies to Farrell.. i just found the messages from 13 months ago. I know you since got the TKR and are doing well. My TKR was a bitch but i'm ok now, except for tearing the meniscus in my good knee...Damn!
  This thread illuminates so many of the exact issues i have been dealing with. My hearing issues started in Vietnam, but the real damage was done over the years from bands and listening to headphones LOUD, drunk, at 4 am. My Tinnitus is ridiculous sometimes, like a frickin' Mariachi band in my ear canal. I have bilateral hearing aides, but don't wear them as much as i should. I got them thru the VA, and they're good, but compared to "real ears", they suck. I don't like how my acoustic sounds with them in, but can't hear it worth a damn without them. In my Sennheiser HD280 cans, life is good. I can't even think about mixing any other way, altho i always have to compensate for the lack of bass in my mixes. If i keep spiraling downward, i'll need a couple Marshall full stacks for near field monitors!
No way could i use hearing aides to mix. They lack dynamics.  I hear ok i think in cans. It's the room ambience that kills my hearing as i don't need the cans loud at all. No arthritis in my hands , thankfully, but pretty bad in most other joints. Then there's the biggy that didn't get mentioned which is my biggest roadblock to writing, playing, and recording... and that's depression. Had it since my 20's. Sucks. Robs me of pleasure, robs me of motivation and creativity. Makes me irritable and impatient. I have what is now known as PPD, Pervasive Depressive Disorder. It's not full blown Major Depression, with suicidal thoughts and all, but rather a chronic duel with, as Churchill termed it, the "Black Dog". Meds don't work. Been there and done that. I was a Mental Health Counselor by trade for the last 15 years before i retired so i know the scoop. My weapons are mindless manual labor, like cutting wood, and exercise. I love gardening but winters are long here in the Great White North (western New York state) I haven't written or recorded a song in a year now. Pathetic. I bought a really nice "sandblasted strat" hoping for inspiration. Didn't happen. I sold it. Played it maybe 5 or 6 hours. I have so much cool gear in my studio and it makes me feel like shit that i don't use it. I keep thinking one of these days the fire will re-ignite... and i sure hope it does. In the meantime, i gotta say it's comforting to know that many of you are going thru the same stuff. There were some really good ideas in this thread, ones which i will try to use. Thanks to you all for sharing your situations. You're a good lot.