Having $6,000 worth of gear— including my beloved Les Paul— stolen from my van was just the beginning of my Thanksgiving-weekend woes. Letting my anger get the better of me only compounded the problem. But with some astounding luck, professional counsel, and hard work, I eventually emerged victorious.
An x-ray of Dave Brewster’s “boxer’s break” to his right-hand knuckle.
It’s every musician’s nightmare to envision suffering significant injury to either hand. Whether it’s a bad sprain, a fracture, or a repetitive stress injury, the very idea strikes fear into our hearts and stokes paranoid fears about how well we’ll be able to play our instrument after the wound heals—or whether we’ll be able to at all.
Until the incident chronicled here, the only time I’d broken a bone was when I was 11 and fractured my ankle. I wore a cast for a summer, limped around on crutches, and basically felt like a moron both for breaking it and how it messed up life during those months. When it finally healed, the cast came off and I was running around my neighborhood again like nothing had happened.
Fast-forward 20 or so years, and I’m a professional musician at Quad Studios in Nashville, just a few days before Thanksgiving. Two nights before the session, the vehicle that my equipment was stored in was broken into, and around $6,000 worth of equipment was stolen—including my prized Gibson Les Paul Standard, a fully stocked Pedaltrain pedalboard, and my in-case-of-musical-emergency accessory backpack (aka “The Oh Shit Bag”).
Needless to say, I was in shock when I discovered my loss the next morning. I looked over the crime scene for a few minutes, then went back into my hotel, got in the elevator, and headed up to my room to get my phone so I could make the necessary calls.
While standing in the elevator, trying not to think about some criminal strumming my guitar or (more likely) selling it somewhere for way less than it was worth, I had a burst of rage and punched the wall without looking where I was punching or how close to the wall I was standing. It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done in my life.
My First Mistake
I immediately knew I was in trouble. My
hand—my right, picking hand—throbbed
with pain and began swelling instantly. Just
as painful was the thought of how I was
going to complete my recording session.
Luckily, I’d taken my Strat to my room the night of the robbery so I could play a little while I had the night off. At least I had one guitar and my amp to make it through the session, but I was mortified about the extent of the damage to my hand. I spent the night in my hotel room with my hand on ice and hoped for the best.
The following day, my hand still hurt and was very swollen—my ring- and pinky-finger knuckles were nowhere to be seen—but I was able to move my fingers. I figured that was a sign everything would be okay once the swelling went down, so I didn’t go to the hospital for an x-ray and attempted to play at the session that day.
Five-Fingered Delusions
I arrived at the studio early, got out my
Strat, and ran through a series of warmups
to see the extent of the damage to my
hand. Although I could do basic picking
exercises and scale sequences, I decided
against anything fancy or challenging, like
tremolo- or sweep-picking, and focused on
strumming, using downstrokes, and basic
alternate picking. Within reason, I was able
to perform what I wanted, so the recording
session began.
Brewster contrasts the painful poofi ness of his picking hand with his unharmed fretting hand in the studio after his “fight.”
Luckily, after I played along with the initial run-through of a song (“Time Bomb” by Jason Sturgeon) to help capture a good drum take, I had a break for a couple of hours. Second guitarist Brett Houchin and the session bassist re-recorded things, worked with tones, and tightened their parts. This gave me more time to assess damage and see what I could and couldn’t perform.
Still under the delusion that I could self-diagnose my malady, I figured if I could pluck a series of harmonics with my index and pinky fingers, it meant my hand wasn’t broken and that I’d eventually be okay. I sat there, guitar on my lap, debating whether to attempt it or not—there was still a lot of pain.
I positioned my hand and plucked the high E. It resonated quietly from my unamplified guitar.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Then I double-dog dared myself to perform a series of plucked harmonics, ending with a Lenny Breau-style harp harmonic across the notes of an E9 chord.
I could do it! I knew my hand couldn’t possibly be broken … knew I would be fine in time.
After a few hours, it was time to lay down my rhythm parts, fills, and possibly a solo. Everyone in the studio was aware of what I’d done to my hand. I cruised through the rhythm parts with little to no trouble, and even added a new part during the outro of a tune.
When it came time for the solo, I hadn’t worked anything out beforehand, but I could hear what I wanted to do in my head. Although I could almost pull it off, my injured hand held me back. It was getting late and it was Thanksgiving the next day, so we called it a day. We needed time to get back to our hometowns, and my hand needed time to heal. We decided to finish the song sometime after the holiday.
Much to Be Grateful For
I nursed my hand as much as I could on
Thanksgiving Day. I was surprised when I got
a frantic phone call during the meal—my stolen
guitar had been listed for sale on Craigslist!
I wound up going back to Nashville the following morning and, miraculously, the police recovered my Les Paul—but that was all. All my other gear was still missing. Still, I thought I would never see my Paul again, so I was beyond grateful.
The first thing I did when I got home was remove the strings, give her a good cleaning, and slap on a new set of strings. I felt violated, and I couldn’t stand the thought of there being any remnants of the thief—fingerprints or dust or whatever—on there any longer.
I carefully played it and held it for a few hours. Under normal circumstances, I would have unleashed a guitar-mageddon jam session, but my picking hand was in no shape to perform much for an extended period of time.
Before long, I found out there was a deadline for the song we’d been in the midst of recording, so I needed to head back to Nashville. The problem was, my hand looked and felt just as it did the day of the incident. I started to worry, and I finally went to the hospital for an x-ray.
It was broken.
The Road to Recovery
I had an hour-long wait between getting
x-ray results and talking to the doctor about
the plan for my hand. My mind raced
through every conceivable variable: I wondered
how severe it was, what the long-term
effects might be, and what it meant for
my future as a musician.
The doctor assured me I would be fine in a matter of weeks. I had what’s known as “boxer’s break”—a slight fracture just past the knuckles. I didn’t need a cast or surgery, I just had to wear a removable hand brace for a few weeks.
After telling the doctor what my profession is and that I needed to finish a recording, I asked if I could continue to play guitar during the healing process. I expected the worst possible news, but to my surprise he said playing guitar—in moderation—would actually be good for my hand. I breathed yet another sigh of relief, then went home, packed my bags, and tried to rest my hand as much as I could before the trip back to Nashville.
Back at the studio, I was turbocharged. I knew I had to use my beloved, recently recovered Les Paul for the session, and I was ready to nail the solo that I’d struggled with less than a week before.
It only took two or three takes before I’d captured what I wanted for the solo. I also tracked some fills and a few slide parts. The song turned out great, and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment and relief as I left the studio that day. My hand was going to be okay, my guitar was back, and the song was finished. I felt vindicated and revitalized.
After consulting with my doctor, I waited a few days before picking up a guitar and spent some time coming up with a physical therapy regimen—a custom exercise routine that I’d use to rehabilitate my hand over the next several weeks. Here’s what I came up with.
Note: If you have a hand injury, consult a physician before following any part of this regimen.
Phase I: Fingerpicking
Warm Up: open-String Plucking
My warm-up is the simplest thing I could
imagine playing with a broken hand—fingerpicked open strings. I couldn’t stop
thinking of the intro section to Metallica’s
“Nothing Else Matters.” Fig. 1 shows the
variation I played to begin my recovery. It’s
very easy, but not when you’re injured.
Arpeggios
I also practiced fingerpicking exercises from
Mauro Giuliani’s 120 Arpeggio Exercises,
which is required learning for pretty much
any classical guitar student, but also great
for any guitarist interested in developing
a solid fingerpicking technique. It begins
with basic arpeggios using a simple C–G7
progression, but things get crazy and technical
pretty fast as you move through the
exercises. By the end, you’ve exhausted just
about every conceivable pattern one could
perform with the progression. Fig. 2 is a
great place to start.
Simple Songs
Next, I played the fingerpicked sections of
Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” several times—it was a good test to see if my hand was up
to the more musical, less rote passages of an
actual piece of music. I found that I could
do it, but much slower and with more caution
than I’ve ever played this classic tune.
Fig. 3 on pg. 135 shows a similar Travis-picking
exercise that will also do the trick.
Slow and Steady
Over the first several weeks, I used these
ideas and others to slowly regain strength in
my right hand. My starting tempo for each
exercise was a turtle’s pace, so be sure to
start slow and pay attention to the minutiae
and how you might be able to improve the
overall sound and execution.
Phase II: Flatpicking
Cowboy-Chord Arpeggios
The next area I focused on was picking
technique and right-hand control. Again,
I began slowly and comfortably, with exercises
that allowed me to focus less on what
my fretting hand was doing and more on
every movement of my picking hand. The
first exercise was a simple one I’ve used
with beginning guitar students for years.
I later expanded the basic concept into a
book called Power Picking (centerstreamusa.
com), but it involves taking a basic
“cowboy” chord—like a G major—and
turning it into a collection of melodic exercises
that are pleasing to the ear and great
for perfecting picking technique.
Fig. 4 is straight from my book. Play
through the exercise using only downstrokes,
then try it with alternate picking
(down-up-down-up).
Scale-Based Arpeggios
Scale-based exercises are also extremely
useful. My “Suicide Laps” exercise (Fig. 5)
is named after a series of running exercises
from my high-school gym class, and it
involves playing the first two notes of an
A minor pentatonic scale, starting over
again and adding the third note, working
your way back down to the first note, then
working your way back up through the
scale to the fourth note, then back down
again, and so on. To really let out your
sadistic inner gym teacher, follow the rule
that says you have to start the whole exercise
over again if you make a mistake or
miss a note. It’s great for disciplining your
concentration abilities—especially after
you apply it to more complicated scales,
modes, and fingerings across the fretboard.
After having his Les Paul stolen and breaking his hand in frustration, Brewster and his remaining Strat managed to still lay down tracks for Jason Sturgeon’s
“Time Bomb.”
Lessons for Life
Hopefully, you’ll never be foolish enough
to punch an elevator or unlucky enough to
suffer a serious injury to your most valuable
assets as a musician. But the exercises shown
here can still be a great starting point for
developing strength, accuracy, dexterity, and
even some compelling musical ideas.
Hand-Injury Prevention Q+A
By Dr. Otto W. Wickstrom III, M.D.
What are some basic things musicians can do to help avoid injuries
such as carpal tunnel syndrome or repetitive strain injury?
Taking frequent breaks is the most important—even 30 seconds to a minute
can make a difference. Five-minute breaks are ideal. And gradually increase
your playing time—don’t take two months off and then try to play for four hours
straight. Anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen can be your friend,
too, but beware of stomach and kidney problems that can arise if you take too
many. To help avoid this, always take them with food.
What are some warning signs that you might be developing or have a
hand or wrist condition?
Pain! Don’t ignore it or try to play through it. Numbness, a tingling in your fingers,
or having your hand “fall asleep” at night are the first signs of carpal tunnel syndrome.
See a doctor if you regularly experience these symptoms.
What are the most common types of treatment for hand and wrist conditions
such as carpal tunnel syndrome?
First, a wrist splint at night and nerve-gliding exercises. Next comes a steroid
injection, which is very helpful if done appropriately. Surgery is performed when
symptoms become constant and there’s no relief from previous treatment. Again,
do not ignore pain, because your symptoms can become permanent if they’re not
treated. A nerve that is pinched can die if it remains pinched too long, and you
can’t fix a dead nerve.
David Brewster is an honors graduate from the Atlanta Institute of Music who has authored several books available from Hal Leonard, Cherry Lane, and Centerstream. He is currently touring and recording with country-rock artist Jason Sturgeon. He would like to thank Jason Sturgeon, Dr. Wickstrom, Detective Holton, Scott and Julie at Jim Dunlop, and everyone else who helped him through his recovery. davidbrewstermusic.com
Whitman Audio introduces the Decoherence Drive and Wave Collapse Fuzz, two innovative guitar pedals designed to push the boundaries of sound exploration. With unique features like cascading gain stages and vintage silicon transistor fuzz, these pedals offer musicians a new path to sonic creativity.
Whitman Audio, a new audio effects company, has launched with two cutting-edge guitar pedals, the Decoherence drive and Wave Collapse fuzz. Combining science and art to craft audio effects devices, Whitman Audio aims to transcend the ordinary, believing that magic can occur when the right musician meets the right tool.
Delivering a solution for musicians looking to explore a wide range of sounds, each pedal offers a unique path to finding your own voice. The Decoherence drive injects a universe of unique saturation into your music arsenal while the Wave Collapse fuzz takes you to uncharted sonic territories.
Decoherence features include:
- Cascading stages (Gain A > Gain B) each with a unique sound and saturation character
- Gain A - Medium to high gain stage with a mid focus for clear articulation and punch
- Gain B - Low to Medium gain with a neutral EQ that compliments and expands Gain A
- G/S Toggle - Selects the clipping diodes for Gain B (NOS Germanium or NOS Silicon)
- Tone Knobs (H & L) - Tuned active Baxendall style EQs that boost or cut Highs and Lows
- True bypass switching, accepts standard 9V DC power supplies (does not accept battery)
Introducing: Decoherence Drive - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Wave Collapse features include:
- Vintage Silicon transistor fuzz that goes from vintage clean to doom metal mean
- Buffered input and pickup simulation ensure it sounds great anywhere in your chain
- Bias Knob - Allows for a huge range of texture and response in the pedals gain structure
- Range and Mass Toggles - Provide easy access to three diverse bass and gain ranges
- Filter Knob - A simple-to-use tilt EQ enhanced by the Center toggle for two mid responses
- True bypass switching, accepts standard 9V DC power supplies (does not accept battery)
The Decoherence drive and Wave Collapse fuzz pedals carry retail prices of $195.00 each.
For more information, please visit whitmanaudio.com.
Introducing: Wave Collapse Fuzz - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.In our third installment with Santa Cruz Guitar Company founder Richard Hoover, the master luthier shows PG's John Bohlinger how his team of builders assemble and construct guitars like a chef preparing food pairings. Hoover explains that the finer details like binding, headstock size and shape, internal bracing, and adhesives are critical players in shaping an instrument's sound. Finally, Richard explains how SCGC uses every inch of wood for making acoustic guitars or outside ventures like surfboards and art.
We know Horsegirl as a band of musicians, but their friendships will always come before the music. From left to right: Nora Cheng, drummer Gigi Reece, and Penelope Lowenstein.
The Chicago-via-New York trio of best friends reinterpret the best bits of college-rock and ’90s indie on their new record, Phonetics On and On.
Horsegirl guitarists Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein are back in their hometown of Chicago during winter break from New York University, where they share an apartment with drummer Gigi Reece. They’re both in the middle of writing papers. Cheng is working on one about Buckminster Fuller for a city planning class, and Lowenstein is untangling Austrian writer Ingeborg Bachmann’s short story, “Three Paths to the Lake.”
“It was kind of life-changing, honestly. It changed how I thought about womanhood,” Lowenstein says over the call, laughing a bit at the gravitas of the statement.
But the moment of levity illuminates the fact that big things are happening in their lives. When they released their debut album, 2022’s Versions of Modern Performance, the three members of Horsegirl were still teenagers in high school. Their new, sophomore record, Phonetics On and On, arrives right in the middle of numerous first experiences—their first time living away from home, first loves, first years of their 20s, in university. Horsegirl is going through changes. Lowenstein notes how, through moving to a new city, their friendship has grown, too, into something more familial. They rely on each other more.
“If the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band, without any doubt.”–Penelope Lowenstein
“Everyone's cooking together, you take each other to the doctor,” Lowenstein says. “You rely on each other for weird things. I think transitioning from being teenage friends to suddenly working together, touring together, writing together in this really intimate creative relationship, going through sort of an unusual experience together at a young age, and then also starting school together—I just feel like it brings this insane intimacy that we work really hard to maintain. And if the friendship was ever taking a toll because of the band, the friendship would come before the band without any doubt.”
Horsegirl recorded their sophomore LP, Phonetics On and On, at Wilco’s The Loft studio in their hometown, Chicago.
These changes also include subtle and not-so-subtle shifts in their sophisticated and artful guitar-pop. Versions of Modern Performance created a notion of the band as ’90s college-rock torchbearers, with reverb-and-distortion-drenched numbers that recalled Yo La Tengo and the Breeders. Phonetics On and On doesn’t extinguish the flame, but it’s markedly more contemporary, sacrificing none of the catchiness but opting for more space, hypnotic guitar lines, and meditative, repeated phrases. Cheng and Lowenstein credit Welsh art-pop wiz Cate Le Bon’s presence as producer in the studio as essential to the sonic direction.
“On the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giants—super minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little.”–Nora Cheng
“We had never really let a fourth person into our writing process,” Cheng says. “I feel like Cate really changed the way we think about how you can compose a song, and built off ideas we were already thinking about, and just created this very comfortable space for experimentation and pushed us. There are so many weird instruments and things that aren't even instruments at [Wilco’s Chicago studio] The Loft. I feel like, definitely on our first record, we were super hesitant to go into territory that wasn't just distorted guitar, bass, and drums.”
Nora Cheng's Gear
Nora Cheng says that letting a fourth person—Welsh artist Cate Le Bon—into the trio’s songwriting changed how they thought about composition.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- TC Electronic Polytune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Phonetics On and On introduces warm synths (“Julie”), raw-sounding violin (“In Twos”), and gamelan tiles—common in traditional Indonesian music—to Horsegirl’s repertoire, and expands on their already deep quiver of guitar sounds as Cheng and Lowenstein branch into frenetic squonks, warped jangles, and jagged, bare-bones riffs. The result is a collection of songs simultaneously densely textured and spacious.
“I listen to these songs and I feel like it captures the raw, creative energy of being in the studio and being like, ‘Fuck! We just exploded the song. What is about to happen?’” Lowenstein says. “That feeling is something we didn’t have on the first record because we knew exactly what we wanted to capture and it was the songs we had written in my parents’ basement.”
Cheng was first introduced to classical guitar as a kid by her dad, who tried to teach her, and then she was subsequently drawn back to rock by bands like Cage The Elephant and Arcade Fire. Lowenstein started playing at age 6, which covers most of her life memories and comprises a large part of her identity. “It made me feel really powerful as a young girl to know that I was a very proficient guitarist,” she says. The shreddy playing of Television, Pink Floyd’s spacey guitar solos, and Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan were all integral to her as Horsegirl began.
Penelope Lowenstein's Gear
Penelope Lowenstein likes looking back at the versions of herself that made older records.
Photo by Braden Long
Effects
- EarthQuaker Westwood
- EarthQuaker Bellows
- TC Electronic PolyTune
Picks
- Dunlop Tortex 1.0 mm
Recently, the two of them have found themselves influenced by guitarists both related and unrelated to the type of tunes they’re trading in on their new album. Lowenstein got into Brazilian guitar during the pandemic and has recently been “in a Jim O’Rourke, John Fahey zone.”
“There’s something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument,” Lowenstein says. “And hearing what the bass in those guitar parts is doing—as in, the E string—is kind of mind blowing.”
“On the record, I think we were really interested in Young Marble Giants—super minimal, the percussiveness of the guitar, and how you can do so much with so little,” Cheng adds. “And also Lizzy Mercier [Descloux], mostly on the Rosa Yemen records. That guitar playing I feel was very inspiring for the anti-solo,[a technique] which appears on [Phonetics On and On].”This flurry of focused discovery gives the impression that Cheng and Lowenstein’s sensibilities are shifting day-to-day, buoyed by the incredible expansion of creative possibilities that setting one’s life to revolve around music can afford. And, of course, the energy and exponential growth of youth. Horsegirl has already clocked major stylistic shifts in their brief lifespan, and it’s exciting to have such a clear glimpse of evolution in artists who are, likely and hopefully, just beginning a long journey together.
“There’s something about listening to that music where you realize, about the guitar, that you can just compose an entire orchestra on one instrument.”–Penelope Lowenstein
“In your 20s, life moves so fast,” Lowenstein says. “So much changes from the time of recording something to releasing something that even that process is so strange. You recognize yourself, and you also kind of sympathize with yourself. It's a really rewarding way of life, I think, for musicians, and it's cool that we have our teenage years captured like that, too—on and on until we're old women.”
YouTube It
Last summer, Horsegirl gathered at a Chicago studio space to record a sun-soaked set of new and old tunes.
Featuring torrefied solid Sitka Spruce tops, mahogany neck, back, and sides, and Fishman Presys VT EQ System, these guitars are designed to deliver quality tone and playability at an affordable price point.
Cort Guitars, acclaimed for creating instruments that exceed in value and quality, introduces the Essence Series. This stunning set of acoustic guitars is designed for musicians looking for the quintessential classic acoustic guitar with fabulous tone all at an exceptional price point. The Essence Series features two distinct body shapes: The Grand Auditorium and the OM Cutaway. Whatever the flavor, the Essence Series has the style to suit.
The Essence-GA-4 is the perfect Grand Auditorium acoustic. Wider than a dreadnought, the Essence-GA-4 features a deep body with a narrower waist and a width of 1 ¾” (45mm) at the nut. The result is an instrument that is ideal for any number of playing styles: Picking… strumming… the Essence GA-4 is completely up for the task.
The Essence-OM-4 features a shallower body creating a closer connection to the player allowing for ease of use on stage. With its 1 11/16’th (43mm) nut width, this Orchestra Model is great for fingerpickers or singer/guitarists looking for better body contact for an overall better playing experience.
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