The three fingered bass player

This weekend I had a great time playing for the worship service at the Grove with my friends Scott, Adam, Mike and Carolee. We have so much fun musically and I really could feel God working through us this weekend. Maybe it was just being closer to the front of the stage where I can feel the energy of what's going on in the room. Hopefully my "bass player face" was not too distracting to anybody this weekend.

What probably nobody but the band and my wife knew is that my 5th finger (pinkie) was not working. While training for this weekend's Redlands Triathlon (I know I'm crazy but that's for another post) I developed Ulnar Nerve Palsy while doing a 22 mile training ride. Now for some real bass players like this one and this one that may not be a big deal, but I learned how to play upright bass by using my pinkie a lot. It was kind of weird trying to re-learn my routine "go to bass lines" while feeling like I had a carrot tied to the end of my hand. To make matters worse, we had a gig at Coffee Depot at the plaza with Quick Before Sinking on Saturday night and my injury rendered me helpless to play my upright bass due to needing the reach of the pinkie to get to the wider note spacing and longer scale of the instrument. (I just realized that I think this paragraph wins the award for most links on my blog)

Well things are slowly improving this week as I'm adjusting to my finger and I'm looking forward to finishing my first triathlon. My father-in-law Charlie has been excited about getting Adrianne and I involved in triathlons since he caught the triathlon bug 5 years ago or so. He's an amazing guy and is so passionate about the sport. He is going to be competing with us at the age of 64 and I don't think I can beat him even though I am 30 years his junior. My swimming technique is best described by the name of my band. Flap your arms quick before sinking, so I'm just hoping I don't drown. Wish me luck.