Roger Zee Memoirs

"Life and Times of a Pandemic Musician"

Health 2 11/24/20

The best thing about the health issues of my youth? Just as they appeared out of nowhere, they magically disappeared the same way. Things got a little trickier as I grew older! For a long time, I went without health insurance and annual checkups. Didn't really see the need for it. You know, "Ignorance is bliss!" Though I caught more than my fair share of colds and sore throats, I'd simply dial my physician Dad who would call in a prescription to my pharmacy. No muss, no fuss! But in my late twenties, something came up that just wouldn't go away! Welcome to another excerpt from my memoirs, "Life And Times of a Pandemic Musician." B-|

Never considered myself an easy-going person. More of a loner and doer by temperament. I tend to get worked up over little things unless I just exercised or shared bodily fluids, LOL! Sometimes I snap for what appears absolutely no reason. But I'm really just reacting to something you said or did a week ago... This "Dude" does not abide! ^_^

My nightmare began when I switched from playing a light-weight, Fender Mustang bass to a very heavy, second-hand 1972 Fender Jazz bass I bought at Matt Umanoff in Greenwich Village. I initially moved to bass from guitar in the Seventies because I thought I could get more work. But the new instrument proved difficult for me due to my small hands and feet. Ladies, I know what you're thinking! Not a problem, LOL. My fingers worked just fine for playing guitar, but lacked the size and strength to play a "long-scale" Fender bass. So I started with a short-scale Fender Mustang. But no one took me seriously when I showed up at an audition with my "toy" bass. Evidently, "Size Matters" for a "Real Man!" ;)

To facilitate the transition, I took three years of bass lessons at a music school on the Upper West Side. I wanted to play authentically and not sound like a "fast-buck" guitar change over. So I practiced in my apartment for at least two hours every day. But I gritted my teeth, slumped in a chair, and shrugged my shoulders while doing it. Without realizing it, that f*ed me big time! And that ended up taking it's toll on my entire body!

Soon I developed an ache in my neck and shoulders. It got so severe, that I had to stop playing for six months. A really down time in my life! Turns out my unrelenting drive and determination caused my body to lockup! I would get so intense about getting the job done, I would hunch my shoulders, whether typing or playing the bass, and this caused all the trigger points and pain. My straight job boss, Dr. Rochelle Hirschorne at Bellevue Hospital, NY, actually saved my butt. I worked as an administrator at her Immunology lab that researched Aids and other autoimmune diseases. She invited me down to her Greenwich Village apartment where her physician husband used his thumb and fingers to dig through all the trigger points in my neck and back. Then he taught me about posture - how to sit and stand straight without slouching and never tense or hunch my shoulders. This task proved equally as hard as when I had to re-learn how to speak in high school! :-O

This tension also extended to my hands. I eventually developed trigger finger in my left pinky finger. It opened and closed just like a light switch clicking on and off. I ended up getting surgery at the Orthopedic institute on E17th Street. They cut a horizontal slice 1/2 inch beneath my pinky to open up the "sticky" tendon sheath. As with most of my dealings with surgeons, the recovery took much longer than they predicted. Instead of one month, it took almost six to rehab the finger. And the kicker -- I ended up not using anymore when playing bass for fear of re-injuring it! More to come... ;)

So today I rejoice that the US election's finally over. And even though I remain in Lockdown as the Pandemic rages completely out of control around me, I pick up my Lake Placid Blue Mexican Fender bass and give thanks that after so many years, just this week I finally found and locked in my core bass, sound, and technique! Now, every note I play reverberates straight from the heart as I polish up the low end parts to my second favorite Bob Marley album, "Uprising." One <3

YouTube - Zion Train - Bob Marley