Any musicians on hrt? Hand musculature changes...

[femmebutt]

My hands are pretty important for what I do. I'm wondering if any of you that have been on hrt for a while notice changes in your hands that affect your ability to play an instrument. I'm two (whole) months in on E and am noticing slendering of my hands which seems to be having an impact on my playing, albeit subtley. Guess I don't need to mention I'm pretty sensitive to/ aware of changes in my body. Am I trippin'?

This may likely also have to do with recent weight loss (10 pounds!) as I exercise like a maniac to try and push my bmi into the teens... (realistically ~ 22 depending how much of this stupid male muscle mass I can lose!)

[DrummerGirl]

I've definitely lost strength in my hands, but at the same time my hands are much softer and more sensitive.  Here are the instruments I play:

saxophone: no noticeable changes
drums: general muscle loss means I feel like I'm hitting the drums harder to get the same volume as before but on the plus side the extra sensitivity is great for more subtle techniques
guitar: I found bends to be harder, more from the slippage from my softer hands than from muscle loss.  I play on .010s, but I'm thinking of switching to .009s for this reason.  I've always played with a fairly light touch so the muscle loss in my fingers hasn't made much of a difference.
bass: slaps/pops might be a little harder but not really enough to affect anything

[femmebutt]

I wish more drummers would go on hrt...

[Jill F]

I used to be able to manhandle a guitar and get wicked bends and vibrato with .010s.  Now I have to fight .009s on a 25.5" scale guitar.  .008s are just too fragile with the way I pick.  I still use .045 to .105 on basses because I'm a sucker for tone.

Now I have problems moving my Marshall stack.  I guess I'll need roadies next time around.

Who wants to be in my next band, Victoria's Other Secret?

[Lady_Oracle]

Guitarist here! I didn't really notice a big difference. 3 years on hrt and my fretting hand continues to become stronger. I've always been on 9s though. If anything my playing mechanics became a lot better since I could relax my picking hand more than before. Prehrt I was way too tense and stressed so it was affecting my playing pretty badly.

[femmebutt]

... If anything my playing mechanics became a lot better ...

I'm still holding out for this possibility!

Who wants to be in my next band, Victoria's Other Secret?

Me me me! Can't have too many guitarists , right?

[katiej]

The biggest difference for me is that it's a lot harder to carry my bass amps around.  They were always heavy, but now I definitely struggle with them.  I need wheels.

[Jill F]

The biggest difference for me is that it's a lot harder to carry my bass amps around.  They were always heavy, but now I definitely struggle with them.  I need wheels.

You clearly need roadies servants. 

[katiej]

You clearly need roadies servants. 

Don't we all?

[femmebutt]

@DummerGirl  --  Hope you didnt find my drummer crack annoying. I really appreciate you weighing in on the subject

and if you only knew how hypocritical it was. Here's my BASIC setup:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/prigycat/aMPS.jpg

Anything less than 50 people and I might, yeah might, just bring out the MusicMan combo...

[Jill F]

Losing strength in my hands is something that has clearly happened, but I am not worried in the slightest that it will affect my musicianship adversely in the end.  I would seriously give my figurative left nut to be able to play as well as Orianthi, Gabriela or Nili Brosh.  If ciswomen rank amongst the best guitarists out there, we're all good here

femmebutt- so what are those amps like?  I'm basically a Marshall girl, but I also have a Vox and a Hiwatt right now. (oh, and a Pignose...)

Damn, I miss rocking out.  I had to quit my last band almost 3 years ago due to carpal tunnel problems.  Actually, that was probably for the best- they ended up calling the band Kokblox. 

So maybe if my muscles shrank, the carpal tunnel problems may be significantly diminished by now?  Less meat to press on the nerve? 

Hmm...

[femmebutt]

Kokblox... Ugg, and lol!

... Orianthi, Gabriela or Nili Brosh...

Uh, who!? Looks like I got some studying to do... thanks Jill!

I really wanted a ROCK amp.  The Rocca's are, funny enough, kinda like a mix of JMP, Vox and HiWatt. I have the Custom 40 and 30. Both have a pair of el34 and are LOUD.  Not quite the shred of the jmp but pllllenty of gain. Not quite the top end of an Ac30 but really great edge of break up tones. Not quite the girth (dontcha love sound adjectives?) of a HiWatt but amazingly BIG and CLEAR low end.  Built like tanks by one dude in the valley (ur in la, right?).  But weirdly, you can't find a decent demo anywhere online, IM(notso)HO.  I keep threatening to post something...

Losing strength in my hands is something that has clearly happened, but I am not worried in the slightest that it will affect my musicianship adversely in the end...

...So maybe if my muscles shrank, the carpal tunnel problems may be significantly diminished by now?  Less meat to press on the nerves...

I've always been terrified of my tunnels getting carpalled   I really feel for you. Hopefully your time resting has let you heal. You need to get back on that!  Maybe slowly at first.  C'mon, the shred beckons u forth!

What Marshalls you playing on?  I will one day own a 50 watt 4-holer. One day, *sigh*

Also, I think you're spot on about musicianship vs. physical changes. Or perhaps the more subtle, inner changes brought by hrt will cascade into one's creativity! Hmmmm

[Lady_Oracle]

Like I said above hrt hasn't really made me worst creative wise, its made things much easier since I'm not stressed over transition stuff anymore and my dysphoria overall is at an all time low. I can now focus on my music more than before. When you have the stress of transition plus dysphoria, it makes everything more difficult. I find I write lyrics a lot better than before as well. I can't even remember the last time I had writers block.

As far as the physical stuff goes yeah the loss of strength is noticeable but not so much that at least for me made a negative difference in my playing like for bending, trills, vibrato, etc..If you practice everyday you shouldn't suffer too much but then again I don't know about other instruments, I can only speak about my experience with guitars. I've always been on the weak end of the spectrum too. I've never known what it's like to be able to carry heavy stuff and have a drastic change in strength like that. I can see how that can be pretty troubling but I've been this way all my life, so that part with hrt wasn't a drastic change for me.

[DrummerGirl]

@DummerGirl  --  Hope you didnt find my drummer crack annoying. I really appreciate you weighing in on the subject

and if you only knew how hypocritical it was. Here's my BASIC setup:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/prigycat/aMPS.jpg

Anything less than 50 people and I might, yeah might, just bring out the MusicMan combo...

Not at all!  I actually giggled a bit.  Nice setup!  I've heard good things about Roccaforte amps, but I don't think I've ever heard one in person.  Sadly, I've had to sell off a ton of gear to get the money for SRS.  The one guitar amp that I kept is a blackface Princeton Reverb clone that I built and modified.  I couldn't bring myself to modify an actual blackface PR, so I built one instead.

[dalebert]

Little bit of science trivia--there are actually no (or almost no?) muscles in your hands. They're composed of almost all ligaments that are connected to muscles in your forearm. The effect will be the same, of course. If you lose muscle tone in your forearm, your hand strength will be affected.  The size/thickness of your ligaments might be affected by hormone changes. I don't know.

I apologize for my nerdiness. 

[Jill F]

What Marshalls you playing on?  I will one day own a 50 watt 4-holer. One day, *sigh*

Right now it's a 1969 100W Super Lead  (like Jimi's!) and a 1987 50/25 Silver Jubilee, as well as a couple of old Mini Stacks from the late 80s when I don't want to piss off the neighbors or further deafen myself.  What can I say, I love vintage toys...

[femmebutt]

I'm such am amp nerd. Though not enough of a nerd to have actually built one drummergirl!   (Lies,, I do build recording gear...) Jill, those are two of my favorites right there! Wayne krantz playing the jubilee is one of my favorite tones of all time

[Jill F]

I'm such am amp nerd. Though not enough of a nerd to have actually built one drummergirl!   (Lies,, I do build recording gear...) Jill, those are two of my favorites right there! Wayne krantz playing the jubilee is one of my favorite tones of all time

Yummy!  I want to steal that Jazz Bass as well.  What kind of guitar was that?

[femmebutt]

Tyler . I think they have a krantz edition replica of that very one. They are really $$$

... $exy tho

[Jill F]

Ha!  I thought it looked like one of Jim's guitars.   I worked there once upon a time...