|
My real name is Ed
Hargadine. I was born Jan. 19, 1943, in
Portland, Oregon. I live in Skamania County,
Washington, about
50 miles East of Portland, in the famously scenic Columbia River Gorge, where
the river cuts through the CascadeMountains. I have a BA
degree in Psychology that I have never used for employment; my career was spent as a
plumber. I have played fretted
instruments for 57 years, having started that practice when I was just
ten years old. I also played woodwinds in my high school's band, and sang in the
choir, so music was a pretty important part of my early life. The house I
live in today is the same house I was born into.
On
September 3, 1989, I had an accident
while operating a table saw and cut all five fingers of my left hand, resulting in
a
couple of amputations, 44 stitches, and grafted nerves in two of my
fingers. At the time, I greatly feared that I might
never play the guitar again, but I am happy to say that
today, some 21 years beyond that setback, I have more than recovered my ability, and can
honestly be said to play better now than I did when I had all my
fingers. There are some chords I can't play, but I
do have all the major and minor chords, and I
can usually find some workaround which compensates for what's not
possible. Always remember to work with whatever you
have left.
I also took up MIDI while I was struggling
with my lack of fingers. MIDI doesn't require many fingers at all; just a couple
for clicking a mouse.
|
