A Matter of Perspective

By the time that you read this, it will have been 6 months since I sustained a significant injury after being bit on my right hand by a very, very large dog. It’s a day that I admittedly don’t like thinking about, though the scars on my hand ensure that it’s a memory I’ll never forget. So why am I writing about it? Well, if there’s any truth in life it’s that even misfortunes can offer a lesson to be learned. “Avoid large dogs that you don’t know,” is certainly one of these lessons as is, “You only have one body, take care of it.”  But paramount among these lessons is one of perspective…

“I’d better be able to play guitar after this,” was the only thought going through my head as my hand was in the dog’s mouth. I literally spent the drive to Urgent Care and the Emergency Room clutching my thumb to my pointer finger to ensure that I could hold on to a pick. The injury itself was gnarly to say the least, the fangs made three primary incisions including one that was deep into the tissue of my palm near my thumb. The ER visit was several hours long and included a few stitches, though they couldn’t close the wounds entirely for fear of infection from the bacteria in a dog’s bite. So, my hand was wrapped up and virtually out of commission for several weeks. Never in my life have I wanted to play guitar more.

Like many athletes recovering from an injury, I pushed myself to play a few weeks too soon. Luckily, it didn’t cause any setbacks outside of a little bleeding. The whole experience was uncanny. It felt so alien, like I was playing the guitar left-handed. I started with some basic strumming until that felt a bit more natural then ventured into some simple flatpicking. Eventually, to really test myself, I played some of King Crimson’s “Frame by Frame.” Surely the string-skipping parts and alternate picking would let me know how far I had to go. It wasn’t pretty but I could vaguely get the job done. It still felt a bit unusual, but I felt hope for the first time since the incident. 

I spent a few sessions focused entirely on my left hand, a slightly confounding yet highly informative exercise. So much of our guitar playing is spent on making sure that both hands are working together that we often neglect to consider each hand’s unique role. Fortunately, my wounds healed surprisingly quickly and there was no lasting damage. I’d truly gotten exceedingly lucky. I was able to get back to a fairly normal practice routine, starting with easier things like playing along to some early records by The Police, focusing on simple rhythm parts instead of any flashy, technical playing. To my surprise, those days were some of the most fun I’ve had with a guitar since moving to Atlanta over 6 years ago. I moved on to more and more complicated things before I felt like my playing had returned back to my previous level. In some ways, I may have actually improved from the extra time spent practicing!

These days, everyone is vying for your attention. Every single application on your phone has notifications designed to draw you to pick it up. Every social media platform has an algorithm designed to keep you engaged so they can throw more advertising at you. Every streaming service is adding hundreds if not thousands of TV shows, movies, podcasts, albums, singles, etc. every single year. Video games have continued to increase in popularity across all age groups. It’s easy to lose focus on what really matters. I’m really sad that it took a traumatic injury to pull me back to realizing what’s most important. For me, that’s always been the guitar and music. But ultimately, I’m thankful that this was the silver-lining to the incident. I’ve played more guitar at home in the six months since August than I likely did in the last two years combined. 

Every time we approach the New Year, we’re given a time to reflect with many choosing to forge resolutions for the goals they hope to accomplish each year. This year, I’d like you to take a look at how you spend your time. If everything came crashing down in an instant, what would you miss the most? Focus on the things that truly bring you joy, that make your life better, and chase them instead of the dopamine hit that your nearest screen provides. It’s not easy, I know I’m still having a hard time avoiding a little casual video gaming to start the day instead of venturing into my very chilly studio. But when I sweater up and grab the nearest guitar, it sure is a hell of a lot more fulfilling.
Chris Capitanio 2025