Earlier this year I spent somewhere near to 10 weeks in Ohio on an installation job. While I was out there, I got my pinky finger bashed between two metal plates. It was very painful.
Turns out I broke it.
I had to baby it a bit due to pain, but with the aggressive schedule in Ohio and my stubbornness, I never went to a doctor. It healed all wonky like and now I can no longer straighten that finger.

The worst part is that it’s on my left hand. That’s my fingering hand for guitar. Except… my guitar playing has improved.
I have had trouble for a long time with keeping my pinky finger close to the strings. The closer your fingers to the strings, the less time it takes to depress a string – the faster you can play.
Now that I can’t straighten my finger, it is forced to bend closely towards the strings. I can wail!
While it doesn’t speak highly of my guitar playing if broken fingers improve my performance, I find it fitting that metal indirectly improved my ability to shred.
Oh my goodness.
mike. WHAT.
I broke my arm in December(roller skating incident) and didn’t see a doctor until late January. Right arm though, and it did nothing for my guitar playing. Nothing at all.