Even though I’ve been playing guitar for many years, I still sometimes have this problem that’s holding me back: Sore fingers
When I play guitar on a daily basis I get kind of thick calluses/hard skin on the fingertips which really makes it painless to play. But if I take a break for a week, or even just a couple of days, it can be really painful sometimes when I pick the guitar up again. I heard an absolute beginner who said that it feels like the strings cuts the fingers like razor blades. And yes, I guess that's almost how it feel
What I’d like to find is some kind of “magical recipe”, like… I don’t know… soak the fingers in lemon juice for ten minutes? Or, put superglue on the fingertips and rub vinegar mixed with soap and salt? Or, etc. etc… well… you get the idea!
Do you have any tips to share?
I also have this problem !! My fingers hurt if I don't play daily..Looking forward to those tips
My advice is killing you fingers with a guitar that has at least 11 gauge (or thicker strings) on it in standard tuning. Playing on those heavy strings will hurt like hell, especially when bending a whole step etc... but at the same time it will make your fingers stronger and you'll build up a extremely thick skin on your fingertips that won't vanish soon.
I'm looking forward to tsome replies here too...i have nothing to share though!
I guess the easiest way to avoid this is NOT to stop playing for a week or even longer Another option of course is to take a black cat, wait for the full moon on a friday 13th, then...
But seriously, I don't think there is a way to prevent this from happening. All of us have to take some breaks from playing from time to time and I guess all of us go through exactly the same thing then. It happened to me many times already, and the only way to fix this problem is to keep playing and building up this hard skin on your fingertips again. I really know people that used super glue, but in my opinion this is a bit over the top. The only time I had to use this super glue method was when I cut the tip of my finger while we were on tour. When I grabbed my guitar the strings were always opening the cut and actually cutting it deeper and deeper, so super glue was my only chance, but I didn't like it. But lets see if anybody else has an idea, I am curious too
I havent practiced guitar properly for almost 3 years and never had that problem. The reason I don't practice is my full time job and other stuff I do. Maybe once in a week I spend 3-4 hours playing. I haven't noticed that I can't play what I played before. Somebody mentioned thick skin, that is a good point. I have that from acoustic guitar where the strings are much thicker. When I switch from acoustic to electric feels like I am wearing light trainers after 10 days walking in heavy boots. Probably because of that I never feel any pain.
I also don't have problems with sore fingers, my tips are constantly hard. BUT if I were had these troubles I would go first to general doctor, and then to pharmacy and ask pharmacist about it. I'm pretty confident in their knowledge because they have to have degree in pharmacy, so they should know their chemistry well
I get sore fingers every once in a while, this is usually if I have stop playing for weeks and come back to it. But what really kills me and I really hate is that my 3rd finger gets hurt if I do to many bends, it's like the fingernail will separate from the finger a little bit and it stings, the worst is when by mistake a string gets in there (between the nail and finger), at that point I have to stop doing bends for the rest of the day.
It happened to me in one of my lessons that will be published soon, but I had already started, so I had to continue, but I was in pain.
I forgot to ask, any advice here?
Your lessons have been a few times responsible for me having sore fingers:) You have a lot of strong bends in your playing style which are kind of demanding to keep the calluses in good shape. I have the same problem as i often don't play for a few days because of work etc...
As far as i know, calluses is a sort of "dying skin" .. when you play regular its a constant process of replacing it ... if you search the ground in front of your chair with a microscope you will find endless particles of skin you rubbed of ..
Maybe try to get the habit to use at least something like a shredneck for a few minutes every day when you don't have the chance to play guitar. A bit like brushing teeth .. just add 5 minutes shredneck to the daily routine. I think it will help to keep the cycle of building new skin and rubbing the old skin of in balance.
Thanks for your input guys!
Yes I get this on my right hand fingers when I practice tapping (I only do that once every three months... )
My advice would be in the same lines as wrk - to keep your calluses up by exposing them to a similar scenario a couple of minutes, even the days you don't touch a guitar.
Of course I want to be extreme so instead of recommending a shredneck - I think you you should tap the fingers on a razor blade every day
Please don't do that we want to hear more of your awesome solos
Do like tommi iomi. Cut your fingertips at work, then substitute them with forged iron.
-edit- Kris, did you get my mail?
hm .. could someone quickly do a "Razor Blade" lessen ... i have tried it together with the super glue on my black cat ... don't know how to tell, but something is not right ...
Don't use hand lotions or soaps that soften the skin and break down callouses.
I've only been playing for a few months and had trouble building up callouses until I realized that the hand soap my wife was buying had a skin softening lotion that was reverting in seconds what took hours to build. Doh!
Once I switched to a non-lotion soap the callouses came on fast and thick.
I rarely rinse my fingers in hot water, always cold (or luke).
And I use a skin conditioner regularly, to keep my fingers moist and fit for fight.
You don't want your fingers too dry, or the might crack up and become sore.
Once in a while I get sore fingers, but that's a rare thing.
I should do more tapping!
I never allow myself to play with newly washed hands: they should be dry.
And any skin conditioners should be fully absorbed.
Well, that's the only 'tip' I can offer..
Think I read somewhere that SRV used to whip out his knife and cut a bit of hard skin from the heel of his foot and super glue that on his finger tip....apparently it improves ur tone .......................(last bit was a joke btw)
mmm I think there is some liquid to put in the fingers used a lot by harp players, but I don't know what is its name...
Anyway I use Fast-Fret in my strings and I don't have his feeling.
here is an article about calluses explained by a harp player:
http://dangerousangel.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/harpist-for-hire-have-calluses-will-travel/
Great topic Marcus
Sore fingers are norlmal for begginners.The most imporatant thing is not to get discourage and not to stop playing for a long time.Time itself will solve the problem
There are so many responses that this method could have already been advised.
What I used to do was buy some surgical spirit and dab the end of my fingertips. This harderns them up pretty good Just make sure you dry your fingers thoroughly, as I've no idea what nasty things that might do to your much loved guitars. heh.
- This might sound pretty scary and illadvised, but my Aunt is a Doctor and when she played guitar she used this method. It really does work!
Join the club mate,I never had this problem untill I racked up big hours in a band every week-been playing for twenty years now and noticed that my finger tips getting sore(and shoulder pain from wearing the axe while standing for so long!)
The other guitarist metioned this over a brew at luchtime,and the bass players skin has been coming off his fingers for weeks now!lol In fact our drummers hands look pretty bad too!Only the singer gets off lightly
Thanks for sharing Ajmurrell. That looks very interesting
Well the most extreme tales about this are Stevie Ray Vaughn's Colluses Legends.
The most extreme one I remember is that he glued his fingers to a surface, and than PULLED, causing all his fingertip skin to tear and in a day or so he will have super tough colluses to deal with his 13's strings
Don't know how true it is, and I never want to find out.
I haven't really experienced this myself but agree with Marcus S. haha;)
I think it is inevitable that your finger tips will soften if you take a break.
I have also heard of some mad ideas to get around it but i would never try them let alone suggest some hahaha
Maybe when you return to regular practice after a break build up the practice time over a period of days till your fingers have hardened up again. 1 hour, 2 hour, 3 hour for example. Or practice one day on one day off (to let the tips heal) etc. until fingers are back to normal.
I would recommend a Shredneck, make the strings as hard to push as possible ( bad words but I am sure all of Ya understand;) ) and train with it for example in a traffic jam or while watching the daily news. It works for me.
Mostly my fingers hurt while practicing for a while, because youre repeating things like new bends, new chords (stretchy chords) or practicing a song with a lot of bends especially when i was learning vibrato lesson 1 of Marcus haha man o man, that high bend almostly cutted my fingers back then, so when my fingers hurt i mostly practice something else like scale's so i no more bends for a while, and when its not hurting again woohoo we going bend 2 note's again haha
Great that you brought this in Marcus,
cause first time when I REALLY felt pain in fingertips (ring finger actually)
was when we were making "Instructor Plays Instructor".
Frets on my guitars are almost jumbo and all those
wild slidings really make you crying.
I would definetly go for the Iommi-method if I was you .
Don't really have that problem myself in my left-hand, but when Im playing jazz chords (I dont use that technique as much as regular picking) I can get sore if I havent done it for a while. What I will recommend is to consider the strings you're using. D'addario for example, have a very metallic feel over them and they're used a lot in metal, but D'addarios are very dry strings with not much of a "layer" on them, that creates more friction which my tear a bit on you fingertips. You should try Elexsir instead because they've got a spray or something on them which make them softer, smoother and more sustainable than not-layer strings, it kinda feel more organic. Personally I use GHS strings at my 010-string-guitars and D'addario at my 012 guitar, but often with the "fast-fret" which oils the stings a bit so you can get that layer. Try it out, it might work for ya!
might be bringing back a dead thread here, but I have been using the gripmasters at work recently, and it keeps my calluses like rock, even used it to create calluses on my right hand ready to start tapping away like a maniac
I think it's helped quite a lot, as I never have pain in my fingers now, and the calluses are really smooth.
I rub a little rubbing alcohol on my fingertips if they lose their toughness and I've noticed that it really helps to build them back up quickly and keep the pain away. I thought it would dry my skin out and make the skin peel around the edges of the fingernail but it doesn't. Give the alcohol a try and let me know if it works for you too.
When I first started to learn the guitar, I didn't know where to start, and therefore the first thing I did was learn all the techniques, such as sliding, hammer-on & pull-off, vibrato and bends. I did this on an acoustic and it hurt like hell, but I liked to play so didn't care much about it and the pain went away.
Recently I have bought some 11 strings, because I wanted a more 'metal' sound. I actually enjoy these strings more, because they are harder to bend and I can bend with more accuracy. At the beginning, tapping was kinda hard, but I've gotten the hang of that too now.
Although I used to get serious cramp when playing chords for a long time, but now I found that when I do a warm-up excersize, this won't happen also.
My advice to any who read this is : Just make sure you surely play once a week, or when you feel your fingertips get soft. It doesn't have to be long, just 5 min a day will do and keep your fingers active.
There's a lot of nice tip here for hurting fingertip
Also I had some problem with the other hand. I tried the Gabriela tutorial from Rodrigo y Gabrielle as you can find on internet, I suppose it's the same with the Spanish guitar style here. You have got to brush the string fast and at first it's not really precise. So you brush with your full nails instead of just the fingertip. Quickly enough the join point where your nail get out of the finger wears off, and there's tiny bit of blood coming.
I remember still playing, and then droplets of bloods where propelled on the guitar. Of curse doing acoustic stuff on sharp electric guitar strings does not help... Some time it looks like playing guitar can turn to a deal with some evil, you got to sign with blood
But at least there is a easy cure here, it's accuracy And in comes quickly enough with practice, and I'm at a lower level than what's called a beginner here
Now that there is 2-3 cool suggestions in this thread, that would be nice to sum-up
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