You are not logged in. Please login or register.
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Help I have very sore fingertips
I have been back playing guitar after 59years of not.I have been playing for 3 months and been developing fair calluses so far.But now I have something like having a corn on my fingertips and am playing in great pain and have to stop after a few minutes.Has anyone ever had this problem?And is there any cure for this.I just turned 88 years old last month do you think this is the cause?? HarveyW
HarveyW - I have no solutions for your finger pain, I just want to say how awesome it is that you re-found the guitar at the age of 87! I hope to still have callouses when I get your age! GO HARVEY! Something tells me you will battle through it.
Welcome back HarveyW. I came back to playing guitar after 30 years. Sometimes my fingers hurt, but the pain usually goes away if I just keep playing. My worst problem is cramping in the thumb muscle at the palm of my fretting hand, just have to stop and let it rest a bit. It's great to hear your back playing again.
If it's something more serious than a callous then you might have it looked at. And like Jeep said, take little breaks.
And BTW, welcome to Chordie.
Welcome to Chordie, and congratulations on rediscovering guitar and making music.
Everyone has pain when they first start again, but if you've got some kind of a growth more than a run-of-the-mill callous then that's something different. I hope it clears up for you. Pain is the body's way of telling you to stop doing something. Most times we ignore it when it's finger pain, but it may make sense to try to use alternate fingerings for chords or try not to use that finger too much if it's at all possible to avoid. If it's not possible to avoid, it may be worth getting checked out. Maybe it's just a blister. That's be so awesome if it were. Think of that - 88 years old and playing 'til his fingers blister. How freakin' cool are you?
- Zurf
Hello harvey nice too see you here hope you find the site usefull, you may want to go have that checked out. It is great too see someone 88 playing guitar!!!
Thanks all you good guys.Guess I"ll just tough it out.Mainly it is my ring finger that bothers me the most.I am playing an old yamaha Fg180 i bought 40 years ago and never got to play it.I was always busy doing other things. Harvey old/young guy
Harvy,
have you had it set up in a while? maybe you need a adjustment so your nothaving to press so hard?
Hi Mr. Harvey. At least your playing a good guitar. Welcome.
Good Info from the others! My input would mirror the suggestion to check the set up of the guitar and make sure the action is not to high and hard to handle. Then check your fretting pressure...many of us (especially when performing and nervous) use far more fretting pressure than needed. I've known several folks who would sometimes dab a little bit of super glue on the tips of fingers to harden them up and help them get thru a playing session. I think the main thing is to play a little every day and eventually you'll develop the callouses needed to protect your fingers. Glad to have you back playing and hope you really enjoy! jg
hi from England guys my tip is this: you need two glasses in the 1st put a measure of surgical spirit in the other double the measure of jack daniels(for example) ,now drink one and dip your fingers in the other i'll leave you to figure out which one glass will harden your fingertips while the other will make you feel mighty fine about the world!.Seriously though ive just started again after a break and my fingers hurt more than ever! perhaps its age related after all ive just passed my half century (thats not old is it people? . I like all kinds of music really like cowboy junkies and green on red and classic rock folk roots etc
A wise old guy (re: smart a$$) told me "lighten up!!". You don't need to press the string thru the frett board. Learn to press just enough to get a good sound. Once the string is firmly on the frett wire, more force won't make up for poor technique. My calouses have actually softened a bit since I concentrated on technique instead of force. Keep It Fun, Dean
Most of us agree with this theory also, Dean. We were talking about it in another thread sometime back. It is something I practice sometimes when I notice I am pressing too hard. the problem for most of us is we don't think about it enough and tend to do it the way we always have by p[ressing hard and not thinking about. Awareness of the issue is the answer.
Good on ya Harvey! You lend fact to one of my favorite beliefs. "You don't stop playing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop playing!" One more believer here in checking the action to start. Maybe switch to lighter gauge strings. Proper technique is important. Wrist and hand positions that strain can do damage. Carpal Tunnel for one. And if the fingertips aren't sitting on the fretboard as they should you may be putting too much pressure on a sensitive spot. Also , no offense, but as we get older our skin thins out a bit. If you have a harder spot in a callous, like a corn on your toe, that presses down into uncalloused flesh , it'll hurt like hell. I know. See your Doctor because it may be possible to remove it or shave it down. Everyone is right though. If it hurts something's wrong. Take breaks. Play different songs. I've found making sure the songs I'm playing don't have a lot of the same chords, gives my hand a bit of a break from straining. I don't play too many songs in a row with full Barre chords. Switching to a few songs with more open chords, or playing lead for a while, practicing scales and such keeps my hand from getting .... bored I guess. Welcome back to the wonderful world of making music. But get the offending fingertips checked out by a physician. If it hurts so much you decide to stop playing again you'd be losing a great source of enjoyment. Take care sir.
Another thing to try Harvey would be Flatwound strings. I've heard they are easier on the fingertips. Never used them myself , so I can't say firsthand.
Good for you sir, guitar keeps you young....At heart anyway!!! I find that doing some hand stretching for a minute or two helps with the pain and the cramping!!! Now if your gonna play for 3 hours straight then you might experience some pain. Try stretching your fingers before playing and I recently had the action on my guitar lowered, got some medium strings on it and tuned down half a step now this thing is like butter it flys now. Hope some of these suggestions help out some!
Go Harvey. The fingers any better?
Pain is the body's way of telling you to stop doing something. Most times we ignore it when it's finger pain, but it may make sense to try to use alternate fingerings for chords or try not to use that finger too much if it's at all possible to avoid.
try soaking your hands in warm water and something like oil for softening, and then filing the thickened part with an emery board--try lighter strings-- or try playing for a shorter time but daily. it's great that you are playing and you deserve to enjoy it!
Pain is good
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Help I have very sore fingertips
