Learning Guitar - Painful Fingers

ScarySquirrel

ScarySquirrel

ScarySquirrel

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Hello,

My fingers hurt! Is it best to keep on playing through the pain to speed up the process of getting used to it, or should I rest for a couple of days until they stop hurting before I play again?

Thanks
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Hello,

My fingers hurt! Is it best to keep on playing through the pain to speed up the process of getting used to it, or should I rest for a couple of days until they stop hurting before I play again?

Thanks
Click to expand...

You big girl, Taylor Swift got through it when she was 11 :p

I don't play the guitar but my guess is that if you are in pain or start to bleed, stop :)
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Hello,

My fingers hurt! Is it best to keep on playing through the pain to speed up the process of getting used to it, or should I rest for a couple of days until they stop hurting before I play again?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Keep on going, you'll find the end of your fingers might start to blister too but after a while you'll end up with hard skin on them instead.
 
Raymond Lin said:
You big girl, Taylor Swift got through it when she was 11 :p

I don't play the guitar but my guess is that if you are in pain or start to bleed, stop :)
Click to expand...

:(

Cuchulain said:
Keep on going, you'll find the end of your fingers might start to blister too but after a while you'll end up with hard skin on them instead.
Click to expand...

Ok, thank you :)

I'll keep on playing tonight. I can feel them getting harder already but I just wasn't sure if I should rest a while or not :)
 
malc30 said:
What Gauge strings are you using ?
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I have no idea. It's my Dad's guitar which is quite old (I remember him playing it when I was about 7/8 - I'm 24 now) and he isn't around any more so I can't ask him.

Does the gauge mean how thick they are?
All I know is they hurt and are hard to play, but I'm getting there :)
 
Your body will soon react and harden them up, then have fun peeling the skin off all the time :cool:
 
Bite your lip and get on with it. With any luck over time your hands will get gnarled up and malformed in a true sign of dedication. You should see Keith Richards left hand, it's all mangled.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I don't play the guitar but my guess is that if you are in pain or start to bleed, stop :)
Click to expand...


No, no, no. You just seal the wound with superglue and resume. Pain is art!

(I took the skin off my thumb playing bass once, stung like buggery. Made an interesting look on my bass's body and unfortunately my white t-shirt had a new pattern added to it. Freaked out a few people who came to see the band. Luckily the pub landlord had some superglue...and some whisky for medicinal reasons. Worked a treat!)
 
depends on how long you have been playing, there will always be some discomfort when learning the guitar as your stretching muscles you probably havent used that much ..

dont cause yourself to much pain, learning chords and barring strings is uncomfortable to start with but as your hands/fingers get used to the stretching the muscles relax more.

blisters on the finger tips is usually the first problem, but thats a natural progression and the skin soon toughens up and you'll be doing string bends with ease.

persevere with it, playing guitar is extremely rewarding but tough on your fingers.. string gauge is also a factor so maybe try a pack of light's ie .9s as the thinner the strings the less effort is needed.

lastly dont injure yourself, dont rush things and take it slowly ... warm your hands up and do a few mins of running through scales up and down the neck, ease into it... fnar

gluck
 
eekfek said:
depends on how long you have been playing, there will always be some discomfort when learning the guitar as your stretching muscles you probably havent used that much ..

dont cause yourself to much pain, learning chords and barring strings is uncomfortable to start with but as your hands/fingers get used to the stretching the muscles relax more.

blisters on the finger tips is usually the first problem, but thats a natural progression and the skin soon toughens up and you'll be doing string bends with ease.

persevere with it, playing guitar is extremely rewarding but tough on your fingers.. string gauge is also a factor so maybe try a pack of light's ie .9s as the thinner the strings the less effort is needed.

lastly dont injure yourself, dont rush things and take it slowly ... warm your hands up and do a few mins of running through scales up and down the neck, ease into it... fnar

gluck
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice. I don't know any scales so perhaps that is something I should look up. Can you recommend somewhere to find some good scales for beginners?

I think I'll stick with these strings, if I get used to them then it's all good as I can play any. Also, and I know it might sound weird, but as I know my Dad played with them I don't really want to take them off the guitar until I really have to (he died last year).

Do thicker strings give a better sound, or just a different sound?

I know a fair few chords but I am USELESS at barring strings, not sure why. I have quite short fingers as well which is tough. But I have learnt a few songs which I am happy with playing and slowly improving on (House of the Rising Sun, Wish You Were Here, Mad World, Yellow, The Scientist and a simplied version of Hotel California). All fairly easy but it's very satisfying actually playing a proper song :)

I love the Gipsy Kings and all flemenco style music so I have learnt a few 'Spanish sounding' chords and have had some fun with that as well.

As for how long I have been playing, I played occasionaly (perhaps a mess around playing some chords) a few times every few months for years. Only recently since I inherited my Dad's acoustic have I tried to learn properly.
 
Your skin will go hard eventually man. I did have a few sites bookmarked for scales, but I can't remember for the life of me what they were!

Barring is actually stupidly easy. You'll probably wake up one day and it'll just click and you'll be able to do it. Try and use the outer side of your index finger as opposed to the inner-side (that is, if your left hand was placed palm down, try and use the part of the index finger on the right, etc.).

Scales are a good idea to learn early, as you can develop a lot of technique from it. Search for something called CAGED theory as I'm sure you'll get a lot of useful links around that. Don't get overwhelmed though, just take your time and most importantly enjoy it - there's no point forcing yourself to do it if you're not enjoying it; music is a labour of love. :p

Playing instruments really will get easier over time because with all the practice you put in - your brain will literally change and wire up accordingly, so the process becomes much easier in itself (I saw it on musical child prodigies on Channel 4 or something).
 
linseed oil on your hands/fingers

will toughen you up in no time, I used to use it when the orchestra I was in were performing for a month solid

job done
 
You can always go all Hong Kong Fuey on us though.
Get Two Steel buckets & fill them with shingle/smooth pebbles to about 2 inches from the rim then with your hands held straight punch them into the bucket as deep as you can get finger tips first of course ripping them back out with the same force & do this until you can't stand it any more & do it daily.
Do this for a few months & you'll be able to punch through metal sheeting. :D
 
guitar strings lose their vibrant sound in time, they get slacker due to stretching and the dirt from your fingers affects their tone. When learning it isnt a problem at all as your main goal is to teach your fingers where to go.

when i can be bothered to warm up my hands i start off with a simple 4 note run starting on the first fret bottom E string , i alternate up and down strokes for each sequencial note (semi-tone) then move to the next string and repeat ;-

e|-1-|-2-|-3-|-4-| <--- fatest string then drop to the next string 'a' and repeat, once you have done the pattern on each string do it backwards.. its monotonous and doesnt sound great but it conditions your mind/fingers

you can start on any fret and move it in a box pattern up and down a few times slowly making sure each note sounds clear ..

the easiest scale to practice, commonly known as the 'blues' scale is a good place to start... again hit each note 'x' slowly so it rings clear then move to next note 'x'

e|-x-|---|---|-x-|
b|-x-|---|---|-x-|
g|-x-|---|-x-|---|
d|-x-|---|-x-|---|
a|-x-|-x-|-x-|---| ( optional note x )
e|-x-|---|---|-x-|

im aware this is basic stuff you may already have seen, if not its a great place to start ... im not an expert far from it, im self taught and dont read music, so theres probably better peeps to ask on here ;p


hope this helps, hf
 
Your finger tips will toughen up and it wont take long. I remember hearing before if you dip them in turps it helps toughen them up, but it is not something i have ever tried and may just be one of these myths.
 
I used to play until i physically couldn't, as in i was in too much pain to even hold the string tightly enough. After about a fortnight i had a callous so thick i could play for hours without feeling a thing.
 
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