Blistered newbie-beginner needs help

Don't panic!

You say you are new to guitar. If that is the case and you have been playing 5 hours solid - you WILL get blisters!!

Take a break for a couple of days. When you return to playing, try doing an hour and see how your fingers are, if they are feeling sore take another break.

What you need to realise is that you need to build up calusses on your fingers. And this takes time. I played as much as you in the early stages but it still took 4 - 6 weeks to properly form good quality calluses on my fretting hand. The good news is, that once they have formed , even a moderate amount of playing will retain them.

There are some other threads on this site somewhere (might even be on this forum) about calluses, suggest you read them.

Lastly and most inportantly DO NOT PICK OR TRY TO REMOVE them. If they are getting too thick you will know because the grooves that the strings form in them will not go, even when you're not playing. Just get an emery board and GENTLY remove a bit and tidy them up

You are obviously dedicated, so good luck to you!

All the best

Matt

Welcome to the asylum for the musically insane.

In addition to Matt's very good advice, you might try this trick for a while after the blisters have healed. Rub the tips of your fingers with rubbing alcohol after playing. Urban legend has it that the young Eric Clapton used this trick to speed the formation of calluses. Can't hurt to try.

Martha

One thing i forgot to mention. The reason you should not pick at the calusses once they start to form (or indeed, once they are formed) is that if you tear one, to the point where raw skin is showing, playing will be impossible, the pain will be way too much.

Take it from a man that knows!!! :wink:

Nope. You are not doing anything wrong. Your fingers will really hurt for a little bit until the tips get calluses. You probably did overdo it a little since your fingers were “new”, so that is probably why it hurts so much. I’d suggest easing off for a day or two, but I know that is probably a no-brainer because I also absolutely could’nt even touch anything for a day or two. It won't always be that sore while your calluses are forming, but it will definitely take several weeks to stop being annoying. I think the intensity varies from person to person but everyone goes through that. You can probably find a few articles about it by searching “fingertips” and “guitar” or something similar.

Welcome to the site, glad you like it here. You’ll find plenty of help for any questions you might have, and some of the best articles around, (lots of them too.)

Thank you for your replies and suggestions, Matt, Musenfreund (Love the name!) and Spacedog. (Less worried, now. :D )

I now have another question, though. :oops: (Well, two questions, really.)

I followed Matt's suggestion and ran a search for "callus" on the Forum, and from the threads which popped up, I got the feeling that developping good calluses is more "objective" than mere "consequence" - so I was wondering if it's a musical objective (ie, if the calluses somehow improve one's playing), or if it's simply a blister-avoidance ;) objective.

I was also wondering if there are other pianists out there who could tell me how (or IF) the development of calluses has affected their piano technique and fingertip sensitivity.

Thank you in advance (and thanks again to Matt, Freund and Spacedog). :D

You'll need the calluses. It's just a fact of life. Those steel strings would cut into your fingers otherwise. But, as I look at things, the objective is playing and the calluses will develop. As they do, you'll be able to paly for longer and longer periods.
I remember my fingertips would itch a bit as the calluses formed. And it was particularly noticeable when the weather grew cold. Now, a couple of years later, I rarely notice them and don't find that the sensation from the fingertips on my fretting hand is noticeably different from my other hand. I think you'll notice a difference in sensation early on but your body will adapt to accommodate the calluses and return to "normal". Thus I don't think you'll find the guitar will interfere with the piano. A number of popular musicians do play both instruments.
Hope that helps.

Martha (My Dear)

(sorry couldn't resist it)

They are an absolute necessity - particularly if you are playing steel strung acoustic. Without good calusses forming chords is very difficult due to the pressure you will have to apply to the strings to fret them properly.

You won't find an acoustic player worth their salt without a decent set of stubby fingers ha ha.

Persevere, I promise you the pain will go after a while, just don't overdo it. Personally I would definitely wait until your blisters have pretty much cleared up, certainly you want all the fluid to have come out of them....lovely!

Cheers

Matt

Once again, thanks for the replies and all the help. (<-- Insert hugging smiley HERE -->) You guys are the best. :)

Definitely gonna be peering intently at my fingertips from now on, to check on the calluses' development.

The callouses will affect your sensitivity, definately. If you maintain 5 hours a day on guitar, they might affect technique as well - very hard callouses can make a little 'click' against the keyboard. It probably won't be audible to anyone but you, but it'll be there when the skin hardens.

On the plus side, it only affects one hand - so unless you're doing a lot of baroque music where you definately want to bring out each individual voice, you should be able to cope with the callouses just fine.

I've heard of the rubbing alcohol trick, too. And calouses are very neccicary for playing guitar. Those virgin fingertips will be slaughtered without them and cause some gnarly pain.

:? When I first started I got Blisters so bad they popped and made it very hard to play, I took some white first aid Tap and cut strips to cover each blister while they healed that way I could still play and not wait for them to heal, just make sure to take them off when they feel better so you can continue to get your fingers caloused. After time it does get much better. Have fun.

:D

Can't add anything to what's been said already regarding blisters and callouses. I was just thinking. 5 hours on thursday. 5 hours again on friday. -- you must be a humanities major. :lol: I have trouble finding 5 consecutive hours just to sleep.

When I first got my guitar, I practiced about 30-45 mins. a night. The callouses were getting there after about a week. maybe two.

-- Scratch 8)

Thanks for the the info on fingertip-sensitivity, NoteBoat. It is somewhat unfortunate, but everything has its downside, so I suppose one just goes with the flow. :D

And the alcohol suggestion proved very useful. :D Though I don't know if it helps with callousing (though, theoretically, being a desiccant it should) the cooling effect is quite relieving.

...Wonder if it also works if used otherwise *cough*beer*cough*... ;)

cut strips to cover each blister while they healed that way I could still play
[Gandalf Voice] Don't... tempt... me... Fro... do! [/Gandalf Voice] ;)

Scratchmonkey

"Sleep"...?

*leaf leaf leaf through dictionary*

Nope, not familiar with the concept. ;)

Well... Calouses are just built up dead skin that reduces sensitivity to harsh/rough surfaces. The alcohol is supposed to dry out the fingertips and help build calouses. On the website I read about it on the guy said to do a swabbing of the fingertips two or three times a day to build them up.