Alright, I finally have my fingers built up to the point that I can practice about 15 minutes a session without my fingers hurting, yay me... However, while the skin is hard enough to not hurt, after a while the callous grooves which flattens the finger against the fretboard and mutes adjoining strings, irritating to say the least. Do I just need to keep playing through this till the skin gets hard enough? I saw the thread on Rock-tips and thought I could do it on the cheap so I bought New-skin liquid bandage (doesn't work fyi)
Any sage advice from the senior members of the board?
All the world's a stage, but the play is poorly cast
Like yer grand pappy (probably) said:
"There's no substitute for hard work and perseverance" :wink:
Seriously, just keep at it and your fingers will get as calloused as they need to be.
One day you'll notice "hey, I haven't muted a note for a while, and my fingers don't hurt after playing for an hour straight."
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
A couple of years ago, I had this exact same problem. Kent is right, just keep on keepin' on and one day you'll realize that the problem solved itself. (now if I can just get my barre chords to stop sounding so sloppy). Baby steps.
You don't have to firebomb dresden to prove you can fly a plane.-Warren Zevon
it takes time to build up a callous. I remember my fingers hurting when I first began. I tried flatwound strings, thinking I could eliminate sore finger tips and all the nasty string noises I made when changing chords. it didn't work. there is no short cut.
just keep playing and one day you'll have 'em.
remember, they have 'shelf life' . the top layer wears off, but underneath is a brand new callous.
i used to just shove the skin up so the groove would flatten, and then try to play it so the strings would run across the groove at an angle, or play slightly higher or lower on the fingertip than where the groove wore in. using lighter strings or a lighter touch can help, too.
