Best Tips
The way to overcome finger pain when playing the guitar is:
1 Evaluate Your Finger Tip Softness In Relation To What You Do Daily, So You Know The Level Of Fingertip Hardness You Are Starting With
2 Extreme Callous Building Is A Myth
3 Make Sure Your Guitar Action Is Setup Correctly
4 Make Sure You Have The Best String Gauge For Your Playing
5 Different Types Of Guitars Are Easier To Play Than Others
6 Fret Only As Hard As You Need To To Get The Chords Or Notes Clear
7 Regulate Fretting Hand Pressure With Smart Practice Routine To Reduce Soreness
8 Avoid Fingertip Bruising At All Cost
9 Cut Fretting Hand Nails To Correct Length
10 Don’t Chew Your Fingertips And Nails
11 Avoid Soaking In Water Before Playing
Read On For How To Solve
One Of The Number One Reasons People Give Up Guitar Early Is Finger Pain
You need to build mild callous on the fingertips with correct technique and a good guitar setup to avoid unnecessary extreme pain . Notice I said mild callous !
Some finger pain is normal , extreme ongoing pain is not. Your fingertips are getting sore because of mixture of possibilities listed above, lets look closely so we can implement the right measures from the start.
People Quit Guitar Before They Even Get Started Because They Don’t Know These Things
1 People Have A different Degree of Skin and Fingertip Toughness Depending On Lifestyle
Someone that sorts cotton balls into soft plastic bags all day and moisturizes their hands at night ,will have softer hands and fingers than a bricklayer . Have a think about what you do all day with your hands and realize that you might all of a sudden be working the ends of fingers and hands in a way that they are not used to .
This is OK , and we can build the tips the right way so you don’t experience too much pain. This is why some experience more, or less pain than others . Don’t worry, your hands can be optimized for guitar without pain . Be patient give them time to adjust, and follow these tips to implement them into your practice as you are learning .
2 Extreme Callous Building Is A Myth
First thing is yes , you are going to build a callous that will protect, and you are going to do it gradually and you will give your fingers pressure breaks in the process, as well as look at your guitar setup.
Painful callus building is a myth . Some moderate discomfort and pain is OK, and yes it is essential , but extreme ongoing or sharp pain is not !
This is not SAS training , ninja warriors initiation , although some crusty guitar dudes from the 80’s will say “You gotta earn ya stripes man you gotta go through the pain. ” The truth is you will have some discomfort and soreness on the tips of your fingers yes , I will show you how to regulate and manage discomfort while building mild callouses. Significant pain and callousing, is a lie , or you are doing it wrong ! Let me show you why .
Proof Your Callouses Don’t Need To Be Like Leather Pads
Here , have a look at my fingers in these pictures . I play professionally one two ,three nights a week , 3 to four hours a night, plus practice and play nearly most days , mainly on acoustic steel guitar , and I hardly have calluses at all! My fingers don’t look and hardly feel calloused , and they rarely hurt ! If you felt the finger tips of my left hand , which is my fretting hand, and compared it to my right hand fingertips you would feel some difference , but not much .
The ends of my fingers on my right hand are slightly thicker and harder than my left and that’s the only difference .
If I stop playing for a few weeks and then return to guitar playing I get very little discomfort, it doesn’t last long, and I hardly notice it, because I know how to regulate my playing and practice properly ,which I will explain so you can be aware of it and do the same.
3 Make Sure Your Guitar Action Is set Up Properly
I Had A Poorly Setup Guitar And Experienced Much Pain
I do remember when I started playing guitar when I was 14 years old , I had a bad guitar string action height , and I played through much pain , because I didn’t know any better, I was so keen and didn’t know the string action was too high and grew some hefty calluses indeed. This scenario changed when I discovered that guitars could be made easier to play, and I got a new guitar which was setup way better, and the callouses went back to the mild no pain variety .
Ask an experienced player to look at your guitar to see if it is set up correctly for playing .What they are checking for is that your guitar string height action is where it should be to play comfortably. Any seasoned player will know right away if your guitar is setup correctly for learning and playing.
The distance between between strings and fret board is too high at the nut , this will cause cutting into the fingers with the strings , because the player will be pressing too hard to get the strings clear …. = PAIN .
The string action concept is a really subtle and tricky thing to show with a camera , so zoom up on these photos. You will see there is very little difference in the two guitars, this why you need to get advice from an experienced guitar player or a guitar luthier (guitar repairer).
Compare them to your guitar. Then play a guitar yourself that a pro player says “this guitar is set up well ” so you can experience the difference. This is the best advice on your instrument for play-ability and avoiding finger soreness, that you can get. This is commonly overlooked.
Start with a guitar setup correctly, it will save you time ,pain, and hopefully stop you from quitting,which is what a lot of people do!
A lot of good players are really handy at setting guitar action themselves , others are not , but most will know where to send you . This will typically cost between $15 and $50 to fix. Try your local music store or ring the nearest guitar luthier (qualified guitar repairer technician ).
In these two pictures guitar pic 1 is typical of a guitar that is not set up correctly at the nut. This is a common cause of finger pain . The distance between between strings and fret board is too high , this will cause cutting into the fingers with the strings , because the player will be pressing too hard to get the strings clear …. = PAIN .
The other aspect of guitar setup to consider is the distance of the strings to the fret board towards the bridge end of the guitar , again here are two photos, one correct, and one too high.
Hard to tell the difference hey! Dont worry…There is a relation between distance all the way along the neck that makes it best to play, and it’s good idea to get an experienced guitar tech or player to advise you where your guitar is at. It shouldn’t cost you anything to get this advice. Just looking at these pictures should give you an idea , but you might be guessing .
As you can see there is not much in it , and I will say this again when you are beginning playing guitar it’s almost impossible to know where the action of the nut , bridge height should be set , no matter how many photos or videos you see, at this point you have nothing to compare your playing to guitar types with, this is OK, The whole point of showing you these pictures is to make you go and get some good advice for your guitar action setup and you will be right to go.
4 Choose the Best String Gauge For Your Guitar Playing
String Gauge’s (String Thicknesses Vary) And Make A Difference
String brand makes a difference to tone as well , I list my favorite brand with pictures below.
Find out what string gauge is on your guitar and the guitar you are testing that has been set up properly.
The gauge of a guitar string is a measure of how thick a guitar string is . The bigger the number the thicker the string .
You need to play some different guitars with thicker and thinner strings to feel the differences.
Acoustic Steel String Gauges .
Acoustic steel strings range from light to heavy gauge from Light gauges being Medium gauges being Heavy gauges being . These different different gauges on the same acoustic steel string guitar , can make a huge difference to playing and ease of pain and discomfort , especially in the beginning. This chart will give you an idea of what is thick and what is thin with gauges on acoustic steel.
- “extra light”: .010 .014 .023 .030 .039 .047.
- “custom light”: .011 .015 .023 .032 .042 .052.
- “light”: .012 .016 .025 .032 .042 .054.
- “medium”: .013 .017 .026 .035 .045 .056.
- “heavy”: .014 .018 .027 .039 .049 .059.
Nylon String Classical Flamenco Gauges
With nylon strings, not so much an issue, as gauges do not vary as much .
Nylon is the softest acoustic on the fingers . Best for beginners that have sensitive fingers .
Electric String Gauges
Electric strings from gauges 8 extra light and go through heavy gauges 12 . I find on my electric guitars that even 10s to 52’s are too thick because of the style of guitar playing I have evolved into. Eventually pain is not going to be the deciding factor for string gauge selection, because you will know what you are doing. In the future you will choose the type of string for it’s sound and feel that best suits your style playing. Its really good to experiment with guitar and string types to see what you like. Start jumping on other guitars early in the piece, to give yourself an idea.(don’t actually jump on them)
This is a basic chart of electric gauges , there are many many variables on these gauges depending on styles and brand . Experiment!
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5 Different Types of Guitars Are Harder To Play Than Others At First
Acoustic Steel
Acoustic steel string guitars are the hardest to start learning on. This is because the tension is higher , the strings are generally thicker and because the core of the string is metal .
You can however go to a lighter gauge of string which will be easier to play. There is also type of steel string called silk and steel made by D’Addario , Martin , Ernie Ball , Earthwood . In between the outer metal winding and metal core there is a nylon covering , this makes is bit softer to play , giving it a bit of extra padding and cushioning for the fingers . This can be a good stepping stone for working up to full steel strings if fingers are hurting . They are definitely softer on the fingers . There is a difference in the sound , not major , though I personally prefer the sound of standard steel strings , but a lot of people love them .
I wish silk and steel strings were around for me to try when I was learning , I would have given them a go .
Nylon String Classical Flamenco Guitars
Nylon string guitars have softer strings with the inside core made from nylon and plastic and a soft thin metal outside winding. The metal used in the outside winding of nylon strings is much softer and thinner than the outside winding of steel strings .
These strings are easier to press down and get clear and don’t cut into the fingers nearly as much as acoustic steel guitar strings . The spacing between strings is wider and can make it easier to fret chords clearly and a lot of players especially beginners, find it easier to press chords down and get them clear with less pressure. A small amount of people find the thickness an issue as well. These people are in the minority and may have unusually soft hands and fingers to begin with.
Electric Guitars
Electric guitars are considered the easiest to play because the strings are thinner overall , the action is set up lower to the fret board and there is less tension than acoustic steel . Even though the whole string is made from steel, the setup and tension makes a big difference to the playing experience making it softer and less pain full . Some will debate that Nylon is easier because of neck width , but most players agree that a well setup electric guitar the easiest of all three types .
Just remember strings too thick and action too high on an electric guitar can still amount to pain as well. A poorly setup guitar is a pain .
This is why guitar setup is so important on any guitar.
6 Fret Only As Hard As You Need To Get Your Chords and Notes Clear
Once you know your guitar is setup right , a simple check is to ask yourself , “How hard do I need to press my guitar chords to get them clear ?” When playing a chord, check the sound of each string one at a time and feel the finger pressure used to see how hard you need to press to get your chords clear . Observe your finger pressure on your chord hand and ask yourself ” Am I over compensating with pressure to correct bad chord playing technique “? You the player are the only one that will be able to determine this through observation and testing .
Trying Too Hard With Pressure Instead Of Technique Is Really Common
Look closely and ask yourself “Are the fingers on my chord hand leaning over and touching other strings?”, “Am I pressing too hard not knowing this ?” The same applies to single notes, scale and riff playing which I will cover further on.
Look , see , observe , listen !
This is the ninja stuff ! Connect with your playing right from the start . There is teething stage when trying to get chords clear, you will get past this don’t worry about it, just observe listen and think about what you are doing as you relax with practice concentration.
7 Regulate Pressure on Your Fretting Hand With Better Practice Routine
Chord practice is constant pressure , soloing and scale work is too, but it is not constant pressure. Think about it , pressure over time = more potential pain , especially in the beginning .
Alternate your practice routine around this example:
1 chord work 10 mins constant finger pressure
2 riff scale 10 mins breaks in finger pressure
3 note picking 10 mins breaks in finger pressure
4 rhythm exercises ,muted exercises 10 mins (so you give your fingertips a break totally ). no finger pressure
This way you give your fingertips time to recover, but you still get to move forward with practice, and less pain!
Muted Rhythmic Exercises
Rhythmic exercises with the strumming hand , and no fretting pressure can be a great way to give your fretting hand and fingertips a break altogether . By playing these percussive muted rhythmic exercises it will give your left hand a chance to recover the constant pressure of clamping down chords. Makes sense huh? This is a great technique in general for you to develop your internal rhythm, and you can practice this with your favorite songs every day right from the beginning of your learning.
8 Avoid Bruising The Fingertips At All Cost
What can happening beneath the surface of the skin of damaged fingers is bruising . A bruise is contusion . Blood from the damaged capillaries , small blood vessels leak and get trapped under the skin. The red and purplish color you see are bruises if you are unlucky enough to have them. It might be an idea to wait until they heal before you start again. Bruises are pretty rare but if you have them on your fingertips, you are definitely doing something wrong .
Avoid bruising by playing smarter !
9 Cut Your Nails On The Fretting Hand To The Correct Length With Clippers Not Scissors
Your fretting hand fingernails must be cut to the correct length . If your nails are too long when trying to fret ,this can cause bad chord fretting technique as well as muscle pain in the hand , because you are trying to compensate finger and hand position to adjust . In short is it so much easier to play guitar when the fretting hand has had it nails trimmed to the right length. If you think you can somehow have stylish longer nails on the fretting hand and get away with it, I’m sorry you can’t . Strumming hand yes, fretting hand no! Use good nail clippers not scissors or teeth.
10 Don’t Chew Your Fingertips And Nails
This a no brainer , don’t chew nails and fingertips down to the quick , otherwise known as the epithelium. This way you won’t be out of action for days. And you wont have ratty jagged nails.
Use good quality nail clippers when trimming, don’t use scissors and don’t cut them too short.
11 Try Not To Play Guitar Of After Soaking In The Bath Or Swimming For Hours
Any soaking or immersing of the hands in liquid will cause some form of softening in the skin. Long swims pools spas etc will soften your fingers .This is mainly a concern for people with soft hands to begin with ,but something to be aware of .
Conclusion
1 Evaluate Your Finger Tip Softness In Relation To What You Do
2 Realize Extreme Callous Building Is A Myth
3 Make Sure Your Guitar Action Is Setup Correctly
4 Make Sure You Have The Best String Gauge For Your Playing
5 Realize Different Types Of Guitars Are Easier To Play Than Others
6 Fret Only As Hard As You Need To To Get The Chords Or Notes Clear
7 Regulate Fretting Hand Pressure With Smart Practice Routine To Reduce Soreness
8 Avoid Fingertip Bruising At All Cost
9 Cut Fretting Hand Nails To Correct Length
10 Don’t Chew Your Fingertips And Nails
11 Avoid Soaking In Water Before Playing
I hope this has helped you ….All The Best Mark