-
With my new responsibility as the keeper of the flame for Peerless jazz guitars (and all the electrics it seems) in the US, I haven't touched my guitar much in several weeks. So, my fingers hurt... waaaah!
I have seen a callus building key chain and an attachment on a grip builder.
Dunno.
While I am the computer (non stop for since NAMM) I figured I could type with one hand and squeeze with the other. No... no... not on X rated sites, on regular websites and on email, and phone even....
Some of these items are discontinued.
Any suggestions?
-
01-29-2016 11:59 PM
-
You just gotta work through the pain, Doc, there's no shortcut to good ole calluses on the fretting fingers!
I remember from old Kung Fu movies they used to punch into a bucket of rice or sand to harden the skin, can't see how one could apply this to the fingertips.
When I have had a cut I do brush on a layer of Super Glue and let it harden. It works for awhile but peels off pretty soon.
Here are some tips I came across on the web--EC says use rubbing alcohol...he mighta used Courvoisier or Bombay Gin a time or two...
https://www.guitartricks.com/blog/Ho...our-Fingertips
-
It's sort of weird, I have been playing for 51 years. I play daily. My fingers don't callous. I feel no discomfort whatsoever.
Is there something wrong with me?
-
At my day job we have these very long formica countertops in the building, from 10'-30'. Any time I walk past one I pass to the right and press my left hand fingertips on top and rub all the way to the other end.
-
Doc,
As a teenager, I got thick calluses that would crack and peel. When I enrolled at GIT in 1982, Howard Roberts told me that calluses were a result of:
1. Fretting too hard with the left hand
2. Action that was too high
3. A combination of the above
I immediately had my guitars set up by a pro (Mike McGuire) and began working on my left hand technique. It's been 34 years since I've had a callus. My fingertips are tough but not callused. I play acoustic and electric guitars daily with strings that range from .010 to .013 with no discomfort.
Regards,
Jerome
-
Honestly, a banger which suits the purpose is always the preferred option for me. I've purchased cheap instruments for back-ups at remote teaching locations , where I can just leave them. They're also handy for my personal serenity if they have to stay in the car in Alabama summer heat for more than 10 minutes. If space is the issue , I'd get something small. Though less desirable, it's still a guitar. If you need quiet or tough, get an old electric that you can play unplugged for a couple of minutes here and there.
If you don't have a lot of time, and require that you're only playing be on your best axe, in a private studio or office, there's more suffering than just your calluses. A cheap, nappy guitar may be better than a callous builder.
I have to play some guitar every once in a while to be happy.Last edited by matt.guitarteacher; 01-30-2016 at 01:48 PM.
-
Thanks Jerome. I don't feel weird anymore.
Originally Posted by monk
-
Doctor Jeff, Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
It's not working through the pain. I can do that, and have numerous times. I want a device, like big rough file or something I can place on the desk and reach over and rap on it when I am on the computer. Or something small while driving. I just don't want to start to lose calluses if I can't get to my guitar very much for a week.
I am usually playing all the time, but I have big new business commitments with Peerless. I have to redesign my funky horrible old jazz guitar sales website, I have a shop full of new guitars to pull out, set-up, take pictures, list online, pack for shipping arrrrgggg..... all the stuff I am not fond of. I am fond of gigs, learning tunes, increasing my vocabulary of jazz stuff ...woodshedding, even teaching. I am OK with posting, calling and emails, but the heavy lifting (due to my physical problems) and web design (due to my mental problems) are tough....
I am looking for help and have my son part-time, if they don't make him do 12 hour days at LAX. But right now, the playing has been sporadic. I really need a web guy too at least to help me get up to speed.
And I don't want to loose my calluses whilst all this is going on.
Fred, you're Ok in my book.
Woody Sound, that's the ticket!
-
If what you want is a rough surface on which to develop calluses, you may want to adhere a sheet of sandpaper to a block of wood.
-
Same here. I also have a pair of YogaHands hand stretchers. Those really help keep my hands feeling like I can pick up and play anytime after a few days of not playing. (More likely a few weeks recently since I cut my fret hand index finger and am just getting back to playing after two weeks of healing. Also I do a lot of carpentry work and my hands can be sore from sawing, drilling, lifting, etc. I sometimes need a few days to let them rest afterward and the hand stretchers work well for comfort.) I never much got into the grip spring strengthener thingies. For me strength is not an issue - flexibility more likely. I know that is more information than Doc was asking about but I hope that it helps. Originally Posted by monk
-
No callouses here either, even during long stretches of 3 to 4 hours a day of a guitar in my hands. There was a 3 week period last year when I travelled and had a million things happening and hardly touched my guitar, then immediately played a 3 hour duo gig with a horn player when I got back to town - that was painful on the fingertips! But within a week I had no more pain (and still no callouses). I mostly play on flats so that's a factor I guess, but I've have used 14/18 for my E/B which is pretty darn heavy...and I also play on rounds sometimes. I think it's technique. Over time, we learn to use less effort.
-
Originally Posted by lammie200
All is helpful. Thanks.
I don't get thick calluses. The ends of my fingers harden, on both the fretting and fingerpicking hands. But no playing causes them to soften and get tender.
I found a file. I have by my computer keyboard. Also, if I plan a 5 or 10 minute break per hour and pick up the guitar, that will help.
-
Be creative, find a solution wherever you can. Where I work during the day there are very long bookshelves with countertops. I walk along them dozens of times a day. Every time I do I press my left hand fingertips on the countertop and grind them against it all the way across.
-
There is nothing like an upright bass to keep your hands tough...and your grip strong. I've played upright for nearly 50 years. I never gave in and lowered the action to accommodate a primarily amplified sound, either.
Although my hands are not heavily callused, the fingertips are tough.
I realize that not everyone is going to run out and get an upright. What I would recommend, therefore, is to keep an acoustic guitar around the house with medium gauge strings on it and a medium action. (These days, so many people play acoustic with what would have formerly been deemed an electric action. You can tell immediately when you listen. It sounds plinky.) Play that guitar at some point every day. Your hands will toughen up. Reference: think of the way that Martin and Guild guitars _used_ to come from the factories. They were a bit stiff, but they really kicked out the sound and were not at all buzzy.
-
My left hand fingertips went like this Originally Posted by jazz.fred
At the start .... soft and tender/sensitive
After a while hard /thick insensitive , no fingerprint
shiney
Eventually , medium soft , fingerprint back
Tough
I'm going through this with my right thumb
Left hand edge now , bit of pain , not too bad tho
-
I play 14s on my acoustics and 12-13s on my electrics. It's made my acoustic playing much worse (hopefully temporarily) but made my electric playing much better. Fingers are stronger than ever before.
-
A casual observer wouldn't notice calluses on my fingers. Sometimes I forget about them. They're there, but they're quite soft. It's almost like, not calluses exactly, but much tougher skin. (Actually, you can kind of see the callus on my pinky. I guess because that one is a little more on the side than on the tip.) Originally Posted by jazz.fred
Maybe you just have tough skin on your fingers.
-
Calluses are the opposite of what you want! I use hand cream every day to prevent them forming, and have developed a very light touch. I can't conceive of why anyone would want calluses. The tone they produce is woeful. Count me out. Still, if that's what you want, it's your choice.
-
Count me in as "anti-callus." Calluses are a problem, because they eventually rip.
My fingertips on my fretting hand are naturally "harder" from years and years of play, but I'm glad I'm past the "play too hard and bend those wires all over the place" stage that is the father of calluses...
-
As for a callous on the right hand thumb aka Wes M., just buy an Omega Speedmaster Pro wristwatch (one of the watch classics). You'll have to wind it every day and the winding action is pretty stiff. In addition, the crown is halfway hidden and hard to get a hiold of. In a week or so, you'll have pretty nice callous on your thumb. Originally Posted by pingu
-
I use the left-hand thumbnail to work the fingertips in a systematic way. Not to produce calluses, but to maintain a level of toughness.
-
I don't have LH callouses but I also don't really see a downside to them. When I've had them (it's been years), I don't think the tone difference was noticeable. But the RH thumb callous is another story - sometimes I'll go through a stretch where I'll play a ballads with my thumb instead of a pick for a while, and inevitably I'll get a callous (at first, a blister actually). I find the sound from a RH thumb callous to be kind of nasty because there's a transition spot between soft flesh and callous and if you happen to start on the soft spot but then "catch" the callous part before your thumb releases the string, it's a rather harsh/grating sound. Obviously not when Wes does it though...not sure if that's because he had a massive callous and thus no gap between fleshy and callous-y, or if like most of us with the LH, after time he didn't even have a RH callous either. Originally Posted by oldane
As for a callous on the right hand thumb aka Wes M., just buy an Omega Speedmaster Pro wristwatch (one of the watch classics). You'll have to wind it every day and the winding action is pretty stiff. In addition, the crown is halfway hidden and hard to get a hiold of. In a week or so, you'll have pretty nice callous on your thumb.
-
I didn't know there was a distinction. Don't callouses eventually resolve to tougher skin once they regain moisture? Or do some people seek callouses as an end? Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
I received similar instruction when studying flamenco: practice alzapua until your thumb blisters, then let the blister heal, rinse, repeat. There is some dryness and cracking along the way, but proper care results in toughened but smooth skin.
-
The only proper callus builder device I know of is the guitar! LOL
But really,
I'm also in the "I don't really have calluses" camp. It's just what happened over time.
My fingers are slender, my fingertips are small, tough and pretty smooth too.
I had big trouble with my pinky some years ago when I accidentally sliced off the tip!
Really set my guitar playing back. That took some serious work to get over, but it's finally coming around . . .
-
Since you asked, doc, maybe one of these: Amazon.com: guitar 6 fret practice tool
Reply With Quote
Barney Kessel sketch
Today, 09:53 PM in Everything Else