Taking a Break

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Permalink Reply by John Fusco on December 25, 2008 at 9:19am

Are you using dandruff shampoo by any chance? I find that I have to wash my hair with my right hand otherwise the dandruff shampoo will soften my calluses on my left.

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Permalink Reply by Bodhi on December 26, 2008 at 7:23am

John Fusco said:

Are you using dandruff shampoo by any chance? I find that I have to wash my hair with my right hand otherwise the dandruff shampoo will soften my calluses on my left.

No, I'm using the same shampoo I've used for a long time - PERT. But that's an interesting idea. I've started using this moisturizing cream that the doctor recommended on my elbows for a severe dry condition (eczema) just a few months ago. I hadn't even thought about that affecting my ability to form callouses on my fingertips. I'm going to try applying it with Q-tips and see if it helps. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Erik Heimann on February 1, 2009 at 11:12am

I have the same issue. I often go long stretches without playing and everytime I come back it's like starting over with a newborn's fingertips. It takes me a good couple of weeks to start building callouses and during that time period it's quite painful. Gets to the point that I simply have to stop playing and give my digits a break for a day or two. Once new callouses do start forming, I've noticed that the skin starts to dry and flake/peel off and then I have to rebuild on that! I think it's just part of the natural process of building up tough skin again. Once I get over these initial humps, I'm always fine.

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Permalink Reply by Joe The Strummer on February 6, 2009 at 9:45am

I'm coming back from about a 10 year break. Ouch!!! While I was in school I could put in about 6-8 hrs of playing a day so I have a new empathy for my beginning guitar students who would complain about sore fingers. I am back to beginner fingers I think.

I'm playing medium guage strings and I think the thing to do is to play as long as possible until you absolutely can't stand it anymore, then take a break for a few minutes, then get right back at it and repeat the cycle for as long as you can practice/play-- as in an hour or more. That'll build those callouses back in no time.

Also, through the day you can press your fretting hand thumbnail into the fingertips to keep prodding them to grow some bark. You just have to show those skin cells who's boss.

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Permalink Reply by Bodhi on February 6, 2009 at 5:53pm

I've also noticed when the callouses are non-existent or smallish that when I play for an hour or so I have grooves in my fingertips. When I hit the nerves in my fingertips I turn my fingers at an angle and just press them on the strings for a while and then rotate the fingers a little and do it some more until the grooves are gone. Eventually after a few weeks, the callouses usually re-form evenly, but in the mean time, hitting those fingertip nerves feels like a knife cutting into them.

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Permalink Reply by Chris B. on February 13, 2009 at 8:56pm

I don't think those jolting pains in your fingertips are related to callouses at all, I think they are broken blood vessels.
In my experience it's completely unrelated to the state of your callouses. When I do get that stab, there's absolutely nothing you can do, you just have to tough it out and suffer for your art.

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Permalink Reply by David Shade on March 8, 2009 at 6:56am

Bodhi,

I hope you are not continuing to have this problem. But, if you are, you should not play hurt, that could make matters worse. I don't mean to be an alarmist, but this does not sound like your typical discomfort playing and I think you might consult a doctor to see what's going on.

Peace,
David

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Permalink Reply by Bodhi on March 8, 2009 at 5:37pm

David Shade said:

Bodhi,

I hope you are not continuing to have this problem. But, if you are, you should not play hurt, that could make matters worse. I don't mean to be an alarmist, but this does not sound like your typical discomfort playing and I think you might consult a doctor to see what's going on.

Peace,
David

I've finally built up the callouses again, and the nerve-pinching sensation has mostly gone away. It did take a long time (weeks) to finally have the pain not happen. But on my Strat on the high E (medium gauge strings!) it does occasionally still smart once in a while if I press the string just at the wrong spot. I'm using medium silk and steel strings on the Martin and it's not bothering me at all.

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