Guitar callus is a natural thing to take place and will only go away after all the irritation that causes the calluses is gone. Your fingertips will grow new calluses; it's ongoing. If you stop for a while and the calluses go mostly away, you can still play just fine.
We have all heard about guitar calluses. There are stories about guitarists who played until fingers bled since they tore their callused fingertips off. While others have it that their fingers fell asleep while they were playing guitar. However, at the same time, we hear about the same thing happening to individuals because they have not developed calluses yet. So what is the scoop? This post will mentor you on how to build guitar calluses, how to take care of them and answer some of the fundamental questions about guitar calluses such as if the calluses will go away itself.
What are guitar calluses?
Guitar Callus
Guitar calluses are areas of stiffening skin which forms as a result of skin irritation. It is the hardening of the skin which develops as a result of your skin being put out to constant friction and pressure due to contact with guitar strings. Calluses serve to desensitize your fingers from pain.
Think of the calluses as an armor that your neck hand’s fingers develop to defend themselves against guitar strings since they realize you are not going to stop making them suffer. The most common callused skin people have is on their feet from walking, but guitar calluses form on your fingertips.
Generally, guitar calluses take time and persistence- you have to push through the time of pain to achieve these ‘badges of honor.’ Fortunately, it is something most guitarists have dealt with. We have also developed quite a few tips to help you get past this hurdle. Just keep reading.
Does guitar damage fingers?
If you are reading this section, your fingertips are probably hurting like crazy right now. Be comforted to know that all guitarists have gone through the pain and have had sore fingertips at some point in the initial guitar learning process. But there have been no documented cases of fingers damaged by a guitar.
However, poor guitar technique can cause damage to your fingers. So many guitarists lack the right technique and the ability to stretch their fingers and place them where they need be, this is so particularly for beginners. The fingers are then frequently in the wrong position, which means they need to press harder to make the string sound clear.
Often the guitarist is frustrated and cannot move his or her fingers into the correct position, so the only thing they can think to do is to press harder. Over time this becomes a habit, and the discomfort and pain lead to painful callus or blisters. Always rest your fingers if you feel pain. You will get to like the feeling of soreness in your fingertip after a while. And your newly developed callus will not hurt or seem weird at all.
Are guitar calluses good for my fingers?
Forget about all the tales and urban legends. No one wants their fingertips raw and wounded from playing guitar. Mainly because you have to stop playing until you heal, looking at the effects of calluses when playing the guitar, one can only consider them as a good thing.
Before you develop calluses as a new guitar player, you practice less because of the pain in your fingertips. You might play for half an hour, but you will not play the next day because your fingers will be bruised and hurting. Even worse, you could stop playing for some days and end up starting the process again.
But with time, practice and calluses care, your fingers will be shielded from the pain of fretting strings. In the next stage, we are going to deal with building guitar calluses, care for your fingertips and how to deal with calluses peeling off.
How to build finger callus for guitar playing?
Let us preface this by saying that there are ways to fasten forming of calluses however; it always takes a commitment. Below are methods on how to toughen finger calluses faster.
Play the guitar regularly to build callus faster. This may be obvious, but the best way to build calluses faster is by playing the guitar frequently. When your fingertips really hurt, then you know your calluses are forming.
Rub your fingers in alcohol to build calluses faster. Dipping your hands in alcohol makes your skin dry and dry skin hardens. This makes it easy for the callus to develop.
Play an acoustic guitar in your initial stages to build a callus. An acoustic guitar requires more force and action than an electric guitar. Thus you will develop calluses faster. The strings of acoustic guitars are harder and firmer than an electric guitar. But if your fingers hurt more take a break.
Build your finger calluses while not playing the guitar as well. If you are super eager in building your calluses, there is an exercise you can do anywhere to build your calluses. Get something with a hard, thin and solid edge and press it against your fingertips. There are also products for guitar callus builder.
Keep your fingernails trimmed to enable easy guitar calluses building. Fingernails stop guitarists from playing well. If your fingernails are hitting the strings on the neck, then they are relieving pressure and friction from your fingertips. This slows down the procedure for growing good calluses and can cause ugly situations when they try to slide and end up tearing off a piece of a nail.
Do not chew nails but use trimmers. You do not want to overdo it and be left with a different kind of pain like ingrown nails or infection.
Things to avoid if you want to develop guitar calluses faster
If you are in the initial stages of learning how to play guitar, you should not submerge your hands in water for long if you want to build calluses faster. Water makes your skin soft. Making your skin vulnerable to pain when exposed to pressure.
Do not play the guitar after your hands are softened from water, to build guitar calluses quickly. If you play the guitar with your fingertips soft the strings will remove the existing calluses right off. Setting you back to your initial stage. Do not play your guitar until your skin has dried and toughened up. Usually, this takes about an hour.
Do not use hand moisturizer when playing the guitar to make calluses build faster. If your hands are really dry, do not use moisturizer. Just like water, moisturizer softens your skin. While some websites advise super gluing your fingers to develop calluses faster, do not do this. You will smear your guitar with glue flakes and residue.
Do guitar calluses go away?
Will my fingers numbness while playing guitar go away?
Starting to play the guitar comes with the different rite of passage. You get calluses, the calluses evolve into a texture that resembles a cat’s paws, but the numbness fades away with time.
When you practice, you should take short breaks. You can strengthen and condition your hands in many several ways. Be patient, take your time and experience the task of your hand.
Each practicing session will give you more strength, clarity, and endurance. Do not just run down the routines; you will not gain tone, timings, strength, accuracy, and confidence. Somewhere within this practice, the numbness will go away.
How to reduce finger pain from playing the guitar?
Everyone who learns how to play the guitar has to deal with sore fingers at the beginning. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the pain, but in turn, your calluses will form slower; so you are extending the period of lessened pain. If it is okay with you, you can use any of the following tips to ease your sore fingers pain.
1. Play lighter gauge strings; they are easier to play medium or heavy gauge strings.
2. Practicing the guitar is less painful on nylon stringed classical guitars than sical guitars; it is more painful on electric guitars and most painful on steel string acoustics.
3. If you want to lessen the pain of your fingertips you might have to reduce your practice session time, however, play many times in the day.
4. Applying cider vinegar also helps to reduce the pain from playing the guitar.
5. You can apply ice to your fingers after playing. But the ice will rehydrate your skin too.
Should I use finger caps or protectors to stop guitar calluses from forming?
There are various sites which sell fingertip protectors and caps designed to help new guitarists reduce the pain of playing. But let's get one thing clear; they do not stop the calluses from forming.
Though fingertips protectors help lessen the pain of playing guitar, they are not a permanent solution. How many professional guitar players do you see using finger caps on stage or in the studio? If you are earnest about learning how to play the guitar, you can keep off from these products and focus on developing natural calluses on your fingers.
How do I stop calluses on guitar?
How to prevent calluses on fingers due to guitar playing?
Sadly, you cannot prevent guitar calluses from building. They must happen. Calluses are meant to help you play the guitar. After a few weeks of your practice, you will feel numb in the area, which is excellent if you want to do a lot of bends and pull-offs other than the common chord switches.
As discussed above some sites have recommended gloves or guitar caps, but the gadgets will reduce your flexibility making it harder for you to learn to play the guitar. Nevertheless, there are several measures you can take to make the process of guitar callus formation easier.
- Avoid painful techniques such as slides, bends and pull offs.
- Detune your guitar strings one whole step; this will reduce tension
- Take your guitar to a qualified repair person and ask them to set it up to make it easy to play, inclusive of lowering the action as much as possible
- Try replacing your strings with softer
- If the calluses have already formed, sometimes excess skin callus will form on tips of the fingers. This annoyance can be easy to remedy. You can file the skin.
- If the calluses are dry and rough, most likely, they will be peeling. If the skin is loose, take a hot shower and carefully trim off dead skin.
- Do not bite or tear at them, as this can tear up healthy skin.
Can playing the guitar cause nerve damage?
Nerve injuries for guitarist
Playing the guitar just like other instruments has its challenges. It needs precision, hand strength, skill, and endurance to perform well. One of the challenges is a day to day injuries to the nerves that innervate the arm. When nerves are compressed, guitarists can feel pain, numbness, muscle weakness and inability to play for an extended period. This post has addressed the basics of guitar clauss builder, so if you have read through, the pain should have eased by now. You can now practice playing the guitar. And remember the sore fingers and suffering will only end with more practice.
