Sensitive Skin on Fingers

[Aightball]

I had no clue how to word that title, lol!

Anyway, I battle super dry skin all winter long and HAVE to use lotion on it. Otherwise, it cracks and bleeds, etc. How do you all deal with super sensitive finger tips? Tonight, I'm pressing down as hard as I can on the strings working on chords and my middle finger is all kinds of ouch =(. I realize it could be me pressing too hard, but am still learning about pressure on the strings. Any tips for battling finger tips that hurt while practicing?

 

[idssdi]

It's really about creating calluses over time, there's not a specific tio or trick for it you just kinda play through it at the beginning and by going through it you from calluses and it goes away

 

[William B.]

I put bandages on if I can't bare it and still want to play. Just till the tips don't hurt anymore or whatever spot is painful.

 

[Forgetabull]

wrt dry skin. I'd suggest something like moogoo, I don't know if you can get that stuff where you are, but it's not bad stuff.

wrt finger pressure, something you can do to work out "how hard" you need to press is to just hold down a specific note, pick it, lighten the amount of pressure you use and repeat, eventually you work out how little pressure you need to get that note to ring out.

 

[Firsty Lasty]

I couldn't help but notice that your videos show an acoustic guitar. That puts you at a disadvantage. Electric guitars are far easier on the fingers. Pressing as hard as you can shouldn't be necessary.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Try moving away from the dry winter weather you got.. thats problematic number one. When I lived in Alberta I had chapped lips every day. Maybe buy something that'll make your room a bit more humid. Being warmer will definitely help take that cracking feeling away.

Once the callus is created it'll.be easier. But you'll.find you'll have to warm up.more in that dry cold moment so you'll need to find a way to warm up quick if you can't bring.more humidity to your room.

 

[Batbia]

When I was doing acoustic guitar lessons, my teacher said it's normal to feel your fingers hurt a little in the beginning, until our fingertips get used to it and the skin there gets thicker. How long will take may vary a little, but speaking about my own experience it's faster if you practice everyday. I returned playing guitar this year, and since I'm more committed to training now I felt my fingertips got thicker faster than the first time.

Back when I was playing an acoustic, sometimes I needed to practice more than my fingers could take, so I used to tape my fingertips. It's not a 100% eficient method because sometimes the tapes got stuck into the strings but it surely helped a bit!

I've also seen this thing to help beginners on Wish and other similar sites: https://www.wish.com/product/601227889f600c4f8bf75a83?share=web
It's very cheap, but I've never used it so I can't say if it works

 

[Aightball]

Try moving away from the dry winter weather you got.. thats problematic number one. When I lived in Alberta I had chapped lips every day. Maybe buy something that'll make your room a bit more humid. Being warmer will definitely help take that cracking feeling away.

Once the callus is created it'll.be easier. But you'll.find you'll have to warm up.more in that dry cold moment so you'll need to find a way to warm up quick if you can't bring.more humidity to your room.

I do dream of being a snowbird down south someday, ha! Sadly, I am stuck here for the long term in that respect =). But I will see if we can add to the humidity...I know some trucks and they seem to work, so may do that ahead of practice.

 

[Aightball]

I couldn't help but notice that your videos show an acoustic guitar. That puts you at a disadvantage. Electric guitars are far easier on the fingers. Pressing as hard as you can shouldn't be necessary.

I definitely have electric guitar on this years wishlist. Going to take some serious budgeting, but I'm hopeful. I have wondered if an electric might be easier as far as pressure on the strings. I feel like I have to put a lot of pressure on each string playing the acoustic.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

I had no clue how to word that title, lol!

Anyway, I battle super dry skin all winter long and HAVE to use lotion on it. Otherwise, it cracks and bleeds, etc. How do you all deal with super sensitive finger tips? Tonight, I'm pressing down as hard as I can on the strings working on chords and my middle finger is all kinds of ouch =(. I realize it could be me pressing too hard, but am still learning about pressure on the strings. Any tips for battling finger tips that hurt while practicing?

@Ids Schiere Is actually the hero of the day for helping me with a very similar problem. I told the school once many years ago that I feel like my calluses are always building but never truly form and they continuously hurt and tear. He told me to make sure that I didn't do anything like take a bath or a hot shower or stick my hands in hot dish water before I played guitar. The hot water and the soap softens the calluses and it makes them more prone to tearing when you play. First and foremost that helped me a lot. But I also battled with severely dry Winter skin. I hate to say it it's probably gonna have to be more dietary than anything. I know it's weird to talk about diet on a guitar school but when I started cutting out gluten my knuckles were not cracking and bleeding like the use to. I also started eating more sweet potatoes for the high vitamin A count. Everyone is different but it's worth a try. I'll admit, it takes YEARS of playing before the pain subsides. But what I do, and this is gonna sound gross, but for a while I had to get my hands wet and then massage either pork lard or real butter all over them and wear gloves for about an hour. Then wash it off with mild bar soap. I haven't had my knuckles bleed at all since I started doing this