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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I was talking to colleague new to guitars about how developing calluses on your left hand fingers (for a right-handed guitar player) will eventually eliminate the the pain of pressing thin steel strings after more than 15 minutes pf practicing. I then examined my own and was surprised to discover that I had great callus build-up on my index (3rd) and the edge of my little (5th) fingers, some build-up on my 4th finger, but almost none on my pointer (2nd) finger. I have to presume that I use the 2nd finger primarily to hold the chord together and the 3rd and 5th primarily for the picked notes. I don't know if this is correct or incorrect technique as I've never had a lesson. |
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December 2003
Posts: 13997
Location: Upper Left USA | Send me all of your guitars and I will evaluate them for fingerboard incontinuities and misadjustments! |
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November 2004
Posts: 382
Location: USA | my tips are like rocks...rocks i tell you.. :) |
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September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I keep some 80 grit emery cloth in my desk drawer to knock em down every so often.
They are all about equal on all four fingers. Pinky has the least. |
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April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Hmm...I file my calluses..so as to keep`em even,but even so the pinky has less :) |
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January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Just play alot and don't worry about it. |
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November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I have calluses on my tongue. Am I doing something wrong? |
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March 2004
Posts: 629
Location: Houston, Texas | Originally posted by ProfessorBB:
I then examined my own and was surprised to discover that I had great callus build-up on my index (3rd) and the edge of my little (5th) fingers, some build-up on my 4th finger, but almost none on my pointer (2nd) finger. I have to presume that I use the 2nd finger primarily to hold the chord together and the 3rd and 5th primarily for the picked notes. I don't know if this is correct or incorrect technique as I've never had a lesson. I've been playing for about 25 years and I've never had a lesson either, well, except for one poor teacher looking for students in a music store one day who took pity on me. In fifteen minutes I walked out with about three pages of notes and I can't tell you how much that little bit has helped my playing. He taught me how to figure out how to play the same chord anywhere on the neck. I really feel now that after 25 years of playing I have finally gotten good enough to be ready for lessons. This guy was really good but now that I have a little time where I could take lessons, I can't find him anywhere.
Anyway, my fingers used to be similar to yours only with heavier callouses on my middle and ring fingers but since that free lesson in the store I do alot more sliding up and down the neck and bending with my pointer, so it's now almost as tough as my others. |
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March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | Originally posted by fillhixx:
I have calluses on my tongue. Am I doing something wrong? Talking too much. Like Bill said, play more and they'll come in the right places. The real trick is to get your fingernails on the right hand to grow to just the right length. |
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July 2004
Posts: 812
Location: Hicksville, NY | Building callouses is one area I haven't conquered. I play my guitars regularly enough to have callouses on my fingers over time. But like dead skin, they shed off easily, and before I knew, I feel like starting over again ... |
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April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Back in them good ol`hazy days,some buskers I knew, stuck pieces of cellotape on their fingertops when playing out in winter.. :) |
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December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | when I was a kid I played until my finger bled. Literally.
I wanted to learn so badly and I had a terrible guitar and the strings were horrible black diamond strings that just cut me like a knife.
there is no substitute for practice |
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December 2004
Posts: 4394
Location: East Tennessee | Originally posted by alpep:
when I was a kid I played until my finger bled. Literally.
I wanted to learn so badly and I had a terrible guitar and the strings were horrible black diamond strings that just cut me like a knife.
there is no substitute for practice SO I wasn't the only one that used those Black Diamond strings. :D
Al's right. Play more and don't worry about the calluses. |
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June 2005
Posts: 274
Location: Maryland, USA | Personally with the whole lack of pointer finger not having callouses, I find that's probably because when you bend strings, you're normally using your middle or ring finger, and that will put much more stress on the finger and help callouses build up.
You don't really bend strings with your pointer finger, well, at least I don't :D |
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August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | There's an old Eric Clapton trick you can use. If a fingertips is too soft, put a drop of superglue (I'm not kidding!) on the tip of the finger. Also, they use that stuff to suture together wounds now, so if you play til they bleed, hold the cut together and put a shield over it with a drop of glue.
I play enough that I have heavy callouses on all my fingers, even the pinky (and a deformed-looking one on the side of my right thumb from fingerpicking; looks like a mutant wart). Once I had to lay off for about three weeks with a wrist injury. I put superglue on the tips of the fingers of my left hand; didn't miss a beat. |
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April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | Dear Rick Endres,Hmm..U and superglue got a thing goin`..U bin sniffin`again ?,, :eek: kidding aside,was n`t that denatured alcohol that E C was usin`( I`m just a plebeian,please do tolerate my ignorance ) music for all,& all for music free after..no prizes for guessing.. ;) |
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June 2006
Posts: 659
Location: Hiram, Georgia | I love those Black Diamond strings! where can you get em. Not sure what I'd put them on, but I just miss them dang thangs. :p |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Black Diamond strings? From the forgotten basements of two separate closed down mom and pop music stores, I purchased a 50's vintage Black Diamond strings metal display rack and three dozen antique boxes of really old Black Diamond strings. They offered some really oddball specialty strings. I'll post a picture in the gallery later. |
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August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | Originally posted by V-elite:
Dear Rick Endres,Hmm..U and superglue got a thing goin`..U bin sniffin`again ?
"I love the smell of cyanoacrylate adhesives in the morning!"
Actually, V-elite, I believe you're right about Clapton and the denatured alcohol. That will toughen up your fingertips over time, in addition to playing. Somebody else besides Clapton had the "instant callous" idea with the drop of superglue, and my fume-addled brain cells can't recall who it was right now. Maybe it was me.
Believe me, it works. It eventually wears down, but you're protected for a long time.
If you're a fingerpicker, you can repair torn or split nails with superglue as well, and you attach artificial "player's nails" with superglue, too. I oughta write a book: "101 Musical Uses For Superglue."
Ah, man-- Black Diamonds! Do they still make them? What gloriously crappy strings! They're all we used for a long time. |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | Check out the Black Diamond Strings display in the gallery . . . "Other Equipment" album. I still can't figure out how to paste the picture or link directly here. |
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August 2005
Posts: 616
Location: cincinnati, ohio | I don't believe it! Check it out! I thought they were long gone!
http://www.blackdiamondstrings.com/
I wonder if they've progressed beyond "unplayable" to merely "awful?" |
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January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | With the assistance of my crack IT department, here it is:
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November 2005
Posts: 4833
Location: Campbell River, British Columbia | I happen to be in Black Diamond Alberta this weekend. Not a string to be found...nor a music store for that matter.
But I may go to the 4PM jam shortly. Amos Garret lives around here. Ian Tyson too. |
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July 2002
Posts: 1900
| ...I tried some of the 'coated' black diamond strings...they say when the coating where's off it's time to change them... |
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June 2006
Posts: 659
Location: Hiram, Georgia | I like mine smoked and a little extra salt, good and crunchy! MMmmm! |
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March 2004
Posts: 629
Location: Houston, Texas | Slivered and sautee'd on trout with a nice Italian Prosecco. :cool: |
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March 2004
Posts: 629
Location: Houston, Texas | Oh, wait, that's Blue Diamond.....
Nevermind. |
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June 2006
Posts: 659
Location: Hiram, Georgia | I hate it when they get stuck between your teeth! :p |
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Callus Build-Up