I just bought a guitar, and I want to build calluses on my fingers. After a week and a half, I’ve got nothing. Any suggestions?
are you using nylon strings? If so, switch to metal–they sound much better anyway.
And try using a narrow-gauge string, they cut like piano wire. Callouses in no time!
The guitar-playing boyfriend recommends the following:
He also suggested a couple of sketchier methods involving drying out the fingers with isopropyl alcohol or alum powder in water, but said that these methods are better.
I agree with Z that you need steel strings, but are you playing acoustic? Classical acoustic? Electric?
If an acoustic steel string guitar is what you are playing, the best way to get callouses is by playing. Normally. Don’t do anything different.
Have you played guitar before? If not, this will be really depressing because you won’t be able to play as much as you want because of the pain.
Eventually, though, they’ll build up. It can take two weeks to a month. And then they have to maintained–again, through playing.
Cheaper guitars are harder to fret, and cause more finger pain. But, I always recommend a cheaper guitar for a beginner because they force you build hand strength, and they force you to play even more correctly to get it to sound right.
Wait 'til you start barre chords…
If you are playing a classical guitar w/ nylon strings,** DO NOT put steel strings on it**. Classical guitars are not designed for the tension of steel strings, and you will structurally harm your instrument.
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To the OP: if you play as much as I did when I got my first mandolin, they will hurt for a while but build fast (it was several weeks for me, but mandolin strings are absolutely wicked.) Being patient is part of being a musician, though… physical adaptation will come if you work at it.
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And since brian_ax tells of us his recommendation for beginners, I’ll just cordially disagree with him (no offence, b_a). I feel a beginner should get the best instrument possible for two reasons: to prevent frustration from trying to play a poor one, and to recoup the investment if he/she decides it’s not for him/her.
I am using both steel strings and a cheap guitar. I went cheap because, well, I’m in college. I know I want to play though, so recouping the investment isn’t a concern. I bought an electric, an Epiphone Special SG. It’s a Les Paul knockoff, I wanted to avoid the ubiqitous Stratocaster. A friend is going to start teaching me basic chords and how to read music, since I think tabulature sucks.
Thanks for the advice everyone!
Great! good luck, don’t get discouraged, and practice, practice, practice!
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And since brian_ax tells of us his recommendation for beginners, I’ll just cordially disagree with him (no offence, b_a). I feel a beginner should get the best instrument possible for two reasons: to prevent frustration from trying to play a poor one, and to recoup the investment if he/she decides it’s not for him/her.
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Yeah, I totally agree so I’ll ammend what I said.
There are some REALLY bad guitars out there. If you drop a couple hundred on a bad guitar, you will not get anything out of it if you try to sell it. My first guitar was a Simon and Patrick. I still have it. It’s a good guitar…better than average. But it only cost $450.
Actually, before I bought that I borrowed two guitars from two friends and played for three months—I really wanted to make sure I was going to stick with it before laying out a lot of money.
My next guitar (acoustic, anyway) was a Martin D-18. I’m really glad I learned on the Simon and Patrick (which I still use–I’m a teacher and I keep that one at school for playing/singing with the kids) because I did have to develop good skills to get it to sound good. When I bought my Martin, I sounded better just because the guitar was that much better (it wasn’t just the quality of the sound coming out, although that was most of it; the Martin is just plain easier to play).
And I’ll add my $.02 worth on products designed to build callouses: That’s like learning to drive by playing video games.
You learn guitar (all aspects, callouses included) by playing guitar. Besides learning notes and chords, there’s muscle strength, muscle memory, and learning how to “hear.”
Now, at the risk of jijacking the thread, I’d like to hear how people practice. That’s worth more than how to build callouses.
lol, you’re not going to get anything after a week and a half except sore fingers.
What I’d recommend is:
If your fingertips aren’t tingling after practice, rub them over the strings until they are. Rub the whole of your fingertip- this’ll stop you from getting only certain areas callused.
Finally, slide up down the guitar’s neck until all your fingers are tingling/ feel burnt. This’ll build up your barre-ing calluses.
Oh, and don’t bite your calluses. One, it destroys your hard work, and two, the sensitive skin underneath will not take well to being treated like its toughened cousin…