I recently got a guitar and whenever i play my finger tips hurt real bad?

Question

well when i play my guitar my fingers tips hurt real bad am a begginer so i don't know much about this but i want to get past this so i can continue learning how to play , so please need some help and if theres any kind of like finger tip guards or some thing like that

Answer 1

Wrap your fingers in duct tape.

Answer 2

Very typical in beginners. What your skin is doing, is toughening up, giving you a hard surface over your finger tips making it easier for you to play the guitar. You just have to play through the pain. There is nothing you can do to stop this, other than just quitting the guitar entirely. This doesn't happen to just playing the guitar, any stringed instrument such as the Violin, or the cello, will still give you calluses. However, the size of the callus varies depending on how thick the strings are on the instrument. The bigger the string, the harder the callus, and vice versa. There is no guards of somewhat that you can put over your fingers, except for taking pieces of plastic over your fingers, but you won't get the same tone from the guitar, you just have to bare with it.

My finger tips are as hard as a rock, mainly from playing various stringed instruments such as the String bass (any type of bass in general), Guitar, Baritone Guitar, Sitar, etc. It's all a response from your body to your finger tips to harden up so it will make it easier to play guitar. It's a good thing your fingers are hurting, don't worry. However, since you are building up your calluses, try to stay away from excess water, as they can soften up your finger tips making the process longer than it really should be. The pain should go away in less than a month.

Calluses shouldn't take that long to build up so, if the pain does not succeed in a few weeks, than immediately see your doctor. It could be another health issue that you might have if the pain still does not go away. Although there is a small chance of that happening.

Other than that, I know it hurts, but you just got to bare the pain. Remember, no pain, no gain.

Hope this Helped!

-Nakayama Akira

Answer 3

Well, this is completely normal, in most stringed instruments,( I play the violin) your fingers get very hard and rough and they snag on everything. If you stop playing for a while, the next time you play your finger-tips will bleed. And for me, they bleed a lot. I'm sure someone has invented finger guards, but they would just look silly and would probably not work anyways. You can try putting some band-aids on as if you had a paper cut on the tip of your finger though. I hope I helped!

Answer 4

That is normal, especially for bass players(like myself)

your fingers will hurt afterwords the first few times but as you progress your fingertips will start to get a little bit harder and the pain will be less and less untill you feel no pain at all

but if you take a lengthy break from guitar your fingers will begin to soften up again.

the hardening of the tips of your fingers is called callus and makes them tougher, harder, and somehow smoother

Answer 5

Welcome to the the world of guitar playing. It just hurts at first. You will develop callouses on your finger tips. Don't let it discourage you. It will go away in no time.

    Keep on playing. The guitar can be the best friend you can ever have.

Answer 6

To summarize the answers above - you are developing calluses on your fingers, which is natural and happens to all guitar players.

Here are a couple of things you can do to make it better:

1.  If your guitar has high action (the space between the strings and the fingerboard), this will make your fingers hurt more.  You can ask your teacher or take your guitar to a guitar shop and ask them if they think the action on your guitar needs to be lowered

2.  The gauge of your strings matter - the heavier the gauge, the more your fingers will hurt.  When you take your guitar into the shop to ask about getting the action lowered, ask them to put on "extra light" gauge strings.  

Good luck!

Answer 7

Hi,

I'm sure you've got an answer by now but in case you haven't, what you are experiencing is good. It means you are practicing.    In about 1 or 2 weeks you fingers will develop tough skin similar the inside of your hands and playing the guitar will no longer hurt.  Keep playin!

Answer 8

This pain is a normal part of learning to play the guitar. Your skin is building hard callouses to help protect it so it will get easier to play. After a while, you shouldn't feel a thing, and for now, you just need to play through the pain.