Finger maintenance

[Keven]

Okay, so i figure some people know a few tricks here.

 i teach guitar from 17 to 24 hours a week. 4-5 hours per night and a saturday 7 hour marathon (saturday's always full...) and as you know, teaching bends to some kids can make you repeat and repeat the same bend forever and shoot your callouses to heck. and since i favor 11's, it's always a pain at the end of the day/night and causing me mild problems in my own personal practice. i like my 11's tuned to flat, but i teach at 440 pitch. you can picture the whole step bend on the 4th fret of the G string... yeah. damned crazy train.

so, whenever i get a layer torn off or near tearing off, i use a finger file to even it out and some superglue to hold the skin close to itself so it forms anew. sanding works wonders.  i also heard surgical spirit can help them toughen up/dry up after a shower/out in the rain, i'm curious about that.

anyone share my pain? I teach for a living but i also play for fun and sometimes my saturday band practice isn't so fun because of finger problems.

also, share your woes, nobody but guitar players want to hear us whine about this. and we're all guitar players right? :D

[Adam.M]

and we're all guitar players right? :D

Nah, I just like the pretty pictures.

But really, I don't find myself ever getting problems with my fingers any more... don't play as much as you do, though some days I do, but mostly not.

That 440 thing bugs me... people keep referencing to that as being E standard but isn't A 440 the reference note which you tune to, and all other instruments in the band/orchestra? Mostly used in Orchestras to tune to a certain wind instrument (i think Oboe?) because they can vary in pitch naturally which can't be changed but the stringed instruments can, or something.

So, even someone in Drop B is still in 440

At least, that's how I understand it...

[hamfist]

That 440 thing bugs me... people keep referencing to that as being E standard but isn't A 440 the reference note which you tune to, and all other instruments in the band/orchestra? Mostly used in Orchestras to tune to a certain wind instrument (i think Oboe?) because they can vary in pitch naturally which can't be changed but the stringed instruments can, or something.

So, even someone in Drop B is still in 440

At least, that's how I understand it...

You're right, of course.

But, I'm sure Keven is just referring to E standard tuning.

Keven - simple answer mate ..... when you play for pleasure, use 11's, but teach with 10's or even 9's.  Do your students appreciate the tiny modicum of different tone you get with 11's ? I suspect not.

For years, I played only 9's, as I really struggled with heavier strings.  Then, after continually reading that I was a wimp and all great players used 10's as a minimum, and that heavier strings gave miles "better" tone, I succumbed and started using 10's all the time.
  I got used to them, but recently I  have gone back to using sets of strings that are heavier on the bass strings side (ie, equivalent to a set of 10's) and lighter on the high strings (equivalent to a set of 9's). For me, it's a breath of fresh air, as I am actually enjoying soloing again, rathr than battling the strings constantly.
 Everyone around here knows I have cloth ears, but the tonal difference I hear is absolutely minimal compared to a full set of 10's.
 The ends of my fingers are also a LOT happier. The problems for me were playing at gigs when my hands would be sweaty when I played, thus making the ends of my fingers much softer. The 10's were ripping my fingers if I played too much. With 9's I can play (literally) as much as I want with no problems.

[AndyR]

I hear your pain... :)

Funnily enough, I'm round the other way - when I used to play as much as you do, no problems on the left hand.

If I play slightly less than I do now, a decent weekend session absolutely stuffs my fingers and I have all the issues you're talking about. I must admit I don't do much about it on the left hand - just accept it and play through it... doesn't stop it being annoying, though (and sometimes painful!).

Adam, yeah, it's the Oboe - although if there's a piano involved I'm not sure what happens, retune the 88 keys on the Bechstein/wotever... or ask the Oboe player to get a decent Oboe you can tune properly?! :lol:
Years ago, we used to have a sax player who regularly turned up to our gigs and expected to jam (encouraged by the swines on drums and keys). I had three problems with this (as did the bass-player) - first of all he seemed to regard himself as part of the band... then he wanted to play experimental blues/jazz solos on entirely inappropriate numbers (I once kicked his mic stand off the stage when he started playing :lol:), but mainly, his sax was not capable of reaching concert pitch!!! (he was around A=430). Drummer no problem, keyboard player with his little knob, no problem - but me and the bass, already an hour or two into some supreme rock and roll, adrenalin pumping, the crowd ready for the next number, and up looms our friend un-announced... everything stops while we readjust (and he's already spent 3 or 4 numbers, elsewhere in the venue, jamming along, blowing his horn as hard as he can against a wall, to warm it up and therefore raise the pitch a bit - much to the distress of that section of the audience!!)

Slight hijack there for ancient reminiscences... but, although I agree with Adam, we all seem to use "440" as shorthand for Concert Pitch - it might be not exactly right, but it's less characters to type! :lol:


Back on topic - while I was typing, I realised my approach to my left hand fingers is not to let them dry out. I have de-sensitised "hardened" finger pads. But I wouldn't regard them as callouses. If they dry out, they split, crack, etc...

This might sound weird - what about, er, hand cream to soften up the hardened stuff so it's more pliable/durable?

[Adam.M]

That 440 thing bugs me... people keep referencing to that as being E standard but isn't A 440 the reference note which you tune to, and all other instruments in the band/orchestra? Mostly used in Orchestras to tune to a certain wind instrument (i think Oboe?) because they can vary in pitch naturally which can't be changed but the stringed instruments can, or something.

So, even someone in Drop B is still in 440

At least, that's how I understand it...

You're right, of course.

But, I'm sure Keven is just referring to E standard tuning.

Keven - simple answer mate ..... when you play for pleasure, use 11's, but teach with 10's or even 9's.  Do your students appreciate the tiny modicum of different tone you get with 11's ? I suspect not.

For years, I played only 9's, as I really struggled with heavier strings.  Then, after continually reading that I was a wimp and all great players used 10's as a minimum, and that heavier strings gave miles "better" tone, I succumbed and started using 10's all the time.
  I got used to them, but recently I  have gone back to using sets of strings that are heavier on the bass strings side (ie, equivalent to a set of 10's) and lighter on the high strings (equivalent to a set of 9's). For me, it's a breath of fresh air, as I am actually enjoying soloing again, rathr than battling the strings constantly.
 Everyone around here knows I have cloth ears, but the tonal difference I hear is absolutely minimal compared to a full set of 10's.
 The ends of my fingers are also a LOT happier. The problems for me were playing at gigs when my hands would be sweaty when I played, thus making the ends of my fingers much softer. The 10's were ripping my fingers if I played too much. With 9's I can play (literally) as much as I want with no problems.

Aye, thought so, just wanted to clear that up in my head.

I'm with you on the strings, too, I'm using a 10 set on my PRS and I love the EAD strings, but the GBE are too tense, it actually feels uneven! so I'm going to get one of those funky hybrid sets sometime soon and sort it out.

This reminds me that I need to either get in a band as a guitarist or get a teacher, I need to challenge myself! This drum machine thing is boring and doesn't think all on its own...

[hamfist]

hybrid sets

Yup, those were the words I was trying (and failing) to find !!

[Will]

When you have a bath or a shower don't get the fingertips wet, just clean them with a flannel or something. As long as they don't soak too much.
I think I tried that for a while, probably 2 years actually. I thought it helps quite a bit to be honest.

[Keven]

you do have a point about the guage change for lessons. I pretty much use one guitar exclusively for teaching so i should probably restring that accordingly. i've just been one to buy a box of 12 packs and restring all my guitars this way, but i guess i should look at a different approach.

the hardest part is which guitar to sacrifice :(

[Twinfan]

Buy a cheapie used Squier Strat for teaching and bung 9s on it.

[MDV]

Buy a cheapie used Squier Strat for teaching and bung 9s on it.

Yup, thats more or less what I've done. I tune to drop A# at the moment for my own stuff, and I teach and get roped into playing guitar for various people, reasons and projects that need me to be in E, so I use either 'The Gimp' - my first guitar that I've modded to all hell and back, 25.5 strung with 10s for teaching (reason being I dont want puplis to think that the guitar is important for skill, so I play my worst guitar, which is usually worse than theirs, circumventing any "I think I need a ______ to get that right" cr@p) and for general purpose crawlers (for versatility) in the nicest sounding, playing and built Epi LP I've encountered to date, which I was lucky enough to get for a bit over £100 (edit - then sell then part ex back for a more realistic price :().

[Wiesner]

you do have a point about the guage change for lessons. I pretty much use one guitar exclusively for teaching so i should probably restring that accordingly. i've just been one to buy a box of 12 packs and restring all my guitars this way, but i guess i should look at a different approach.

the hardest part is which guitar to sacrifice :(

I'm sorry, but as I'm new to the forum, I don't really know what you play. And I don't think I really need to know.
I'd personally say use your less used guitar for teaching, or your cheapest one or something. I wouldn't go off buying a new cheap one or anything. Just do what you feel's right!

James.

[Bradock PI]

Surgical spirit in combination with witch hazel should work to harden your skin. Surgical spirit is used on its own as a foot rub but fingers are generally more sensitive and a combination will probably work best either surgical spirit and then witch hazel or if that proves too much then witch hazel on its own. Both are cheap and available at pharmacists.

Talk to the pharmicist before you use them and check that you don't have any reactions before you use them extensively ( I think reactions are very rare but better be safe than sorry).

They are both astringents and will be  painful if you get them in your eye or other sensitive areas.

[donovan.x]

I teach simaler amounts and whilst I dont share your discomfort have you thought about a set of Skinny tops heavy bottoms, I find they are very cool for digging into and I like to play some really heavy stuff and solos full of bends.