Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

D

devilfish

New member
Hi,

I've been playing for around 5 years now...only problem is, whenever my fingers hurt from playing, I PLAY MORE to build up finger strength and calluses, not a problem, I can handle the pain...

But whenever I get a reasonably hard fingertip they seem to 'wear off' in the shower and seem to kinda peel off.

Any tips on how to build them up so they wont just kinda shred off on the strings after washing my hands?

Thanks
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

Do not let your hands get in real hot water.....softens callusses and rips them off. Make sure your hands are completely dry befroe you pick up your guitar. If you have to do dishes, use surgical type gloves.

IIRC, Chet Atkins would avoid water on his hands all together...not feasable in this Ecoli and Salmonella prone day.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

really? i get my hands wet all the time....


but yeah, i agree with bill. he makes sense
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

I love the water. I am always in the pool, and my fingers often prune up, almost every day actually.

I guess it really depends on how your skin reacts to water, and how it forms callusus. I think Bill is right on though when he says to make sure your hand are completely, not only dry, but your skin is restored to it's normal state before playing.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

devilfish said:
Hi,

I've been playing for around 5 years now...only problem is, whenever my fingers hurt from playing, I PLAY MORE to build up finger strength and calluses, not a problem, I can handle the pain...

But whenever I get a reasonably hard fingertip they seem to 'wear off' in the shower and seem to kinda peel off.

Any tips on how to build them up so they wont just kinda shred off on the strings after washing my hands?

Thanks
Click to expand...
It's not mandatory to have calluses.
Play on !
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

Before I read the OP I was gonna say "ermmm...play?" haha but I dunno...at the beginning when I started getting them they'd peel off, but after that they stayed rock solid forever.

BTW, Satch doesn't wash dishes on gig days...wonder what the missus thinks of that haha! (If he is married)
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

I've been playing for around 13 years now, solid, almost every day. I should be better! :)

But my fingertips don't even really look calloused anymore. To look at them, they look just like my right hand - fingerprints and everything. The skin is just tougher now. I went through the whole developing callouses thing years ago and then the appearance of calloused fingers just kind of went away gradually and was replaced with normal looking and feeling (but super-tough - even heat-resistant) skin.

If I play a whole whole bunch over a couple of days, I might get a bit of dead skin on the tips of a finger or two that I could peel off, but 95% of the time I don't have to pay any mind to the condition of my fingertips at all.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

sosomething said:
But my fingertips don't even really look calloused anymore. To look at them, they look just like my right hand - fingerprints and everything. The skin is just tougher now. I went through the whole developing callouses thing years ago and then the appearance of calloused fingers just kind of went away gradually and was replaced with normal looking and feeling (but super-tough - even heat-resistant) skin.
Click to expand...

Same here, there was a stage early on where they'd get all sore and dirty looking but I don't even think about it anymore. Though I do have a compulsive urge to wash my fingers after playing. I don't like that "steely" feeling lingering around on the tips.

Two years ago, when I used to go the gym, I would do a variation of chin-ups and the top of my palms would get all sore and eventually calloused after a few weeks. I haven't been to the gym and done that particular exercise in a long time but they're still calloused.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

sosomething said:
I've been playing for around 13 years now, solid, almost every day. I should be better! :)

But my fingertips don't even really look calloused anymore. To look at them, they look just like my right hand - fingerprints and everything. The skin is just tougher now. I went through the whole developing callouses thing years ago and then the appearance of calloused fingers just kind of went away gradually and was replaced with normal looking and feeling (but super-tough - even heat-resistant) skin.

If I play a whole whole bunch over a couple of days, I might get a bit of dead skin on the tips of a finger or two that I could peel off, but 95% of the time I don't have to pay any mind to the condition of my fingertips at all.
Click to expand...

+1 . . . mine seem to have formed perma-calluses also. I can take a week or two off from playing and they're still there. (As a side note . . . doing Jiu-Jitsu or Judo seems to build up similar calluses on your finger tips from all the gripping of people's gis.)
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

sosomething said:
I've been playing for around 13 years now, solid, almost every day. I should be better! :)

But my fingertips don't even really look calloused anymore. To look at them, they look just like my right hand - fingerprints and everything. The skin is just tougher now. I went through the whole developing callouses thing years ago and then the appearance of calloused fingers just kind of went away gradually and was replaced with normal looking and feeling (but super-tough - even heat-resistant) skin.

If I play a whole whole bunch over a couple of days, I might get a bit of dead skin on the tips of a finger or two that I could peel off, but 95% of the time I don't have to pay any mind to the condition of my fingertips at all.
Click to expand...

Very true, mine look normal, but are resistant, and like yours, to heat also. I guess the only real solution is to play a lot for a long time.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

hahaa okay thanks for the advice, I play LOADS every day...always, I use 10's and I'm not changing string gauge :P

I just wanted to know why, when the skin gets kinda hard and 'resistant' that they seem to peel off making it softer and basically back where I started.

Obviously I'll just keep playing and see what happens, hopefully they'll harden up permanently and stop becoming sore every time the skin peels.

Thanks
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

It takes time, literally years for callouses to get deep enough where they dont do that anymore. Back in my 20s my fingertips would peel and the edges would actually get hung up on the strings. It was a huge PITA.

Now that I an a little older and have been playing for a couple of decades I can't remember the last time that it happened. My callouses are now softer on top but deeper so they no longer do that. I rehearsed 3.5 hours straight with a band the other day and I am a bit out of shape. My arms and hands felt like they might fall off, my fingertips stayed intact.

Playing by yourself for an hour a day isn't the same as rehearsing with a band. I have been doing demo on a large plaster house the last 2 weeks and I am in great shape physically but rehearsing uses a different muscle set and I was actually stiff and sore from playing guitar!

It was a good sore!
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

You don't have to have callusus. I had them when I first started playing, but now my skin is only slightly tougher on my left hand than on my right, nothing that can be peeled off. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

mrturtle_91 said:
You don't have to have callusus. I had them when I first started playing, but now my skin is only slightly tougher on my left hand than on my right, nothing that can be peeled off. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Click to expand...

I hope to avenge your kitty!

In my experience the better I get the lighter my touch and the less my fingers have or need callusus.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

I've heard some people recommend dabbing rubbing alcohol on your finger tips. Supposedly it dries the skin and makes it a little tougher when you're going through a sensitive stage.
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

Go to a Kung Fu store and buy a makiwara. Fasten it to a pole in your back yard and strike it repeatedly with finger jabs! :lmao:
 
Re: Howto build up callusus on fingertips?

My fingers are smooth and don't appear callused at first glance, but when I was working on my ROV project this last week I grabbed a razor blade by accident and cut myself pretty deep, I wasn't even bleeding. I have also burned my fingers in the past and had blisters form UNDER my fingertip... Its like I have invisible calluses.
 
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