Sore Figertips-Need Advice

I just started playing my A50 after 10 years. My fingertips are painful to the touch, even when typing, In your opinion is it better to rest them a few days or to keep on trucking. I just had the frets, intonation and action done and was told everything is proper. I'm using Martin 80/20 bromze strings. I feel completely ignorant and hope I can get some advice. Thanks.

[Chris Baird]

If your action is as low as it will go then all you can do is just play as much as you can, comfortably. It will only take a few weeks before this problem is gone.

[Bruce Evans]

I think the mandolin requires more callouses than guitar, banjo, uke or any other instrument that I play. Hang in there.

[evanreilly]

The mandolin has courses of double strings and a short scale. That means high tension; that means it is 'harder' on the fingertips and until you have developed sufficient callous, they will be tender. you can dunk them in alcohol and that will numb them some; dependiong on the dunk solution, drink it afterwards..<G>

[Coy Wylie]

Total agreement with all the above statements. I played guitar for 30 years before picking up the mando. I have much more serious callouses now than in all those years of guitar picking. Just play as much as you can. Before long it will no longer be a problem.

[peterbc]

When I first started mando (with no prior guitar experience) I could play about 15 minutes before my fingertips were too sore to play anymore, but now that I have some calluses built up I don't have that problem anymore. I think (might be wrong) that guitar calluses build up in different spots than mandolin, because my fingers do sometimes get sore from playing guitar (which I don't do very often).

[flashgarden]

I appreciate all the helpful advice. I played the classics before putting th mando aside 10 years ago. Now I am practising Bluegrass. I think, that with the exception of a couple of classics, Bluegrass is mre difficut than classical. N\Maybe that's why my fingertips protest so much. Thanks again, all.

[John Flynn]

Here are a few suggestions:
1) Work on lessening your hand tension. It is a common tendency to use more tension that you need, which also slows your playing down.
2) Try lighter strings. The T-I strings are expensive and I have some issues with them for performance, but for playing solo they have a nice warm tone and they are really easy on the fingertips.
3) Get a professional set up on your mando to get a lower buzz-free action.
4) I have not tried this last suggestion, but I have thought about it. There are products out like Band Aid Liquid Bandage that essentially create an artificial skin surface. It might be worth a try until your callouses get built up.

[Patrick Gunning]

This post brings me back to the first mando I ever played, a $50 pawn shop plywood thing my dad brought back from portland a year and some ago. I think the action at the 12th fret was a quarter inch. God that burned to play, but I still have the original calluses from playing that godawful thing. Just keep on going. The biggest judge of how much you are enjoying playing is how long you can make your brain ignore the blinding pain in your fingers.

...Rambling down the late-night sky on the back of a Collings D1-A...

[ira]

elixirs- minimize the need for or development of callouses significantly.

[mandodude]

There are products out like Band Aid Liquid Bandage that essentially create an artificial skin surface. It might be worth a try until your callouses get built up...
WHOA! I'd be reeeeeal careful of this one! A couple of weeks back I was "introduced" to this stuff. My son was using it to close a wound on his hand. Seeing the stuff and being the inquisitive dope that I have a tendency to be, I thought I'd dollop a drop or two on my finger, "just to see" what it does. Well, lemmee tell ya... this stuff's just about the nastiest, weirdest-feeling stuff my finger has ever encountered (...just about...)! It sets up immediately and once it's on ya, there ain't nuthin' in the household that'll cut through it to get it off! Believe me - it ain't like Elmer's Glue that you can just peel off! It's even worse than those accidental drops of Super-Glue we've all had happen to us! It took a good three days or so for it to wear away on its own - three days of pure agony!

...O.K... maybe I'm bein' a little melodramatic here... maybe it wasn't exactly "agony," but it sure was dang uncomfortable!

Maybe it's just me... maybe I'm over-sensitive to weird-feeling-junk-that-don't-belong-on-my-fingers, but this experience has caused me to swear off this stuff, even for its intended use! Too "unnatural" for this ol' 'Dude!

[bratsche]

Take a chill pill, mandodude! Acetone will remove that stuff - plus super-glue, epoxy, etc. Very simple!

Now, about those fingertips... so you want natural? Perhaps the Moises Alou, ahem, solution might be of some help. ;-)

bratsche

[Flowerpot]

OK, so natural is best, but I've gotten a lot of mileage with good old superglue on the fingertips while the callouses were forming. Two thin coats on the fingertips works wonders for when I've got hours of picking to do and haven't had time to build up natural callouses. If you don't like it, like bratsche says, take some acetone to it and it's gone. I just let it wear off, and a few days later when the stuff has flaked all the way off, there's good callouses underneath. I like superglue better than the liquid bandage, which is too flexible for the right feel.

Just don't start playing BEFORE the superglue sets up...

[mandoJeremy]

Hey mandodude, I would assume that the bandaid stuff probably is superglue because superglue was invented for use in the surgery room. I have used it on many occasions and it does alleviate the problem of having to have stitches! Doesn't burn or anything else so any of you guys that ever get a cut, get the superglue gel, have someone hold it together, and just glue away. I promise it works! No mando content but helpful in my opinion.

[mandodude]

Take a chill pill, mandodude! Acetone will remove that stuff - plus super-glue, epoxy, etc. Very simple!

Now, about those fingertips... so you want natural? Perhaps the Moises Alou, ahem, solution might be of some help. ;-)
Hey, Bratsche,

Where you been?? #I haven't seen your name attached to a post here for months! #Then, all of a sudden, when the opportunity to talk about pro ballplayers and their *ahem* plumbing arises, there you are! #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Hmmmm... acetone, huh? #Y'know, I used to play in a band called "Acetone"... uhhh... wait a minute... no... that was the "Ace-Tones"... well, I was close! (it's hell gettin' old, y'know? #Three things happen to you... first, the memory starts to go, then... ummmmm... ahhhh... I can't remember the other two things...).

Anyway, back to Mr. Alou and his "folk remedy"... been doin' it myself for years now! #In fact, I'm the one who taught it to Moises! #You remember the infamous "Bartman" photo from last season, right? #Well, what you didn't see, just outside of the frame of that photo, was me, in the stands, demonstrating my "technique" and yellin', "Hey Moises! #If you had toughened your hands up like this, you would have had that ball!" #He's been usin' my technique ever since and, frankly, ...*sniff*... I couldn't be prouder!

I'll tell ya, the benefits are limitless! #For example, did'ja notice how my picks on the "M C Pick Tour" tended to stick real good to your fingers? #Well, there ya go... nuff said!

Hey, if you get up Chi-Town way, you gotta "whizz" by! #Lunch is on me! #I'll make finger sandwiches! #Mmmmm... TASTY!

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

M'dude

[psann]

A chemical engineer told me that the liquid bandaid is the same thing as clear nail polish.



Pat

[bratsche]

M'Dude -

I've been around, but mostly lurking, as I occupy my time pursuing a couple non-music (or baseball) related interests. Gotta look out for No. 1, ya know? ;)

Anyway, it's good to see ur in top form, as usual! Except for the memory part... a pity, that. I could've sworn that ex-band you were thinkin' of had to be the "Smelly Charangos". (If ever there was a thread I expected to see "mandodude" written all over, that was it! Oh well...)

And I'm.. uh, sorta glad now that I didn't sign up for the Pick Tour. Regarding the lunch invite, thanks, but... it all Depends. What kind of finger sandwiches? Leek? Kidney? Enquiring minds, and all that!

bratsche http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[violmando]

I have a similar problem---I have built up to playing about 2-3 hours a day before my fingers get almost unbearable. I switched from roundwound to TI (I play mandocello) but I'm worried about going to the AMGuSS "camp" this summer because I'll be playing lots more than that! BTW, I am a string bass player and have NEVER had this sore of fingers before, so I think mando must take the TOUGHEST fingertips!

[kvk]

I think that the liquid band-aid stuff is nothing more than cyano-acrylate glue, i.e., superglue.

Acetone will take it off.

If you use it to harden your finger tips, you may get super stiff little bits of skin that chip off leaving you with even more tender finger tips than before. Happened to me all the time I build balsa-wood model airplanes with the stuff.

I second those that recommended gentler strings, anything flatwound.

[kudzugypsy]

i know back in the days of 3 day festival super picking fests that i use to attend, we would ALL put superglue on our fingertips. you could play the entire weekend pain-free and by the 3rd day it would peel off like a nice scab.

of course, the only way to build up callous' are to stress the soft fingertips....yeah, this hurts.

those thomasik strings or the ghs 'silk & steel' will help if you dont want to go the pain route....and lower the action and deal with a little buzzing.

[grandmainger]

I love it when a guitar player looks at my mando with that air "what's this tiny thing you're playing on".
They then proceed to pick on it for 5 minutes, look at their fingers and give the mando back to me saying "Man these strings are really hard!"

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[Bob DeVellis]

In addition to all the good suggestions above, I'd definitely give yourfingertips some down time. In addition to thte skin getting chewed up, the tissue underneath is likjely to be getting inflamed from the trauma. Let it simmer down rather than "playing through the pain." Don't sotp playing entirely, but play less often and for shorter times for a few days. Give the skin a chance to toughen up and it'll do its work for ya.

[glauber]

Yes, then after that you can start working on the muscle pain. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Deathbound]

I've had the same problems lately, I'll just grin and bare it as long as I can.
The big problem for me is having to cut my nails almost to the quick to keep them off the neck. Looks like I'll have to work the quick back some, this may be a painful process.

Jay

[jimbob]

don't stop....keep pickin'...apply small doses of cheap whiskey for pain...PRN.... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mandosmiley.gif

[johnwalser]

I tend to play two or more hours a day, but still seem to have cracking of the skin on my fingers from time to time. I use liquid bandage and then cover the finger tips with thin strips of moleskin (cushioned adhesive backed material used for foot corns and such) and tie it down with a strip of tape around the finger just before the first knuckle. I have never been a fan of "working through the pain" for fear of long time overuse and the possibility of permanent nerve damage. I am sixty now and want to be playing on my mandolin when I meet Jesus.
John

[TommyK]

There are products out like Band Aid Liquid Bandage that essentially create an artificial skin surface. It might be worth a try until your callouses get built up...
WHOA! #I'd be reeeeeal careful of this one! #A ... It sets up immediately and once it's on ya, there ain't nuthin' in the household that'll cut through it to get it off!...you can('t) just peel off! #... #It took a good three days or so for it to wear away on its own - ...
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif
Sounds to me it's just what the Mando Dr. ordered. If'n your 'wierd detector' isn't set to sensitive.
.
I think the real warning should be to make sure the stuff sets up before touchin' the fret board or y'all might be playin' a permanent A chord!

[otterly2k]

Yep, unfortunately, I think that callous development falls in the no-pain, no-gain arena. For me, it has worked to play a little bit every day, and then once in a while do a long session (with others) where you're having so much fun you don't really notice your fingertip pain...

I've never tried the superglue method (and I think I'd have problems with the feel of it), but it seems to me that would probably postpone the inevitable...

[twaaang]

Every time I check into this thread I hear a sadistic voice from an old Rocky-and-Bulwinkle "Fractured Fairy Tale" about a struggling artist-type, the voice of some minor character in the background proclaiming the unsolicited opinion "Ya gotta SUFFER!!!"

No point, no moral, but I do feel better now! -- Paul

Im gonna agree with most of these people. Hang in there in a month at the most your fingers should be used to it. My fingertips on my left hand are now like hard as a rock.

[dunbarhamlin]

I tend to play two or more hours a day, but still seem to have cracking of the skin on my fingers from time to time.

Hey John, I've been playing three hours plus a day for the past six months following a 15 year break, so I had 'newbie fingers' too. My finger tips are now toughened but supple.

If your finger tips are hardening to the point of cracking, I'd say your at the point where you need to thin (emery board is good) or at least moisturise those callouses. This level of build up sounds like you really need to look at the mandolin setup (overly high action or low frets) and/or left hand technique.

A great tip I've seen here before is, as an exercise, fret a note normally, and then gradually ease off the pressure to see just how lightly you can press and still produce a clean note. A lighter touch will help with speed and intonation as well as callous, joint and tendonitis dangers.

Keep on picking
Steve

[johnwalser]

Steve,
Great suggestions and I do play TI flatwounds slung lower than a jackrabbit going across the Mohave desert. I feel my problem is primarily environment living 7000 ft. up in the High Sierra with extremely dry air. Right now we have several feet of snow on the ground and air moisture outside is quite good, but inside with heat it stays dry. I have even tried humidifiers with very little improvement. Luckily this problem does not plague me all the time since I use lots of hand creams. If I'm playing at the Chapel and the fingers go south, the moleskin makes it a bit more pleasant.
John