Owch! sore finger end!

[Oliver R]

Hi Guys.
I know there have been many Carpal Tunnel, RSI etc etc discussions but this is slightly different.
After playing for a couple of hours perhaps 3 weeks ago I felt as if someone had just jabbed a needle into the tip of the first finger on my fretting hand.
I have experienced this before and put it down to hitting a nerve or somesutch but normaly it will go away in a couple of days or less.
Following this occasion its been like this for the past 3 weeks now and it's really starting to bug me. Really sore to touch but funnily enough ok once I actually start to play.

Has anyone else experienced this and if so please supply me with an instant cure. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[F5GRun]

Well...If your just starting out playing it could be the formation of a callus. My finger tips used to hurt like the dickens when I first started, especially becasue I was thrown into 3 hour long band practices when I was still "wet behind the ears". If this is the case your skin on your finger tips will get thicker and harder, which is a good thing for playing. When my band was playing lots of gigs my callus on my 1st finger got so thick I could put a cigarette out on it. If this is not callus formation it could be a nerve problem. The only instant cure I could think of would be whiskey. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Oliver R]

Thats by far the best and most instant cure of all!! internally applied of course.
I have been playing for years and my fingertips are fairly rock hard. I think 'nerve' to be honest. Its whenever I move onto guitar for a period that it happens usually, never on the mando or bouzouki.

[GTison]

tendonitis.

[MikeEdgerton]

Every now and then I experience this. I get the pain in my pinky. Mine doesn't seem to have a time that it happens, such as when I start playing or after I've been playing for a while. I have calluses on my calluses by the way. I generally notice mine most when I go from playing mandolin to playing guitar. I've never been able to get a handle on it and as it only happens now and again I haven't been crazy about finding out what it is. When it does happen the pain is just as you described it.

[Oliver R]

Yes Mike,
Its quite weird and uncalled for to be honest!
Bizzare inexplicable pain is never good.

[BlueMountain]

I've had this happen. I think it's some nerve endings. Stop playing for a couple days. Then resume playing, but stop as soon as it starts hurting. Gradually you'll develop your callous and you'll play longer without the hurt. You can also rock your fingers back so you play on the pads of your fingers, rather than the tip. It's not the best way to play, but it's a change that lets you keep on playing. And work on developing a very light touch. Lots of players press a lot harder on the strings than they need to, especially if they are picking hard. Sometimes you can play much longer if you simply play lightly and quietly.

[Oliver R]

Thank you,
Sound advice I would say.
I think the point about pressure on the strings is absolutely right.I noticed it after playing a guitar I had just 'got working'(but not really set up properly).
The action was a bit high hence extra pressure needed.
Nice guitar though-1956 Levin parlour guitar someone kindly gave me.

[allenhopkins]

Bizzare inexplicable pain is never good.
Words to live by! Think I'll get them embroidered on a pillow...

I've had something similar in my left index finger, once in a blue moon. Can happen on any instrument, in my experience. I think that at some point I just catch a nerve ending (probably the same one each time) the wrong way, and get a sharp twinge. Forty years of fretting have left my left hand fingers pretty hard, but I think that if I catch it just right (or just wrong), I can still get pain such as I used to get when I was just starting out -- and even more acute.