My fingers hurt!

Now I know you're all thinking that this is just a case of beginner tenderness and toughing it out ... but I'm not so sure.

I've been playing for nearly 3 months and practice an hour a day, sometimes more. I have pads on my fingers that have built up as they are supposed to do. However, over the last week my third finger has become ultra sensitive ... it feels as though a pin is being stabbed into it when I play. I didn't practice yesterday. I'm wondering if there is something else up - like a damaged nerve or something?

I'm playing a 6 string steel acoustic...

Anyone else suffer anything like this?

Sadie

Yep, I've had that happen.. take some time off... it will probably just clear up on its own. Sometimes you need to give your fingers a break and give your pads time to thicken up. Also, if you're not doing so already, try to space out your practice time a bit more... four times @15min should work well. Third finger is often a common culprit as it just seems to do more work than the others. Just give it a break and you'll likely be fine.

Yup, just take a few days off. I recommend that occasionally even if you're not in pain. A few days without playing seems to help a lot, and somehow it feels like you play better when you come back to it - dunno why that is.

Haha your fingers will hurt more when you play acoustic guitar, rather than electric. In any case, it's natural for fingers to hurt after 3 months! Your fingers will still hurt even after a year of playing :)

The trick is to not press down very hard on the strings - just BARELY enough for them to sound. Pressing harder won't change the volume, unless you are trying to perform some kind of technique, like a bend or slide or whatever

Here's how you test to make sure this happens correctly:

1. Rest your finger on the string, without pressing down.
2. Start picking that string with consistent 8th notes, with your pick.
3. SLOWLY press down on the string, until you can hear it.
4. Let go very slightly until you can't hear it. Press down a TINY bit more until you can.

that's the perfect spot to press down! Any harder will only be spent energy that will make it harder to relax after playing the note.

Let me remind you that it's only useful if you're playing chords, or a single note, or a string of notes. If you're using a technique, you should use as much power as you need to execute the technique.

Remember also to completely relax your finger after playing each and every note. Play-relax-play-relax-play-relax. You will have to play very, very slowly to do this in the beginning, but this is how virtuoso players develop their insane speed of 1000 notes per minute eventually. They are totally relaxed when they play :)

Hope this helps!

Thanks guys ... a couple of days rest it is then, and then back to playing with more breaks. I can't afford to rest too long - lol.

I have to say when I see people play it all looks so effortless. They hardly seem to be touching the strings at all. It makes it all seem so easy!

Sadie

Yep, that's because they are only using JUST BARELY enough to execute the techniques they want to use. Please understand that this is a BIG difference between using the least amount of tension possible... There's a big misconception here that a lot of guitar players have, and that is to use the least amount of tension ALWAYS.

That is only true when it's necessary (such as playing really fast licks, or string skipping with short runs on each string)

But for techniques like vibrato and mad bends, you will need to use a LOT of tension, just relax right after you play the note....

I guess I'm repeating myself, but I think it's worth it, since it's such a huge part of guitar playing in general, and it's how i managed to reach 600 npm (woot!) in like a year of starting left handed :P

i'm just saying that to give you some encouragement that it's THAT easy, if you practice the way I explained above! :)

[QUOTE=Matteo Miller]...and it's how i managed to reach 600 npm (woot!) in like a year of starting left handed :P QUOTE]

Who did the counting...and how? :)

Well, last year in August I messed up the ring and pinkie fingers of my left hand. Doctors told me it was Focal Dystonia (some sort of nerve disorder). So I had to stop playing guitar...

But I didn't want to! So this year, January 1st, I switched hands. Sure I sucked for a long time, but I was also taking lessons with a really good teacher (Tom Hess). A few months ago, probably in September or October, I can't remember which, I hit 600 notes per minute with directional picking. That means playing quadruplets at 150 bpm (with a metronome).

Now I can still play that fast, just a bit sloppy, because I haven't practiced much these past few months. I've been focusing too much on my teaching business.. :D

My usual clean speed is 400 nps if I want to rip speed. In order to measure this speed, I need to put a metronome to 150 and play triplets.

Does that answer your question?

Yup.

I found this, http://www.kramerforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49908 , which has a some videos of guitarists doing "Flight of the Bumble Bee" at 320bpm...one setting a Guinness record. Interesting. I don't know what the playing equates to in npm.

Got any suggestions for a freebie, online metronome that does 600bpm?

Haha Yep, 320bpm at quadruplets = 1280 npm

You can get to 600 npm by playing triplets at 200 bpm... For an example, just drum your fingers on a table... lol :)