Originally Posted by: jefflonowski81I can 't even make it through the spider warm-up without quitting because of terrible pain. I haven't touched the guitar since June (and I started in May) because of the pain. Not sure if I'll play again.
That's unfortunate. Fingertip pain is a common issue with all beginners. There is a lot of conversation on this forum about it with some useful tips on how to minimise it. You need to start off slow with your practice times, but be consistent until you develop callouses on the fingertips. One thing you don't want to do is go a long period of not playing cause whatever you started to gain will be lost and you'll be just starting over again. I would suggest just try going 10-15 mimutes of spider warm-up exercises, but try to do it daily until you start to get those callouses. Another thing that will help is check your equipment. Electric is a little easier on fingers than acoustic, but that can be fixed by putting lighter gauge strings on. Get 9's if you can find them, but no more than 10's. Your local guitar store can help you with that and while there ask them about performing a "setup" on the guitar. This will involve lowering the string height or "action" as it's called so your not pressing down so far.
It's all part of the process, but if the pain is that unbearable then maybe see a doctor to make sure you didn't do any permanent damage.
Moe
