Calluses

[Xierion]

I am completely self taught from tabulature (working on sheet music), no formal training, and have been playing for a couple of years now, and have never thought anything of it, but...

I have just realized that on my fretting hand, on my pointer and middle fingers, my calluses are in the middle, whereas on my ring and pinkie, the calluses are more toward the outer edge of my fingers.

Is this a bad thumb position/technique, or is this the norm?

<Begin discussion>

[fearceol]

Calluses !?? What are they ? I have never had any.

[Cristo]

i think that is a consequence of having 4 fingers that are not perfectly parallel with one another.

[whitefuneral]

In a perfect world your callouses should be right in the middle of the finger, showing that your fretting hand technique is coming a long well. Due to your non collapsing fingers, which I have....

Try to get all your fingers like you index and middle. Though painful.

[Skitch it!]

Due to using the Index quite frequently as a locating finger, I've a callus far more prominent to the left of the tip of the finger (looking at it face on). As far as the others, they are centered on the tips.

[Morkolo]

Originally Posted by fearceol

Calluses !?? What are they ? I have never had any.

Same here, I had them for a day or two when I first tried stainless steel Rotosounds and that's it.

[DeadHeadSF]

Originally Posted by Xierion

...
I have just realized that on my fretting hand, on my pointer and middle fingers, my calluses are in the middle, whereas on my ring and pinkie, the calluses are more toward the outer edge of my fingers.

Is this a bad thumb position/technique, or is this the norm?

<Begin discussion>

In my experience, the calluses are in the middle of my 2nd and 3rd finger while on 1 and 4, they're on the outer edges. If you're playing with a crooked/bent wrist, you might see patterns similar to what you describe. Focus on keeping your wrists straight (both of them) as much as possible when you're playing.

Straight wrists are critically important for 2 major reasons: 1) risk of injury (RSI, carpal tunnel, etc...) is greatly increased with bent wrists, 2) tension is greatly increased with bent wrists (meaning less flexibility and speed in your fingers).

EDIT: Forgot to mention, regarding thumb position... this is one of those areas that really depends a lot on the individual, so here's what I do: 80% of the time, my fretting hand thumb is "floating" - it may not even be touching the back of the neck at some points. At other times, it may not be directly behind the first or second finger, and in other cases (especially down around first position), it may be on the back of the neck, but pointed up towards the headstock instead of towards the ceiling (necessary to keep a straight wrist). I found my dexterity and "touch" improved greatly when I learned to use the weight of my arm against the fingerboard rather than thumb pressure to get adequate pressure on the strings. Again, your mileage may vary...