Fingers bleeding/Blistering after playing.

[I-play-bass]

Started at 11, had the same experience, played until I bled.

It's awful, and you have to dial it back until you build up your callouses, even if you want to keep going. Or, you can work on picking when your fingers are recovering. I always thought pick playing was for guitarists when I was new, but there's honestly a time and place for every style, pick playing very included.

The key is to let your fingers recover, as they'll heal stronger than before.

If you've got the itch, look at using a pick in the meantime. Different sound, different applications, just as fun!

 

[I-play-bass]

When i started on guitar i used play till it hurt then ice my fingers. Another thing you could do is use flatwounds until your fingers get tougher.

Flatwounds were a nightmare for me when I was building callouses when new. They were like glue and shredded me worse. I swapped back to rounds real quick.

Although after having callouses, they were wayyyyy softer. Maybe it's because I have sweatier hands and my fingertips were damp. In any case, this solution didn't work for me way back when.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm a teenage beginner bass player. (15 at that, I started sorta late)
I've been playing bass for about 2 months now. (on and off with guitar, I can't seem to make up my mind between the two)
Anyways, I usually practice about 30 minutes or less every day. (but I am guilty of skipping) Yesterday I played for an hour. Today I stayed home and decided to practice for 3 hours.
My fingers went numb, (I wasn't using a pick, I prefer no pick) I stop playing to look at my fingers and see that my finger's bleeding, and it's weird because it looked like a round blister thing filled with blood. (I wasn't pressing really hard on the strings either, which I found odd) It was small, but I was sorta scared cause that's never happened to me. My question is, for a beginner, what can I do to stop myself from wanting to play 24/7? It's almost like an obsession, haha. I practiced more after finding the blister but not using that one finger that was bleeding. How long should a young person as myself practice for? I don't want this 'finger bleeding' crap to keep going on!

Well, you may not have been pulling hard on the strings, but it was hard enough to cause damage to your finger.

As time goes on, you will build up a callus which will help protect you from this sort of damage.

Now the bad news. It’s likely as your finger heals (in a week or so) you will lose whatever callus you have built up, which means you will need to build it up again.

Going forward, as you are practicing, if you experience pain, stop. You are done for the day. Try again tomorrow. If it still hurts, give it another day. Keep working to pain then stop. Eventually, you will be able to play for hours on end.

If you are still getting blood blisters, you are pulling too hard and need to lighten up on the technique.

 

[NOVAX]

This is called 'paying your dues'

 

[LowActionHero]

And my opinion would be NO to this solution. You need to heal and this will just slow down that process if it allows it. It'll keep the blood off your bass, but will not allow your body to do what it does naturally. Get your self healed and then go back to shorter sessions until your callouses are built up. Sore fingers is one thing, but blisters and bleeding is quite another.

Well yeah, this isn't the solution today. Once the blood blister has healed this stuff will help keep it from getting out of control again. If I keep my calluses up I don't need it, but if I've taken some time off and lose em, or if I'm just sore, it sure helps.

Sorry if my lack of any words at all was confusing.

 

[Buzzgroove]

Had the same thing happen to me regularly, especially when playing around 3 hour gigs and hate that raw feeling for a few days afterwards. What I’ve found helps me most is a decent in ear monitor, even if it’s just some bass coming through (only one headphone in) it stops me from digging in so hard especially towards the end of the night when my hearing’s going a bit.

 

[Russell L]

By keeping my plucking hand fingernails long enough to catch the strings I can dig in, if I want, and do it all I want all night long with no soreness whatsoever. Never ever have my plucking fingers been sore at all no matter how long the gig.