No Visible Callouses

ive been playing bass for about 2 1/2 years and i dont have any visible calluses either. the skin on my fingertips is much harder than before, but no actual calluses. i guess its normal because i play more than your average player.

 

I'm no expert but I think the callous you think your friends have is actually dead skin left over from blisters. A callous occurs when your skin becomes a bit harder and a bit tougher, in some cases a lot harder and a lot tougher.

 

Yeah my fingers are all really really tough on the tips, except for my right index finger, I got a blister a long time ago, but then a new layer of skin grew over it, and the result is that I have a really really really tough index finger now...it dosen't make much sense to me, but I ain't complaining

 

Callouses.

 

On Dictionary.com it says something about a calice being a goblet.

 

actually its CALLUSES

Heres proof:
Definition provided by The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Other important copyright information

Callus:

Noun
Inflected forms: pl.cal·lus·es 1. a. A localized thickening and enlargement of the horny layer of the skin. Also called callosity. b. The hard bony tissue that develops around the ends of a fractured bone during healing. 2. Botany a. Undifferentiated tissue that develops on or around an injured or cut plant surface or in tissue culture. b. The hardened, sometimes sharp base of the floret of certain grasses.
Intransitive verb
Inflected forms: cal·lused, cal·lus·ing, cal·lus·es To form or develop such hardened tissue. See Usage Note at callous.
Etymology
Latin, masculine of callum.

Callouses:

Adjective
1. Having calluses; toughened: callous skin on the elbow. 2. Emotionally hardened; unfeeling: a callous indifference to the suffering of others.
Transitive & intransitive verb
Inflected forms: cal·loused, cal·lous·ing, cal·lous·es To make or become callous.
Etymology
Middle English, from Old French cailleux, from Latin call*sus, from callum, hard skin.

so there ya go, callous is apparently an adj and callus is the noun form of the verb

 

No - you've misread it - it's a case of proper English as spoken in England - which is "Callous" and American English - which often leaves out vowels.

As in through, colour etc. etc.

 

If you want callouses, you can brutalise your fingers by repeatedly pushing them into a bowl of sand. However, that's a trick out of a Karate manual, NOT any self respecting bass book I've ever seen.

Assuming you're not training to become a ninja, don't become too hung up about visible callouses. I've been playing for more than 15 years and I still haven't got ugly lumps of skin on the end of my fingers, although they are pretty tough by now.

If you can play bass for long periods of time, that's the objective achieved. It's the music you make, not visibly deformed fingers, that is the mark of a musician.

Wulf

 

Word

 

Au contraire, mon frere. defeldus is quite right. I verified this in my OED--which *is* English rather than American--and it states quite clearly that "callous" is an adjective and "callus" a noun (sb. = substantive = noun). It also specifically states that "callous" as a substantive (i.e., noun) is an "erroneous" spelling of "callus."

 

That's rubbish - or total bollocks in English!!
Callous has been used for centuries here - as a noun - for things on your feet or wherever - we shall defy your American influence and push it back into the sea - we shall fight them on the beaches etc..

 

dem sounds like fightin words! ...and you know how gung ho our president is

 

"Callous Remover"



Wrapped all day long in leather or plastic, feet get squeezed, jarred, and stood upon for long hours. In the summer time, they're exposed to burning sands, and in the winter they suffer cold, damp conditions. If you pamper them with some of these homemade treatments, you will be rewarded with beautiful healthy feet.



3-tbsp (44 ml) table salt

3-tbsp (44 ml) fine sand, ground pumice, or loofa bits (you can grate a loofa with a sharp cheese grater)

1-tsp (5 ml) liquid shower gel, shampoo, or soap

A few drops essential oil, if you wish



Using a spoon, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Dip a washcloth into the mixture and scrub your callous to remove them. Do not overdo this procedure; callous should be removed a little at a time.

This has a shelf life of about 6 months. You can store it in a decorative container; but you will need to stir it again before use.







2001-2002 RoseWave.com All Rights Reserved.

 

Sorry, Bruce, I'm going to have to go with the conclusions of a team of world-class ENGLISH lexicographers, as expressed in the greatest English-language dictionary ever created, over the assertions of one lone bassist and one obscure website I never heard of. Honestly, there's so much bad spelling and grammar out there on the Web that quoting some site at random isn't conclusive of anything. "Callous" as a noun is an error.

It doesn't matter that you can find this misusage if you look. As a professional editor, I know quite well that a usage can be common yet still quite wrong by accepted standards. For example, I can't count the number of times I've seen "principle" misused in place of "principal," or vice versa. "Pedal" and "peddle" are commonly mistaken for each other, as are "hoard" and "horde" (saw this one in a printed book just yesterday).

 

Well you say Tomayto...I say Tom...

I shall carry on callousing!!

 

A glimpse through a site like Talkbass confirms that the living, breathing English language is not quite as standardised as dictionary producers would have us believe

I have to admit that 'callous' feels like the right spelling to me, and my instincts are normally fairly good (my wife doesn't use a dictionary... she just asks me, which I guess keeps me fairly on the ball). On the other hand, it took me a few years to get used to vacuum rather than vacuam - most of us have at least a few lexographical blindspots.

I shall be avidly looking out for 'call*s' in the books and magazines I read over the coming month to see how it is used in modern UK printed literature!

Wulf