Will my fingertips ALWAYS hurt after playing for a few hours?

[George Ortega]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing bass regularly for over a year now, and have developed thick enough callouses that my fingertips don't usually hurt when I keep my practice sessions short. But when I play for a few hours, they begin to hurt, and then I have to stop playing for a day or two before they don't hurt anymore the next time I play.

Is this something I'll just have to live with, or can I expect to eventually be able to play three or four hours straight, day after day, without my fingertips getting and staying sore?

Thanks!
George

 

[Epitaph04]

In my ten years of being a very amateur bassist, i can say that no, they will not always consistently hurt. Your body will eventually get used to it. However, I’d suggest making sure your technique is okay, and that you arent playing too hard for too long. Let your amp do some of the work too, and maybe wouldnt be a bad idea to cap your practice sessions a bit shorter. Strength, stamina, and endurance come gradually, not all at once.

 

[Drucifer]

I think that your callouses will develop based on your regular practice times, and if you play substantially more than this, you can have some wear on your fingertips that your body is not used to. I practice about an hour a day, I've done that for probably the last 30 years, so my callouses are very well developed. If I have a longer gig, like 3-4 hours, my fingertips feel it, more like a mild sunburn than hurting to the point of not playing. Interestingly enough its usually my right (plucking) fingers, not my fretting fingers, that gets the worst of it. Some things I've found that help:

• Not overplaying, I tend to get excited during a gig and really dig in, adjusting my volume up helps with that
• Using the right strings, high tension stainless steel round-wounds are the worst for tearing up fingers, I've recommended tape wounds for beginners with this problem, and I love flat-wounds on my Precisions, especially Chromes, very smooth.
• You might look into lubricants like Finger Ease or others, these should help

Hope this helps!

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing bass regularly for over a year now, and have developed thick enough callouses that my fingertips don't usually hurt when I keep my practice sessions short. But when I play for a few hours, they begin to hurt, and then I have to stop playing for a day or two before they don't hurt anymore the next time I play.

Is this something I'll just have to live with, or can I expect to eventually be able to play three or four hours straight, day after day, without my fingertips getting and staying sore?

Thanks!
George

Play. Your body will begin to enjoy it as much as you do.

 

[Mushroo]

I've been playing 30+ years, my fingertips never hurt, and I don't have any callouses.

My recommendation is to try turning up your amp and playing with a much lighter touch. Pain is not normal!

 

[dreamadream99]

Many things you can do to lessen the pain of playing.

1. Relax. Very little fingertip pressure is required to sound the notes, if the setup is not too high, and you are fingering just behind the fret. The only pressure on the bass should be your from your fretting fingertip and the thumb behind the neck (like a C clamp). Also, relax your wrist, forearm and shoulder too. Minimum tension. Minimum effort.
2. Switch from roundwound strings to pressurewound or flats. Roundwounds sound great, but are more brutal to fingertips.
3. Setup with low action and minimum relief.

 

[kevindahl]

Wow I'm envious. I just got back from 2 and a half week holiday and my callouses are gone. It sucks building them back up.

 

[Malcolm35]

Flats and foam rubber under the strings at the bridge. Gives about as close to a standup up sound as we can get. Which I like.

The foam rubber has nothing to do with your fingers, however the flats will.

 

[Lesfunk]

Sounds like you’re digging in too hard

 

[HolmeBass]

Even nickel rounds are easier on the fingers than stainless.

Out of curiosity is it your plucking fingers that hurt more, or your fretting fingers, or are that about even in these long play sessions?

I will say I think your fingers and hands will get used to this, but you won’t be immune to it. But it does get easier.

 

[31HZ]

The thing that helped me the most with not digging in too hard was practicing with a good headphone setup -- once I could hear myself clearly, it became possible to practice with a light touch. I still dig in, but I can catch myself!

 

[Benjamin Earl]

I have learned that my fingers really only start hurting when my strings get old. I think they get grimy, which is irritating. Some people boil strings to get them clean, but I suggest changing them if you don't want to mess with it.

 

[micguy]

Wow I'm envious. I just got back from 2 and a half week holiday and my callouses are gone. It sucks building them back up.

When on vacation, I make a point of finding rough surfaces - concrete, stucco, etc - I rub my fingertips on something rough every day, so I keep my callouses.

 

[Sid Fang]

I have naturally tender fingertips. When I practice and play regularly, I build up calluses tough enough that not only do I have no tenderness after playing for a long time, but I can turn meat on a BBQ grill with my bare fingers. But it takes a while to build them up, and somehow it's always faster to lose them. After as little as a couple of weeks of no guitar or bass, I am where I can play for maybe 20m max before I will start to blister or blood-blister. For big blisters, I'll take a needle and very carefully puncture them along the edge furthest from string contact, squeeze out the serum, and strap a tight band-aid to get it to re-bind as callus rather than peel. For small ones, I give things a break long enough for them to be re-absorbed, usually a day or two, then go in again, and again, and again until they're toughened up. I can certainly get to the point of being able to play a three-set evening without discomfort, but it takes me weeks of increasing daily practice time to get there from zero callus.

Now, the OP didn't mention whether he's concerned about his left hand or his right. When I played with a pick, it was left-hand calluses I had to develop. Playing fingerstyle, I need 'em on both hands. As others have noted, technique *can* have an impact, especially on the fretting hand.

I've never tried this myself, but I have a guitar playing buddy who accidentally cut one of the principal fingers on his left (fretting) hand, and had a gig coming up, so he put a coating of superglue over his fingertip. Not only did it allow to get him through the gig without opening up the cut and bleeding all over his Les Paul, but he could do cool slide licks with the hardened fingertip...

 

[Sid Fang]

When on vacation, I make a point of finding rough surfaces - concrete, stucco, etc - I rub my fingertips on something rough every day, so I keep my callouses.

LOL! My own little tic is to idly drive my thumbnail into the calluses on my fingertips, as if I was counting on my fingers.

 

[OptimalOptimus]

LOL! My own little tic is to idly drive my thumbnail into the calluses on my fingertips, as if I was counting on my fingers.

I do that too

 

[aprod]

That's not normal. Your technique needs evaluation by a good teacher.

 

[lfmn16]

If you can’t play for a few hours after a year, you’re doing something wrong. I’d suggest booking a lesson or two with a good teacher.

 

[thabassmon]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing bass regularly for over a year now, and have developed thick enough callouses that my fingertips don't usually hurt when I keep my practice sessions short. But when I play for a few hours, they begin to hurt, and then I have to stop playing for a day or two before they don't hurt anymore the next time I play.

Is this something I'll just have to live with, or can I expect to eventually be able to play three or four hours straight, day after day, without my fingertips getting and staying sore?

Thanks!
George

It sounds like you may be playing too hard, try lightening up. If that help you'll be able to play for hours on end everyday you wish to do so. Also Nickel strings and/or lighter gauges are nicer to your hands.

I've been playing 30+ years, my fingertips never hurt, and I don't have any callouses.

My recommendation is to try turning up your amp and playing with a much lighter touch. Pain is not normal!

That sounds very close to my situation, I've been playing for a couple of decades, don't have fingertip pain and also no callouses.

I also play with a light touch, it allows more room for dynamics anyway so there is also a musical advantage.

 

[Sid Fang]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing bass regularly for over a year now, and have developed thick enough callouses that my fingertips don't usually hurt when I keep my practice sessions short. But when I play for a few hours, they begin to hurt...

I know, I've already given you an anecdotal response, but to your specific issue: How frequently do you practice, and how long do you play when you practice? What you meant by "regularly" and "short" could make a lot of difference. I know I had to go into a regime of longer daily practice to get from being able to do one set a night to doing three. Most of that was stamina, but some was definitely fingertip conditioning.

While technique definitely has a role to play, I think it's pretty clear that there's a lot of individual variation in how fingertips respond to working bass strings, and I've found that I'm on the tender/thin-skinned end of the range. I have always friction-burned and blistered more easily than most. When I started out on bass, I played with a pick to avoid the blistering on my right hand, at least. I was able to figure out what I needed to do to condition my fingers to play all night without pain, and I hope you can, too.