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

#41
red_rhino said:
This isn't about your callouses. Those protect the top layer of skin. You're very likely bruising the deeper tissue closer to the bone. (Or perhaps even irritating the fingertip bone itself if you don't have a lot of tissue padding it.) I run into this occasionally and I've been play for longer than I care to admit.

Shorten your practice sessions, or break them up into smaller sessions with breaks in between. You don't want this to become a chronic problem driven by inflammation that's easily triggered. Playing for a few hours is equivalent to playing most gigs. Stop playing before it hurts and give yourself time to recover before playing again. Eventually you'll be able to play longer with less discomfort. :thumbsup:
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This right here. I played three sets for four nights a week for twelve years and never really had much trouble, but when I came back to playing again years later there was definitely a breaking in period when my fingertips were a bit tender. If you start slowly and increase the amount of time you play, you will get there, but it does no good to play through the pain, as that will only cause bruising and, in some cases, nerve irritation.

I do occasionally find that I get a touch of nerve inflammation in one of my fingertips, but it never gets too bad. It bothers me more after I stop playing than during.
 
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#44
They will build with time, and ironically, my plucking fingers will be more tender playing flatwounds than roundwounds, generally because they carry higher tension.

The roughest rounds I've used were Rotosound '66's, they have a rough finish that made my fingers sore when learning.

My suggestion is to not change the string if you like them, your fingers will adapt in time and toughen up.
 
#45
George Ortega said:
It's only my fretting fingers. I guess maybe I have a light touch plucking.
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I used to get sore fingertips on my fretting hand when I was starting out and I was exerting too much pressure. I saw a video (Adam Neely maybe?) where he demonstrated how he could play without even putting the thumb on the back of the neck. Point being that you don't really need to 'squeeze'.

Fret a note. Then, while playing that note steadily with your plucking hand, reduce the pressure from your fretting hand until the string starts to buzz. Then gently increase pressure again until the buzz goes away. When the buzz goes away, that's all the pressure you ever need to exert. It might be less than you think.
 
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#46
What I've found helps that has been mentioned:
1. Playing with a lighter touch, turn up your volume. It helps!
2. Lighter tension nickel strings.
3. A bit of super glue on finger tips helps tremendously. I do mainly my right hand, but I do my fretting hand a bit too.
4. I have tendinitis, so there is a different reason for me to do these things. But I think they help in your case too. I also go for massage therapy once a month but that wouldn't help your finger issues. Might help your overall well being though .
Good luck!
 
#47
Will my fingertips ALWAYS hurt after playing for a few hours?
no one can know this: you should take the issue to a good teacher who can help you evaluate what it is about your playing (and/or your ax) that may contribute to the "hurt."

some of the suggestions you've gotten might be helpful (who knows?) but the suggestion to find a teacher (an 'evaluator') is the best one. take your issues to an expert and get 'hands-on' advice! good luck! :thumbsup:
 
#48
George Ortega said:
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
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Do fingers hurt on both handS, or just one, the fretting or plucking?

if your plucking hand fingers hurt, don't pluck so hard. Simple.

It your fretting hurts, up need to not push down on the the strings so hard. If you need to squeeze hard to get the strings to fret properly, then you need to have your bass set up. A guitar tech can do that for you if you don't know how.

Fingers, especially with the fretting hand, should not hurt much after the first month of regular playing. If your hands are in liquid a lot, or soaked before playing, may be an issue. Hope this helps.
 
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#53
I've been playing bass for 25 years, and I've always struggled with my finger tips hurting. I even played/taught professionally for several of those years, and my fingers would blister and peel, and I could never maintain a callus. I finally switched to flats permanently, and never get finger tip issues anymore. I can play for hours on end comfortably.
 
#55
Finger tips hurt when playing guitar but not bass!

Use finger tips on guitar but use the "meat of your finger prints for bass". This was the very first thing my bass guitar teacher told me way back in the early 80s. Lay your whole finger print on the bass strings for notes.

Excellent instruction here starting @ 1:05 into the video.

 
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#57
No, they won't.

they will definitely get raw, or even tear/blister when something different happens, though- if you take a month off, if you switch the flatwounds, if you play a 3-set 6 hour wedding and you're used to playing an hour a day or something, you get the idea. But the longer you play, the more extreme change it takes to create trauma, the less severe it will be, and the easier recovery and/or the tougher your fingers will be underneath. I have calluses after decades of bass playing, lifting weights, and working at a bakery, such that I can grab a hot pan out of the oven, or cut my finger without drawing blood- but I still get sore if I play standup bass for 3 hours after it's been in the closet.
BUT it's been years and years since the last time I had horrible blistered peeling stingy fingertips, that's for sure.

just mitigate your playing volume (I mean volume in the amount you're playing, though addressing how hard you stroke the string is important to normalize). You want to PLAN to increase over time, you want to work up to long sets if you know you have some coming. Surprises happen, but make a good plan and you'll minimize misery.

also, maintain your calluses- this applies, for me, more to my palms from deadlifting, but you don't really want white, hang-off-y calluses, you don't want to hear a scratch if you drag your fingertip across a surface. If you find you have these claws growing (I don't mean as trauma, I'm not talking about a fresh blister, I'm talking about having a grown callus day-to-day) you'll want to take a Pumice stone to them in the shower once they're soft and waterlogged. Nothing crazy, just sand the corners smooth so they don't catch and rip. i have extremely tough and thick calluses like I mentioned, but my hands are very soft to the touch. It's more like leather than a hoof.
 
#58
Mushroo said:
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!
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I have to agree.

I think the best thing you could do for yourself is to stop trying to develop stronger fingers or tougher callouses, and practice with different techniques until you get over your issues. Your fingers shouldn't be hurting to the point that you have to not play for a couple of days. IMO, that indicates that you're doing sometime wrong.
 
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#59
Something I've learned to do over the years is to play (fingerboard hand) with the pads of my fingers, rather than my fingertips. I find this is better technique for me and eliminates the type of finger pain described by the OP. It also gives me a lighter touch and allows me to perform the aforementioned practice exercise of not using the thumb of my fingerboard hand in my practice sessions.

Hope this is helpful.

Koog
 
#60
Thumpin6string said:
This was what I was going to say. I have no calluses and no finger pain (other than arthritis). You need to not dig in so hard. Higher amp volume and lower action and a lighter touch. Playing over the pickup or using a ramp can also help you stop.
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Here's a reply to a reply, calluses are an Early defense the body uses when we first start to play bass with fingers, say first 4-7 years maybe, and the problem with calluses is that they can become a blister... I've played bass for what...over 20 years now and there is no sign of calluses, but the Tissue sure isn't like non players! It has been changed into something that can play nickle rounds for 3 hours and not feel anything. Four hours constant playing Is rather long...

So tend those calluses and keep them healthy, probably they show you your overall health and nutrition. I like a little fingernail sometimes and that takes the stress off...
 

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