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

[LoveThatBass]

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

I can play Flats for about 2 or 3 hours, just fingers get tired. Some rounds are worse than others (like playing a metal file LOL ) but you will build up Calluses over time. I remember age 13 and my mom teaching me to play guitar. My fingers bled and I came close to giving up but she told me to keep playing and it would get better and it did.

 

[Yellow Bang66]

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.

I used to keep a brutal practice schedule( 4-5 hours a night) working on all sorts of things; technique; sight reading; timing drills;and going over and over the setlist w/a drum machine. I was proud of the pain/callouses, I developed a cool hard cap on the corners of my finger tips, especially on my pinkie, until one vacation I gave myself a week off, that weekend went swimming at my friends house, all weekend long!
Unfortunately,that totally softened my callouses and while washing & drying off my precious callouses rubbed off, OUCH! leaving tender,new, fresh baby skin. The body is a miraculous machine. it just took 1 weekend to destroy months of hard work! I got my callouses back after a week of my regimen,but the skin kind of looked like tough glue dried & skinned over. I adjusted my technique, lighten up how hard I was fretting, I blistered faster, but toughened my tips faster. I could never get them back to the hard caps I once had before they would eventually peel off. an on going process, seems no matter how long I play my tips will suffer, I just dont notice as much, any more

 

[George Ortega]

Thanks for all of your help, everyone! I'm going to space out my sessions a bit more, and I didn't know they make practice gloves. I'm also wondering whether finger tips used for office work might work.

 

[George Ortega]

I think I found a better solution! After noticing that Scott Devine wears gloves, just I tried a cloth winter glove, and am totally satisfied that this is the way for long practice sessions. My next experiment will be to see whether faux leather, (I'm a vegan) vinyl or some other material works even better. I really like that the winter glove I tried is maybe 1/8" thick, and so excellently cushions each press!

 

[StatesideRambler]

Scott Devine wears the glove in order to overcome focal dystonia that would completely stop his playing. He's explained it on his site.

 

[bbh]

This is really reaching but I got the same kind of marks from chemo around 2011 but on the side of my finger. It kind of looks like my nicotine stains. Maybe you are developing a beauty mark?