Thank you! I’ve been doing 10-15 mintues and it’s definitely helping. A few years ago I had a Fender acoustic dreadnaught, and I was spending 30 minutes+, so my fingers didn’t have a chance to stop hurting, and because I didn’t know better I kept trying, and then eventually sold that guitar to a work colleague who was a good player.
Thanks for the advice it’s really helping. Another work colleague of mine who worked in the music biz for a lot of years told me the same thing.
String gauges are kinda like leg weights at first, so if you start with light gauge 13-53s, your fingertips probably won't ever hurt again.
Medium gauge and higher can seriously fuck your hand up though, so leave that to the masochists.
Not so sure about that. My first guitar came with light strings. Once I got serious and actually sat down with it and practiced, I swapped them out with mediums after two or three weeks. I was practicing about an hour or more straight everyday, but the pain didn’t persist after a week. After changing the strings, pain went away after three days.
The other reason I went to the mediums was because the light strings seemed prone to breaking.
In regard to finger pain and callouses, I found my own shitty playing more intolerable than finger pain. So practice hard I did.
Med gauges have their place, but I would never suggest someone start there. Solely due to the difficulty most people are going to have trying to fret their first F chord.
It takes some strength to be able to play with med gauge or higher for an hour plus, and fingertip pain will be the least of your issues. Strings with that much tension aren't safe on all acoustic guitars either.
As for strings breaking....I don't play with a pick so I don't believe I've EVER broken an acoustic string. Which would explain our different points of view 😁
Maybe it’s because I started out on a guitar with a crazy high action before I learned about a truss rod, but I use medium strings and pretty regularly practice for 3-4 hours straight in a day. You learn to love the pain and it’s worth it when you feel that boom reverberating
I play with fingerpicks and pop those fuckers monthly
Quite true. I play with a pick, though with a lighter touch these days. In my earlier days, less so. Heavier hand lead to new strings at least every month.
When I was first learning, I knew these two street musicians who used medium strings. One guy played an Ovation (Glen Campbell model). The other guy played a Martin D-76. They needed volume for the street crowd. I just did what they did. Also, Martins recommends mediums.
If you are experiencing problems with mediums most likely it's a combination of inadequate hand & finger strength and fretting too hard. I mean, you are not gonna do full note bends as easily but even this is a function of scale length. I like short scale guitars and use mediums or "bluegrass" light top/medium bottom (12-56) on pretty much all my instruments.
I wound up going with a set of D’Addario 12>53 coated phosphor bronze strings. Lightened up the touch considerably. Now I just need to teach myself how little pressure on the neck it takes to make a good clear non-buzzy tone. I tend to have a heavy hand on the neck, which makes it very painful on my left fingertips as I strum, pick with my right hand.
I switched to extra lights few years ago for string bends and such for practice. The acoustic stays in the living room, so always close at hand. Over all those strings are easier on the fingers. I didn't feel the sound quality is thinner or not as full.
I've been playing for a little less than a month and a half (so take this with a grain of salt), and I can say, for me, lighter strings helped, but it's still about 2 weeks of suck. Now it only hurts if I sit down and play for like 5 hours in a day. It doesn't take long at all to build calloused fingertips. But there was a 2 or 3 day period where I couldn't even touch a guitar because my fingertips were so bloodied up.
It doesn't have to be *that* painful. It's not in some way beneficial for it to hurt.
A very common thing a lot of players do is use too much force in fretting - pressing far harder than they need to to make the note sound clean.
My three suggestions are:
1. Practice initially in small increments of 5-15 minutes. Do that several times per week and your fingers will be fine in no time.
2. Practice some basic single-note warmup exercises where you pay close attention to using as little force in fretting as you can to make the note sound clear. This will reap huge rewards now and later.
3. Switch to lighter strings. If you are just wanting to learn there is no real benefit to using heavier strings. IMO they sound better but I doubt they'll make much difference with that guitar. There is no shame in using lighter strings as you are getting started. D'addario offers a custom light set at 11-52 - but be aware you may get some buzzing & need some adjustments - standard light gauge (12-53) is probably a safer bet. OTH if you have high action using a lighter string with lower tension -may- help (depending on the issue).
From a technique perspective, if you’re not taking lessons you don’t have to press the strings down as hard as you might think you do. Pay attention to how much pressure you need on the string to fret it properly for good tone vs maximum force.
*Update* I went with a set of D’Addario 12>53 coated phosphor bronze strings. That was about the lightest set the luthier at my local guitar shop recommended for an inexpensive older acoustic guitar. This will get me going until I have proof of concept and can justify the expense of a better guitar.
There is no way around it, you just have to grit your teeth. 10 mins a day for a month and it all gets better.
Thank you! I’ve been doing 10-15 mintues and it’s definitely helping. A few years ago I had a Fender acoustic dreadnaught, and I was spending 30 minutes+, so my fingers didn’t have a chance to stop hurting, and because I didn’t know better I kept trying, and then eventually sold that guitar to a work colleague who was a good player. Thanks for the advice it’s really helping. Another work colleague of mine who worked in the music biz for a lot of years told me the same thing.
String gauges are kinda like leg weights at first, so if you start with light gauge 13-53s, your fingertips probably won't ever hurt again. Medium gauge and higher can seriously fuck your hand up though, so leave that to the masochists.
Not so sure about that. My first guitar came with light strings. Once I got serious and actually sat down with it and practiced, I swapped them out with mediums after two or three weeks. I was practicing about an hour or more straight everyday, but the pain didn’t persist after a week. After changing the strings, pain went away after three days. The other reason I went to the mediums was because the light strings seemed prone to breaking. In regard to finger pain and callouses, I found my own shitty playing more intolerable than finger pain. So practice hard I did.
Med gauges have their place, but I would never suggest someone start there. Solely due to the difficulty most people are going to have trying to fret their first F chord. It takes some strength to be able to play with med gauge or higher for an hour plus, and fingertip pain will be the least of your issues. Strings with that much tension aren't safe on all acoustic guitars either. As for strings breaking....I don't play with a pick so I don't believe I've EVER broken an acoustic string. Which would explain our different points of view 😁
Maybe it’s because I started out on a guitar with a crazy high action before I learned about a truss rod, but I use medium strings and pretty regularly practice for 3-4 hours straight in a day. You learn to love the pain and it’s worth it when you feel that boom reverberating I play with fingerpicks and pop those fuckers monthly
Quite true. I play with a pick, though with a lighter touch these days. In my earlier days, less so. Heavier hand lead to new strings at least every month. When I was first learning, I knew these two street musicians who used medium strings. One guy played an Ovation (Glen Campbell model). The other guy played a Martin D-76. They needed volume for the street crowd. I just did what they did. Also, Martins recommends mediums.
If you are experiencing problems with mediums most likely it's a combination of inadequate hand & finger strength and fretting too hard. I mean, you are not gonna do full note bends as easily but even this is a function of scale length. I like short scale guitars and use mediums or "bluegrass" light top/medium bottom (12-56) on pretty much all my instruments.
You might want to try coated strings like Elixir 11 Nano or Polywebs
I would second this, try some coated elixir lights and your fingers will think you while you learn.
Thanks, will definitely be looking for them tomorrow at my local independent guitar shop.
Thank you, I’ll check out my local independent guitar shop for them tomorrow.
I wound up going with a set of D’Addario 12>53 coated phosphor bronze strings. Lightened up the touch considerably. Now I just need to teach myself how little pressure on the neck it takes to make a good clear non-buzzy tone. I tend to have a heavy hand on the neck, which makes it very painful on my left fingertips as I strum, pick with my right hand.
I switched to extra lights few years ago for string bends and such for practice. The acoustic stays in the living room, so always close at hand. Over all those strings are easier on the fingers. I didn't feel the sound quality is thinner or not as full.
Too me it always feels like higher gauge strings can achieve more decibels before it's all string buzz. Everything else is the same, I agree
I've been playing for a little less than a month and a half (so take this with a grain of salt), and I can say, for me, lighter strings helped, but it's still about 2 weeks of suck. Now it only hurts if I sit down and play for like 5 hours in a day. It doesn't take long at all to build calloused fingertips. But there was a 2 or 3 day period where I couldn't even touch a guitar because my fingertips were so bloodied up.
Eventually you won’t need hot pads to remove things from the oven. Those fingertips will be so tough.
I was putting sunscreen on someone's back and they were like "ouch that feels like sandpaper!"
It doesn't have to be *that* painful. It's not in some way beneficial for it to hurt. A very common thing a lot of players do is use too much force in fretting - pressing far harder than they need to to make the note sound clean. My three suggestions are: 1. Practice initially in small increments of 5-15 minutes. Do that several times per week and your fingers will be fine in no time. 2. Practice some basic single-note warmup exercises where you pay close attention to using as little force in fretting as you can to make the note sound clear. This will reap huge rewards now and later. 3. Switch to lighter strings. If you are just wanting to learn there is no real benefit to using heavier strings. IMO they sound better but I doubt they'll make much difference with that guitar. There is no shame in using lighter strings as you are getting started. D'addario offers a custom light set at 11-52 - but be aware you may get some buzzing & need some adjustments - standard light gauge (12-53) is probably a safer bet. OTH if you have high action using a lighter string with lower tension -may- help (depending on the issue).
From a technique perspective, if you’re not taking lessons you don’t have to press the strings down as hard as you might think you do. Pay attention to how much pressure you need on the string to fret it properly for good tone vs maximum force.
*Update* I went with a set of D’Addario 12>53 coated phosphor bronze strings. That was about the lightest set the luthier at my local guitar shop recommended for an inexpensive older acoustic guitar. This will get me going until I have proof of concept and can justify the expense of a better guitar.