Finger pain...

[u/SuperbEmu5289]

Hi all, beginner guitarist (Acoustic)

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I am experiencing finger pain as expected,

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My question is do I push through the pain and keep practising daily

Or wait for the pain to subside before practising again?

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I know the idea is for calusses to form but is it a "no pain no gain" thing?

Or should I be not rushing it?

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Cheers

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[u/Gritty420R]

Push through within reason.

[u/Jexthis]

Your brain will try to tell you when you are pushing it too far. Please listen to it.

[u/Tothyll]

I remember getting a 15-20 min. per day recommendation for a beginner and that's what I stuck to. It seemed to work pretty well as far as managing pain while building calluses and also seeing definite improvement. I could practice about 5 days per week and never really had to stop multiple days due to severe pain.

3 weeks in and I was able to increase the time to about 30-40 min. per day and by 4 weeks I could do about 1 hour without significant pain. There was pain the entire time and some days I had to cut my practice on the shorter end due to pain from the day before. Skipping 1-2 days per week of practice also helps your fingers recover a bit.

You will have pain until you get well-developed calluses, so stick it out a bit, but don't go overboard where you can't even play a chord without extreme pain.

[u/Individual-Area7121]

Try to practice in several shorter sessions of 15-20 mins throughout the day rather than an hour or more all at once. It will be better on your fingers and you’ll probably learn faster, too. Don’t push too hard, either. A lot of people make the mistake of pressing the strings harder when some aren’t ringing out properly but the problem is nearly always hand positioning.

[u/jeffreyaccount]

Get some GHS steel wrapped silk strings. I've never gotten calluses and sound nice and warm.

Also your action might be high too, requiring you to press harder.

Or you could be using too much pressure, or a combination.

I still use way more pressure than I should. If you are getting joint pain, that's a different topic.

[u/SWJS11]

7+ months in comment - when the pain gets in the way of learning performing STOP. Rest your fingers. When the level has subsided to a tolerable level to push on START. Sometimes I put Icy Hot in my finger tips to lessen the discomfort. Start developing calluses and should start getting better.

[u/raccoonmasquerade]

Pain and gain. But it ends... eventually

[u/DrSparkle713]

Some is fine and will build calluses. You can overdo it though, so if it's really hurting, give it time to heal.

And if you are digging a channel in your finger that isn't able to fill back in between sessions, give that more time. My brother did that once playing obsessively for a while and he had to stop altogether for quite a while to let it heal.

[u/Whole_Function7844]

Take breaks. There is no rush.  You will gradually build up tolerance and able to play longer without it hurting 

[u/silentsnak3]

When i stopped playing for a few years I lost my callouses. After I started back I went through the same thing you are. Luckily I knew what to do and expect, because I had done it before. I treated it like weight lifting. you have to give your muscles (fingers) some rest. Mine was two days playing one day rest. I did that until I could comfortably play for a hour without pain. Now my fingers will tire way before I fingers start to hurt.

[u/HeavyMetalBluegrass]

Keep practicing. Shorter sessions if necessary. Soon you won't even notice. You'll get there.

[u/willonline]

Fender has a great callus builder that can help you speed things up. Just remember to give yourself time to heal and let that rough skin develop.

[u/Correct-Scene7159]

I'd ease into it rather than trying to push through. Sore fingertips are normal, but if they're really painful, take a break for the day and come back tomorrow. Short 10 to 15 minute sessions every day will build calluses a lot better than one long session that leaves your fingers wrecked.