Question
I have been playing guitar for almost 3 months regularly and I have pretty good calluses built. But it seems like my fingers never stop hurting. Normally after playing guitar for about an hour or so, my fingers will start hurting. If I continue to play for 2 hours or more, my fingertips start throbbing and they are really painful. How can I stop my guitar from killing my fingers?
Answer
It is normal that you fingers hurt. Even for an experienced guitarist who plays for decades and has good thick calluses, that don’t prevent him from hurting fingers after a few hours playing without stopping. You may consider the following:
Check your guitar action
If the action is too high, you will have to press harder to get a clean note and that will hurt your finger. What you can do is send your guitar to music store to lower the action.
Use lighter gauge guitar string
Heavier gauge strings take more pressure and you need to press harder. If your fingers can not take the pressure, change your strings to lighter gauge.
Check if you strings are old
Old strings are corroded and harder to your fingers. Replace new strings might solve your problem.
You press your strings too hard
Many guitar beginners tend to apply too much finger pressure. This will make your guitar sound out of tune and hurt your fingers as well.
User Finger Ease
There’s a product call Finger Ease. It is a little spray can that you could use to minimize your finger pain. Just spray it on your guitar strings. It really does help. You can easily get it from your local music store or online shop. This item is currently on sale at Amazon at only a few bucks. Click here to check out their sale price.