Calluses feeling softer

Do you ever get days when your calluses feel softer than they have in prior days.? Although I’ve onlly been leaning OMC’s for a month I have noticeably hardend areas on my left finger tips. Today though they feel really soft and the practice is a bit more difficult.

Shame there isn’t a way to speed this process up lol.

R.

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I have experienced the same Rachel. It takes a while to build up callouses. I had a couple of periods this year where I didn’t play for about 3 weeks at a time and my callouses went completely soft and it was like starting all over again where I could only play a few minutes without the pain.

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Things other than inactivity can make them feel softer from time to time as well. Exposing your hands directly to water (showering, washing dishes), humid conditions, even skin moisturisers. Temperature can also make a difference, even more so if it’s hot enough to make your hands sweat a bit.

I even had issues building callouses because of my work once, which involved a lot of rubbing carpet with fingertips which would wear them away almost as fast as sand paper.

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I don’t think there is an answer other than to keep playing. I’m not long back from holiday which resulted in 4 weeks without playing guitar. During that time I was also in the swimming pool a lot.
My fingertips are pretty sore at the moment as I toughen them back up! :woozy_face:

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Yes, right pian though, well… Left really lol

I had some comments here on that topic. Maybe if it is just today, you can figure out what you did.

I noticed softening with less play as mentioned above, and with lighter strings as well. it did take a couple weeks though.

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I think mine is contributed to because of my partners work pattern. I said I would not practice for my partners weekends. They shift a day per week +1 day if that day is Sat or Sun, so weekends off Mon-Tue , Tue - Wed, so on… (Fri - Sat - Sun , Sat - Sun - Mon) and In this past 11 days I’ve only been able to play for 5 days.

I think the last long break I hadn’t even started , I may not have even been to pick up the guitar at that point lol. So its possiblethat this long perioid is likely the cause.

Have an idea though , a bit cheesy but needs must. I going to get a hand held training device to put in my coat pocket for weekends off.
something like this. !
which can help this.
*** Reversible molded grip uncovers simulated strings to help develop and maintain finger calluses for string musicians**

Something like this, this looks quite large to me though.

R

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I used a homemade hand sanitizer with a heavy concentrate of alcohol in it when I was just learning, and it seemed to help.

I’m no expert on this matter by any means. It just worked for me :+1:

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Not sure why but thought I would not develop so much calluses for some reason. After 6 wks yes have them and they make my notes a little screachy. Finger pain has gone down much so happier can play longer now.

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My callouses started out as small, thick, really hard spots on the tips of my fingers. As I have played more, they have spread across my entire fingertips, but the “hardness” has actually reduced. As of today, I can barely tell where the callouses end and the softer flesh begins, as the callouses have blended together with the rest of the skin on my fingers. I just notice that the feeling in my fingertips is reduced because of the thicker skin.

I’ve been following Justin’s course for about 2.5 years now and practice ~40 minutes 5 times a week.

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This happened to me as well as my technique improved and my touch lightened up a lot.

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