Finger tips are indented

After 6 months of playing I’ve developed my calases on my finger but I continue to get indentations on them. Is this always going to be this way? I have to push down to get the tone out of the strings and I feel the action is good…
Suggestions???

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yeah keep going!

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Looks perfectly normal to me. Mine always look like that right after I play.

Yep, business as usual. :sunglasses:

Nothing to worry about. Could be a picture of mine after playing.

And mine. In fact if I have a really good session, I sometimes get some peely bits and I’ve been playing for about 2 years.

Same here :hugs:.

yep, same here too. Nice calluses :slight_smile:

I use to have that but not so much any more.I think the tougher the skin gets the less that happens.

Ha, ha, I’m not the only then!! Six months in too.

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I also get the indentations in the calluses and at times they get really rough - it’s bad enough to catch on the strings. When that happens, I use my wife’s foot file (the fine side) to smooth them without removing them. In the US the file to look for is a Dr. Scholl’s Swedish foot file. Not sure if they’re sold anywhere else.

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That seems to be a contradiction. You’re not supposed to push the strings with excessive force to get them ring out clean.

Not unusual, but if you “push down to get the tone out of the strings”, you’re probably not fretting close enough to the frets. This is even more true on an acoustic, since acoustics tend to have smaller fret wire than electrics.

It is in your long-term best interest to fret using the least pressure possible. Consider adding a 5-minute practice item to fret a chord, strum, and slowly release the fretting pressure until you find the lightest touch possible. While it’s impossible to have every string fretted right against the fret wire, you will be shocked to see how much less pressure it takes when you fret a string right against the fret vs. in the middle between frets.

Justin has a lesson about this as well.

YMMV

YMMV

I sand my calluses off with an emery board. Keep the finger tips smooth but they stay tough as the calluses.
20150304_155215sm

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I find a glass nail file works better. It has a much finer abrasive, so it leaves a smoother surface.
https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Nail-File/s?k=Glass+Nail+File

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+1 on the glass nail file. I like them so much I bought one for my guitar-playing husband and brother-in-law!

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I used to have the same deep indentations making it hard to press strings properly and rough bits that caught on strings, became a real problem! :confounded::sweat_smile: But I tried using a cheap skin moisturiser daily, solved the problem for me. In fact my tips are harder than ever now but super smooth and indentations don’t occur (skin immediately bounces back). Recommend it as a solution. Hope that helps :metal::sunglasses:

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Thought old stagers like you would be using Black & Decker ! :rofl:

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it keeps shorting out the stage lights so had to go acoustic :zap:

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Must admit do the same as you and save on the 'lecky. File down the calluses when they get a bit too proud. Not normally an issue but if I have and extensive acoustic session over a number of days, they need a little taming. Simples. As to the ridges, such is life. :sunglasses: