Hi all, I’ve been playing almost every day for 11 weeks and have a good amount of callous by my standards, but still have tingling fingertips 24 hrs after playing. I really don’t want to take a break as i continue to practice.
You’re pressing to hard on the strings. You only need enough pressure to make the strings ring out.
Press very lightly on any string and pluck it while slowly increasing the pressure. Once the string ring out cleanly that’s all the pressure you need.
If you need alot of pressure have your guitar set up properly.
Hope this helps.
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Is it just tingling at the callous part? Or is it more of the fingers, like thumb, index and middle? The latter would be wrist position and how you hold the guitar.
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I suppose I could be pressing to hard on the strings too, but.
I know I play guitar as my fretting hand fingertips feel different than my strumming hand fingertips (when static and not playing).
They don’t tingle, they don’t hurt, but they feel, well, like I’ve been pressing down guitar strings and playing my guitar. I’ve got good callouses too.
fwiw, I rotate between 3 guitars, 1 acoustic, 2 electrics. I suppose all three could be out of adj., maybe have high action, but they don’t feel that way to me, they seem to play easy enough I thought.
I do play near everyday. Perhaps for 10 min. today, but 2 hours tomorrow, a hour the next day. Weekends maybe 2-4 hours a day. I just play frequently.
So Bruce, don’t take a break, just play on.
If ya do got high action, perhaps address that (you can measure to find out in nessesary), but I’m still kinda thinkin yer gonna feel your fingertips on your fretting hand, if ya play guitar.
A dumb side note.
If your fingertips hurt. Pet your cat, or dog, whatever ya got that is soft to the touch (cats of course in my case).
Doing this amazingly makes my fingertips feel better for a while, till I start playing again. Rinse and repeat.
Keep on jammin!
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just fingertips
Bummer, spell check failed me.
EXTRA, EXTRA, The end is coming! 
Still sounds normal to me. I’ve been at it going on 5 years now I think. I can feel my fretting finger tips feel different than my pick hand finger tips when I’m just doing nothing.
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No, callous is a word, just not the right one! Callous and callus have different meanings. Sort of like there, their, and they’re. Right, rite, write, and wright. The English language is fun!
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Hi HappyCat! I should’ve mabey mentioned fingertips only tingle when pressed upon with thumb no pain just a slight tingle and kind of like a slight brusing feel. I guess this is the way guitar fingers are supposed to feel like mabey.
I have 2 cats and will play on 
What’s the difference between there and there?
Especially the differences between the American and British English spellings.
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Fixed. I didn’t notice. Thanks.
Hello Bruce,
I spent a lot of time on guitar too and I found out sometimes I need a little brush with finger file, just taking off some of the “white dead parts”. When I go to sleep I use a little bit of Nivea, so I heal skin a little. With daily playing I can really see that I am guitar player, because tips are harder and little bit “damaged”.
I am not saying you have to do this, this is just my experience.
Keep in mind you should not overdo brushing that skin and also not using Nivea and things like that too often, because you dont wanna loose your hard skin.
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Appreciated
I remember that happening to me for a while, but it has long since stopped.
My guess is that it is local nerve sensitivity as the calluses develop, which of course is due to repetitive minor trauma. Just the neurologist opinion.
I suspect it is normal and in a while you will just have calluses. Same with the one that crack and flake needing trimming. That happens for a while then went away.
After 4 years playing, my calluses are just a faint tougher tip to the finger. Granted, I play nylon a lot. Maybe if I really spent all my time on steel strings they would be a little thicker, but my fingers feel fine on steel, even playing for a few hours.
There, my opinion.
Now you need to figure out which use of “there” I applied. Is it “there” or “there”. I think it is a matter of perspective…
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Good to know
I think I know the sensation you’re referring to. For me, at least, it was from diving in too hard, too fast. I developed the tingling/trauma while my fingertips were still soft and just kep pounding at it and the calluses developed on top of the spots that were still injured. I had to stop for awhile to let my fingers heal.
it’s been better for me to ease into it, build the calluses more slowly, and only start playing a LOT until after the calluses have built more slowly. that’s where I am now. yes, my fingertips on my left hand have a more “muted” sense of touch than those on my right due to those calluses. but I don’t have that tingling numbness.
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Yep kinda my goal was to build callouses fast. Still trying to play everyday, can’t take a break for more than a day, enjoy playing to much✌️
maybe keep your time per session down, then. At least until the tingling backs off.
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