Hey all, getting a cool change here now, and I’m one of those people who gets cold hands in summer, and I’m finding it really difficult to get my fingers to limber up while playing. I mean I could go an hour and they would still be icy, even in fingerless gloves. Any recommendations from people used to cold weather? Should I just go buy a small room heater? Would love tips if anyone has them.
I’m used to a balmy, sunny winter in the teens but I’ve moved recently and am facing a winter in single-digits with bracing antarctic wind and lots of rain.
Yikes. I was figuring it was someone from the northern hemisphere. And then I saw your locale. Might explain why there was little outside jamming at the Port Fairy festival when we went there a couple of years ago. Getting a small room heater sounds a great idea.
I am in SEQ… on those few days it’s cold, I blast the heater as I find it hard to play with cold hands. Not sure what those that live in actually cold places do.
From someone who lives in a village that is known as one of Austria’s ‘cold poles’, well, we do have good heating . But, when it comes to cold fingers in particular, holding a mug with hot tea in my hands for some minutes definitely helps (drinking the tea afterwords is also helpful). Or beeing physically active prior to my guitar practice to get my body on operating temperatur might also solve the problem .
Hi Constance,
Bummer … here
I also have cold fingers even at 20c after half an hour of playing … luckily they are flexible at the max after half an hour, it is something that is just part of my life, unfortunately, but other people have something else that is annoying (Lots of jokes come to mind, but I’ll leave them aside for now) and I still have some other “little things” … it’s not nice and I doesn’t get used to it either, but I keep moving them with warm tea in my hands and when I go outside for a while, now with temperatures of 15 C or lower, I wear gloves between playing through … wearing a sweater with pockets in which I often put my hands in … enough and good food to keep your internal stove working at its best .Well I believe that was it
Hi Constance,
yet some more feedback from someone from the northern hemisphere . I don’t always turn on the heating in wintertime since I’m not freezing easily, but still my hands then are getting cold when I play guitar. I’ve so far ignored the problem, but I really should consider wearing fingerless gloves, as you suggested.
A different idea, several kids who I know use reusable hand warmer in winter. You boil them in hot water for some minutes to recharge them. They contain a gel and a small metal disc. Pressing the disc triggers a chemical reaction that causes the gel to release heat.
Update: ohhh - while a pack of 5 items cost about 12 AUD over here, I just checked and they seem to charge 12 AUD per item in your country - crazy…
I have more specific replies below, but so it doesn’t seem like a wall of negativity, thank you all for your excellent ideas! I’m gonna look into a couple of things. If I come across something that works well for me I’ll make a post about it, because I think if it works for my hands it’ll work for anyone’s!
@NicoleKKB@Jwaters
I am living hot drink to hot drink when I’m sitting down at home currently… it’s very nice on the hands, so I have been doing that before playing as well. It just doesn’t seem to hang around for very long. (Actually, if anybody has ever bought one of those USB charged heated coasters, how good was it? Did it keep the drink warm? Because if I could stop the drink from cooling down so quickly I could use it for my hands for longer.)
@roger_holland I do jumping jacks sometimes before playing, maybe I’ll try a few more… Hands in gloves in pockets is good for most people. But. I can sit on my hands, with a very warm tush, for half an hour, and my tush will just get cold…
@franzek That sounds interesting… stuff is very expensive here, but there can be cheaper bulk options online so I’ll have a look for hand warmers. I also have a heated throw blanket which is really nice, I can lean against it while playing, helps keep the body warm but it doesn’t do the hands any good once they’re out and playing.
Being bald, I find wearing a hat helps the fingers. But I don’t really have the problem when playing guitar unless I go outside to play on a brisk day. Fingerless gloves seem like a good idea. I bet with enough looking you could find a pair with electric warmers in them.
To be clear, my ideas only help me go from unplayable, ridiculously cold to okay , now I can start playing…And then the “magic” can begin and the fingers become more flexible … no longer they become warmer than they are and even cool down … but it works because I play and become beter
maybe what Jimi did is an idea, unfortunately also one for a very short and very expensive solution, but Your guitar will get warm …
good luck with it and I fear with great fear for you that whatever you come up with will stop working as soon as your hands are exposed to the outside air (without warming gloves etc)… but who knows who knows
I don’t know what to tell you, man. Yes. Once a friend offered to warm up my hands for me and after a solid while gave up, declared my hands ‘freaky and maybe endothermic’ and started trying to rewarm his.
Hi Constance,
your question is not that strange at all,
I read a lot of things here every week that are asked and where people spend time and what is easy to google for most people… have you ever looked at what cold hands produces for a search results,… the causes can be serious and many people go to the doctor for it…
And …For example: how many people drink a hot cup of coffee instead of tea and think that it makes their hands nice and warm…
Choose decaf
Cold days + hot cups of coffee = match made in Heaven? Nothing is less true. Caffeine constricts bleeding, making it harder for blood to flow to places like your hands. Ah! No stress, no stress: warm solution is still possible. Then just choose the caffeine-free variant. Just as nice and warm when you have cold hands.
…avoid all kinds of populair wristbands that are too tight on your wrist or watches… etc etc
How many of you knew this?
Eat spicy
Hot peppers not only warm you up, but also contain a wonderful substance: capsaicin. This substance causes endorphins to be released in your body. And endorphins are, in a word: amazing. It is not called the ‘happiness hormone’ for nothing. Not only do endorphins give you a happy boost, they also work as a natural painkiller. Quite useful if you are shivering with your cold hands again.
Ooh, good info here Rogier, cheers! I’m onto the herbal teas already, and it’s comfort-food weather so I’ll be eating plenty of spicy food, good to know that’ll help!
I guess I’ll mention it to the doctor and see what their thoughts are… I never thought about it like that, just assumed it was a body quirk…
What exactly is so hard to believe about it? The fact that some people suffer from relatively poor circulation in their extremities, resulting in them getting cold and stiff even in decent weather? Just because you’re lucky enough not to have the issue doesn’t mean it’s a joke.
FYI it’s a pretty common problem, and is not just a case of putting on a pair of gloves. You can’t play guitar, or perform many, many other dexterous tasks, in thick, full-fingered gloves, and thin fingerless gloves often don’t get the job done. Just whacking up the central heating isn’t an option either, firstly because of cost and secondly because cold hands/feet doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of you is cold. I can easily be far too hot to wear a long-sleeved top, yet have hands which are too cold to effectively play guitar.
Let me tell you, when your main hobbies are drawing, painting and guitar, cold extremities is a very frustrating problem to have… and is not a laughing matter.
. But, when it comes to cold fingers in particular, holding a mug with hot tea in my hands for some minutes definitely helps (drinking the tea afterwords is also helpful). Or beeing physically active prior to my guitar practice to get my body on operating temperatur might also solve the problem 
.
. I don’t always turn on the heating in wintertime since I’m not freezing easily, but still my hands then are getting cold when I play guitar. I’ve so far ignored the problem, but I really should consider wearing fingerless gloves, as you suggested.
