Surfing Waves

I've been lent an old acoustic guitar so that I have something positive to focus on at the moment as I'm poorly and stuck in bed. I looked up some stuff on the net and decided I would try teaching myself how to play.

I was impressed after 2 hours I managed a basic tune with the chords G, Em, A and D However, my fingers started to blister (the ones which press on the strings!) and then later bleed I tried putting plasters on them so I could continue to play as I'm really getting into it but they still hurt and the plasters make it difficult to press the strings down in the right place and move easily from chord to chord.

What can I do? Is there anything I can wear on my fingers each time I play to stop this from happening again? Will the pain go away? How long should I leave it before trying again?

thanks for any suggestions/ advice/ help

Don't know how quickly you will heal but eventually you will develope callouses (sp?) on the tips of your fingers that will keep it from bothering you so much. Keep at it.

Yeh for Thea !!!! Rock on !!!

Just keep at it, your fingers will get better !!

stick at it it will hurt at first. (especially with acoustic guitars) but you will get calluses eventually so it wont hurt.

Dr Rev wrote:Rock on !!! !!

I'm still learning my abc's!!! not quite there yet...

my fingers hurt typing on this keyboard... still bleeding (ish)

Hey don't give up - everyone is right - your skin will harden in time. Er..... little and often may help!!.....

If the skin is split you should wait until the skin has healed. Then start again, instead of 2 hour sessions try 20 min a day split into 5 min jams, you could try , chords, scales , strumming patterns, songs or free play. Your fingers will get harder.

yay for thaya it does hurt at first as they have all said just take your time and your skin will get harder

first thing i ever played was a double bass now that hurts

ofter time your fingers will develop calouses and the pain wont be a factor. Work through the pain as thats really the crux of learning when you get past that stage then you will progress much better. - most people give up about now

Dont worry about any of the fundamentals like scales etc etc at this point just work on chords. A great excersise is to take two chords you are comfortable in playing and just work something around them. i.e play down 4 times on one chord then change. This will help you with timing and chord progression pluss toughen them fingers.

When you got that taped move onto to a fuller chord progression. I reccomend house of the rising sun as it includes an array of basic chords namely - AM-C-D-F, if you can interchange between them confidently then you are well on your way. When you can strum that try picking it down from the A string down to the high E.

Let the guitar descide your style of playing some people have natural rythm and others are born lead guitarists. I find a lot of formal lessons often do more harm than good as scales are the single most boring things to practise and after over 12 years of playing guitar i still dont them - i was one of those people that hated theory. Your ears are the best judge after all

Just my 2c hope it helps

Take it easy - stop before any blood and in a couple of weeks your fingertips will be much better.

Mine used to be absolutly solid but I havnt played much in years.

Make suer you work on your struming as well as your fingering, nice easy 1-2-3-4 up/down etc for the start.

LOTS of stuff online thesedays too. And always tune before you play.

try bass...

thanks for all your tips

I know I should have stopped before my fingers got in such a state i just never realised how much fun it would be and was determined not to let a few blisters stop me!

Gonna give it a few days rest to let them heal up, and then not overdo it again. Frustrating though as I've got nothing else to do with my time right now

In the meantime getting loads of tunes off the net to have a go at

I just started Joe Satriana's Midnight. Give that one a go!

i had another go again today but my fingers still hurt.... did 20mins to try and force them to get used to it!

I played one of my favourite oldies - earth angel (well, tried to!) didn't like it in C-Am-F-G which I saw on the net, so tried it in G-Em-C-D but when I listened to it on my CD they didn't use either of those??? My version sounded ok anyway!!!

Finding it hard to stretch my fingers properly and trying to change from some chords to the next takes a second or two!!! I guess it's just practice?

of the basic chords F is always the hardest to get right. When you cracked that the rest are easy. (well other than weird jazzy/classical chords that break your wrist a sthe require all ya fingers including thumbs )

OH something you must learn is a traditional one called ROMANCE dead easy to play sounds ace and looks cool. Its also a really good song to get to grips with picking.

Keep it up though. Playing guitar is like surfing takes a while to get good but provides endless hours of fun

C-Am-F-G is right for earth angel but its played in bar chords that why it will not sound right but it will be some time before u get too bar chords

i think B was the hardest chord too lean F is really easy

i have a quick question....

every time I change from G or Em to something else, like C, the G is still making a sound when i'm not playing it and then completely messes up my C chord. What do I do?

do u mean your E string is still makeing a sound because i am not sure what u are asking here

yep - i meant to the top string of the G chord (low E)

right ok then you do not play the low E sting in a C chord a just rest my thumb on it too mute it
p s it will take time too lean too change chords spot on its not a week thing it takes ages just keep practiceing and u will find your own way of doing it