I’ve been playing bass for about two and a half months now, and it’s my first string instrument. When I started, I expected that my fingers would get sore, and maybe I would get calluses. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t play enough, or don’t play “hard enough,” but my fingers don’t get sore and I don’t think I’m forming any calluses.
However, periodically something happens where my left pinky is…cut? It’s too painful for me to pry on and find out whether it’s literally cut, but I think it’s like a papercut. And the cut seems to be vertical, which is really weird to me. I would think it’s more “burned” (not literally but like a rug burn) from sliding on the strings, but it seems more like a cut and this hasn’t happened to my other fingers.
@tamaraster - I have not experienced this, and haven’t heard about it before from students. I have, on occasion, felt a cut or burn like sensation that I think I got from a metal shard, or rogue piece of whatever on the string/fret/something or other.
But not regularly, and not necessarily according to your description.
I’ve had my fingers black where they’ve been on the strings and “ridged “ where I’ve probably been pressing too hard but never cut.
Are your strings “good”? Just wondering if they’ve got a sharp bit on them somewhere?
I’ve had what looked like a “burn” on my index finger when I started playing. It looked strange because it’s not in the direction I would slide along the strings and it doesn’t really go away.
I only recently came to the conclusion that it might be due to scar tissue that I got after a deep cut and that the skin hardening because of the regular practice brought it back to notice. Could be something similar in your case?
I have had nothing of the above, and as far as my fingers are concerned, I can play for hours on end. I also have no calluses.
So I’m reading all the above with considerable astonishment.
My fretting fingers are only bothered when I play guitar – the strings are too thin!
Yeah same with me. I’ve had wrist tendonitis but no finger issues.
Sounds like you may have a string or a fret with a shard of sharp metal, @tamaraster?
If it’s the strings, the solution is easy - just change them. If it’s a fret, personally I would file it off and polish it with high grit (2000+) sandpaper, but you may want to have a pro do that. I’m not a pro but I have experience polishing metal, which is the only reason I would do it myself.
You know, it occurs to me that about a year ago, I was picking up a Corelle plate, and it got me somehow. I think it was the same pinky, and it hurt like the Dickens for the longest time. It was a cut even though the plate didn’t have a chip or any sharp parts I could find. I threw it away anyway. But it was the same pain. If it was the same finger, I wonder if I have a tiny shard of glass embedded in my finger or something like that, or some nerve damage that’s being reactivated. Shoot!
@tamaraster I had this twice, first time I blamed the guitar, second time I found the culprit, a loose flake of chrome on the fridge. As the cut ran vertical made it the more confusion. Hope you heal quick. I love my guitar glove.
Jamie
