Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

"I Practiced Til My Fingers Bled"

#1

You hear that from a lot of great players. I always thought it was hyperbole, until now.
I’ve been practicing a lot lately, try to get things “just right.” This week I noticed how much it hurt to make chords. then I saw the blood on my fingertips.
“Wa-hoo!” I thought. “I’m gonna be a star! I practiced til my fingers bled!”
When I proudly announced this to my wife, she said “Use hand lotion.” Your skin is dried & cracked from the dry winter air. Use hand lotion."

There is just no impressing some people.

(Especially the ones that are right.)

13 Likes
#2

Don’t press so hard on the strings. Allow your callouses to firm up. My fingers bled a lot when I was a beginner I don’t experience that anymore because I know when it’s time to take a break and allow the skin to heal itself.

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#3

I say it still counts.:+1:t2:

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#4

Oh, I have the callouses alright! Even one on my pinky. My wife really is right. The cracks are at the side where the callous meets regular flesh. Dry air, dry skin, it’s a seasonal thing.

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#5

Your wife sounds just like my wife. She would just look at me and roll her eyes and say the same thing. “Use hand lotion”

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#6

Does the website award a badge for “practicing until your fingers bleed”? Wonder what the icon would look like? Keep up the “Good” work Banjoe!

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#7

Yup submit your photos and the management may consider you for a Band-Aid

90.jpeg1440×666 239 KB

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#8

Congratulations Joe!!!

1 Like
#9

I practice daily. I took a week off to travel and was disappointed to see my fret callouses starting to soften. Not sure that can be avoided.

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#10

Mine go through phases. For weeks they will be hard, almost like SuperGlue painted on my finger tips. Then they will peel off, the fingertips are smooth, but the callous seems to have gone beneath the skin because I can still fret & slide without discomfort.
A few days later they start getting hard again.

Apparently somewhere in this process I have to start using hand lotion.

#11

Don’t peel the skin, lightly brush with an emery board to take off loose skin. I never use lotion but we are all different

#12

I suspect that if they dig up some our bodies after we have been buried for 1000 years, they will just find our bones and 4 little callouses. I am fortunate with my callouses. They don’t crack or flake the way they did in the past when I played a bunch of bass guitar. I think the heavily serrated strings combined with a bunch of sliding led to all sorts of problems. It is kind of funny in that now, my callouses are worn to where I have flat spots with a central divot in my fingers.

I learned today that I didn’t know how to spell callous.

1 Like