My calluses have formed but it still hurts

I've fiddled around with guitar in the past and am familiar with calluses. In the past they formed and it never hurt again. Now after 16 consecutive days with the guitar in my hand practicing most days for at least an hour I have to stop because the tenderness and sharp pain doing chord change exercises. This is odd. Never happened before.

Weird, my problem is that I have such thick calluses now that I can't even feel the strings and typing on a keyboard has become more difficult. Maybe trying taking a break for a day or two?

Mine are callused up pretty good but don't understand why it still hurts. Mainly the Am chord. Stopping for a couple days sounds good maybe but I can't. I have to practice. Lol

I've been playing for years and pretty actively at the moment. After a particularly busy week with gigs and rehearsals, my fingertips were quite sore. Not playing for a 2 or 3 days made a big difference.

Think of it like any other physical activity...running, biking, weight lifting, etc...you don't go full bore all of the time. You need to give your body a break.

I understand and applaud your enthusiasm, but you need to give your body a rest from time to time.

In your down time perhaps you can do some ear training, just listening to music, organizing/cleaning up your practice area, etc.

Thanks for the reply! So it won't make your callouses start to go away after 2 or 3 days off? I thought it'd be like taking a step back. But you know more than I do about this since you've been playing for years. Maybe I'll give that a try soon. Thanks!

Originally Posted by: joesef

Thanks for the reply! So it won't make your callouses start to go away after 2 or 3 days off? I thought it'd be like taking a step back. But you know more than I do about this since you've been playing for years. Maybe I'll give that a try soon. Thanks!

They take a while to develop....and they take a while to go away. Even if the top layers come off, part of them is still there.

In the past I can recall going through extended playing sprees...maybe a couple of days learning songs on my acoustic and playing for 2 or 3 hours a day Then I wouldn't play for a few days. At first my fingers would be sore, but after a couple of days my calluses were really strong! Think of it as a recovery period.

Good luck!!

That's good to know. Thank you!

if you are going to be playing for such an extended period of time you might consider lighter strings as well.

I'm using 11's as of now. I don't really wanna go any lighter as I don't like a real bright sound. The good news is that my fingers don't hurt anymore but the calluses are so thick I can't feel the tips of my fingers and I don't feel as comfortable on the fretboard and the strings without any feeling. Can't win 'em all I guess. Lol