bought a cheap electric guitar...having no problem with the chords and start up tutorial..my problem is my small index finger is killing me with pain from the steel strings..advise please..thx RH
beginner need advise
Rob--
Perfectly normal. Everyone new to the guitar goes through this. And the only way to get past it is to play through it until your fingers callous up and the pain goes away. Pain ins't much fun, but it's temporary. This too shall pass.
My best--
Matthew
Originally Posted by: robha27bought a cheap electric guitar...having no problem with the chords and start up tutorial..my problem is my small index finger is killing me with pain from the steel strings..advise please..thx RH
Take your time and don't overdo it. As you play longer, your fingers build callouses on the tips like PhxSon said. It takes time. Eventually you won't feel tip pain because the callouses absorb the pressure instead of a soft fingertip transferring the pressure to your fingertip nerves.
However, getting there might occassionally include tender fingers. The key is not to play to the point where one of the tips gets a blister. Then you gotta stop altogether until that heals up. Don't do that. Don't buy the 'until my fingers bled' junk, it ain't true.
With that said, eventually the tender fingers do stop.