Calluses

Hi,

I have been trying to learn guitar for a while now, but every time I start something happens. I have had a few hand and shoulder injuries over the years and had to have surgery to many times. So my question is; will I still be able to biuld up calluses if I use an electric guitar? I have both a acoustic and electric, but at the moment we are watching our grand daughter and I don't want to disurb her when she is sleeping. Also, my fretting hand is still weak from my last surgery, so I am trying to build up the strenth slowly per doctors orders. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,

David

Follow your doctors orders. Find a good PT (not one who wants to sit on the other side of the room and talk to you about exercise) and make them your ally. Talk to the PT about your guitar playing and make that a focus of your over all treatment plan. MOST important... be patient and persistant. I went through this process with bilatteral eppicondilitis. It was not quick, but I am still playing guitar years later.

This process will probably be the best way to keep developing your callouses as well. It all really comes down to how many hours you play... not how many years.

A good reply by snojones. Especially, "be patient and persistent." Learning guitar is not a race, it is not a competition. There will always be someone who learns faster than you, there will always be someone below your level.

As for calluses; my opinion is that they build faster with an acoustic,versus an electric guitar. Of course, there's more 'discomfort', i.e., electrics are generally considered easier to play.

As for baby sitting; an [u]unplugged[/u] electric guitar could provide some quiet practice.

Good luck. Most importantly, have fun.

Thanks for the replies. I an doing what my DR and PT said, thats why I aked about building calluses with an electric guitar. I am going to use the electric until I get some of my strength back. I just wanted to know if I will still start to build calluses.

As to baby sitting volume.... Headphones and electric guitar make that much more feasable. They are not the best place to develop you tone, since as Jeff puts it... you need to move air to do that. But you can maintain a child sleeping, quite house and still be blistering paint in the next room.

Originally Posted by: dbramsey

Hi,

I have been trying to learn guitar for a while now, but every time I start something happens. I have had a few hand and shoulder injuries over the years and had to have surgery to many times. So my question is; will I still be able to biuld up calluses if I use an electric guitar? I have both a acoustic and electric, but at the moment we are watching our grand daughter and I don't want to disurb her when she is sleeping. Also, my fretting hand is still weak from my last surgery, so I am trying to build up the strenth slowly per doctors orders. Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,

David

[/quote]

If you're following your PT, then all is good. Trust me, you will build calluses on an electric. You should have no worries on that. I fully learned on electric so your shouldn't need to worry about that. Follow orders and have fun.

[quote=snojones]

...as Jeff puts it... you need to move air to do that...

I do move some air but wife wife keeps giving me dirty looks...