Hi there. I am Tomas Michaud from TomasMichaud.com.
Today I want to talk to you about sore fingers. Now the reason this is an important subject
is because for many beginners when they start practicing regularly, like you should, your
fingers get sore and this is particularly an issue on the steel-string acoustic guitar.
Not so much on the nylon string guitar and not so much on the electric guitar because
of the thin strings on the electric guitar. Just to be clear I am talking about the fingers
of the left hand, the left hand if they press down into the strings, the middle strings
cut into the fingers and they make your fingers sore. Now, there are several things you can do about
this. One is to put lighter strings on your guitar. I would recommend starting off by
putting extra-light acoustic guitar strings on your acoustic guitar. They are thinner
but they still sound good. Another option is to put electric guitar strings on. They
don’t sound as good but you can put thinner strings on that way and, of course, you can
always build up to thicker strings. Another possibility is a type of string called
silk and steel. This string is a hybrid-type string in-between a steel string and a nylon
string and it goes on the acoustic guitar. It has a softer sound and a softer feel. Some
people don’t like the sound and it might not be the overall sound-solution for you but
a good stepping stone to get to the thicker strings on the acoustic guitar. Another possibility is to adjust the action
of your guitar. What I mean by that is you are going to adjust the strings so they are
closer to the fret of the guitar, they are closer to the neck of the guitar, which makes
it easier to play. Now there are several steps in adjusting the action of a guitar. It involves
making the nut of the guitar lower, the bridge of the guitar lower and the neck just the
right angle. Then finally, the last possibility is to file
down the frets so they are more even. The trick is to get the strings as low as possible
without buzzing anywhere up and down the neck. You want to be able to press the note here
[guitar strum] and have it sound nice and clear, not hit one of the frets up here. This
is tricky and I recommend getting a competent guitar repairman to do the work. If you are mechanically inclined and have
a reasonable tolerance for risk, you can learn how to do it. Check out videos on “You Tube”.
There are some good videos I have seen on there. The risk is if you file the nut too
low or the bridge you are going to have to go out and get a new one and you can actually
over-tighten that metal truss rod in the neck of the guitar to the point you even break
your neck. Last thing to do is to file the frets and
that is a really tricky one and I wouldn’t even try that. The last resort is to play
your guitar with sore fingers until they get tough. Now they will actually get tough. It
usually takes about three or four weeks and some people can just work through it. The
trick is to find that place where if it is holding you back from practicing, do what
you need to do to get easier strings on the guitar. If you can keep practicing and wait
until they get tough then go for it. There is nothing wrong with that and once you get
calluses on your fingers, or thicker skin rather, you really won’t have to worry about
that much anymore in the future as long as you keep playing. If you stop playing for
a while you kind of have to go through that again. So, that’s it. I hope this has been some help
for you. Mostly I want you to keep practicing and that will keep you on the road to getting
better and better as a guitarist and having more fun. I’m Tomas Michaud from StarlandGuitar.com.
Check out my other videos on my website at StarlandGuitar.com. There are plenty of free
videos and tips for you to learn with. Thanks and see you later.