Finger Blisters

[aja_19]

Hello one and all,got a question, had three gigs last week, fingers are pretty blistered, what are your home remedies for this, i`ve heard soaking in very warm water with salt helps, any suggestions? i do not paly with a pick though.





MM 79`Sabre Lefty
EB MM 07 SR5
Eden David Series

 

[Aussie Mark]

Us old timers would recommend methylated spirit (or gasoline) to dry the skin and harden it up.

Plan B would be to use flatwound strings.

Plan C would be to turn up the master volume on your rig and play with a lighter touch.

 

[Russel]

Super glue. What I used.

just wait till the blisters pop or rupture (or if you were impatient like me, lance them) give the skin a day to dry out a little, then, and this is important, CAREFULLY glue it back in place, only using glue over the outer layer of skin. You don't want that stuff in your body. Once it is dry, do not, DO NOT try to pull the glue off or mess with it. It'll feel weird, but if you pull it off, it'll take the skin with it.

It was suggested to me by an experienced (read: that means old) jazz guitarist.

Whatever you do, don't stop practicing! in a month or two your fingertips will be so tough you could scrape a chalkboard with them.

 

[DrGonzo5150]

Us old timers would recommend methylated spirit (or gasoline) to dry the skin and harden it up... Plan C would be to turn up the master volume on your rig and play with a lighter touch.

Great advice from Mark.

Metho for sure. Just dip the tips before and after playing.
Conscious effort to play lighter but louder will work wonders too.

Soaking in water, warm/salty or other, will just soften the skin! tear through it even faster.

Like Russel said... playplayplayplayplay.. Don't stop. Coming off tour I could cut glass with mine haha practically

 

[Davecg2]

When i first started learning to slap and pop, id practice for several hours a day and got some nasty blood blisters on my fingertips from popping too aggressively (have that under control now) .anyway once they pop, what i did to smooth out the flaky skin it leaves when you remove the dead skin, is to soak them in water for like 10 mins then gently file them smooth with a foot filing stone.

Took some pics when i got em, not sure why.... (cause im a friggin bass player i guess)

 

[Duarte]

When I get them I just bite them off instantly. It will hurt for a few days but when they heal they wont blister again. Also you'll have very little in the way of fingerprints.

And those are some pretty knarly blisters you got!

 

[Kirby]

+1 on the superglue. We actually use something similar during surgeries or nasty gashes in the ER.

 

[Davecg2]

+1 on the superglue. We actually use something similar during surgeries or nasty gashes in the ER.

Ive heard of people using super glue which is fine for your fingers but doesnt it gunk up your strings after you play for a while?

 

[CFA]

Maybe I'm an exception, or my 4 years of extremely light guitar playing saved me... but I don't remember ever getting a blister from playing. Anyone else like this? My fingers have been sore before, and felt like they were burning... but never blistered. At least not as far as I can remember.

I'd use the Superglue trick personally, I've heard of it being used a lot, and I don't see why it would gunk up the strings since it's dry...

 

[SharonG]

+1 on the superglue. We actually use something similar during surgeries or nasty gashes in the ER.

Yup, in X-ray, too. Just a little dab over the lanced area of the blister to close it and in a couple of days your fingers will be hard as nails. Just make sure your fingers are clean before you lance the blisters.

Stay away from soaking in water - that will just soften them so they rip more.

 

[Davecg2]

Maybe I'm an exception, or my 4 years of extremely light guitar playing saved me... but I don't remember ever getting a blister from playing. Anyone else like this? My fingers have been sore before, and felt like they were burning... but never blistered. At least not as far as I can remember.

I'd use the Superglue trick personally, I've heard of it being used a lot, and I don't see why it would gunk up the strings since it's dry...

i was thinking more along the lines of the dry super glue being filed off your fingertips by the grooves of the string like dead skin does, but didnt know if the chems in super glue might be worse for the strings? Im probably just over thinking the issue i tend to do that...

Also i dont soak my calluses, just when i had pulled the blister completely off and had a bunch of weird feeling edges on it that bugged me, so i filed them down. That said i play all the time and although my fingertips are very broken in they arent "hard". at one point my index finger tip got pretty hard, but i honestly didnt like it, so i did file that callus off. I like mine to stay tough but not completely hard cause its uncomfortable and kinda dulls the feeling in my finger tips. I never understood why people think having armor plated finger tips is so great, i can still play for several hours with no problem. i think theres a happy medium, but im a noob so i could def be wrong...

 

[Davecg2]

Maybe I'm an exception, or my 4 years of extremely light guitar playing saved me... but I don't remember ever getting a blister from playing. Anyone else like this? My fingers have been sore before, and felt like they were burning... but never blistered. At least not as far as I can remember.

I'd use the Superglue trick personally, I've heard of it being used a lot, and I don't see why it would gunk up the strings since it's dry...

i havent had blisters on my left (fret) hand since i first started playing. the blood blisters were from popping for like 2 - 5 hrs a day for like 2 months straight. i think most people just get nice calluses not blisters.

 

[five7]

It has happened to all of us at one time or another. You have to tough it out and in a few weeks you will have callouses. Don't get your hands wet or you will loose the callouses. Don't do the dishes and take short showers and no swiming! What hurts worse is wearing a groove in one of your fingertips. When I was in my 20s I was playing 5 sets a night and practicing 3 to 4 hours a day on top of that. I ended up wearing a groove in my ring finger and bruising the bone on the end of my finger. The doctor I went to told me to quit playing until the pain went away. I had a great gig in Ft. Walton Beach, Florida and couldn't take a break. So I got really good with my pinkie and in the long run it helped out my playing. Guitar players would never understand.

 

[Kirby]

Ive heard of people using super glue which is fine for your fingers but doesnt it gunk up your strings after you play for a while?

The trick is to use just a very little bit. The amount that would come off is minimal if you do not use too much. Hardly noticeable.

 

[kylierider]

For me, and this may sound barbaric to some...But I can get it done between sets.

If the blister is not too deep I pop it right away. Drain it. Then I rip excess blister skin off and sand off the excess skin with fine sandpaper, making the place where the blister was and the surrounding skin even. This way no excess skin is catching on the strings when I'm trying to play.

 

[five7]

Ouch!

 

[Davecg2]

For me, and this may sound barbaric to some...But I can get it done between sets.

If the blister is not too deep I pop it right away. Drain it. Then I rip excess blister skin off and sand off the excess skin with fine sandpaper, making the place where the blister was and the surrounding skin even. This way no excess skin is catching on the strings when I'm trying to play.

thats exactly what i do except i wait till the blister pops itself and i use a sandstone to file them and ive never had to do it right when the blister formed.

 

[Fuzzy Dustmite]

I used to get them a lot as well, but it was more from not playing constantly and then playing a whole bunch in a short period of time.

I switched to flats for other reasons, and haven't had a blister since.

I have heard of people lancing them and then filling the void with superglue, but not sure how healthy that is.

 

[rhythmCity944]

cauterize those fingers...then if you have access to tissue glue, use that...note: your fingers may be smoking in the most litteral way...tissue glue is much safer than super glue and works just as well as long as you don't mind your finger tips coloured blue

I guess i just lucked out and never got blisters or had my fingers bleed because of playing the bass or guitarand i play pretty agressively

 

[MingusBASS]

It's been more than a decade since my last blister.