bass player spinn Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 ok so leme tell you something. I do not have calices. yet when i play for 1-3 hours my fingers never hurt. yet i have burnt my fingers many time? is it wierd or are all the little sense things gone in them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Callouses are usually caused by 'digging in hard' for long periods of playing (- not just hours here.. repetitively over days!), as your body does it's best to build up some sort of defence against the damage it is getting. If you're not getting callouses, it's not because you are doing anything wrong. Infact, if your fingers *don't* hurt then you are obviously doing something right! If you can still feel things with your finger tips, I suspect your nerve endings are working just fine. I shouldn't worry. Just enjoy playing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Interestingly, on a related note, sweaty fingers can exacerbate the likelyhood of blisters. Keep ya mits dry and.. again, don't dig in too hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MythSte Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 [quote name='dood' post='213589' date='Jun 5 2008, 11:52 PM']Interestingly, on a related note, sweaty fingers can exacerbate the likelyhood of blisters. Keep ya mits dry and.. again, don't dig in too hard.[/quote] I didnt know that actually! Although it does make sense when i think about it. Best part of being a bassist? Being able to lift beans out of the microwave. ohhhh yeahhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Try playing with your thumb over the bridge pickup with your bass too quiet to really hear properly - you'll have blisters in half an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='213606' date='Jun 6 2008, 01:01 AM']Try playing with your thumb over the bridge pickup with your bass too quiet to really hear properly - you'll have blisters in half an hour. [/quote] The first 10 years of my bass-playing life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 [quote name='The Funk' post='213609' date='Jun 6 2008, 01:14 AM']The first 10 years of my bass-playing life![/quote] Mine too, brother! My worst ever was a gig where I broke my A string in the middle of a tune from picking too hard at the bridge. Naturally only the core broke so it stuck to my pickups and in doing so muted the D too. First chance I got I grabbed it in my right hand and pulled it off the bass. Switched to another bass for the next tune and noticed half-way through that it had blood all over it. When I got home at the end of the gig I pulled 13 tiny pieces of steel winding out of my pinky with a pair of tweezers. Moral: Bass strings and fingers were never intended to meet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='213610' date='Jun 6 2008, 02:11 AM']When I got home at the end of the gig I pulled 13 tiny pieces of steel winding out of my pinky with a pair of tweezers.[/quote] Ouch! I do have a very small bloodstain on my main bass. I like it. The weirdest thing I had happen to one of my fingers was that I developed a blood blister on a 3-hour gig on a Friday night and then, after the same gig on the following night, I noticed a large callous had formed OVER the unburst blood blister. I couldn't even get at it with a pin. I had a blood-red fingertip for a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisnameistaken Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Eww. I only ever got a blood blister the first time I realised I could play my E string with my pinky. Of course I over-did it. This was the period where I played everything over the bridge pickup, so my pinky - being the bridge-most finger - was having to work pretty hard. Straight back to three-finger picking for me and never used my pinky again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charic Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Lol i dont really get callouses unless i fingerpick guitar, which i stopped doing once i got a bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E_MaN Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I've had callouses from pretty early on, from about the 2nd week of playing bass. It is helpful in some cases, especially in Stalin's Russia, were if you didn't have allouses you were sent to a camp or killed. I'm ready for time travel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merton Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 [quote name='thisnameistaken' post='213606' date='Jun 6 2008, 01:01 AM']Try playing with your thumb over the bridge pickup with your bass too quiet to really hear properly - you'll have blisters in half an hour. [/quote] [quote name='The Funk' post='213609' date='Jun 6 2008, 01:14 AM']The first 10 years of my bass-playing life![/quote] Strangely mine too... Hmmm! I remember getting some cracking blood blisters in my time, the never popped over the bass tho thankfully... I still don't have heavily calloused fingers but I never get blisters anymore coz I've learnt to play properly and I have more powerful amplification. Famous last words, tomorrow's gig will now be blister-central! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I used to get problems if I did too few funk or Latin gigs but I eventually noticed that, ifyou use your amp correctly and don't dig in too hard, you can pretty much cope with anything without too much difficulty. I guess bassplayer spinn worked it out sooner than most of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galilee Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 When you all say 'dig in', are you talking right hand or left? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 Right hand, if you're right handed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwild16 Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I've never had a blister from playing bass / guitar, and i've never broke a string when actually playing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lfalex v1.1 Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 [quote name='ianwild16' post='213922' date='Jun 6 2008, 03:57 PM']I've never had a blister from playing bass / guitar, and i've never broke a string when actually playing...[/quote] Me either. And judging from what I witnessed at the bass bash, I play harder/dig in more than most... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I have found the same, when i first started playing i developed hard callouses on my right hand fingers to the extent i could hardly feel anything through the tips. Now in spite of regularly playing for several hours at a time i just have tougher finger tips without the hard callouses. I did however have sore fingers after playing the RHCP version of Higher ground for an extended period the other night, perhaps because of my 'more enthusiasm than talent slap style' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamble Posted June 6, 2008 Share Posted June 6, 2008 I hated playing 'Sit Down' by James for about 3 years after having to play it with pretty blistered fingers at the end of one of my first gigs with the covers band I used to be in. That, and it's a dull bassline! I used to get hard callouses, now I have thing skin on my fingertips but it's quite supple. I'm rather heavy-fingered with my playing when I'm rocking out............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oscar South Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 [quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='214014' date='Jun 6 2008, 06:33 PM']Me either. And judging from what I witnessed at the bass bash, I play harder/dig in more than most...[/quote] Same, especially when jamming I completely abuse my bass and probably put more strain on the high C than any other string. Also I've got sore fingertips from playing too much many times and actually drew blood by wearing through the skin in my early days but the only time I've ever had a blister was when I only took my upright bass to our uni practical lecture and practice afterwards to find that we were pretty much only practising 'Reach' by S-Club Seven (thats what you get when you let the singers pick the songs to learn for next weeks lecture : /). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul, the Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 This will be one of those threads I forget about on leaving, but am significantly intrigued by the title - next time I'm on - to click on it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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