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Today's Issue		Friday 4th April 2025

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Caring for Your Fingers

by Trish K. Magill
March 24 2025

There are three key preventative measures that you can utilize to ensure your fingers remain healthy and in top form. First off you want to warm up and loosen your muscles and tendons by gently stretching your hands and fingers and then start by playing simple and easy scales and arpeggios. Secondly, you want to use good techniques on the fretboard, not pressing down too hard, while correctly holding the guitar in a comfortable position, which if not done properly can cause pain and injury. Do not push through pain, this will cause more injury and slow your overall learning progress, rest when needed. And finally, overtime you will develop calluses which will allow you to press down on the strings with greater ease and play for extended periods without discomfort. Developing calluses on your fingertips is a rite of passage for new guitarists and requires slowly and steadily working on your craft overtime taking anywhere from two weeks to a month to fully form calluses.

The repetitive movements of your fingers on the fretboard are called isotonic movements and can strain your finger tendons when you overuse your wrist and fingers while performing isotonic movements such as playing the guitar. Your tendons allow flexibility in your finger movements and overuse of your fingers and wrist can lead to pain and cramped movement from tendinitis or tendinopathy. Allowing your fingers and wrists sufficient rest can help prevent long-term injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, which can affect your ability to play the guitar. It is important to warm your hands and fingers and to relax and stretch your hands and fingers to avoid isotonic movement injuries.

The use of lighter strings will allow you to press down on the strings with less force, reducing the risk of injury which can lead to blisters and pain. The higher the action on your guitar’s fretboard the greater the force is required to press the strings down against the metal frets. Placing a capo on the neck will help lower the action and make it easier to press down the strings. When you first start out as a beginning guitar player the soft tissue on the tips of your fingers can experience repeated blunt force trauma from repeating contact with the hard metal fretboard frets. You risk permanent damage to the skin and nerves of your fingers if you continue to play while injured. Keeping your fingernails trimmed with help reduce stress and allow your fingers to properly press against the fretboard. A light touch will often give you the sound you want.

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