Learning to Play Guitar

If you are planning to learn the guitar or have already started to learn how to play it, you will go through a number of growing pains. Although the guitar on one of the easier musical instruments to learn this does not mean that it will be pain free. One of the first things you will notice when you first start playing is that your fingers become sore. This article will explain why this happens and what you can do about it.

The bad news is that sore or painful fingers is something that you will have to put up with. It is a rights of passage in your guitar learning experience. It happens because you are doing something that is quite new and alien to your fingers. The skin of the fingers is quite soft and sensitive. That's kind of what it was designed for since our fingers are organs of touch.

However the first thing you have to do to learn the guitar is press steel or nylon strings on to the fretboard in order to practice playing notes, chords and songs. As this is not a natural thing to do and understanding how to get the fingering right takes time, it is safe to say that your fingers will be getting quite a workout.

Inevitably, they will start to feel sore. Bryan Adams played his guitar till his fingers bled but that was back in the summer of 69. I'd suggest simply taking a break these days if your fingers show signs of bleeding or long before that happens in fact. If your fingers are sore stop playing for a while. What's the hurry anyway.

As you practice more often the fingers (or the skin on the fingers) will toughen up and you will stop feeling the pain. Unfortunately you will get painful fingers when you first start but this will soon fade once you have been playing for a while. If it continues or you really can't stand the pain then you can think about getting lighter strings or changing the action of the strings.