What should good calluses look like?

[Marn99]

So shortly before things had to be quarantined here in WI, I bought a Epiphone, my first acoustic. Before that point, I really only knew as much as being a luthier required of me, ie listening for fret buzzes, intonating, basic chords, etc etc. Now that I have an acoustic, however, I've been playing A LOT due to the quarantine, and I have very quickly built up calluses. Now, I have been playing violin for 12 years, and I had calluses before this, but the ones I built up playing violin looked nothing like my guitar calluses at the moment. My calluses are thick, and cover the entire tip of the finger, but the top layer always looks flaky. Now, I know I am a hard player, I press hard playing violin as well, but do guitar calluses need to be dressed with an emery stick or something? Am I playing wrong?

 

[DrPepper]

Don't play with wet fingers. We're all different, no standard "look".... I wouldn't sand/dress them and take it easy if one peels/flakes off...

 

[DavidP]

Let natural skin exfoliation take its course... I have string grooves in my callouses from constant playing -- I wear them like a badge of honour.
Time for a short story... Quite a few years ago, I met someone at some non-music function and was introduced as a 'guitar player' or something to that effect... There was some unwarranted skepticism about that claim, and as there wasn't a guitar handy to validate my expertise, I displayed my 'grooved callouses' and that was met with an 'oooohhh'!!

 

[TeleTucson]

Clearly if you aspire to play like SRV, they need to be like this!

 

[Timjag]

Welcome to being a guitar player! They flake! and if you bend Strings they come off from time to time and mine have a concave To them! A never played the fiddle but I play double bass too, blisters is the issue there, but guitar calluses are a very specific thing!

 

[Thebluesman]

Leave them alone.AVOID playing the gtr immediately after WASHING HANDS!allow 20-30mins for the skin to return to ''normal''-Skin EMITS 'natural grease',a natural 'LUBRICATION' washing removes it...DRYS the SKIN.AVOID moisturizer too! no benefit[Softens]calluses...[Smells ok though but...]

 

[Bergy]

What you've experiencing is pretty common when you play a lot of guitar. Calluses are just layers and layers of dead skin cells and when a bunch of layers accumulate they start flaking off like that as you play. If they get really ragged I'll cut them down a bit so they don't catch on anything. The only time I'll worry about sanding anything is if after I cut off a really thick flake, if I can still feel the base of where that flake was when I am playing guitar...I've used emory on those. You need to be a bit careful about just ripping the puppies off, not surprisingly calluses will resist tearing lol. I've tried to quickly rip off flakes before and had the whole calluse rip out and start tearing into the adjacent (non callused) skin.

 

[Fretting out]

Mine look normal to me whatever normal is, I’ve never had a problem with them flaking or anything, mine are more like permanently thick skin
My fretting fingers don’t really look different from my picking fingers and someone would probably be hard pressed to tell I play guitar by looking at them

I guess everyone is different

Most of the advice above seems sound

 

[Thebluesman]

I'd be more anxious...if my fret finger tips started to wear away,and the fingers begin to loose there length!

 

[P Thought]

Like Fretting out's, if I understand what he's saying correctly, mine don't look any different than my other hand, but they're fine. They used to flake and peel, until they got built up. Keep playing!

 

[ASATKat]

The more your fingers can regulate the sweating that goes on. I just will my fingers to stay dry and they seem to obey. My calluses are firm and never tear. And I bend a lot,,, but then I have a light calculated touch, I don't pound away.

I pity players that live where it's hot and super humid. I live in Sonoma County Ca. It's a minimal sweat place to live on a hot day.

Antiperspirant on the tips, just a little bit, rub it in, wipe it off. It also makes strings fast and is fine with the metal. Plus your fingers will no longer smell.

 

[Chiogtr4x]

Like these, 46 years!

( Honestly despite these thick calluses and string indents, the nerve endings on the 'other side' still hurt like hell, from constant gigs/,playing ( well, till March 15, my last gig)

My fingertips some times feel ( say after 2 acoustic sets, 1 to go) like they are touching an iron:

 

[P-Nutz]

I've played since I was six, currently with two bands; I'm 59 ... little pads, but no "real" callouses ...

 

[scooteraz]

I would have posted my calluses, but they look like these. Really, not a lot to look at from a photo.

Like these, 46 years!

( Honestly despite these thick calluses and string indents, the nerve endings on the 'other side' still hurt like hell, from constant gigs/,playing ( well, till March 15, my last gig)

View attachment 718689 My fingertips some times feel ( say after 2 acoustic sets, 1 to go) like they are touching an iron:

 

[Torren61]

So shortly before things had to be quarantined here in WI, I bought a Epiphone, my first acoustic. Before that point, I really only knew as much as being a luthier required of me, ie listening for fret buzzes, intonating, basic chords, etc etc. Now that I have an acoustic, however, I've been playing A LOT due to the quarantine, and I have very quickly built up calluses. Now, I have been playing violin for 12 years, and I had calluses before this, but the ones I built up playing violin looked nothing like my guitar calluses at the moment. My calluses are thick, and cover the entire tip of the finger, but the top layer always looks flaky. Now, I know I am a hard player, I press hard playing violin as well, but do guitar calluses need to be dressed with an emery stick or something? Am I playing wrong?

 

[Fretting out]

View attachment 718655

Clearly if you aspire to play like SRV, they need to be like this!

I went looking for this picture and found a story about when he’d get holes in his fingers,
he’d fill them with baking soda then squirt super glue on them after that he’d press them into the palm of his other hand until they stuck and dried then would rip away some fresh skin with them kind of making a new skin patch on his finger tips

Is it true? After seeing that picture it seems at least plausible

 

[EsquireBoy]

Ben McLeod’s fretting hand after a tour with All Them Witches (that’s a picture he posted on Instagram, I hope it’s ok). It hurts just looking at it. That’s what you get playing 2 hours long sweaty gigs everyday for a couple of months.

My own after 30 years of playing everyday: as several have already stated above, my calluses used to flake a lot and they felt thicker for the first 10 years. Now they don’t really, but I’ve worked a lot on relaxing my grip.
Ok, playing mostly flatwounds and bending less and less helps a lot too

 

[EsquireBoy]

I went looking for this picture and found a story about when he’d get holes in his fingers,
he’d fill them with baking soda then squirt super glue on them after that he’d press them into the palm of his other hand until they stuck and dried then would rip away some fresh skin with them kind of making a new skin patch on his finger tips

Is it true? After seeing that picture it seems at least plausible

That’s what I read too, although I think it was more likely skin from his thighs, rather than from his other hand.
Do you imagine the nice hairy fingertips resulting from that practice ?

 

[beagle]

After playing for over 50 years, I don't really have calluses any more either. I certainly still remember them though, from the cheap guitars with high action and horrible strings back in the 1970s.

 

[Timjag]

Ben McLeod’s fretting hand after a tour with All Them Witches (that’s a picture he posted on Instagram, I hope it’s ok). It hurts just looking at it. That’s what you get playing 2 hours long sweaty gigs everyday for a couple of months.
View attachment 718752

My own after 30 years of playing everyday: as several have already stated above, my calluses used to flake a lot and they felt thicker for the first 10 years. Now they don’t really, but I’ve worked a lot on relaxing my grip.
Ok, playing mostly flatwounds and bending less and less helps a lot too
View attachment 718753

looking at that ben McCleod pic, I thought “I don’t know how he’d do that, and why are They purple? is he a petuli oil wearing sabbath riffer in dyed Levis?” Googled him - yep!

great band!