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finger gets torn up while playing


bluesguyjon

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When I play, a lot of times when I've been strumming hard for a while (which happens a lot, especially live) the skin right below my index fingernail starts scraping against the strings and starts to get torn up, and eventually skin gets taken off and it starts bleeding sometimes.

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So aside from the obvious don't strum so f&*%ing hard idiot, I'd like to know if anyone else has had this problem and what they've done to help get rid of it. When I'm playing in front of a crowd with a band I get into it like anyone else and the concept of taking it easy on the strumming sometimes isn't the greatest.

My solution that's worked (sort of) OK is before a show putting a band aid over that area, but more often then not it'll slip off from my hands being sweaty or it'll get torn up too. Thanks!

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Sounds like a defective digit to me. poke.gif

It's probably best to remove it before it gets infected or squirts blood into the audience. If you're in a hurry, a Dremel #EZ545 should do the trick. If you're more old fashioned, an X-acto #18 blade and a small hammer will give that "one of a kind" look so popular with the ladies. Use a thumb pick until the surgery heals enough to use your middle finger.


As an alternate plan: And I know this works, because somewhere in the past I found myself ripping that finger right at the cuticle ..... A light coating of quick setting two-part clear epoxy (it's waterproof) on top of the finger, while you learn not to scrape that finger anymore.
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Paul

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I have a callus there so it doesn`t bleed anymore. I know lots of serious rhythm players, both bluegrass and Gypsy Jazz that do the very same thing. My friend Pete has a bloody stump usually around Sunday of Winfield from playing so much fast, hard bluegrass. He can also play just about any Django song you can name.

On a side note when I hear this "Been doing it for a zillion years" i usually think so what? The maddest I ever made my father was when he was struggling to hook up a stereo. I offered to help,being pretty good at that sort of thing when his ego got the best of him and he screamed at me "I`VE BEEN DOING THIS BEFORE YOU WERE BORN" I then said "Well maybe you`ve been doing it wrong all those years"..That was the closest we ever got into a major physical confrontation.

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Okay, I read through this thread a couple times now and after the first run through (with fewer posts) I thought WTF. How does a person make string contact on that side of the finger and that far back from the nail? I might get it if a pick is not used and the fingernail is really short between cuticle and quick. I tried to play in a way to make contact on that part of the finger and it was nearly impossible for me to do and actually get a proper strum going. I know: define "proper". I have to think hand positioning and technique are wrong and (furthermore) completely out of kilter for any hope for transitioning to fingerstyle. But, I can see a future for frailing a banjo.

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Quote Originally Posted by Pitar View Post
Okay, I read through this thread a couple times now and after the first run through (with fewer posts) I thought WTF. How does a person make string contact on that side of the finger and that far back from the nail? I might get it if a pick is not used and the fingernail is really short between cuticle and quick. I tried to play in a way to make contact on that part of the finger and it was nearly impossible for me to do and actually get a proper strum going. I know: define "proper". I have to think hand positioning and technique are wrong and (furthermore) completely out of kilter for any hope for transitioning to fingerstyle. But, I can see a future for frailing a banjo.
I think your observations are right on. Not generally using a pick on acoustic guitar myself, I sometimes get that thing going like a frailing position, for the lack of a better term. However when I do that, my first three fingers make contact with the strings and my ring finger actually takes the brunt of contact. However, it doesn't seem to do any real damage, mainly because I try to change playing techniques from song to song.

I do have the problem with my index fingers, mainly my chording hand but both have a tendency to tear. Now THAT can be painful.
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