Fingertips - ouch!

rlw

Been learning for the last month and taking about eight to ten hours per week.   My fingertips felt sunburned at first, then got some hard skin forming and have now gone a but numb.  Consequently, cannot feel exactly what is going on and fretting is quite difficult to judge, with third finger sliding all over the place on the higher strings.

Question being, is this par for the course.........?

VimFuego

hmmm, best guess is your pressing too hard. Are you mostly playing acoustic? If so, try playing electric. If you're playing electric, could be the action is too high or your string gauge is too big. Some soreness is normal (well, it's is for me, I mostly play acoustic) but numb fingertips is a bigger issue than mere soreness.

There are exercises you can do where you focus, very slowly, on applying just enough pressure to cleanly fret the note. Think I saw them on Justin Sandercoes website. 

HAL9000

Skin hardening is par for the course. Numb fingers shouldn't be. Don't try and play through the numbness, but take things easy for a bit. Also, if you're getting numbness I'd suggest you're using more pressure on the strings than you really need to. You should only need light pressure - if you need more then you need to look at your technique and/or the action of the guitar.

ElectroDan

I've been playing over 20 years and have never really developed callouses on the ends of my fingers. I suppose your individual biology will decide if you do or not. Also if these are particularly thick then it could hamper your feeling of the string beneath them.

My finger tips are a little de-sensitised, but if yours are as numb as you are saying then a trip to the doc's might be a good idea just to rule out any potential long term harm.

Roland

When you first learn to play it's natural to press too hard, and that's where the calluses come from. They also can go a little numb right on the tips. My finger tips used to be quite solid, and the dry skin would come off in shreds if I didn't play for a few days. Pressing too hard was the problem.  It hurts your fingers, not just the tips, but also puts unnecessary pressure on muscles and ligaments.  It also contributes to fret and string wear, and slows down your playing. As others have said, learn how much pressure is needed, and only apply it for the note duration (using left hand damping). Forty something years later my left hand finger tips are almost as soft as my right.

stickyfiddle

Everyone starts by pressing too hard. You'll learn to gauge it as time goes on and the callouses will lessen. I had more fretwear in my first year of playing than I have in the entirety of the 13 years since. 

rlw

Thanks chaps.  Pressing too hard does seem like the problem so a bit more technique to be learned here.  I have been following the Justin Sandercoe course and have noted his comments on finger pressure but just can't quite make it work yet.  Mind you, only four weeks in so I shouldn't be too surprised.

mike_l

I'd suggest doing 15-30 minutes practise at a time.

2x30 min sessions = 1 hour, but put a gap between them.

Once you'e built up your hand strength then start practising for longer times.