Finger Tip Dents & Clear Chords

[Greg]

Hi all – So I’ve been practicing/playing for a couple of weeks now and I’ve noticed that the longer I practice the more difficult it is to play clean sounding chords. My calluses are building but it almost seems as if the “dents” in my finger tips are deeper or don’t bounce back the longer I play and it is harder to get a clean sound and I wind up pressing down harder on the strings. My guess is that tension is not my friend when changing chords. Is this common? Do I just need to be patient as the calluses become firmer or is there something else I should be trying?

Discussion

[Vianney]

Hi Greg, I’m having the same problem. I’ve been playing for a few weeks as well. After about 20 minutes of practice, a dent appears on each fingertip, the strings set themselves in there and start buzzing, even if I press pretty hard.

I suppose we need to be patient and our fingertips will get a little tougher. At least they are not so sore anymore, just a little too soft still.

[Tomas]

Hi Greg,

Over time the calluses on your finger will get harder. It has the effect of not only making it firmer when you press down the note but also reducing the pain. It really is just part of a process.

There’s another thing going on. You’re making subtle adjustments on how you angle your fingers and where you place them on the fretboard. It’s not something you usually get just right in the first few weeks… Or even months.

Pressing harder is not the only way to reduce the buzzing. But it usually takes a while to figure out the subtle movements.

[Author]

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