Play 'til you bleed?

[Eclectifish]

Anyone ever had to play for so long you were in pain. Once I had 3 gigs in one day. The first was on Cello for the local symphony (yes, I do that too), then I had a gig with a local wedding band (4 hours) followed up by sitting in as a replacement for a friend in a local blues band. The last two hour of the blues set, the strings felt like knives on my fingers. I gave up, tuned to an open G, and played slide the rest of the night (it's a good thing the blues gig was last instead of one of the other two).

[Kulla]

I`v praticed till it hurt befor. Really puching my limits till my hard went almost numb. But i play to much for normal playing to really cause any trouble. Unless! the strings are super super old and are really sharp lol.

[socialmisfit]

i remember my old band used to do all day saturday practises... from maybe 10 in the morning till 11 at night, and i was doing a solo with a full bend upwards on the 5th string and my skin was so chewed from playing all day the string went through the skin and about half a centimetre into the top of my finger :eek: . it hurt way too bad after that so i had to wrap electrical tape around it and try to play :(

[fornies]

i remember my old band used to do all day saturday practises... from maybe 10 in the morning till 11 at night, and i was doing a solo with a full bend upwards on the 5th string and my skin was so chewed from playing all day the string went through the skin and about half a centimetre into the top of my finger :eek: . it hurt way too bad after that so i had to wrap electrical tape around it and try to play :(

OUCH!!!
:eek:
I had to suck on my finger just reading that!!!

[socialmisfit]

yeah and I couldnt play any bends with that finger for like 2 weeks because it took so long to heal!

[GustavLesPaul]

**** man, serious playing injury i hear...

but, the one who plays the game have to take the consequenses (or something :D)

[Eclectifish]

The only injury I ever had was actually pretty bad. I was soldering some cables pre-gig and put my left hand down on the soldering iron. Got a 2nd degree burn out of it and still had to play the next 4 hours. There was much scotch involved.

[PhantomLord]

no pain no gain :p

[Fender Floyd]

When I first started finger picking on my electric I got to a point where my fingers bleed. I know my Bass buddy when he first got his Bass played Money all day straight and by the end of the day his fingers were raw as hell, some were beelding (he likes finger picking the bass).

[gtrhrcane]

pain yes, bleeding, not yet. It's wierd, I'm not usually happy with my session for a given day unless it does hurt. I'm contstantly trying to push the limits there.

That next day feeling in the fingertips... when you push on your callous pads and it has the little bite... I'm obsessed with constantly pushing on them all day.

Sometimes, if I don't have anymore time for the day, and I'm still relatively fresh... I'll try and burn out my remaining stamina real quick. What I mean is.... say you have about 5 minutes you can jam... I do the most strenuous things I can... as clean, as proper, but as fast and furious a I can... Like bar chords... I'll burn my hand out on them until it's nice and sore... then I feel like I maxed out my allotted time.

[Shaitan]

I did a gig where the band on before us had a "glass" accident. I was sorting out my wires for pedal board and slipped the cable between my fingers to straighten it out.

Whaddayaknow......a couple of slivers of glass on duct tape go straight into the top of my index finger. Had to play a 70min set with a shredded finger.

That hurt a little.

[0.1 watts]

you guys should never practise/play with dodgy fingers. There are many people Ive heard of who have suffer awful constant agony, because their hands have become bloated and unuseable from RSA (repetitive strain injury)

Basically it screws up your nerves in your hand, and its unhealable.

I have to use computers a lot, and my right hand is redder and slightly bloated in some areas where I rest it on the mouse on the desk, it doesnt hurt now, but it gets worse in later life. As a guitarist, I am screwing up my left hand as well!

Anyway if it hurts, STOP and have a long break doing something not involving hands (like watching guitar/music stuff on tv!)

[fornies]

The only injury I ever had was actually pretty bad. I was soldering some cables pre-gig and put my left hand down on the soldering iron. Got a 2nd degree burn out of it and still had to play the next 4 hours. There was much scotch involved.

Sounds like u need to use that cold heat thing.

[Sherman]

i have messed up my hand on me bass slapping.....only time i messed up hand of guitar was when i first started building up my fingers...heh

[mr mungbeen]

I know what you mean with RSI... When I was learning to play classical gas, I ended up with a really sore hands, but I was practicing the same song over and over again for hours each day. My teacher said to back off and vary my playing a bit it's not a good idea to do any repetitive movement constantly.

As far as other injuries go... Blisters, tenderness, callouses the ususal :)

[Sherman]

hehe yep do you know what song it was?

[mr mungbeen]

classical gas... originally by Mason Williams. This is the link I learnt it off... Fantastic tune if you're into fingerpicking.

http://www.wholenote.com/default.asp?iTarget=http%3A//www.wholenote.com/cgi-bin/page_view.pl%3Fl%3D2973%26p%3D1%26a%3D0

[Sherman]

thanks : ]

[mr mungbeen]

it's probly my favourite piece of music

[Asperjames]

when i first started, i played a lot more and my fingers hurted like hell. one time i was changing strings and got a huge gash in my left index..and didnt know it 'till i started playing. OUCH

[Haulinkin]

One time I got out of the shower... Yep that hurt. Nice soft skin, nice sharp strings, nice skin removal...

[Slipstream]

Years ago I sliced across the first knuckle of my left index finger. Took three stitches. After that I would play with my other three fingers while pointing my index finger outwards. Got pretty good at using my little finger, and I'm super comfortable with barre chords now. Every once in a while though I would forget and use the index finger. I ripped the stitches a few times. You'd think a guy would learn, but noooooooo. :)

[thaw]

i recently had my new bands first gig. And the week that it woz on, i got a thorn in between my finger and my nail on my left 3rd finger. So the only way to get it out was to cut half of the nail off. So all the nail that supports the finger was gone. We played a 70 minute set and my fretboard was nearly completly red. didnt hert at all though.

[ModestCargo]

My dad's drawn blood lots at gigs, from his picking hand, sometimes he tears some of the index finger nail off, or some skin off a finger.

[unclebobscircus]

My bass player popped this big blister on his thumb right in the middle of jazz band practice... he got goo and crap all over his strings, disgusting.

[Lazy Bee]

Years ago I was in a touring band. Full time, and I mean full time, four sets a night, five to six nights a week...forty to fifty weeks a year. We kept that schedule for eight years. Plus we were constantly rehearsing, when the clubs allowed you in by day. And then at night, in the hotels I played quite a bit. Our hands and fingers seemed invincible. I miss those days sometimes. Anyway, at the time and until recently I played bass exclusively. One night after a gig at the hotel I was working on a Billy Sheehan technique. where the right hand rolls three fingers on a triplet as fast as humanly possible. I had been building the speed for sometime and that night I arrived. Man I was in heaven. You could not have not locked in any tighter. I never felt it coming...POP...you could hear it since I was unplugged. Something in my hand and across my wrist went south. For 4 to 6 weeks, I forget now, I could barely play. But we did...I just limped along. I never again built back up to that speed. Not that I was limited physically, I just didn't go there again. Mental block maybe, I just stuck with Geddy Lee after that. He was enough of a challenge. Weird to think about it now, I surrendered I guess. Damn. now I'm bummed "I coulda been a contender"

[Ant Kiedis]

too bad, nothing ruins a new set of strings like blood ... believe me i know ...

[vixousegoldfish]

I havent had finger tip problems... they are each one solid peice... but a long time ago i was in a band and we had one song where it required hammering on bar chords in drop d and it made my fingers hurt pretty bad.

[mmchoppers]

I've been playin for two years every day, eccept when sick, but I have never had my fingers actually bleed. Omost,but that doesn't count.

[zero]

glad to hear this is normal...I've been playing about 3 weeks and my finger tips are basically numb all the time now. I was starting to get worried but now I hear this happens to people that have been playing a while I feel better

[PerianArdocyl]

you guys should never practise/play with dodgy fingers. There are many people Ive heard of who have suffer awful constant agony, because their hands have become bloated and unuseable from RSA (repetitive strain injury)

Basically it screws up your nerves in your hand, and its unhealable.

I have to use computers a lot, and my right hand is redder and slightly bloated in some areas where I rest it on the mouse on the desk, it doesnt hurt now, but it gets worse in later life. As a guitarist, I am screwing up my left hand as well!

Anyway if it hurts, STOP and have a long break doing something not involving hands (like watching guitar/music stuff on tv!)

Wow, that's helpful. I did notice a couple of night ago a pain in the callouse of my index finger. Every time I touched it it felt like a needle was stabbing it.

Then again, Rock 'n Roll is my whole world... :hmmm:

[_TorN_]

yeah and I couldnt play any bends with that finger for like 2 weeks because it took so long to heal!


I have done that too. The band I used to be in, we would practice from about 3 p.m. on Saturday til 2 or 3 in the morning. We always kept a supply of beer and the drummer had a margarita machine so after a couple of hours I felt so good I didnt even know I had fingers, much less that they were hurting. It's all worth it though in the long run. I look back and realize how much fun I had then.

[Stray Dog]

One day I decided to play slap bass on my strat for a day.
Damn I had a huge blister on my thumb for a few weeks after that.

[kuchuk]

I definetly not recommend playin' until you bleed... when practising just go look over theory.. and when on stage just.. easy up.. find a way out.. you don't wanna get permanently hurt.. don't let this guitar take over your life..
"we may be humans.. but we're still animals" ;) :D

[GTblair]

The only injury Ive had from playin guitar was when I was changing strings and one of the fine strings stabbed me palm-a pin *****. BUT, when I was playing bass in a rock band we would all get drunk and play like 35 plus songs and I would get blisters that would then pop and then bleed. That hurt. Rock n Roll!!!

[ProGuitarN00b]

I actually did that last week. I was bored and had nothing else to do, so i played the guitar basically all day. By the time I couldn't play any more, my index finger and pinkie were all cut open. Good Times :cool:

[shake a leg]

when i first started playing guitar i started on an encore acoustic. It was brand new and i didnt know at the time but i had a set of steel 11s on it. I was really keen and played it a least 4hours a day, and my fingers were getting completely sjredded to bits i mean there were bits of skin actually peeling off!!!! Three years later and ive got calluses stronger than iron.

[momadaboo]

First time I picked up a guitar I played EVH's Eruption and when I finished all the fingers on my left hand fell off... wasn't a problem though, the doctors fixed them up just fine and I was playing again in no time.

[elvisdudette]

you guys remember that "things your afraid of" thread? well remember that sick pic that was photoshoped of the fingers? my calluses are starting to look like that :eek: lol

[Jimmy_Page]

The only injury i got when i was playing guitar was sliding on my high e and it sliced it.

[Silenus]

First time I picked up a guitar I played EVH's Eruption and when I finished all the fingers on my left hand fell off... wasn't a problem though, the doctors fixed them up just fine and I was playing again in no time.

REALLY ?? :jump7:

[Bowie]

The only injury i got when i was playing guitar was sliding on my high e and it sliced it.


I've actually feared this.

[NinjaBoat]

Pete Townsend style windmill thing + no pick = ouch.

[Rocker911]

All You Guys Are Lucky, at least all you guys are in a band.

[Rocker911]

Weel at least i know youre supposed to bleed, so now im not alone

[adgardad]

Back in '76, when I and my guitar playing buddy were both teenagers, we went to the Bean Blossom, IN bluegrass festival. We were there for a week and jammed nonstop while we were there. Our fingers were so sore and my buddy Rick developed blood blisters on the ends of his left hand fingers.
A guy that used to play doghouse bass with us would develop blisters on the ends of his right fingers that sometimes looked like grapes. That was awful. He ended up using an archery glove to protect his fingers.

[S_C_L-1]

Aye! even a mediocre guitar player like myself has had his injuries... i started on the classical guitar... nice soft strings they are! to my surprise, electric guitars dont forgive the huge bends... after the first month, i was playing 6 hrs straight every day... some days, id tear off at least a cm of skin on each left hand finger... and since im very big on video games... and always on the computer... i got carpel tunnel in both wrists... so now i have to wear 2 wrist braces when im not playing... ill try and get a photo of my deformed wrist... theres a huge bulge sticking out of the top when i bend it... go easy on ur hands guys... they dont heal as much or as fast as you think... many a good guitarist had to put a stop to their careers because of things like that...

[Slush]

I can play all day long with no problems. I get the odd blister occasionally.
I usually play for 3 or 4 hours per day.

[PerianArdocyl]

All You Guys Are Lucky, at least all you guys are in a band.

Not quite. :( :( :(

[Rising Force]

yeah mainly through practice, I started developing RSI and had to calm myself, i also took cod liver oil as my wrists and elbows started to crack and become stiff. Its pretty much all gone now since i learnt to warm up gentle and gradually with simple, slow scales and chords. Also massaging the hands and get the blood flowing helps alot. I developed very hard calous on my fingers and there were many times I had blisters and cut fingers, but thats what makes ur skin tougher heh. I often find taking a break really helps your playing too, I have left my guitar for a week or two, come back to it and been better than ever! Sometime too much practice will just ruin you.

[Smallfrie_Omega]

yeah mainly through practice, I started developing RSI and had to calm myself, i also took cod liver oil as my wrists and elbows started to crack and become stiff. Its pretty much all gone now since i learnt to warm up gentle and gradually with simple, slow scales and chords. Also massaging the hands and get the blood flowing helps alot. I developed very hard calous on my fingers and there were many times I had blisters and cut fingers, but thats what makes ur skin tougher heh. I often find taking a break really helps your playing too, I have left my guitar for a week or two, come back to it and been better than ever! Sometime too much practice will just ruin you.

i agree with that... i haven't played the electric in days. just the acoustic.. came back to it .. and the strings were light as heck and very easy to push down ... and minutes later i was jamming ... made up an awesome Riff. :D

[Saorse]

I've had this feeling a few times, one in particular, although not near as drastic as the string-into-skin story I read on the first page. G'darn...

I was at a little family get together this summer, first get together I ever jumped in on, and after about the ... well, about the 7th hour or so, somewhere in that ball game, I tried a twelve string. First time ever. Most beautiful thing I ever played in my life. Went back to my six string, pressed down on Em, and the pain shot like a lightning bolt, from the fingers on my left hand to the shoulder on my right. Was a delightful experience, of course. :p

[almost a regula]

you guys remember that "things your afraid of" thread? well remember that sick pic that was photoshoped of the fingers? my calluses are starting to look like that :eek: lol

aaaaaaw can someone give me a link to this thing :D

[Vash854]

I think the worst thing that can happen to you is if your nail rips out of your finger...pretty crazy.

[dave frusciante]

anyone else chew on their calluses? I love chewing dead skin, dont know why. Probably is the reason i dont have permanent calluses and it hurts too play for longer than an hour straight. Also, i cant stand any strings thinner than tens, cause the B and high E strings just hurt my fingers. poor me. i think ill go play guitar.

[Vash854]

anyone else chew on their calluses? I love chewing dead skin, dont know why. Probably is the reason i dont have permanent calluses and it hurts too play for longer than an hour straight. Also, i cant stand any strings thinner than tens, cause the B and high E strings just hurt my fingers. poor me. i think ill go play guitar.

I have two guitar lessons a week for 1.5-2 hours and my fingers don't hurt, I use 9's with reg top.

Maybe it my fingers, lol I used to play acoutsic for a while.

[almost a regula]

I think the worst thing that can happen to you is if your nail rips out of your finger...pretty crazy.

that happend to my dad but he doesnt play guitar he builds houses and he fell into his saw only took his nail off