Fingers

[ImagineBagism]

I was in the studio with this one guy and he went to the bathroom and filled up a bowl full of hot hot water. then he soaked his hands in it. so ofcoarse that thing called curiosity came around so i asked what are you doing. he said if you soak your hands in it for 5 minutes it opens your pours giving you a clean/brighter tone. so i was wondering if any of you out there could advise me on if this works.(ive tried it but my hands are beat from playing all these years)


What a Splinded head, Yet no Brain

[StoneDragon]

I'm not buying the open pores business... but it's a good way to warm up and loosen the muscles and tendons in your hands.

[Sixstring]

Some musicians are as superstitious as baseball players! :D

It's great for warming up, as Stone said, but your pores won't effect your tone. I like clean, warm hands when I play, but if you soak too long you also soften up your callouses, so it's a catch-22.

If you want a cleaner, brighter tone, adjust your treble. ;)

[fish]

Some musicians are as superstitious as baseball players! :D

It's great for warming up, as Stone said, but your pores won't effect your tone. I like clean, warm hands when I play, but if you soak too long you also soften up your callouses, so it's a catch-22.

If you want a cleaner, brighter tone, adjust your treble. ;)

The fact that I get your quote is a little worrying :rolleyD:

[JimmyBlood]

I'm wierd about that too... even at shows I cannot play without washing my hands!

J.

[spyder_sniper]

I'm not buying the open pores business... but it's a good way to warm up and loosen the muscles and tendons in your hands.
My position on this as well.

--j

[Sixstring]

I can relate. I have a clean hands fetish. I wash them and keep a towel handy to wipe them off on once in a while. I intentionally leave half the towel a little wet.

I don't mind if they're soaked with sweat because they slide easily, but I hate that in-between stick-to-the-neck-you-ain't-slidin-nowhere-boy! stage! :)

If all else fails, I'll dip my hand in my drinking water and dry them off. Of course, then the thing to do is promptly take a drink of the water! :thumbs:

[spyder_sniper]

But even with a clean hand fetish, you wouldn't want to OPEN your pours, or they'd get all oily and/or sweaty... Right?

--j

[Sixstring]

Oh no, I'm all in favor of open pores. I love 'em! I just don't think they will effect my tone. :D

[motorhead_6]

I soak my fingertips in hot salt water to help the skin on my fingertips stay strong and calloused but not before I play just whenever but not before I play.

[0.1 watts]

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[0.1 watts]

Warming up your hands before playing is essential to keep ur guitar clean AND it makes playing so much easier. If i come home out of the cold my hands can barely move, however washing them just in hot water doesnt fix it straight away, so this is my procedure:

1 - Wash hands in boiling hot water
2 - Dry really thoroughly
3 - Clench and unclench a fist until you have better movement in your fingers
4 - Do some finger exercises on the guitar (chromatics, stretches) for 5 minutes

Ok maybe I am a bit sad to do all that but it really helps.

[Crayonman]

I find washing your hands does seem to make it easier to play...

From cracking my knuckles so much since 4th grade I can crack them when just making a fist, it makes my fingers all goofy feeling and I cant play that fast...

Is the knuckle thing different for some people?

[YowhatsupT]

haha i dont worry about my hands.....i just play and play that guitar hard....

[Slipstream]

Warm clean hands is good, but I have to let my fingers dry for at least an hour before playing if I do dishes or take a shower. If I rinse my hands during a break, I make it brief and dry 'em right away.

[Brendo613]

I've found that this acid-like residue emits from my pores if I don't properly take care of them :mf:. I don't know what/s with this family trait, but we tend to turn cheap metal green, and I turn a new set of guitar strings (electric or acoustic) black in the first two days of playing, which only gets worse from then on in :verysad:. For a while I was severly plagued by this, as I obviously can't be changing my strings every day :scared:! I started washing my hands every time before I played, only to find that it made no difference :sick:. How annoying! My brand new strings kept becoming old very quickly. I was struck with a dilemma, too, because I wouldn't want new strings all of the time ... I can't STAND that chimy, plastic sound associated with new wound strings. The top unwound strings don't seem to benefit a better tone from prolonged playing; rather, I find that they merely become black and hard to bend :rolleyes:. I was soon struck with an ideer ...

I wondered what would happen if I wiped down my strings with rubbing alcohol after every time I play. I put new strings on my Tele and Les Paul copies to initiate the study. I figured that I wouldn't clean the strings after the first two playings, because I could see how quickly they turned black, and I could see the buildup ... I couldn't believe it, after 15 minutes of play on BRAND-NEW strings, they already started to turn :eek2:! I then started to clean them with a lint-free cloth and 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (same as rubbing alcohol). I couldn't believe it, all of that black dirt that plagued me for so long was now in my control, on a piece of cloth in front of me :headbang:.

So long as that horrible new-string sound is gone from the wound strings, I can be very happy with the same set of strings for a while :cool2:. Remember, a cleaner string bends easier, too! Listen to what I can do now (www.soundclick.com/BrendanS)!

=Brendan= :roll:

[AndyVX]

I just start playing. Seems to work for me. :)

[Mroberge]

Must be a guitarist thing with clean hands. I never had a fetish until I started playing. Now I notice my dirty hands even when I'm not playing!

[t_shirtsnjeans]

It depends on which guitar of mine I play. If I pick up my Slammer, or Electra, or the ol' Fender musicmaster I won't bother washing my hands, the necks are bare and the oils on my hands makes for better sliding.
When I play my Strat, LP Custom, with finished necks then I'll wash my hands thoroughly with soap and water and make sure my hands are completely dry so I can slide, or I can sweat like crazy and the slide is easy, but it's the inbetween that bugs me because my hands stick to the neck.
I guess whatever works works.