Kevin's Korner - I Got Blisters On Me Fingers!!!

It happens quite often that a customer will come in to the shop telling us that playing guitar hurts their fingers, or with a story of how they tried to learn guitar years ago but it was too hard on their hands.  Now, this is true:  playing guitar can hurt because your hands and fingers aren't used to contorting into the odd shapes required to form certain chords, and the strings can cause your finger tips to be sore after practicing.  This is normal and natural; just keep it up and eventually you're muscles will adapt and you'll form calluses and, before you know it, it won't hurt!

The flip side of that coin is that sometimes the pain is the fault of the instrument.  When instruments are not set up properly, the height of the strings can be too high, causing the instrument to be almost unplayable, and your fingers and hands to hurt more than they should. Often a beginner won't be aware that their instrument can be made to play easier and just figure that it's too hard and they give up.

A 'Set-Up' is like an oil change and tune up for your car; it's something that every instrument needs from time to time.  So if your fingers are hurting, bring your instrument down to us for evaluation.  We can help to make sure your instrument is as playable as possible so that it keeps you playing and enjoying every minute of it.