My fingers are killing me!

Ow.

Thank you for all you do to help newbies like me out. It's quite a big deal to know there are others out there willing to help answer questions.

I got a starter Mahalo for Christmas and ordered Aquilas (en route). Will those strings hurt less than the nylon I have now or is it something I just have to get used to no matter what? I was to the point last night I couldn't play chords without buzzing sounds from not being able to press hard enough against all the frets. Tequila helps but is expensive.

Is it better to wait until it doesn't hurt so much before playing more or to keep pushing through it to numb them up more?

I know, I'm a wuss. Feel free to yuck it up

Hi Mousenut,
Welcome to UU!
Keep practicing and it will get better in a week or two. You can break up your practice time into smaller chunks so your fingers can recover. I wouldn't keep playing if it hurts a lot, but a little discomfort is normal. Some strings are easier on the fingers than others, especially light tension types. So, keep the uke handy, and pick it up several times a day for short practice sessions, and you should be fine in no time. Make sure you moisturize your hands so the callouses don't get dry and crack or peel away. You want them to stay on the ends of your fingers.
–Lori

Hi mousenut, what you are going through. Is normal, although from what I've read around the forum, inexpensive Mahalo's are
not not known to be the best instruments out of the box. I'm sure new Aquila strings will help the sound but you may be dealing with an unusually high action and that would cause you to press harder to get a clean note when fretting a chord. I'm a newbie so wait for the experts advice. Mine would be to look at a better starter uke. Although I do like a good Tequila too
I'd recomend not playing when you are in pain, take a break. Your playing session will get longer and longer as the caluses develope.
DAP

I agree, practice will make things much better for you. Don't sweat it.

And if you really want to make progress, take up bass for a while, then switch to uke. After that, you'll hardly even feel the uke strings.

-Pete

They'll toughen up, so don't despair. Moisturizer is a good tip, and some tylenol!

I just started playing as well. I have aquilas on my uke and my fingers are still hurting somewhat after a bit of practicing. If it makes you feel better its seemed to get better/easier every day since i've started. Haven't tried the moisturizer. But I have been breaking up my practice. One thing that seems to be working for me is finding the chords that are hardest for me and holding them and strumming for a few minutes without changing chords, just holding and strumming. It gets pretty unpleasant, but seems to be helping quite a bit.

It's like Conan and the wheel of pain. Maybe I'll come out of it looking like he did, sadly, I'm certain our singing will be pretty even up.

I had to ask the wife for a nail file 2 days ago. How sad is that

mousenut said:

I had to ask the wife for a nail file 2 days ago. How sad is that

Click to expand...

Wait until you ask her to manicure your picking fingers with polish and all...



:biglaugh:

mousenut said:

I had to ask the wife for a nail file 2 days ago. How sad is that

Click to expand...

Actually, yes get your own I just bought my own. It's pretty, with a courser tan side and on the other side, half is blue for fine and the other half is pink for polishing...now that's sad, DAP

Most beginners use too much pressure while playing chords.
Experiment a little, you need enough pressure to get a clear tone, but not a death grip.
It might help your fingers along with speeding up the transition from chord to chord.
Hang in there as your callouses build on your finger tips. You will soon be a hardened and seasoned player.

I'm kind of in the same situation, have my new mahalo for Christmas, so been playing a similar time, and already have my new aquila strings on. I used to play guitar and violin as a child, and unfortunately have forgotten most of it, but what has remained is the lightish hold in order to make note/chord changing easier, more efficient and ultimately less painful. I haven't had much of a problem as yet with too much pain, but my husband was playing today for the first time and he was in serious pain after a session and I explained to him it's his grip on the ukulele, and he needed to bring his thumb down so it was floating behind the neck of the ukulele rather than firmly grasping on top. After this he was more comfortable. But to answer your question, these aquilas are probably less painful than the original thick nylon strings supplied with the Mahalo.

fiona said:

But to answer your question, these aquilas are probably less painful than the original thick nylon strings supplied with the Mahalo.

Click to expand...

Awesome! TYVM, I figure I can tie up a victim soon enough and make tham listen to my playing with the old "strings" (read-cables).

knadles said:

I agree, practice will make things much better for you. Don't sweat it.

And if you really want to make progress, take up bass for a while, then switch to uke. After that, you'll hardly even feel the uke strings.

-Pete

Click to expand...

And he's not talking U-bass, either! My upright bass calluses are more toward the pads of the fingers instead of the tips, so I have two sets.

SailingUke said:

Most beginners use too much pressure while playing chords.
Experiment a little, you need enough pressure to get a clear tone, but not a death grip.
It might help your fingers along with speeding up the transition from chord to chord.
Hang in there as your callouses build on your finger tips. You will soon be a hardened and seasoned player.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that advice. I'll try out using less pressure next time I practice. .....so probably in about 30 minutes. ha ha ha.

i run my fingers in cool water if my fingers hurt after the cool water im fine to play for another 2 to 3 hours

I've been going to beginning uke classes with Mike DaSilva in Berkeley and he suggests pressing the strings right up near the fret, not in the middle. It takes less pressure to hold the string down there than it does to hold it smack in the middle between the frets. That might help a bit with your finger soreness.

Another tip from Mike: try squeezing and releasing each time you strum down. As you get better with placing your fingers take your fingers further off the strings then bring them back down into position and squeeze as you start the downstrum. Each time you squeeze and release your brain records the muscle movement, so it's even more effective at training your brain and fingers than holding the chord continuously. Either way will build your calluses though!

It sucks, but stick at it.

I wrote a short blog post about it here http://gotaukulele.blogspot.com/2010/10/beginner-tips-ouch-my-fingers-hurt.html

Dont give up!

To stop your fingers from hurting, follow this simple procedure:

Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. And have a glass of wine to relax.

Repeat until the pain goes away or you stop noticing it.

Aloha!

I just wanted to drop in a little wimp's advice.

use a capo at the 1st fret. You can combine this with tuning the uke one half step down before doing so, so you end up with the same tuning again...

Both actions will _significantly_ lower the amount of pressure required to fret the strings. You will be amazed how easly your uke plays now

Practicing with this setting will still be enough to start building calluses. You can later increase the tuning step by step up to ADF#B, which increases string tension. As soon this doesn't hurt any longer you won't need the capo any more at GCEA. However you will want to optimize your nut now to get almost the same good low action as you enjoyed with the capo. This will also improve intonation.

Regards
Wilfried

I always think back to an old song from many years ago, I know it relates to a guitar but suspect all stringed instruments fall into this catagory.. Guitar talking Blues.... Sore fingers feature there too.. Practice and patience. the only remedy..