Well thats a new pain (thumb issues) pic

look where its pink

ok so i come from gutar so my fret hand is having no problem adjustuing, but i am new to this whole "no pick" thing and im learning all the cool strumming patterns and got chucking down.

The problem is that my thumb on my strum hand is getting lots of rubbing on the up strokes. Basically if you are looking at your thumb with the nail facing you, just below the nail on the left 'corner' just below the cuticle. Now is this normal? never had this specific pain before. Will that part of my thumb eventually callous?

I don't know where you're "supposed" to up strum with your thumb and I don't do it much but but when I do it's more in this area:

Since no one has responded. I used to have some problems with cuticles,redness,etc. I can't explain why I have no issues now, but it all went away and haven't had any problems since. I briefly used some tape. Looks like where your thumb is up-strumming is where mine contacts. I just checked.

BlueLatitude said:

I don't know where you're "supposed" to up strum with your thumb and I don't do it much but but when I do it's more in this area:

View attachment 46927

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:agree: - I do this quite a lot and, for me, the whole idea is to get the strong tone of the nail striking the strings coming back up. I wonder if you're banging your thumb against the edge of the fretboard coming up? In any case, try to change your angle of attack so the end of the thumbnail is the part hitting the strings.

John

@aperseghin - I figured out what you're doing "wrong." When you play guitar with a pick your arm/wrist/hand are typically parallel with the strings and very close to them. When playing uke (or even guitar) with your fingers what you want to do is move your arm further out and bend your fingers down so they are pointing at the strings. You can bend your wrist slightly if it is comfortable (if you get any pain at all in the wrist go back to a straight wrist). Anyway, this will place your thumb where it will be at roughly a 45 degree angle to the strings and you will strike them with the nail about where BlueLatitude illustrated. You will also find that the down strums with your index finger (or two or three of your fingers if doing a fan or chunk) will ring more clearly as it will be the back of your nail hitting the strings.

John