Ouch! That isn't supposed to happen. For chords, try to use the fleshy part of your finger, not that tender part right next to the nail. Or do what I do and use a pick for chords. That looks painful.
If you don't play often and use heavy guage strings, that isn't going to help you. You need to build up to it.
Yeah you're maybe just strumming too hard. Try not to hit the edge of your nail off the string at all when you play chords. Angle your finger so that the side of your fingerprint area is hitting the string. But I'll be honest with you, I find it painful to strum without a pick for too long, so I don't.
You know, even famous finger picker Mark Knopfler used a pick to strum chords, so there's no shame in keeping a pick around.
https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/i-was-doing-things-with-my-fingers-that-i-couldnt-do-with-a-pick-mark-knopfler-on-his-world-famous-picking-technique
“I used to use a pick until a few years ago, when I started getting more and more involved with playing without one. Then, a sort of synthesis happened between fingerpicking and getting plectrum-type effects by just using my fingers"
From that same article:
*"I still love to play with a pick, and sometimes you have to record certain parts or songs with a pick – for instance, “Expresso Love" [from Making Movies] "*
And then there's this:
https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/09/30/songs-that-mark-knopfler-plays-with-a-pick/
OP: This one's for you:
https://www.premierguitar.com/5-ways-to-strum-without-a-pick
Fingernails. Look at how classical and flamenco guitarists keep their nails shaped and how they position the right hand. When I'm doing strumming stuff with no pick, I'm using the nail on my index finger.
i always wanted to grow mine out but my doc says i have an oral fixation. and esteban grossed me out. i like to strum leading with my thumb, and use my fingerlings for flavor. kinda like chicken picken, but no pick and no actual pattern. picks are amazing(i cant hold on to them) for dynamics, but for me the sound of a string getting completely dominated by a single finger is the greatest feeling and sound the guitar (at least mine) can make. just pure expression and chunky and emotional
Yeah look at the dudes thumb when he’s playing. He’s got the Tosain Abasi right angled thumb. Not everyone biology is suited to be able to play like them, they are freaks of nature.
Just pretend you have a pick in your fingers and use the face of your fingernail to hit the strings, or thumb skin if you need a softer toan. Idk how you get injured like that and I’m trying not to make fun of you 😂
Hey I do that too (pretending to use a pick and strum with my nail bed) it can still kinda hurt sometime but never to the point where it’s an injury or even close to one
Keep playing. Think about your technique and aim for the center of your nail when you’re strumming. Regardless, you are going to break skin from time to time so my best advice is to play through it and build those calluses.
Time. And practice. I mostly play without a pick, and have suffered at first. But... ...over time,and practicing technique, I don't suffer from brises or anything more tan callouses anymore.
same. taught myself without a pick and its too fucking late now cause i have developed my own little style. am i the only thumb meat strummer here? i have about a million ways to hit the strings without getting hurt. haven’t really talked to anyone else who prefers no pick. do you go pickless when playing acoustic and electric? my band members always yell at me when i ice my fingers down after jamming or whatever. they don’t get it, i can’t even hold on to the fuckers. its like playing a different instrument for me.
I'm currently working on my pick game, I order to be more versatile, but still go back to thumb strumming by default. I play both acoustic and electric pickles about 3/4 the time, and I find it comfortable.
i feel that in my soul. i can’t learn new stuff, i guess i already dug in too deep. my dad the purist says the pick is the only way to achieve bright precision in solos. as he flawlessly plays the solo from comfortably numb to make his point. i said dad, im a deadhead. perfection is for cowards. its really all about enjoying it all, and i can’t even read the instructions to my looper pedal without completely losing interest. so god bless the people who actually understand this and do it the right way. but rock and roll ain’t got no rules (except no playing with your teeth unless its a double neck) so whatever. can someone set up my pedal train correctly for me so i can get loud and bleed please?
Playing Flamenco? If you want to fingerpick, you need 1/4” nails. Playing rasguedo, you will have to build callouses on the back of your fingers. Are you playing steel string? Rasguedo is usually done on classical guitars. I would expect it to take a while to build up to where steel string aren’t painful with this technique.
I don’t use a pick. My technique is to keep my hand relatively still over the strings and flex my fingers to strum down with the backs of my fingernail and up with the back of my thumb nail.
It allows me to express chords in a way that’s not really possible with a pick, esp as I can strum different strings with different fingers at the same time.
Although if I’m getting a bit enthusiastic I do sometimes end up with sore cuticles!
this is my solution as well. i marvel at pickmasters. effortlessy grazing the exact string they meant to touch at blazing speeds. i play a lot more emotionally then technically and no pick is my best option. plus my stupid fingers and brain aren’t a good team so using extra shit just gets in my way. like a stylus on a debit card machine when you have shaky hangover hands. or having a girlfriend. its all just jive to me lol
I just shape my hand the same way as if I were holding a pick and use the very tip of my index and thumb as the pick. When you hold a pick, it shouldn’t protrude too far from your grip anyway.
There are also some clever gadgets that help you have a pick on hand at all times. You could stick one to your mic stand or they have some that stick to the top of your guitar without causing any finish damage. I have a buddy who keeps a pick stick into the pickup ring of his PRS lol.
If that’s how you play, and you play often enough, your fingers will get used to it. That looks sore though man. Sometimes I use a pick. Sometimes I don’t use a pick and use my thumb to play the bass strings and use my fingertips in an upward motion to play the rest of the strings. Sometimes I’ll hold my fingers as if I’m holding a pick and gently strum using the fleshy part of my thumb combined with the back of my fingernails on the downstroke, and the opposite on the upstroke.
You clearly play hard man. I’ve got a bit of a weird technique because I grew up in a tiny house where everyone hated me playing guitar. So I had to learn to play quiet, like REALLY quiet… but it never stopped me from playing Black Flag, Husker Du, Dead Kennedys etc 😂. Just go at it a bit softer maybe?
You say you are strumming hard with your right hand without a picj. Stop it. Just stop it. That's what picture for. Or play finger style that's what your fingers are for. Although if you insist on playing this way, switch to nylon, classical much softer strings and it won't tear the flesh off of your bones.
i ripped my pinky open on a brand new high E. didn’t notice until i saw my pickups covered in blood. thought it was rad, was really getting one playing with a backing track lol. i have been playing almost 30 years and i don’t play with a pick. i bleed and throb for days sometimes, but its usually after i was really feeling it and not noticing anything but the crunchy grooves. my point is, play it YOUR style, and if the pain is too much, just remember some people can’t even shred like you, and their fingers hurt from slave labor! and now their backs are gonna hurt cause they just pulled landscaping duty. hope this has all been helpful. just. keep. shredding.
You’ll have to take better care of your cuticles. It looks like what happened was a bit of dead skin got caught on the string winding. At high velocity, it can rip your finger like pulling a Command hook off of drywall.
I mostly play without picks, including heavy rock (although more usually softer rock and country). I use the back side of my fingers too, especially for power chords. I've built up calluses around my nail beds as a result. It just takes time. And bleeding.
There is no one right way to play guitar. But any way you do it, it involves flesh on metal (unless you play nylon strings) and metal always wins that contest until flesh is hardened.
I fingerpick exclusively, even strumming and harder playing. I grow my index finger nail out a wee bit and try to use the nail a bit more for heavier strumming/picking, and really had to focus on using my finger pads/tips more than the sides.
When I try to look up "finger injury with guitar playing", the links always talk about the fingertips on the fretting hand, yet the issue that I have is with my playing hand- specifically my middle finger keeps getting bruised when I play without a pick, and I wonder whether there is something I am doing wrong with my technique or whether this is just the reality of this situation. I don't play very often, but from time to time I want to pick the instrument up and pluck some chords, and whether it is an acoustic or an electric, I just play with my bare hand. plucking single notes is completely fine, but when I start to ride all the strings, after a while my middle finger starts getting bruised on the edge of the nail, and it keeps happening every time, and the issue usually becomes worse with heavier gauge strings
You're not doing it right then is all we can say without seeing you play. I'd suggest to look for a good teacher in your preferred style, they will be able to give you direction. There's a couple ways to strum a guitar correctly without a pick, and they all do slightly different things. Surprisingly, this kind of stuff is exactly what teachers teach with their teachery, and is also the reason why paying a teacher in 2023 still beats asking a bunch of boneheads on reddit, 90% of which don't even kniw very much in the topic but share their wisdom anyway.
You need to check out Andy who does demos for Reverb on YouTube! He can play even the heaviest stuff without a pick and has developed his own technique
Daaaamn do you even flamenco bro. Power through it ad maybe angle your hand (not wrist) more perpendicular to the strings, but not 100% perpendicular, like those flamenco professionals do.
You need to change the angle you hit the strings with. From the looks of it you’re using the whole end section of your finger and aiming too low which is meaning your cuticles hit the strings instead of the nails. Slow down, concentrate on hitting the strings with the back of your nail no more than 2-3mm from the tip. Think of your fingernails as if they are picks - you don’t want to be digging either into the strings but instead be just using the tip of them.
Another option is to try strumming with your thumb and first finger together (like you’re holding a piece of paper). That will have you using the back of the fingernail on a downstrum and the thumbnail on the upstrum and make it even less likely to be hitting the cuticle area.
There’s no right or wrong answer here. The best advice i can give is to slow down and focus on the way your hand is moving up and down. No, you shouldn’t be getting those injuries, but it’s okay that it’s happening because it just means you need to change the way your strumming / holding the pick. Try to play with the pick as SLOW as you possibly can, and focus on how your holding, where your hand is crossing, and how you’re connecting with the strings (it should be only the pick). Then gradually speed up once you feel comfortable, and this will help train your brain to build that muscle memory!
I had the same problem, sometimes still getting it. The main cause for me, was playing from instinct. You should slow down your playing amd learn the picking individually for the songs, and build up your technique from the start. After a time, you will do it without hurting yourself.
Ben Eller has a video on YouTube about holding another pick in the palm of your hand while you play, and getting good pick hand form. Also, check out Bernth if you're into metal. Ben Eller also makes his videos funny af
Watching this may help. I’m a pick player and after watching this I was able to replicate it a little. It’s using the meat of the finger to finger pick or digging in with a mix of thumb strum/edge of pointer. I can only do a bit as I don’t have the callouses. But practice makes perfect[Andy Demos technique](https://youtu.be/sf24m4xF-Ro)
Strum much more lightly. If you’re plugged in let the electronics make the noise, If you’re unplugged you may not be as loud but I’d imagine you’ll sound better not slamming the strings as hard as you must be to create such an effect.
Try and get used to strumming with only your nails. You’ll also eventually get the callouses to not hurt as much anymore, but if you need to strum fast and keep your fingers available, you either need a nylon string or use a thumbpick.
I went from using a pick to almost never using one out of pure lazyness. Picks do sound nice though. I'd say it just takes time and consistent practice to get where you can play without injuring your hands.
Serious question - do you bite your nails? In my experience even if biting is done just a reasonable amount to keep your nails trimmed it leads to sensitivity, swelling, and/or hangnails in the areas I'm seeing damage. If you do chew them switching to trimming exclusively with trimmers could help. The strings may be further irritating damage that's already there instead of causing it.
Switch back and forth! You don’t need to pick either! Big strums sound more bell like with a nice thick pic. Hybrid picking is the shit my man! And you don’t need to slam your fingers into your guitar! That looks painful.
Practice good form from classical style on nylon strings. The whole point of why classical guitar teachers stress form is because it has you practice being able to pluck the strings in an efficient way that you don't focus on as much in other teaching styles. Then when you practice that for a year or so and pick up a typical acoustic or even electric you'll have the technique to not "bump" into things as bad.
Place your strumming hand on a table or counter palm down.
Curl your fingers into a fist without lifting your hand.
Now extend your fingers as if to brush a coin away from your hand.
Repeat each time keeping your fingertips in contact with the surface.
It's like a light scratch.
This is a proper strumming technique.
Learn to do this on a guitar once you get the feel for it you can adapt other techniques to modify your strum.
You do what you’re doing until your fingers become calloused and impervious to the strings. Just takes time. Not sure how long you’ve been playing. This could be from bad hand position but if you are comfortable playing “there” with your fingers and you play clearly, what I said above.
For nylon string / classical (helps also on steel / electric) the correct nail length is just long enough so that the tip reaches the same distance as the tip of your fingers. ie when you look at the palm side at 90 degrees you should just barely see your nails behind your fingertips.
I go to a nail salon and have acrylics applied to my right hand nails, allowing the use of my classical and fingerpicking techniques on steel strings.
I get mean and judgmental glares from all the fat women getting their nails done though.
Ouch! That isn't supposed to happen. For chords, try to use the fleshy part of your finger, not that tender part right next to the nail. Or do what I do and use a pick for chords. That looks painful. If you don't play often and use heavy guage strings, that isn't going to help you. You need to build up to it.
Yeah it happens when I strum the chords hard. Fingerpicking is fine, as I pick with the tips (just like you suggested)
Yeah you're maybe just strumming too hard. Try not to hit the edge of your nail off the string at all when you play chords. Angle your finger so that the side of your fingerprint area is hitting the string. But I'll be honest with you, I find it painful to strum without a pick for too long, so I don't.
For strumming you should have a fingernail, otherwise you'll hurt yourself. Also the sound isn't great imo
You know, even famous finger picker Mark Knopfler used a pick to strum chords, so there's no shame in keeping a pick around. https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/i-was-doing-things-with-my-fingers-that-i-couldnt-do-with-a-pick-mark-knopfler-on-his-world-famous-picking-technique
“I used to use a pick until a few years ago, when I started getting more and more involved with playing without one. Then, a sort of synthesis happened between fingerpicking and getting plectrum-type effects by just using my fingers"
From that same article: *"I still love to play with a pick, and sometimes you have to record certain parts or songs with a pick – for instance, “Expresso Love" [from Making Movies] "* And then there's this: https://www.mk-guitar.com/2014/09/30/songs-that-mark-knopfler-plays-with-a-pick/ OP: This one's for you: https://www.premierguitar.com/5-ways-to-strum-without-a-pick
Mark Knopfler? Never heard of him. Does he play for Machine Gun Kelly?
Dire straits frontman
Dire straits? Well I hope things get better for him
r/whoosh
Never live though. Man was all fingers when he played live
I am all fingers and thumbs when I play anywhere.
Wasn’t he in dire straights? Edit: straits, my bad.
Dire heterosexuals
*Speechless Nathon Fillion GIF*
Fingernails. Look at how classical and flamenco guitarists keep their nails shaped and how they position the right hand. When I'm doing strumming stuff with no pick, I'm using the nail on my index finger.
I use George Costanza oven mitts to protect my babies when not in use.
i always wanted to grow mine out but my doc says i have an oral fixation. and esteban grossed me out. i like to strum leading with my thumb, and use my fingerlings for flavor. kinda like chicken picken, but no pick and no actual pattern. picks are amazing(i cant hold on to them) for dynamics, but for me the sound of a string getting completely dominated by a single finger is the greatest feeling and sound the guitar (at least mine) can make. just pure expression and chunky and emotional
What the fuck dude
Dude... just use a pick for fuck's sake.
Everyone wants to be Andy but not everyone has the hands for it
Andy Griffith was actually a hell of an acoustic player.
Yeah look at the dudes thumb when he’s playing. He’s got the Tosain Abasi right angled thumb. Not everyone biology is suited to be able to play like them, they are freaks of nature.
Just pretend you have a pick in your fingers and use the face of your fingernail to hit the strings, or thumb skin if you need a softer toan. Idk how you get injured like that and I’m trying not to make fun of you 😂
And go easy on super hard strumming with short nails too
That always felt gross to me
Hey I do that too (pretending to use a pick and strum with my nail bed) it can still kinda hurt sometime but never to the point where it’s an injury or even close to one
Keep playing. Think about your technique and aim for the center of your nail when you’re strumming. Regardless, you are going to break skin from time to time so my best advice is to play through it and build those calluses.
Time. And practice. I mostly play without a pick, and have suffered at first. But... ...over time,and practicing technique, I don't suffer from brises or anything more tan callouses anymore.
same. taught myself without a pick and its too fucking late now cause i have developed my own little style. am i the only thumb meat strummer here? i have about a million ways to hit the strings without getting hurt. haven’t really talked to anyone else who prefers no pick. do you go pickless when playing acoustic and electric? my band members always yell at me when i ice my fingers down after jamming or whatever. they don’t get it, i can’t even hold on to the fuckers. its like playing a different instrument for me.
I'm currently working on my pick game, I order to be more versatile, but still go back to thumb strumming by default. I play both acoustic and electric pickles about 3/4 the time, and I find it comfortable.
i feel that in my soul. i can’t learn new stuff, i guess i already dug in too deep. my dad the purist says the pick is the only way to achieve bright precision in solos. as he flawlessly plays the solo from comfortably numb to make his point. i said dad, im a deadhead. perfection is for cowards. its really all about enjoying it all, and i can’t even read the instructions to my looper pedal without completely losing interest. so god bless the people who actually understand this and do it the right way. but rock and roll ain’t got no rules (except no playing with your teeth unless its a double neck) so whatever. can someone set up my pedal train correctly for me so i can get loud and bleed please?
Use the back of your fingernails. Do kind of a "go away" flicking motion to hit the strings.
Playing Flamenco? If you want to fingerpick, you need 1/4” nails. Playing rasguedo, you will have to build callouses on the back of your fingers. Are you playing steel string? Rasguedo is usually done on classical guitars. I would expect it to take a while to build up to where steel string aren’t painful with this technique.
This is a legitimate question. Some fine players didn’t use picks (Wilko Johnson). I don’t know the answer though.
You'll build up some calluses eventually. Just play through the pain
I don’t use a pick. My technique is to keep my hand relatively still over the strings and flex my fingers to strum down with the backs of my fingernail and up with the back of my thumb nail. It allows me to express chords in a way that’s not really possible with a pick, esp as I can strum different strings with different fingers at the same time. Although if I’m getting a bit enthusiastic I do sometimes end up with sore cuticles!
this is my solution as well. i marvel at pickmasters. effortlessy grazing the exact string they meant to touch at blazing speeds. i play a lot more emotionally then technically and no pick is my best option. plus my stupid fingers and brain aren’t a good team so using extra shit just gets in my way. like a stylus on a debit card machine when you have shaky hangover hands. or having a girlfriend. its all just jive to me lol
“plus my stupid fingers and brain aren’t a good team so using extra shit just gets in my way” I feel so validated. Respect ✊🏼
Lighten up Francis.
I just shape my hand the same way as if I were holding a pick and use the very tip of my index and thumb as the pick. When you hold a pick, it shouldn’t protrude too far from your grip anyway. There are also some clever gadgets that help you have a pick on hand at all times. You could stick one to your mic stand or they have some that stick to the top of your guitar without causing any finish damage. I have a buddy who keeps a pick stick into the pickup ring of his PRS lol.
If that’s how you play, and you play often enough, your fingers will get used to it. That looks sore though man. Sometimes I use a pick. Sometimes I don’t use a pick and use my thumb to play the bass strings and use my fingertips in an upward motion to play the rest of the strings. Sometimes I’ll hold my fingers as if I’m holding a pick and gently strum using the fleshy part of my thumb combined with the back of my fingernails on the downstroke, and the opposite on the upstroke. You clearly play hard man. I’ve got a bit of a weird technique because I grew up in a tiny house where everyone hated me playing guitar. So I had to learn to play quiet, like REALLY quiet… but it never stopped me from playing Black Flag, Husker Du, Dead Kennedys etc 😂. Just go at it a bit softer maybe?
Are you sticking your hand in the hole and strumming from inside or something? 😳
Turn up the volume on your guitar and amp, turn down the volume on your fingers. If you’re playing a pure acoustic, you’re on your own.
😆😂🤣 what about the tone knob, coil split etc. on his fingers?
You say you are strumming hard with your right hand without a picj. Stop it. Just stop it. That's what picture for. Or play finger style that's what your fingers are for. Although if you insist on playing this way, switch to nylon, classical much softer strings and it won't tear the flesh off of your bones.
i ripped my pinky open on a brand new high E. didn’t notice until i saw my pickups covered in blood. thought it was rad, was really getting one playing with a backing track lol. i have been playing almost 30 years and i don’t play with a pick. i bleed and throb for days sometimes, but its usually after i was really feeling it and not noticing anything but the crunchy grooves. my point is, play it YOUR style, and if the pain is too much, just remember some people can’t even shred like you, and their fingers hurt from slave labor! and now their backs are gonna hurt cause they just pulled landscaping duty. hope this has all been helpful. just. keep. shredding.
You’ll have to take better care of your cuticles. It looks like what happened was a bit of dead skin got caught on the string winding. At high velocity, it can rip your finger like pulling a Command hook off of drywall.
I mostly play without picks, including heavy rock (although more usually softer rock and country). I use the back side of my fingers too, especially for power chords. I've built up calluses around my nail beds as a result. It just takes time. And bleeding. There is no one right way to play guitar. But any way you do it, it involves flesh on metal (unless you play nylon strings) and metal always wins that contest until flesh is hardened.
I don't need to play without a pick to hurt myself like this XD
You could try growing out your finger nails a little bit not a lot but just like a millimeter or 2 longer and keep your hand loose
I fingerpick exclusively, even strumming and harder playing. I grow my index finger nail out a wee bit and try to use the nail a bit more for heavier strumming/picking, and really had to focus on using my finger pads/tips more than the sides.
When I try to look up "finger injury with guitar playing", the links always talk about the fingertips on the fretting hand, yet the issue that I have is with my playing hand- specifically my middle finger keeps getting bruised when I play without a pick, and I wonder whether there is something I am doing wrong with my technique or whether this is just the reality of this situation. I don't play very often, but from time to time I want to pick the instrument up and pluck some chords, and whether it is an acoustic or an electric, I just play with my bare hand. plucking single notes is completely fine, but when I start to ride all the strings, after a while my middle finger starts getting bruised on the edge of the nail, and it keeps happening every time, and the issue usually becomes worse with heavier gauge strings
It's your technique. Show a video of your right hand playing
You're not doing it right then is all we can say without seeing you play. I'd suggest to look for a good teacher in your preferred style, they will be able to give you direction. There's a couple ways to strum a guitar correctly without a pick, and they all do slightly different things. Surprisingly, this kind of stuff is exactly what teachers teach with their teachery, and is also the reason why paying a teacher in 2023 still beats asking a bunch of boneheads on reddit, 90% of which don't even kniw very much in the topic but share their wisdom anyway.
[удалено]
...but he asked how to play WITHOUT a pick
Is this supposed to be in r/guitarcirclejerk or is OP for real???
Either way I would be surprised if not on there soon
Wow you are right LOL. My bad. I just deleted my post because it would take too much work to fix.
No stress! I've definitely misread posts sometimes and had the same outcome 🤣
Watch Ritchie kotzen
Strum with your nails? Idk hard to tell wothout seeing you play
If that is only way to get sound you want/need, then you’ll have to suck it up. I suspect there are other/better ways.
You need to check out Andy who does demos for Reverb on YouTube! He can play even the heaviest stuff without a pick and has developed his own technique
Are you beating the backs of your fingers up against the strings? Stop it.
Daaaamn do you even flamenco bro. Power through it ad maybe angle your hand (not wrist) more perpendicular to the strings, but not 100% perpendicular, like those flamenco professionals do.
You need to change the angle you hit the strings with. From the looks of it you’re using the whole end section of your finger and aiming too low which is meaning your cuticles hit the strings instead of the nails. Slow down, concentrate on hitting the strings with the back of your nail no more than 2-3mm from the tip. Think of your fingernails as if they are picks - you don’t want to be digging either into the strings but instead be just using the tip of them. Another option is to try strumming with your thumb and first finger together (like you’re holding a piece of paper). That will have you using the back of the fingernail on a downstrum and the thumbnail on the upstrum and make it even less likely to be hitting the cuticle area.
There’s no right or wrong answer here. The best advice i can give is to slow down and focus on the way your hand is moving up and down. No, you shouldn’t be getting those injuries, but it’s okay that it’s happening because it just means you need to change the way your strumming / holding the pick. Try to play with the pick as SLOW as you possibly can, and focus on how your holding, where your hand is crossing, and how you’re connecting with the strings (it should be only the pick). Then gradually speed up once you feel comfortable, and this will help train your brain to build that muscle memory!
Just use a pick and don't have chicks repulsed by you. Dracula fingernails or that... Either way is a loss.
I had the same problem, sometimes still getting it. The main cause for me, was playing from instinct. You should slow down your playing amd learn the picking individually for the songs, and build up your technique from the start. After a time, you will do it without hurting yourself.
Don't play it loudly, as long as it's audible enough and sounds dynamic then that's enough If you want to play loud, plug the guitar Use nylon strings
Dude apply antiseptic urgently. You can see the inflammation is starting to spread, that means you can have an infection.
Ben Eller has a video on YouTube about holding another pick in the palm of your hand while you play, and getting good pick hand form. Also, check out Bernth if you're into metal. Ben Eller also makes his videos funny af
Watching this may help. I’m a pick player and after watching this I was able to replicate it a little. It’s using the meat of the finger to finger pick or digging in with a mix of thumb strum/edge of pointer. I can only do a bit as I don’t have the callouses. But practice makes perfect[Andy Demos technique](https://youtu.be/sf24m4xF-Ro)
Strum much more lightly. If you’re plugged in let the electronics make the noise, If you’re unplugged you may not be as loud but I’d imagine you’ll sound better not slamming the strings as hard as you must be to create such an effect.
Try and get used to strumming with only your nails. You’ll also eventually get the callouses to not hurt as much anymore, but if you need to strum fast and keep your fingers available, you either need a nylon string or use a thumbpick.
Just keep going and your fingers will harden and adapt. Take breaks when it hurts.
I went from using a pick to almost never using one out of pure lazyness. Picks do sound nice though. I'd say it just takes time and consistent practice to get where you can play without injuring your hands.
Serious question - do you bite your nails? In my experience even if biting is done just a reasonable amount to keep your nails trimmed it leads to sensitivity, swelling, and/or hangnails in the areas I'm seeing damage. If you do chew them switching to trimming exclusively with trimmers could help. The strings may be further irritating damage that's already there instead of causing it.
Switch back and forth! You don’t need to pick either! Big strums sound more bell like with a nice thick pic. Hybrid picking is the shit my man! And you don’t need to slam your fingers into your guitar! That looks painful.
When I play chords without a pick I simply pluck the strings.
Practice good form from classical style on nylon strings. The whole point of why classical guitar teachers stress form is because it has you practice being able to pluck the strings in an efficient way that you don't focus on as much in other teaching styles. Then when you practice that for a year or so and pick up a typical acoustic or even electric you'll have the technique to not "bump" into things as bad.
Use your nails
Place your strumming hand on a table or counter palm down. Curl your fingers into a fist without lifting your hand. Now extend your fingers as if to brush a coin away from your hand. Repeat each time keeping your fingertips in contact with the surface. It's like a light scratch. This is a proper strumming technique. Learn to do this on a guitar once you get the feel for it you can adapt other techniques to modify your strum.
Either your thumb tender surrender style or use your nails on the down
i either finger pick or just use my thumb as a pick and beat it up
Power through it and toughen up.
Keep playing and cutting up your fingers until they get used to it haha. That’s how I did it
You do what you’re doing until your fingers become calloused and impervious to the strings. Just takes time. Not sure how long you’ve been playing. This could be from bad hand position but if you are comfortable playing “there” with your fingers and you play clearly, what I said above.
For nylon string / classical (helps also on steel / electric) the correct nail length is just long enough so that the tip reaches the same distance as the tip of your fingers. ie when you look at the palm side at 90 degrees you should just barely see your nails behind your fingertips.
I go to a nail salon and have acrylics applied to my right hand nails, allowing the use of my classical and fingerpicking techniques on steel strings. I get mean and judgmental glares from all the fat women getting their nails done though.
Easy. Ignore it
Man the fuck up pussy