Page 14 - Guitar Tuition for Students and Tutors level 1

Page 13

Things you can expect to happen

when picking up the guitar the first time

Continued….

Here are a few other tips to help with callus building. Keep in mind that
although these tips may be useful to developing nice, thick calluses, none of
them can substitute for actual playing.

Keep your nails trimmed!
It's much easier to build calluses

with shorter nails. Long nails not only
make it hard to develop calluses, they
make it hard to get a good sound as
well.

Get the right strings. Guitar strings are available in a variety of
gauges. Light gauge strings are easier to play than medium or heavy gauge
strings, and they'll cause less finger soreness. Medium or heavy gauge
strings will initially hurt more, but they should give you some nice, thick

calluses pretty quickly.

Increase your guitar's playability.

‘Action’ on a guitar refers to the space between the
fretboard and the strings. The strings on a guitar with
high a action are higher off the fretboard than are the

strings on a guitar with low action, which are lower to
the fretboard. The higher the action, the more force is
required to press down the strings. Luckily, just about
any guitar's action can be adjusted. Take your

instrument to your local music shop and ask them to
check the ‘action’. If your action is too high, you'll be
amazed at how much easier it is to play, once you get it
adjusted.