177# Price to Pay - 1

177# Price to Pay - 1

Annually, every second day of CNY, our family will go to picnic at the Morib seaside. There's nothing special about the beach. BUt the tradition has been maintained since my grandfather's generation until now.

I was there, playing my cousin's acoustic guitar. I did not bring mine since mine is already spoilt and sounds bad.

My aunt took over the guitar, and she tried to play a song. She could not recall, since she has not played a guitar for the pass 25 years and more.

She advised me not to play too much of guitar. If she did not tell, i would not know how important is, the fingers of a doctor.

Frequent playing of guitar will cause the thickness of skin at the fingertips. That's the basic knowledge which everyone knows.

But the point is, the thickening of the fingertips' skins will cause the insensitivity of the fingertips.

Sensitivities of fingertips is very important in order to examine a patient's pulse.

When i heard those with my own ears, i stared at my left hand's fingers. Since it's already more than 2 years of guitar playing, my fingers' skin do not tear off anyone. After a period of hardened skin, now it have grown thick, but soft.

All four fingers, excluding the thumb at my left hand. The thick skin built have decreased my fingertips' sensitivities. When i touched at the thickened points of my fingertips with my thumb, i felt a thick shelter covering it. I can't really feel much of the contact between my thumb and those points.

When looking at it with bare eyes, there is nothing noticeable. But when touch at it, i can absolutely tell that there are more than a few of milimetres of thick skins are built and making my sensory receptors out of reach from the surface.

I stared at my left hand, and think...


"Am i going to give up in playing electric guitars?"


A right handed person would not have this problem. Since the thickened fingertips' skins are only at the left hand, so the person will still have the normal right hand for pulse examinations.

What's worst for me is, i'm a left handed. But i do not use a left handed guitar, which is the reversed from a normal guitar. I am playing a normal right handed guitar, where i hold the strings with my left.

Thus, i will mostly depend on my left hand on doing those tasks. Which is definitely a disadvantage for me.


Today is Saturday. Usually this hour i could not type things in front of the computer at home. I was attending guitar lessons since 2004 until January of 2006, 2pm, Saturdays.

I have officially stopped my lesson starting this month, Febuary. I have to, in order to concentrate in my university course.

I asked my instructor, from the view of acoustic course, which grade of thoery i have attained. Since my instructor took the course which straight ahead for diplomas, so he did not know about the grades things.

He said I would have probably exceeded the normal thoeries for grade 3, or 4. He taught me a lots of extra things which will not be taught in acoustic lessons, but for electric lessons only.

As far as i knew, i have learnt a few things by taking his lessons...

6th string and 5th string scales for Major scales, minor scales, harmonic minor scales, melodic minor scales, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic...

Arpeggio scales for 6th string and 5th string for major 7, minor 7, dominant 7...

Family chords, chord progressions, jazz solos, blues solos, rock blues...

Major, minor, dominant, major 7, major add 9, major 9, dominant 9, minor 7, open position chords, barred chords, diminished 7, minor 7 flat 5, dominant 7 flat 5...

And also, to play songs from scores, of cause...

That's all for the pass 2 years that i'd officially learnt from taking formal classes. I have to admit that my progress was very slow. Most probably was because of lacking of practice for these scales and chords. I prefered to play my own songs...


Actually i took formal classes was just for the sake of music theories. I could not rely much on it. I discovered a lot of things by myself too.

I did not know how to tune in drop B tuning. Instead of dropping the e string into lower b, i tuned it higher. Caused my e string snapped off and hurt my right hand. My tremolo bridge was out of tension and the whole thing went down because of the spring's compression. I did not know what was wrong, i panicked and sent the guitar to the shop and repair...

Learnt myself to read tabs in drop B, drop C, drop D, one step down tunings. Learnt palm mute, natural harmonics, tremolo, tremolo pickings, pick strings, hammer on, pick off...


Right now, i try to play less... For the sake of my fingertips... Sad case...


P/S : Is there any hand cream can help to get rid of the thick skins and regain the sensitivity of the fingertips?