I once read that Eric Clapton soaks his fingers regularly in mineral salts to make sure that the callouses stay hard and attached to his fingertips.
I should have taken the same route.
Following the demise of my last band at the end of the summer, I have been sorely neglecting my guitars in favour of the piano. I find it easier to write songs on the piano. It was the instrument I learned on and for some reason is the easiest one for me to figure out.
Well this neglect has resulted in a little bit of pain. The piano is currently on its way to London. In its absence, all I have is my trusty old Seagull acoustic guitar which was purchased in Huntsville, Ontario in the summer following Grade 9.
Now I should stop here and say that I did things a bit backwards when it comes to guitar. I began on an electric instrument, a crappy red El Degas strat copy which I gave to a friend years ago so that he could become just as frustrated with its poorly intoned sounds as I was. For you non-guitarists out there, the electric is a lot easier on the fingertips than an acoustic guitar. The strings are thinner, the action is lower (meaning the strings are closer to the fretboard), which makes for easier playing.
When I picked up the acoustic that summer in Huntsville, I was a bit surprised at how much it hurt my fingers. The callouses which had been plenty hard enough for the electric were lacking when it came to the acoustic guitar, and thus I spent a few weeks in pain while my fingers toughened themselves up.
Now I'm going through a similar process. The plastic ivories of my Yamaha digital piano have made my hands as soft as microwaved butter. A meager half-hour of playing the acoustic this morning has created day long suffering. The suffering is not without its rewards though as I become re-acquainted with the as of yet unnamed Seagull. Look for a few new songs once I get settled a bit in London. I'll have to see if I can get a meeting with Mr. Clapton to see if that mineral salt dip really works.
S.P.
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