The callouses on my picking hand are affecting my tone

[Llewlyn]

I am a all-flesh fingerstyle player and I do have callouses on my right hand as well as my fretting hand. I have noticed that the callouses have a bad impact on my tone: the sound produced is "thin" as opposed to a fat warm sound produced by my soft fingertip.

I was wondering if anybody had this issue and found a solution?

there is a previous thread on this but not really of help.

Ll.

[BrunoBlack]

Do you let your nails grow so you use your nails for picking. I’m an all flesh finger style player and if I clip/file my nails too short I loose a lot of volume and tone. I don’t let my nails grow really long, but long enough to catch the strings.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Llewlyn

I am a all-flesh fingerstyle player and I do have callouses on my right hand as well as my fretting hand. I have noticed that the callouses have a bad impact on my tone: the sound produced is "thin" as opposed to a fat warm sound produced by my soft fingertip.

I was wondering if anybody had this issue and found a solution?

there is a previous thread on this but not really of help.

Ll.

Hi Ll

I'm an all flesh player (for more than 55 years) and I file my fingertips lightly (on both hands) with a nail file to keep them smooth. This also keeps their surface softer. For filing fingertips I normally use a foam-core style nail sander. The metal ones are not as effective on fingertips.

Then I recommend you dig in a bit harder with the fingertip to catch the string a bit deeper. If you just glance off them, it will be thin sounding. My tone is much fatter than a player who uses nails.

Whatever volume you now consider 'normal' you may need to increase slightly to get better tone.

Everything we do with our picking/playing/strumming hand affects the tone. And it's all changeable to accomplish our goal of great sounding music.

Hope this points you in some exploratory directions…

[fazool]

I play VERY gently with bare fingertips - I have for forty years. I have no callous at all on my picking hands.

I imagine if picking hard it could cause callouses.

[WordMan]

I play fingerstyle with flesh only and a heavy hand on 12’s - I am pretty vigorous with a Big Bill Broonzy thuddy thumbstroke, and a lot of popping out partial-chord lead fills while keeping other parts moving. I dig in - ladder braced guitar with a short decay, so it likes it.

I have a pick-like ridge on the corner of my thumb, and calluses on my fingers. I have to say, I don’t perceive a loss in tone. I like the stiffer feel to give me a bit more control over how much flesh vs. pop to have in the tone.

It sounds like you play with a different intent, so my experience likely doesn’t apply, but I thought I would add to the data in thread. Hope it helps.

[Joe Beamish]

I agree with ljguitar, a nail file is an excellent way to keep the nails smooth so they don’t catch on anything, tear or crack; and I use a combination of flesh and nail most the time, sometimes just flesh. I often pull the strings away from the guitar body quite loudly for accented notes à la Bert Jansch, and I often flick my fingers downwards to strike the strings with the outside of the fingernail, á la Paul McCartney. I don’t seem to have callouses on my picking digits; it seems like I should. But definitely, some kind of nail maintenance is a must for me.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Joe Beamish

I agree with ljguitar, a nail file is an excellent way to keep the nails smooth so they don’t catch on anything, tear or crack; and I use a combination of flesh and nail most the time, sometimes just flesh. I often pull the strings away from the guitar body quite loudly for accented notes à la Bert Jansch, and I often flick my fingers downwards to strike the strings with the outside of the fingernail, á la Paul McCartney. I don’t seem to have callouses on my picking digits; it seems like I should. But definitely, some kind of nail maintenance is a must for me.

Hi Joe

My point was I file callus as well as nails. Less often on my picking/plucking fingers than my fretting ones.

[Joe Beamish]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi Joe

My point was I file callus as well as nails. Less often on my picking/plucking fingers than my fretting ones.

I wonder why I don’t have callouses on my picking fingers. Definitely I do on my thumb. They must be subtle.

[Mr Picky]

I could have written the OP’s post. I’m a flesh fingerstyler and experience exactly the same.

For me the first and second finger, which get used more (?), have a ‘harder’ sound. The third finger has a much softer fatter sound. The thumb, being a bit different, offers a few more options depending on how you attack the string - it’s also different between Travis stuff and lead picking etc..

So yes, not ideal, but it gives options and I often use my third finger out of place if I want ‘that sound’.

[Llewlyn]

Originally Posted by Mr Picky

For me the first and second finger, which get used more (?), have a ‘harder’ sound. The third finger has a much softer fatter sound.

THIS. Exactly this. I wonder if that's due to the fact that the callous pad on my ring finger is very soft, and not as hard as that on the middle/index fingers. When I started the thread thinking of how to soften them, I had precisely this in mind: I wand to soften the callous pad on my mid/index finger which is the one with the "bad tone". If I grow a bit of nail of them, the tone improves.

@ljguitar: Yeah - I listen to your song. Your tone is really cool

Ll.