dropin_biking

Hey everyone. Long time no post. Anyhow I just jumped back into playing guitar after taking a long break. Couple problems...

First, my callus' are completely gone, it just hurt playing for half an hour last night. I was wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks on how I can build my callus' up again in a quick amount of time. I know nothing can substitute for time spent playing. However, are there any specific things I could practice to help speed things up?

Also, I broke my middle knuckle on my right hand 3 or so years ago. It never quite healed up, its still in two pieces, with a lot of calcium build up from the bones rubbing. It's stiff when I wake up, but it still has 95% of its strength, and 95% of its motion. Anybody know any techniques or run-throughs I could use as a morning practice? You know, just to get the hand moving and loosen it up. I'm thinking strumming or finger picking. Any others? I do get a little pain when I first pick up the guitar to play, my pick hand has a hard time keeping up with my fretting hand.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Just saw my sig haha I miss that supra, I need to overhaul my profile by the looks of it

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~~One Off Custom Strat~~
- 3 piece alder body
- Maple on rosewood 21 fret neck
- '82 Fender pickups

~~'92 Toyota Supra~~
- 1JZ-GTE (TT, front mount intercooler, 15~psi)
- Tuned on 93 octane
- HKS 3" exhaust

Zaphod_Beeblebr

The main thing if you have a residual issue with your hand is to warm up gradually and don't just throw yourself in to playing. There's a section on hand stretches and warm ups in John Petrucci's Rock Discipline and while I don't do them myself I know some people swear by doing them every time they play.

About the calluses I would say just play, I've heard of people using surgical spirit to harden skin but I wouldn't do it personally.

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