Wow, now I think I’ve seen everything… Apparently, fingertip protectors for playing guitar, ukulele and other stringed instruments is a thing. The protectors come in a package of four and are made of food-grade silicone material that stretches to fit the size of your index through ring fingers. Each fingertip protector has an opening in the end that will allow longer fingernails to pass through. I suppose something like this would be good for beginners who find it painful when they are first starting to play a stringed instrument. But I’ve found that calluses will build up quickly if you aren’t a big baby and are motivated enough to put in the practice required to build them 😉 You can order a set for $4.86 from Amazon. I’ll try not to be too judgy… Ok, I lied.
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They double as emergency finger cushions for late night compulsive bloggers. Hours into a blogging session and/or flame war finger calluses are forming, blisters popping, blood is tinting your keyboards shift and ! keys what do you do? Simply slide these bad boys on, and continue ranting about autism causing vaccines.
😀
Thanks for the disturbing visual 😉
Sounds like a good idea to me. I had to stop playing guitar when I became a cataract surgeon, as the finger callous affected my left hand sensation during surgery. I wonder if these will really help or if they’ll decrease sensation too much.
Seems like they would get in the way of playing. Especially if you play fingerstyle guitar / ukulele like I do.
I can understand your skepticism but you might want to look up Raynaud’s. I’ve played guitar daily for over 30 years and had to quit completely for two years at one point due to this condition. May have to cancel a gig this weekend as I haven’t been able to use one of my fingers to fret for the last month. It’s simply too painful and I’m no Django! I need all my fingers to play. I’ve looked for something like this product for years, so going to order and hope it works for me.
Please let us know if these protectors work or just get in the way of your playing.
I wonder if I can get the company to donate a box of these to the Girls Rock Camp where I teach in the summers? We have girls learning guitar and bass, many for the first time, so by the weekend showcase many are wearing electrical tape on blisters.
No one mentioned Tony Iommi yet?
Please explain.
Hi Julie !! Been enjoying your blog for many years.
Tony Iommi is the guitarist of Black Sabbath. He is considered a ground breaking musician. Days before he was able to go pro with the band he had an accident in the factory which left him with two severed fingertips on his “playing” hand. Perseverance made him develop prostethic fingertips which he later claimed were partly definitive in perfecting his “sound”.
Y’all can wikipedia Tony Iommi on your own but here’s a link to an instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/answers/how-do-i-make-prosthetic-finger-tips-so-i-can-play/
Julie,
I ordered two different products than the one in your reviewe (due to availability) but same concept and type of material. I have to say that I now agree with you, the soft, “grippy” rubber makes them pretty worthless for someone that already plays, you can’t slide up and flown the frets. Also for me since they are so pliable they do nothing to block the string pressure and don’t help with the pain. It’s a bust. I guess , maybe for some kid learning open chords it might help but I would say tough it out and put the hours in, you’ll get past this. However, thank you and the commenter above as now I am looking at the Galaxy product and I think it is what I need. Over $100 but if it works who cares. You were right and I found a solution – win for both of us!!! 🙂
Thanks for letting us know that these fingertip protectors are probably not very useful. I didn’t think they would be just by looking at them. I really think that a well setup guitar with a low action and thin strings are the way to go. Or just switch to the ukulele like I did. I have found that they are much easier on my fingers than my guitars ever were 🙂