Callous problem

[romanclay]

So I'm not in school yet, classes don't start for another week, so all of last week and the week before I would practice. Because of this I had some really mean callouses. Then i woke up one morning and they were just dead skin and I have no idea what happened. One of my friends said it might the the dry winter weather and that's possible, but I have no idea. I just know they were really raw and i didn't play for about a day and a half, but that didn't help at all and so last night they felt fine and I was practicing again and I put some lotion on them to maybe speed up the healing. This morning they're gone again but I decided to play even more regardless and force a callous.
I guess my question is, what's going wrong here? Is it the weather, should i moisturize, take a break (that's my last choice), i dunno what? I feel like knowing how to take care of your hands is really important, but they have a mind of their own it seems.

[aeolian]

It is normal for guitar players to have callouses, but if your fingertips hurt then you should ease off. If you are playing an acoustic that may contribute to your callouses since strings for an acoustic are usually thicker gauge and harder on your fingers. I don't know whether you are a relative beginner or not, but players starting out tend to fret the strings with too much unnecessary pressure. It is possible to not grab the strings as hard and still be able to have the strings ring clearly, even on barre chords; that can really save your fingertips.

[romanclay]

i've been playing for a while, but it's not necessarily my guitar or anything, cause i already had callous there, strong ones too. They just died one day and i'm wondering what i can do to take care of them. I think the best answer i'll get is play more, as that's what i'm trying to do and it seems to work so far

[oldguy]

It's normal for your fingertips to toughen up as you play, but if it's causing actual pain beyond, say, something comparable to a light burn, ease up a bit 'till the pain subsides.
Think of it like an athlete who overtrains, believing "no pain, no gain" and not allowing the body to heal at a cellular level.......... not good.
A light touch and a comfortable low action are your friends..................

[Ch0jin]

I'm by no means a pro (or even good) but I have been playing guitars for a number of years and in my experience getting and then losing callouses is dead normal. When I first started playing I'd get them and then after a little while they'd peel off. Spending time in the surf = callouses gone. After a few years I'd still get them, but they'd tended to stay longer. Then I started to play bass and man my fingers got chewed. I played mostly with my fingers (as opposed to using a plectrum) and I had not only left hand callouses, but painful blisters on my right from learning to slap and pop.

Now days though, If I'm playing lots and lots of guitar I'll get callouses again, and they eventually peel off, but the fingers of my left hand are just generally desensitized all the time now. If I tap all 8 fingers on a table I can clearly feel the difference in sensitivity between my two hands.

As everyone has said though, don't force it if it hurts. Take a break, read some theory, try writing some lyrics etc. I can tell you personally that there is one thing much more painful than getting blisters from playing guitar, and thats getting that same blister infected as a result of "playing through the pain" (OK honestly it was "drinking through the pain"). Infections take longer to heal than blisters and band mates think its funny until they realise you really can't just "Have another VB and try again" as the infected red veins inch their way up your hand......