Playing the guitar for a long time, why develop these three habits? Today, I finally understand.

Habit One: Soak Hands

Why soak your hands? Because after playing the guitar for a while, the calluses on your fingers become thick and hard, which can easily produce unwanted noise when pressing the strings. By soaking your fingers in water, the calluses soften, and the noise will decrease accordingly. Moreover, when changing strings or positions, the calluses won't drag the strings and create unpleasant sounds. Additionally, after playing for half an hour, your fingers may feel stiff and dry, leading to numbness. Soaking your hands in warm water to get the blood flowing will make your fingers feel full and flexible when you play again. During the soak, you can also relax your entire body and mind. When you return to practicing, you'll feel rejuvenated. That's why my routine is to play for twenty minutes, soak my hands, have a cup of tea, relax, and then play or practice again. This method really doubles the effectiveness.

Habit Two: Trim Your Nails

Guitar playing requires good habits, such as trimming the nails of both hands. Many friends don't have the habit of trimming the nails on their left hand, but this is actually incorrect. If you leave nails on your left hand, they can press on the strings while playing, resulting in unwanted noises and split notes. Therefore, it's important to develop the habit of regularly trimming your left-hand nails, leaving them bare so that the tips of your fingers can form memories when pressing the strings.

How to trim your fingernails, for friends who play folk fingerstyle guitar, they often prefer to keep their nails long, using them to pluck the strings for a crisp, pleasant sound. However, when starting to learn the guitar, it's best not to let your nails grow too long. From personal experience, one millimeter should suffice, similar to playing the piano. Why? Because when you're a beginner, your right hand strength isn't developed yet, and the force applied isn't consistent. Each finger applies a different amount of pressure when plucking the string – the middle finger is strongest, followed by the index, and then the ring finger. Therefore, you often find that when using the i-p-a technique, each finger produces a different tone quality, timbre, and volume when playing the same note.