As a keyboard player and now also a finger drummer, I have a problem that maybe some of you have also. Don’t laugh. If practicing a very long time, the flesh of my finger may start to pull away from the fingernail. Usually it doesn’t bleed, but it can be very painful.
Solutions:
In the old days of performing four hours a night I used to wrap tape around the finger, but that didn’t work very well. But in recent years I have found that if I put some super glue (cyanoacrylate) under the nail and squeeze it shut it provides the extra mechanical support needed to avoid injury after hours of constant pounding. You’ll want to wipe off the excess and hold it in the right position until the glue sets, which can be a matter of a couple of seconds if you are using an accelerator. Other ways of speeding up curing time is blowing on it or putting baking soda on it. If using baking soda make sure you don’t have too much glue by wiping it off, or the rapid chemical reaction will burn you. Trust me, you don’t want to go there. But baking soda definitely makes the curing happen fast.
Why did I write this post? I just practiced finger drumming for a few hours . . . and guess what happened.
