Hi from another guitar noob!

[Jay55]

Hi, all...my ambition is to beat out Leo Kottke in a picking match!  NON!  😉  Seriously, I admire Kottke's wizardry but am enjoying learning little by little all the skills that go into a total guitarist's toolkit.  I do watch performances on Youtube a good deal and always gravitate to the finger-style pros.  I use a 12-string (that's what Kottke started out with too...) and love the sound, but it comes with a price of extra effort and working on fretting techniques.

I hope we can all share some tips to help each other.  Here's a tip that I picked up somewhere that works for me.

If you are going to be away from your guitar for a number of days, I found that dipping my left fingertips into a little apple cider vinegar in a dish helps preserve your hard-won callouses.  (Especially important for 12-stringers as they are extra hard on fingers.)

Not rocket science but very useful!

Bonus tip for 12-stringers.  I almost gave up on my 12 due to the heavy strings that came with it.  A guitar shop guy said I needed lighter strings.  He was right!  Night and day difference!  I may go back to heavy strings for sound volume but for now, I can play my 12 pretty much as if it were a 6 as far as finger pain goes.  I would never have guessed.

[Fred Soukup]

Welcome @Jay55 thanks for the tip. here's one "don't play the horses" just kidding. What I do is while I am driving is press on the grip on the steering wheel. Not only can you strengthen your fretting fingers it helps maintain your callouses.

Fred 🎸