“Ow! My fingers hurt!” Many teachers will tell you just grin and bear it. But I’ll try to help you this time, because you’re just starting and I don’t want you giving up!

And yes, the fingers hurt from guitar at first, but the fingers toughen up with practice.

I know, I know. “But they’re not toughened up yet, and it still hurts. Wah!”

Okay, fine. You might be Eddie Van Halen at heart, you just need a little help! I’ll show you a few ideas that will help in the meantime:

1. Set up your guitar. When fingers hurt after playing guitar, sometimes changing the action helps. After buying it take it in to a fix-it shop. What you want is low action, which means the strings are set not quite so high from the fretboard. Just say, “I want low action so I can play it easily.” They’ll know what you mean. For Portland I recommend Portland Fretworks.
2. Get a capo. This is a mechanical gizmo you clip on the neck to play higher notes, but it also makes it easier to play!
3. Simplify your chords. Instead of a full C chord, you can start with just one finger, and work your way to the full chord:

   Just play the last three strings (right side).

   Or you could do it with G as well:

   Just play the highest four strings on the right side.

4. Try a nylon stringed guitar. Electric guitars are often easier on the fingers as well. Make sure these have low action as well, or you’ll run into the same problems.
5. Get the right sized guitar. Don’t give a giant grown-up guitar to a kid. This makes it hard to hold down chords. Start with a 3/4 size. Save the big guitar for the teen years.

Just remember these tips are mainly to help you in the beginning. Keep at it for a few weeks and eventually you’re fingers will toughen up so you can play full chords on an acoustic guitar.

Best solution though: even though the fingers hurt from playing guitar, keep up the practice and don’t give up!