Fingertips and calluses

The first weeks, the fretting hand's fingertips hurt — the strings press into unaccustomed skin. That's normal and passes: over a few weeks a firm callus forms and the pain disappears. Short, frequent sessions help the skin more than rare long ones, because new layers build between sittings. Against that ordinary soreness, padding doesn't help: taping the fingertips permanently or playing with a glove prevents exactly the adaptation that matters. A torn fingertip or a blister is a different matter — that's a wound, to be treated and rested, not practiced on. And with nails that are too long you can't fret cleanly anyway: the nail hits the fretboard before the fingertip is properly on the string.