Slash was right when he said you play better guitar with dirty fingers. Ever got out of the shower and picked up your guitar and your fretting hand fingers are two clean to play well. You need to keep some grime on them fingers. So I thought of a way around this. Wear a tight-fitting surgical glove in the shower, thus keeping those fingers sticky!
or do what I have done with my Best Telecaster Remove all the finish from the neck ( maple neck ) its always grimy and plays like virtual reality ! Dirty always looks better on a guitar neck anyway !
I generally just insert my Jimi Hendrix mind module into my brain box and activate the cosmic DNA love vibration psy-wave groove tube peace modulator, connect my rig to the cosmic holistic big bang background radiation frequency, and listen to the sound of God's feedback rocking the angels to mindless oblivion, if and when I really want to convince myself that I can really play guitar.
Maybe just most useful before any performance, not suggesting you never wash your fretting hand. But certainly after bathing or a long shower those fingertips get very mushy and soft.
True... yeah... I don't know that I've really played right after showering... but I have after swimming a few times for fun... dirty hands, yes!
I haven't made it as far as having a tech call, haha. Last gig was a party at a psychiatric hospital, for around a hundred people. But I'll keep plugging away.
if you play right out the shower, your hands will contain more moisture and rust your strings. your callus will also shred from the friction..best to wait a little while. not long, 20mins or so..... I dont use no fancy oils, or fret ease.. just a old cloth with petrol jelly...
Noticed a big difference keeping the fretboard clean and treated, same with the strings. Makes a big difference. It helps me to tune down...though sometimes I play in standard on another guitar, I have several. I tuned one down to A recently, didn't really like it. Brought it up to B. I have one that I plan on doing some different Van Halen tunings, Drop C, Drop D, Db, that sort of thing.
I wash my hands before I play, and during recording, I wash them whenever they get too clammy with sweat and oil. But then I'm more of a shredder so I need my fretting hand to slide up and down the neck easily.
Sometimes I used to get some dirty fucker's geetar on the bench, so foul man, the guy obviously didn't wash his hands after wiping his arse, the gunge was like cum buildup all round every fret and the fucking thing stank man, you had to put on the gloves and scrubb that motherfucker with whatever came to hand, steel wool, maybe a scourer, some hot water and detergent and make sure your tetanus shots were up to date. And sorry to disillusion you dudes, those dirty fuckers are NOT the best players.
I'm weird about playing after putting on lotion. I'm always worried I'll get something on the neck/fretboard/strings.