I seem to have really feeble nails, as my one of my fingernails will chip almost every week, usually my ring or index finger, as I use one of them to strum when needed. Perhaps I’m strumming the wrong way (I usually try to hold my index at a 30 degree angle for both up and down strokes)? I do switch to a pick if the whole song is strummed, but if there’s any picking, it’s fingerstyle for me. And sometimes my middle finger or thumb crack, as well, just from picking.
Should I be taking calcium supplements? Filing my nails? Rubbing oil on them?
Guy who never thought he’d be posting to the internet about nail care!
I play both classical guitar and fingerstyle steel string and find that I must be much more careful with steel. The first thing to do is make sure your nails are well filed and buffed.The nails should be well rounded with a large radius of curvature. This will tend to lead to the tip of the nail glancing off the strings, rather than getting stuck on them (the buffing is an important part of this). When you strum with your index finger do you hold it like a pick? If so I would suggest learning some flamenco techniques. Not only will they make nail chipping less likely, they also sound very cool. You also sound like you have very brittle nails. In this case the rubbing with oil thing may help (I have seen all sorts of oils recommended but extra virgin olive oil seems to be a common one). There are also a number of hardening nail polishes out there, which I have used in the past and often work very well. If none of these things work then you might try false nails. Falsies vary a lot from brand to brand so if you go down this route try a few brands if you don’t like the first lot. Hope some of this helps
Guy who knows more about nailcare than he probably should
Just one more thing - I tend to use heavyish strings (12-52). Whenever I use guitars with lighter strings I tend to find them rather more wearing and more likely to chip my nails. You might try a heavier set of strings, if your left hand can cope.
I never use fingernails to fingerpick. (Long nails creep me out). So I either use the pads on my fingers (which to me, has a softer play which is why I pick) or I usethese nickel silver finger picks.
I’ve played guitar thirty years, and just in the last five or so concluded that I don’t want to worry about nail care.
So I learned how to use fingerpicks (which took some time, but was definitely worth it). I use them most of the time (I also play slide and Dobro, on which I definitely prefer them).
Although I always use a thumbpick, I occasionally play with the bare fingers: there’s not as much treble, which can be better for accompanying myself singing, and I prefer it for non-slide playing on a flattop.
I really like the cobalt-plated fingerpicks I got last year: they are absolutely scratch-proof, and less noisy. A pair cost $9.00, but it was well-spent.
I’m strictly an amateur, so with a grain of salt: I keep my nails fairly short, uniform, and rounded, and if I play a lot I keep after them with a file so nothing catches on the strings. My index fingernail tends to curl funny if it gets too long, so having an oddball nail doesn’t help. If I hold my hand so my palm is facing me, my nails are just peeking above my fingertips and they’re shaped identical to my fingertips. If my nails get too long they’ll eventually catch on something and tear, so then I have to cut the whole picking surface off and I’m back to square one. If I keep them short they tend to last longer and suffer less trauma.
What exactly do you mean by buffed? Sorry, total nailcare newbie here.
Sounds neat, but what specific flamenco techniques are you referring to? Would those techniques be nylon-specific?
Cool, I’ll try the olive oil first. Not sure if I’ll be able to find or convey the meaning of “extra virgin” in Chinese, but I’m sure it will be fun (“Yes, I’m looking for super un-sexed olive oil”).
I try to do that, too, with the nails that I don’t use for strumming. Problem is, for a lot of songs, I like to fingerpick most of it while strumming a few bits here and there. Thus, I like to keep at least one fingernail (usually index) somewhat long to take on those strumming duties.
I haven’t used fingerpicks yet (and I’m not sure if I can even find them in this town)… I like the action with my fingertips, with the combination of the pad and that sliver of exposed nail. Do fingerpicks make you alter your style much?
i’ve heard of folks reinforcing their nails with bits of plastic cut from ping pong balls, glued on with super glue.
on a side note, when my calluses wear down (sometimes happens but not often) i use superglue directly on the skin. makes a great temporary fake callus, but that’s bass strings. might impede a bit with the feel with the smaller guitar strings.
I think fingerpicking on a wooden flattop guitar in the style of, say, James Taylor sounds better with the bare fingers. I was told that Leo Kottke once tried to learn to play with fingerpicks, and he found that the harder picking forced him to fret harder, causing him to develop carpal tunnel syndrome in his left hand (ouch!). Guitarist and teacher Stefan Grossman is against playing with picks – he says that all they do is let you play louder.
OTOH, since I play mostly resonator guitars, which basically sound better the harder you pick, picks work for me.
I use 'em when I know I want a bit “oomph” to the song or want to strum intermittently. It’s a different attack on the string and they always seem a bit foreign at first. I play steel string acoustic and tend to go for the nylon sound by picking with fingertips, it’s just a muted timbre that I prefer. However, there are times where you just need the control over the pick and be able to slap the strings like Ani DiFranco’s song “Gravel” (sample here) that just require more of an edge or a song like Greg Brown and Bill Morrissey’s cover of Ferron’s “Ain’t Life a Brook” which require more syncopation (sample here)(Two guitars on that song, using the fingerpicks is an easy way to meld the two into one since I play solo). Of course, those are my preferences, it’s music, so anything really goes.
I keep my nails very short, and I guess I’m careful about the way I position my right hand. Trying to pluck a steel string with a fingernail sounds very painful to me.