Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave T
Not trying to be completely negative, just passing on my personal experience.
I've tried every dietary trick, vitamin supplement, and gimmick recommended on this and other guitar forums. None of them helped me get longer, stronger nails.
My "M" nail has a hard ridge down the middle, which cracks as soon as the nail gets long enough to make good string contact. My "A" nail has two such ridges and it has decided to curl down between them and then break at inconvenient times (generally while playing). My thumb nail ("P") also has a ridge that cracks regularly, but fortunately (or not) it is on the right side of the nail so even after filing the crack down I usually have enough nail on the left side to engage the string.
Since I'll be 70 years old in a couple months I don't think this is going to get any better. Despite my guitar teacher encouraging my playing with nails I'm leaning hard toward going back to playing with my finger tips.
Dave
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You may be able to take your nails even shorter than you think, although this may necessitate some adjustment of hand position. You might be able to get away with just fingertip length. Playing with nails doesn't necessarily mean playing with
long nails. I tend to like mine short anyway -- I keep them between 1/8 and 1/4 inch past the finger tip -- closer to 1/8.
Your other options are try the "falsies" or, as you say, just lose the nails. At your age and with your issues, I don't think traditional-length nails are in your future. I've also heard the adhesives used for the false nails are terrible for your real nails, and you already have problems with those.
BTW, I've been blessed with healthy nails most of my life, but I'm getting older now as well, and have a ridge on my 'a' finger that chips easily, and tears if I don't notice and repair it immediately. I'm developing a similar ridge on my 'm' finger. Unfortunately, aging
is an issue.