Raspy finger noise

[Don W]

I use Elixir light gauge nano web phosphor bronze strings and my thumb and first 3 fingers are done with liquid gel at a nail place. I keep them very smooth. This combination has transformed my finger style tone. I change my strings every 2 months and have the nails touched up every 2 months. I use a polishing board every time I play and keep the nails at about 1/8" beyond fingertip.

[JonnyBGood]

I thought I might offer some advice which is standard in classical guitar pedagogy, as a lot of players have the same problem on the bass strings and that's even *with* nails.

It's true as mentioned earlier that playing with nails gives you rather more control over the string and allows you to kind of trap the string in a nail/flesh pocket (your contact point) but this will only go some way to helping you if your fingers are moving across the string windings as part of your stroke, which is what it sounds like to me is happening.

In a nutshell, on wound strings your finger tip should exit the string at the same point it touched down, in other words strike perpendicular to the string. I would suggest you experiment with this, you shouldn't need to adjust your wrist arm/angle (although I haven't seen you play to comment) - I can keep my hand in the same position and get either a string-swipe noise in the stroke or not.

One more thing, as a flesh only player you might want to try softening your finger tips by using moisturiser as dry hard callouses will make the problem you are describing more prominent. Of course, if you need hard callouses as part of your overall technique/sound, this may not be an option.

HTH

[TBman]

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

I thought I might offer some advice which is standard in classical guitar pedagogy, as a lot of players have the same problem on the bass strings and that's even *with* nails.

It's true as mentioned earlier that playing with nails gives you rather more control over the string and allows you to kind of trap the string in a nail/flesh pocket (your contact point) but this will only go some way to helping you if your fingers are moving across the string windings as part of your stroke, which is what it sounds like to me is happening.

In a nutshell, on wound strings your finger tip should exit the string at the same point it touched down, in other words strike perpendicular to the string. I would suggest you experiment with this, you shouldn't need to adjust your wrist arm/angle (although I haven't seen you play to comment) - I can keep my hand in the same position and get either a string-swipe noise in the stroke or not.

One more thing, as a flesh only player you might want to try softening your finger tips by using moisturiser as dry hard callouses will make the problem you are describing more prominent. Of course, if you need hard callouses as part of your overall technique/sound, this may not be an option.

HTH

Do you mean by perpendicular to strike and come up back to your hand minimizing or removing completely going across the string parallel with the top?

[Trevor B.]

Originally Posted by TBman

Do you mean by perpendicular to strike and come up back to your hand minimizing or removing completely going across the string parallel with the top?

Best for me to let JonnyBGood speak for himself but I would just say on my own behalf that we should avoid "going across the string parallel with the top". Regardless of whether you play with the right fingers perpendicular to the strings or on a diagonal axis the right fingertip(s) should exit the string(s) directly. Also, beyond the contact point there should be no fingertip flesh traversing the string at all (assuming you play with nails). Even without nails only the flesh that touches the string at the point of contact should be the flesh that leaves the string. Consider that the reason for ramping the nails (still with a rounded left corner) is to provide as little resistance as possible to the string as it is released from under the nail. I hope this makes sense. Here's a link that discusses the issue from a classical perspective.
https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.c...ic.php?t=50355

[JonnyBGood]

Originally Posted by TBman

Do you mean by perpendicular to strike and come up back to your hand minimizing or removing completely going across the string parallel with the top?

Sorry I don't quite follow what you mean, I'm just saying that if there is any movement *along* a wound string in your stroke, you will get a string swipe noise.

Play the 6th string with a pick and get a nice clean tone by aiming towards the bottom of the soundhole. Now play the string again only move the pick at an angle along the string as you play it (just as an example, aim your stroke towards the bottom of the bridge). That should demonstrate what I mean.

Edit- I just saw you have Pumping Nylon - see page 34, bottom paragraph :-)

[Methos1979]

Another 'meat' fingerstyle player here. I noticed the same thing with the D'Addarios. I had been playing with Elixirs for quite some time with no issues due to the Nano coating (quite slippery) and then I bought a couple new Emerald CF guitars which came with the D'Addario EXP coated strings. I liked the feel of the grabbiness but I notice an annoying squeak on just like one string and only on the Emeralds. Not on my Martin - go figure. I tried going back to the Elixirs but now find them too slippery. So I tried the John Pearse 710NM new mediums and I love those. They seem to be somewhere comfortably between the Elixir and D'Addarios in grabbiness but no squeak. The down side is they are not coated so they do not last nearly as long as the other two but they are also less than half the cost.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Trevor B.

Best for me to let JonnyBGood speak for himself but I would just say on my own behalf that we should avoid "going across the string parallel with the top". Regardless of whether you play with the right fingers perpendicular to the strings or on a diagonal axis the right fingertip(s) should exit the string(s) directly. Also, beyond the contact point there should be no fingertip flesh traversing the string at all (assuming you play with nails). Even without nails only the flesh that touches the string at the point of contact should be the flesh that leaves the string. Consider that the reason for ramping the nails (still with a rounded left corner) is to provide as little resistance as possible to the string as it is released from under the nail. I hope this makes sense. Here's a link that discusses the issue from a classical perspective.
https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.c...ic.php?t=50355

Originally Posted by JonnyBGood

Sorry I don't quite follow what you mean, I'm just saying that if there is any movement *along* a wound string in your stroke, you will get a string swipe noise.

Play the 6th string with a pick and get a nice clean tone by aiming towards the bottom of the soundhole. Now play the string again only move the pick at an angle along the string as you play it (just as an example, aim your stroke towards the bottom of the bridge). That should demonstrate what I mean.

Edit- I just saw you have Pumping Nylon - see page 34, bottom paragraph :-)

Thank you. Now to the woodshed