Seeds of frustration and nail care issues

[TBman]

Its more than a little frustrating trying to learn how to play with just the tip of the nail. Plus the nail on "m" isn't made of the toughest stuff and it chips and breaks on even a little bit of length beyond the flesh.......

Probably why there's a thing call 120 right hand studies......

I'm not the first.

When I hit the string right though, what a difference in tone.

Ok, crying in my towel over for now.

[Ben M.]

I had to google 120 right hand studies. I'm not a classical player but it still looks interesting.
I was blessed with pretty thick fingernails but I still manage to break them pretty often. It's hard not to in my line of work.
If one breaks I just cut them all and focus on flat picking till they grow back.

[Jimi2]

Yeah, nail breakage is such a pain. I also do a fair amount of working with my hands.... I’m experimenting with Rico Nails right now - temporary plastic press on nails for guitarists. Tone isn’t perfect, but might be a viable solution for the times one or two nails get broken.

[Paraclete]

I don’t know if this is actually the case or my vivid imagination, but I started putting bag balm on my hands before bed. And by “on my hands” I mean also jamming it under my fingernails. Not only have I stopped having serious problems with the skin under my nails splitting (on my left hand), but my right hand nails seem be less prone to splitting and cracking. (Ps...work on those rest strokes...helps a lot in trying to get consistent on tone)

[dkstott]

I feel your pain!!

Heck, I've chipped nails reaching into my pocket for car keys.

That's one of the reasons, I've moved to playing mainly with fingertips and not relying on my nails

Rob MacKillup has a nice site that goes over playing without nails on classical guitar.

"The aim of this site is to encourage those who wish to play classical guitar without using finger nails. It is also the home of my own classical guitar studies."

https://rmclassicalguitar.com/

[pf400]

Have you tried acrylic nail tips TB Man ? I get 4 new ones every 5 weeks or so. Have been doing this for about 5 years. No more problems at all, I can play steel or nylon at will. Just have to file them down as the real nail grows up. The nail shop charges me 5 bucks per nail but I tip very well for a job well done.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by dkstott

I feel your pain!!

Heck, I've chipped nails reaching into my pocket for car keys.

That's one of the reasons, I've moved to playing mainly with fingertips and not relying on my nails

Rob MacKillup has a nice site that goes over playing without nails on classical guitar.

"The aim of this site is to encourage those who wish to play classical guitar without using finger nails. It is also the home of my own classical guitar studies."

https://rmclassicalguitar.com/

I'll give this a going over, thanks.

[skinnerb]

Originally Posted by pf400

Have you tried acrylic nail tips TB Man ? I get 4 new ones every 5 weeks or so. Have been doing this for about 5 years. No more problems at all, I can play steel or nylon at will. Just have to file them down as the real nail grows up. The nail shop charges me 5 bucks per nail but I tip very well for a job well done.

----------I tried this and the nail beds turned to jelly, and it took many months for them to return to normalcy and even then it was still dicey.

[rick-slo]

About 2mm of white showing is enough for me and this is on the area of the nail that actually contacts the string with the rest tapered shorter. Keep after the nails virtually daily with 4000 or so grit to lesson snags (for me it's usually a snag on clothing). You can play without nails but the sound is basically different and variability of available tone is less.

[redir]

I gave up a long time ago. I cut the nails short now. I doubt Fernado Sor grew his fingernails long

[6twenty7]

Grab the nail kit from strings by mail. I usually reshape my nails once a week. About 1-1.5mm is good enough. Using the sand paper after shaping them with a filer makes them really smooth and strong.

[dcuttler]

Unless you are willing to do nothing with your fingers except play the guitar, you are on the road to disipointment. I tried everything, and finally gave up playing with nails, and just use my fingertips.

Now I can do work around the house, fix things, and have a life. As I only play for my own enjoyment at home, and have no need to fill an auditorium with sound, I am a happy camper.

[Bob Womack]

i dealt with this some twenty-five years ago. I was working up for a big gig and my nails seemed to crumble faster than I could grow them. My wife dragged me down to to her nail salon and put me in the hands of her nail tech who applied micro beads and resin and created caps over my nails. I went home and immediately was able to play much louder if I desire and with greater dynamics. Where a good night of steel string guitar would wear 'em down before, it just has no effect on the combined nail and cap. I've had them on ever since. One result is that I can work around the house without worrying that I'm going to break one - and if I do I can just drop by the salon and get it fixed. It also means I know that when last-minute session requests drop I will be ready. So, win-win for me.


Bob

[Alytw]

I might be reading reading your post incorrectly, so apologies if this isn’t helpful.

Are you using only the nail? I.e. not the flesh? If so, check this out:
https://guitarnewmexico.files.wordpr...hapdelaine.pdf

With respect to the nails breaking, you could try a good hand moisturizer on the fingertips and nails as mentioned in a previous post. This has made a big difference for me.

Adam

[FrankHS]

Thanks, Adam, for that .pdf. The truth does not get simpler than that. Michael Chapdelaine must be a remarkable teacher.