Bass playing when you have fingernails

[DeanT]

I play mostly acoustic guitar and use my fingernails (never use a pick). Occasionally I play bass for my own recordings or when I'm jamming with friends and we swap instruments. The fingernails I value when playing my acoustic get in in the way when I'm playing bass (just doesn't sound right).

Any suggestions? Anyone else have the same problem?

The reason I ask is that I've been asked to play bass I our church carol service on Sunday. I've never played bass in public before.

[jerome]

Hmmm...maybe you can pluck using your thumb? I know that Sting does this pretty often, and it gives you kind of a deeper sound with a duller attack than fingertips. Otherwise, maybe you can use a pick.

[charlemagne52]

Dean T,

I play mostly bass and use a little bit of fingernail...but also suggest you get the flesh part of the finger to do most of the work. This way you get a full note with a lot of definition. If you keep your fingers pretty straight (not arched like you would when you fingerpick your 6 string) it will help. If the sound is too treble-y, try boosting the bass and cutting back treble on your tone controls or EQ.

You might have to keep your nails fairly short...

If this doesn't work, you could consider an electric upright or acoustic upright bass. You pluck with the side of your fingertip and you get away from the fingernail sound entirely. It's kind of a whole different instrument but there are very bass guitar-like EUB's like the Zeta.

[kenliu]

I have the same problem. When I was a regular bass player, I would keep my RH fingernails really short. Now that I've been getting into fingerstyle, I've kept my nails longer. My fingers are narrow and thin and I have pretty big nailbeds, so it's about impossible to play bass without hitting with my fingernails.

I noticed the problem a few weeks ago when I picked up the bass to do some recording. However, I found that I got a nice growly sound with the fingernail attack. You have to try hard to get the same nail attack consistently though. Tweak your EQ settings, and you can get a good sound.

Geddy Lee (from Rush) uses his fingernails when he plays bass, that's how he gets that sound. However that particular kind of sound fits well for hard rock/metal but probably wouldn't work too well in some situations (i.e. church). You can use the thumb method, but you sacrifice some speed (although Sting seems to go pretty fast). Another possible alternative is to try to find one of those felt picks. They're kind of hard to come by, but I've used a pick made out of hard felt. You don't get as much bite in your attack, but you get a nice well defined thump.

Hope that helps.

Ken

[DeanT]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I tried using my thumb last night and it seemed to work quite well. Can't do anything too flashy, but for Christmas carols it seems to be ok. I might try and file my nails down a bit. Like Kenliu, I could live with the fingernail sound, but it's maintaining consistancy that is the problem.

Thanks again.

How about a felt pick?

[trpullen]

I kinda play at a bit of an angle due to also playing an upright. My pluck is on the side of my finger...just a thought.