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SemiBS: Fingernails
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Subject: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Marion Date: 02 Feb 01 - 02:16 PM Two sections of questions: 1. Guitar fingerpickers - how long do you keep your right hand nails? How exactly do you use them in hitting the strings? Do you feel that having nails long enough to be involved in the attack is important? Can attached fingerpicks be a satisfactory replacement for compulsive nailbiters? What do you do when you've broken a nail? 2. Compulsive nailbiters - can you offer any good suggestions on how to let my right hand nails grow long enough to pick with? Marion |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: blt Date: 02 Feb 01 - 02:28 PM Marion, I use fingerpicks, primarily because I never could solve the fingernail-biting problem, and even when I did momentarily, my nails would break at exactly the wrong moment, ie, ten minutes before going on stage. Good luck. blt |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Gary T Date: 02 Feb 01 - 02:39 PM I'm not a fingerpicker. I have heard a fingerpicker friend describe having to adjust to fingerpicks, after starting out using fingertips (not fingernails). It seems to me that fingernails can not be relied upon to be there--heck, one could break in the middle of a number. I would have to think that if you want the sound of something harder than a fingertip picking the strings, fingerpicks are the only reliable option, and you would have to train your hand to work with them. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Matt_R Date: 02 Feb 01 - 03:35 PM Well, I've had the fingernails long for the past 5 years. Describing how I use them is difficult to explain. It's a lot easier to just demonstrate, but it's the method used for classical guitar playing. The fingernails have to be shaped a certain way too, to make sure that the "sweet spot" hits the string in the right manner. And I have to say I'm am extremely compulsive nail biter. But when I knew I had to keep them long...I forced myself away from biting on that hand. So I moved to chewing my cuticles. I would recommend against it. Wish I could stop. My hand look horrible and my right thumb is grossly disfigured. But my fingernails work great! --Matt |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: sophocleese Date: 02 Feb 01 - 03:35 PM No useful suggestions here but I'm watching this avidly as I am a compulsive fingernail biter and every time I've tried using fingerpicks I've hated the click of the pick on the string. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: MAG (inactive) Date: 02 Feb 01 - 03:53 PM The thing that finally got me to stop biting my nails was a tip from a manicurist friend: rub your nails instead, from the finger up. Nail biting is a natural grooming habit gone haywire; making yourself stop doesn't work; substituting a good habit for a bad habit works better. that said, I never could pick with my nails. I tried everything: every nail hardener, every dietary thing, every glue on. They would continue to split and crack. I gave it up and keep them as short as my left now. I did get some plastic fingerpicks (metal are too constricting) and practice with them but don't have them down. I flatpick mostly in public. My left fingers are sore because I prick them for blood sugar tests. (Pricking them on the side hurst too much; gotta be the pads.) |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: sophocleese Date: 02 Feb 01 - 03:59 PM That's neat, I'd never considered nail biting a grooming habit gone haywire. I'd always thought it was the chewing part that was addictive. Its always worse when I'm reading a good book but if I tried eating anything else I'd weigh a ton by now. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Justa Picker Date: 02 Feb 01 - 04:08 PM There are many stories about how fingerpickers deal with this situation. Some use nail hardners or acrylics applied directly to the nail. People like John Renbourne (believe it or not) cut up ping pong balls and crazy glue sections of the pp balls to the nail for strength reinforcement. I play with either bare fingers, or thumbpick and bare fingers, or fingerpicks on the thumb, index and middle. I keep my nails on my fretting hand very short, practically down to the quick. On my picking hand I don't maintain nails except on the ring (4th finger) because I ocassionaly use the fourth finger for certain picking patterns and it feels more natural to have nail there doing the picking (as my nails are quite hard) than to wear a fingerpick on the ring finger. Looks a little bizarre to some people having trimmed nails with this one longer nail only on the fourth finger but I really don't care. It works for me. I also find learning to play with the bare fingertips and the skin on the side of the thumb gives you a good authentic sound. The key is to learn to play as loud as you can with this method. In time the skin will toughen up. All in all, if you can manage it learn to fingerpick using all methods as indicated above. Then it won't matter what situation you find yourself in, unless you always plan to carry fingerpicks with you wherever you go. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: wdyat12 Date: 02 Feb 01 - 04:34 PM Marion, I've tried to fingerpick with and without picks, but without them my steel strings sound too lame...very undrammatic for blues. Plus by also using a thumbpick, which is at a right angle to the strings, I can thump the top of my guitar with the heal of my right hand much faster. If you are a compulsive nailbiter, you're fingers will hurt with fingerpicks on so use the methods stated above for substituting a bad habit for good one. Buy a nail clipper for the left hand or you won't be able to fret the strings completely with long nails. wdyat12 |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: cowboypoet Date: 02 Feb 01 - 05:16 PM I've got fairly soft nails and I keep them short to prevent bending them back when I'm working. I went through a period when I was playing a lot where, on the recommendation of a friend of mine who's a great finger-style guitar player, I went to a nail salon every ten days or so and had the nails on the first, middle, and ring fingers of my right hand built up with acrylic (or, since it's three fingers, would it be threecrylic?). I didn't mind getting stared at (you'd think people never saw a guy in cowboy clothes in a nail salon before) and I liked the way they sounded, but they felt weird -- like my own nails were a size too small -- and they got in the way when I was doing other manual tasks. Never did get used to them. I tried the Alaska picks, but they always felt as though I had them on backward and they came off pretty easily. They might work with some kind of adhesive to hold them on a little better -- it's an intriguing concept anyway. Mostly I use Pick Boy plastic finger picks. They're not quite as heavy as other plastics so they don't feel as clumsy and don't cut off the circulation, have a pretty nice sound, and don't have to be filed to create a "sweet spot" as they're both curved and crowned. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Benjamin Date: 02 Feb 01 - 05:20 PM I just use my nails on a nylon string guitar (classical). Steel strings can tear them up. I keep them short enough so I can usually get away with just using my finger tips. Many great guitarists in many different styles (including classical) have just used finger tips. They work fine. If I didn't play classical, I'd probably just cut mine off. BMW |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: wdyat12 Date: 02 Feb 01 - 06:00 PM All this serious talk about fingernails is really turning me on!!! wdyat12 |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Lucius Date: 02 Feb 01 - 07:04 PM I've been blessed with great nails, but I've watched other guitarists in my studio use ping-pong balls, crazy glue, press on nails, commercial nails (made for guitarists) and you name it. My main guitar is a steel string with a classical width neck. I trim my thumb at an angle to accomodate a balance between flesh and nail, my fingers are trimmed to match. I also use fine sandpaper to finish my nails after filing. I'm worse that vanity when I break a nail, usally involves long hours of psychotherapy, which may not be a bad idea for the nailbiting either. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Murray MacLeod Date: 02 Feb 01 - 07:07 PM I started having acrylic build-ups on my right hand nails over two years ago and I wouldn't be without them. They enable greater volume, and a cleaner sound. I have no problems whatever doing manual tasks with them, quite the reverse in fact, they provide great protection against the wear and tear of everyday life. But you do have to find a good nail tech, some don't do the job right. And if you don't believe me, then ask Martin Simpson. He swears by them. Murray |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: wdyat12 Date: 02 Feb 01 - 07:19 PM Keep it flowing Folks! This thread will be worth printing for me! wdyat12 |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Susan-Marie Date: 02 Feb 01 - 07:37 PM The only thing that has ever helped me stop biting my nails is total happiness. Seven years ago I quit a stressful job, spent two weeks at my childhood home on Cape Cod and when the two weeks was over - surprise, ten beautiful nails. Since then I use the number of un-bitten nails on my hands as a barometer of my happiness (I'm currently at 5, which is a big improvement over the zero I was at over the holidays). |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Bugsy Date: 02 Feb 01 - 07:53 PM Give this thread a look. You might find some useful tips there. Cheers Bugsy |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Matt_R Date: 02 Feb 01 - 09:48 PM I have STRONG FINGERNAILS!! RAR!!! I play steel string guitar a LOT everyday, and my nails NEVER get torn up. A may have a nail break ever 6 months or so. 2 months ago I had 2 broken nails, and still was playing the same quality with what was left. In classical guitar you don't give up when you have breakage. You do the best with what you got! And Murray is left with plastic fingers! Poor guy! --Matt (With Long Right-Hand Fingernails...Now and Forever) |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: wdyat12 Date: 02 Feb 01 - 10:40 PM Matt, Why put up with such efemeral extremities when you never know when you might lose them. My former guitar mentor was helping me tune my old Volkswagen van one day when I told him "Don't start this thing until I give you the signal." I was fiddling with the generator pulley when suddenly he turned the key. Well, my thumb and fingers did about three cycles between the belt and the pully...Ouch!!! My guitar mentor,who by the way was going to give a recital that week, was so distraught at what he had done that he ripped off the nails on his picking fingers (as if that would make me feel better). One never knows what one will do in such an emotional situation. So, better to learn with replaceable nails, I think. wdyat12 |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Matt_R Date: 02 Feb 01 - 10:48 PM Haha! SOme people are stuuuuuuuupid! |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Murray MacLeod Date: 04 Feb 01 - 02:26 AM Matt, I am glad that you are able to play with your own nails, I did too for many years. The stresses on the fingertips of a cninetmaker however are different from those on the fingertips of a graphic artist, and I use acrylic mainly to save my nails fom being torn in the course of a hard day's work. The added tone and volume is a bonus. You should try it, you might like it. But can you handle walking into a nail salon and having an incredibly beautiful blonde pamper you for twenty minutes, as I have to do every ten days? Murray |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Murray MacLeod Date: 04 Feb 01 - 02:28 AM That should be "cabinetmaker" |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Mark Clark Date: 04 Feb 01 - 06:05 PM We had some discussion on finger nails in the Help for pickers. Give us a tip. thread. You might like to read those comments as well. - Mark
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Clinton Hammond Date: 04 Feb 01 - 06:22 PM I fingerpick... using nails and a thumbpick... My fingernails are sharpend nearly to points... about 2 or 3 mm long I guess... Tappin' 'em on everything helps strengthen 'em, but drives everyone around ya nuts... How to stop biting yer nails? Smoke... it's less disgusting... LOL!! What do I do when I break a nail? If the bit is still attached, I'll hold it inplace until I can krazy-glue a single sheet of tissue paper, (toilet paper, kleenex whatever) across the break... Let that dry... add a second single sheet and it's so strong you can sctatch glass with it! If the whole nail is pootched, then I'll glue on a 'press-on' until the nail grows long enough to reshape... Once, I just left the press-on on until the nail grew out so far that I'd filed the whole thing away... had a great strong nail behind it!!! But it took months... Oh ya... best advice... Eat yer Jello!!!! |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Marion Date: 04 Feb 01 - 09:12 PM Thanks for your comments everybody. Marion (Except the Jello comment! Gross! Don't you know what those cows have been walking through in those hooves?) |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Grab Date: 05 Feb 01 - 10:53 AM A NewScientist "Last Word" submission claimed that formaldehyde worked. Unfortunately someone else then pointed out that it was carcinogenic... I have a nail-biting problem too. When I realised it was affecting my guitar, I compromised - I only bite my left hand nails now, and that has the added bonus of keeping them short so that they don't get in the way of the strings. Grab. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: GUEST,Indy lass Date: 05 Feb 01 - 02:34 PM One word: Biotin. I started taking this supplement for my hair, and noticed my nails which were spliting a lot (and I thought it was due to the dry winter air) have become thicker and smoother at the edges. Maybe this would work for you. It seems to be save in larger doses. I take 4,000 mcg. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Clinton Hammond Date: 05 Feb 01 - 02:54 PM "(Except the Jello comment! Gross! Don't you know what those cows have been walking through in those hooves?) " Every single thing that grows, grows in shit, and dead bodies, and rot!!!!! Eatr yer jello! It's good for you and you can't leave the table till you've don it!! LOL!!! This one's just fer the men... stay horny!! Keeping in a semi state of arousal releases tonnes of Testosterone into yer body... it might make the hair on yer head fall out, but it's grow ya a great beard and fingernails! LOL! |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Gypsy Date: 05 Feb 01 - 11:07 PM MAG, that is exactly what i prescribed to clients when i was a manicurist. It's much easier to replace a destructive habit with a constructive one, rather than try to eliminate it. There is also a product called Don't Bite It, which is highly effective. It is totally matte, and waterproof, so the gents don't have kittens about wearing nail polish. I put acrylic overlays on our banjo players claws, they help him alot. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Grab Date: 06 Feb 01 - 07:44 AM Indy Lass, what's Biotin? Where do you get it from, and how much does it cost? Grab. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: GUEST,Indy lass Date: 06 Feb 01 - 08:46 AM Biotin is a natural substance found in food but it is also sold in the form of a supplement. Health food stores and some supermarkets sell it. I go to a store called Wild Oats to get mine. It depends on the brand and number of tablets in a bottle as to the price. I've seen it range about five to nine dollars a bottle. The best food sources are egg yolks and liver, but those are also high in cholesterol. Only 150 to 300 mcg is required to avoid deficiency. Biotin is part of the B-vitamin complex so it might also be in some multivitamins. It should say on the lable. Hope it works for you! |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: GUEST,Indy lass Date: 06 Feb 01 - 08:58 AM OOh--spelling mistake--should read "label"--sorry! |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: Lady McMoo Date: 06 Feb 01 - 10:05 AM I've tried various things but for the last 10 years or so I've trimmed my fretting hand nails VERY short as even a slight growth bothers me as I arch my hand considerably. On the picking hand I let my thumb and fingernails grow JUST long enough to catch the strings, slightly longer on the left hand side of the fingers and thumb looking at the back of my hand and almost no nail at all on the right side. I found with the nails any longer than that I got regular breakages. Playing as I do now I haven't had a nail breakage in years. I don't use finger or thumbpicks anymore as I don't get the necessary sensitivity or feel. This works fine for me but I'd suggest whatever feels the best and most natural for you is the best way to go. Peace mcmoo |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: GUEST,John Hill Date: 08 Feb 01 - 06:00 AM Nails are fine for Nylon strings .. but you just don't get the quality of sound with steel strings. I use steel finger picks and have for something like 27 years. I'm a compulsive biter too but I have grown them from time to time. I find nails too unreliable apart from the fact that your nails are on the wrong side of your fingers. |
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Subject: RE: SemiBS: Fingernails From: GUEST,Captain Swing Date: 08 Feb 01 - 07:13 PM For many years I filed my finger nails then I realised that if I just left them on the ends of my fingers I could find them just as quickly. |