NAILS

[cris the man]

once i start getting into a song i begin to make the basslines more complex
whether its slap bass or playing more notes , ill be doing it

however , after a few years , the effects have been becomming more noticable

i tend to break or even split nails... then its much more difficult to play comfortably because i get large pains in my fingers , is there any way out of this?

thanks

[bremen]

[quote name='cris the man' post='107516' date='Dec 21 2007, 10:36 AM']once i start getting into a song i begin to make the basslines more complex
whether its slap bass or playing more notes , ill be doing it

however , after a few years , the effects have been becomming more noticable

i tend to break or even split nails... then its much more difficult to play comfortably because i get large pains in my fingers , is there any way out of this?

thanks[/quote]

Check your diet:

[url="http://wi.essortment.com/fingernailsnutr_rjbo.htm"]http://wi.essortment.com/fingernailsnutr_rjbo.htm[/url]

[Bilbo]

Cut your nails shorter.

[urb]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='107533' date='Dec 21 2007, 11:12 AM']Cut your nails shorter.[/quote]

+1 and keep them short - I cut mine once a week - I hate having long nails!

[thumb4bob]

I bite mine so im ok.

I tried really hard to stop so I could do the stanley clarke flamanco-y strumming thing, and I managed it! But when slapping i started cutting into the wood of my bass by the neck pickup so then I started again

Edited December 21, 2007 by thumb4bob

[mcgraham]

[quote]+1 and keep them short - I cut mine once a week - I hate having long nails![/quote]

+1

Keep them long enough to provide strong support for your finger tip but not so long they catch on the strings.

Mark

[cris the man]

i need the nails long as the ends of my fingers are fat
i have to reach right over the bass if i have short nails

[warwickhunt]

Try a pick!

I must profess that I leave a bit of length to my nail as I sometimes like the tone I get from using the nail as a follow up to the flesh of my finger plucking the note... that sounds cr*p but I know what I mean. I don't actually pluck the string with my nail but but but... nah I can't describe it

[Peaty]

+1 for check your diet, get plenty of dairy products, if I dont make an effort to do this my nails start to split a lot. When they do split I find a little dab of supper glue can stop it getting any worse and will see me through a gig (of course let it dry before you touch anything... including your bass).

[ergon]

i hate the sound my bass makes when my nails brushes the strings i have to keep them short

[Mr. Foxen]

I have dead strong nails, but there is a sweet spot length that you can control your sound with finger angle, but I generally just cut them all off.

[bnt]

I actually like the sound I get when my nails are too long, but it's inconsistent, hard to control the effect, so I couldn't use it seriously.