Fingernails

[JPAC]

How long would fingernails have to be before they affect playing?

[xilddx]

[quote name='JPAC' post='1010656' date='Nov 3 2010, 12:45 PM']How long would fingernails have to be before they affect playing?[/quote]
I think you win the prize for the weirdest most unanswerable question ever raised on Basschat

[Marvin]

Well I'm very naughty and bite mine so I haven't a clue

[wotnwhy]

left of right hand?

Agree with Silddx, this is a pretty abstract question.. I'm assuming from the term '[i]have[/i] to be' that you WANT them to affect your playing, so i'm guessing you mean right hand. Once the nail is at or past the tip of the finger you can use them to play. But with a slight adjusment of technique you can play with your nails when cut almost all the way back.

If you mean left hand, as soon as the length of the nail affects your playing measure it and let us know so that we can help people with this question in future!

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='JPAC' post='1010656' date='Nov 3 2010, 12:45 PM']How long would fingernails have to be before they affect playing?[/quote]


Not very long at all! I'm a finger player and keep my nails real short, and as soon as I get that percussive clicky sound of the nails hitting the strings its time to cut 'em!

[thunderbird13]

I only found out that the area where the skin meets the fingernail is called the quick - so my nails are always cut to the quick

[Gust0o]

I'm glad wot just posted that, as I use my nails pick-fashion with my right hand. I'm terrible with a pick, so that's my default when required.

Odd confession. I had wondered if I might be one of the only people to do so!

As for the left, short as. Shorter the better. That said, neither extends over the finger. That would seem far too long, to my mind.

[Stingray5]

At a particularly low period in his life, Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green famously allowed his fingernails to grow to a talon-length six inches so that he would not be able to play guitar.
Mind you, Dolly Parton seems to manage ok with her nails, whether on guitar or banjo...

[wotnwhy]

I used to play with my nails, though the sound i strive for has changed so i don't so much anymore. That said, i always have 1mm or so of white nail, which is enough to get the sound with technique adjustment as i mentioned.

Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is famous for playing with his nails

[the_skezz]

Mine tend to catch by accident sometimes. So I bite them off. Never had time for those namby-pamby nail scissors

[flyfisher]

[quote name='Marvin' post='1010663' date='Nov 3 2010, 12:51 PM']Well I'm very naughty and bite mine so I haven't a clue [/quote]

Me too. I only play with my fingers so I'd guess they'd have to be fairly short anyway.

[Lfalex v1.1]

(Right-handed fingerstyle player)
R/hand - short enough to keep the tips of my fingers exposed. Once they reach the same length or longer, it's all over
L/hand (fretting) a bit longer than the right hand before it becomes and issue


To turn a phrase, "Everyone's Mileage May Vary", esp. the pick players!!

[daz]

So far as my strumming hand is concerned, If i try to play with fingers then any length of nail sticking out causes a 'click' They have to be filed right down.

Edited November 3, 2010 by daz

[lojo]

[quote name='silddx' post='1010658' date='Nov 3 2010, 12:48 PM']I think you win the prize for the weirdest most unanswerable question ever raised on Basschat [/quote]

yes, and how sad Im I to attempt to add to this debate

Bite em in the car on the way to every gig or session is the answer, oh and .25mm max id say

Edited November 3, 2010 by lojo

[EssentialTension]

I can't stand nail on string, so cut them short all the time.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='1010788' date='Nov 3 2010, 02:05 PM']Steve Harris from Iron Maiden is famous for playing with his nails[/quote]

is what I was gonna say

I keep the little finger nail on my picking hand a tad longer, for hard staccato strumming - usually end of song posing.

[Protium]

I hate cutting my nails so whenever they start getting in the way

[JPAC]

Interesting. It's just that if my nails are even 2mm long, they catch the strings and that changes the sound, so I keep them really short, not by biting.

"Weird", I hear that a lot.

[Delberthot]

I play with the tips of my fingers so I always cut them right before a gig but only the right hand index and middle unless the others are getting too long

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='Stingray5' post='1010780' date='Nov 3 2010, 02:01 PM']Mind you, Dolly Parton seems to manage ok with her nails, whether on guitar or banjo...

[/quote]
For me different instruments require different lengths. I grew my nails on my picking hand when I was learning country guitar as I adopted the hybrid picking technique. Returning to bass I quickly realised I couldn't play fingerstyle with longer nails so I've cut mine short & let the other instruments have a rest

[bh2]

[quote name='Hobbayne' post='1010679' date='Nov 3 2010, 01:02 PM']Not very long at all! I'm a finger player and keep my nails real short, and as soon as I get that percussive clicky sound of the nails hitting the strings its time to cut 'em! [/quote]

Absolutely... I hate any clicking so I bite em back... it's the only time I bite/cut my nails. Not too short... I can't stand the look of regular nail biter nails.

[matski]

Long nails don't seem to bother Dave Marks...

[attachment=63025:blog_caw_300x247.jpg]

[tauzero]

Left hand - I can have them up to 2mm before they start being an issue but I'll probably have cut them before then as 2mm is too long for guitar.

Right hand - I've just measured them. 3mm, and that's just about the right length. I don't pluck just with the nail, I pluck with my fingertip but the nail is definitely involved because if I break a nail, my playing with that finger is thrown right out.