Hello Her Wanna: if you want to play classical guitar technique you have to grow your picking hand fingernails long and that's that and all about it. You will then also spend the rest of your life stealing nail varnish and nail repair stuff from the women in your life and you'll man up and not worry about it: nails and nail care are a part of being a certain sort of guitarist. Wear the look with pride.

On the other hand, the finest modern steel string fingerpickers often use a combination of thumbpick and the flesh of the other fingers. You can do no better than spend some time Youtubing the likes of Doyle Dykes and Tommy Emmanuel - here's a random bit of Tommy pickin' and strummin' to get you going:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S33tWZqXhnk

Cheers - C

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You'll have to experiment to find out what's right for you.

You really don't have to have the nails terribly long to work for you. Like others say, just past the tip of the finger.

You do have to keep them filed and shaped for best tone and ease of playing. The edges, including the underside of the nail, need to be smoothed fairly often with a very fine sandpaper. Fingernails should also be "ramped" on the right hand, so that when you hold your right hand out, palm away from you, the nails are ramped towards the right (short of the left, longer on the right, maybe 3-5 degrees at most. This allows your fingers to "slide" over the strings instead of catching.

Classical players actually use a bit of the pad of the finger and the nail.

You can use your fingerpads, but I don't like the tone. I don't like fingerpicks, both because of the tone you get and the loss of the tactile sensation of the string. Thumbpicks are O.K with me, 'cuz it's a pain in the neck to grow the thumbnail out long enough to be any good.

***edit: I've used fake nails, and they work well. Issue is, it's real hard to disguise the fact that you have fake nails on. They can be blended in, but I don't know how to do it.****

Flesh and fingernails. And don't go forgetting hybrid picking.

By keeping the right hand fingernails short and using your index fingernail as the plectrum on downstrokes, it's possible to catch the bit of flesh of the fingertip. I find this produces a very warm and pleasing sound based on your attack.

Practicing this once in a while means I can go not kicking myself if I forget to bring a pick to the jam.

I use mostly flesh, but fingernails maybe 15% of the time. I'd use my fingernails in blues where I might normally use a pick for accent/more treble when flesh finger-picking.

I was thinking some more on this and noticed when I finger pick I do use the nail some. This is on steel strings. Not so much to sound the note, but to backup the flesh. The nail almost or very gently touches when I want brighter sound. And I mean barley touches along with the flesh. I had not noticed this before I thought about it. So I guess I do use them some. If they are long though they get hung on or chewed up by the string. I was approaching the idea from a classical perspective before and did not even realize my own technique. I would like to free myself from the pick some. I have been trying to figure a way of having the pick and have access to my first and second finger. My third finger falls into place for chords or instrumental songs. But it would be awesome to develop my first and second fingers into regular play.

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My ability to spell is in direct proportion to the amount of coffee I've had.

I've become addicted to them. Even when I'm not finger picking I keep one on my index finger for 'normal' picking.

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In my opinion Leo Fender had essentially perfected the guitar amplifier by 1964.

i use finger nails because its easier for me to play..
i dont use flesh because i dont feel comfortable with it it feels ticklish to my fingers xD

I use flesh...my fingernails rarely get long enough to be useful, and I didnt like the banjo picks or thumbpicks. In my profession (Director of Biomed) false fingernails would be a HUGE hindrance professionally (too many business meetings with ultra conservative people) and technically (performing repairs on medical equipment, hospital hygiene standards).

99% of the time I play fingerstyle; only rarely (for certain songs where it "fits") do I use either a thick (1.25mm or thicker) teardrop-shaped Clayton USA pick or the thickest Dunlop Jazz III.

Keep doing it and your fingertips get tougher.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

This thread has inspired me to grow out a few nails and just try.
Thanks for the inspiration, all of ya.

I had to retrain myself to play with a pick, since I had been playing both with finger and fingernails for most of my years. I found it was taking it's toll on my nails. But I found some great picks, Dunlap's "Max-Grips" that help to me the transition.

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Thank you!

Most of the time I use fingernails, I have used fingerpicks in the past but could never find a thumb-pick that fit my skinny hands

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Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancin'

Thanks all for the advice. I gotta just practice.

That's funny, because the thumb-pick was always too tight on my thumb and seemed to make the tip go numb...and I don't have particularly fat fingers. I heated them up and stretched them out, but later realized they just didn't "work" for me.

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Yeah never could get a decent thumb pick, besides the skinny thumb problem I always felt they were too long,making it feel really awkward...kinda like my thumb was miles away from the strings. I got so used to using my nails or fingertips if I broke one that nowadays the whole idea seems like an exercize in futility. (I also learned a lot about nail hardeners from my daughter )

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Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancin'

I agree about them being too long--along with the heating up/stretching out of the "thumb loop," I filed the picking part down to a shorter, sharper point (a la Dunlop Jazz III picks). Eventually I figured out that it just wasn't working for me and quit picks of all sorts--thumb, finger, and/or flat. My playing immediately improved almost thirtyfold.


Daughters and wives are good for that kind of knowledge; While I don't grow my nails out, I'll occasionally have a crack, split or tear on one of them and use Superglue and Hard As Nails to keep it from cracking worse.
The Armadillo Ladies take great delight in seeing me using anything "feminine," such as nail hardeners, etc. Oh well, if that's the worst thing I do, I'll be ok...

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals