Right Hand Nails

[Graham Cooper]

I have been struggling for some time with the nails on my right hand. I play an awful amount of piano and it's not very kind to fingernails. I contacted John Goldie and asked about his right hand care. He has a regular application of some sort of ceramic material which works brilliantly, but it does play havoc with the natural nail I understand. Here in Portugal, ceramic treatment isn'tallowed, but I do now pay a regular visit to the nail bar and have a gel applied. It's more than effective and has given my fingerpicking a kick start again. The only thing you should watch out for is being discovered by your golf partner and his wife whilst you are having the treatment. I have had to take some stick from friends but it really has been worth it.


Cheers
Graham

[Dale Grider]

Hey Graham,

Hope to see you at Kamp this year. I'll be week 1, but as a flatpicker again. (I got to get that flatpickin better!)

However, fingerstyle is what I was weaned on and I still love it. As a classical player I used the nail/flesh combination exclusively for many, many years, and tone on the nylon strings was very manageable with a diamond chip file and 600 grit sandpaper for buffing a polished edge. But when I started doing fingerstyle on steel strings, the combination of the higher tension and the steel itself had me very disatisfied with either flesh or flesh and nail. Tone wasn't good, volume was inadequate. I used a thumb pick and banjo picks for a few years but they were like clubs; no fingertip feel in the strings and subtle combinations were hard. Tempo on fast things was an issue as well.

Well, a few years ago I discovered Alaska picks and they have revolutionized my fingerstyle playing. I can feel the strings with my fingertips and the picks actually pluck the string (not the reverse slide-off like banjo picks). With these I can actually play some fairly complex classical pieces on steel strings and maintain tone and control. For tunes like Doc's guitar or Southbound where you want to move on a little in tempo they make all the difference. For me, pinch picking (Wayne Henderson style) is much easier with a Thumb pick and an index finger Alaska pick. I prune them down considerable and polish the edges to shape tone. They do necessitate SOME natural nail as the way in which they work is to wedge behind the natural nail for support. For me the nails have to be kept short or the tone gets tinny pretty fast. However, when you lose a nail completely you need to use some tape for support.

Bottom line for me; you can play LOUD (great projection) and get control of tone at the same time.

I get mine at Musiciansfriend.com

They're cheap. Worth a try!


Dale:)

[Barry Mason]

Hey Dale,

Maybe we should get a commission from Alaska Picks. I'd be lost without them.
I broke a nail before Christmas & had to revert to my metal Natiomal style picks. They felt awful even tho I'd used them on guitar for years. Fortunatly, by Christmas Eve I had enough nail to survive 2 services at church using my Alaska Picks.
The clatter from the metal picks over the PA would not have been acceptable

I'm curious about how you "prune & polish"your picks?

I remove the entire top portion from my picks.
When my finger bends at the first joint from the tip, the flesh at the joint would push the pick off the nail.

Instead of looking like this II >> Mine are like this II > They just cover the nail.
Even tho there is less area contacting the finger ,they stay on fine.
The lower part appears to be shaped the same as the upper so to my ear they sounded the same,
Once I've removed the top part, I don't do any thing else. Sounds to me like you've found some benefit by modifiing the shape.
More rounded, or more pointy?

Nice discussion.
Grown men talking about nails!!

Best to all,
Barry

[Dale Grider]

Barry Mason said:

Hey Dale,

...I'm curious about how you "prune & polish"your picks?

I remove the entire top portion from my picks.
When my finger bends at the first joint from the tip, the flesh at the joint would push the pick off the nail.

... They just cover the nail.
Even tho there is less area contacting the finger ,they stay on fine...
...Sounds to me like you've found some benefit by modifiing the shape.
More rounded, or more pointy?

Nice discussion.
Grown men talking about nails!!

Best to all,
Barry

Hey Barry,
That's interesting about your cutting off the top segment of the pick. I had to get mine out and put them on to understand what you were referring too in terms of the picks interfering with your playing when left full sized. Yeah, if they came over the tip segment joint I imagine that would be unacceptably awkward and restrictive. However, when I put mine on, they come just up to the joint and not over it (and I'm using the large ones too). I tried to see how the other slit in the pick might feel if I used it to wedge under the nail...and man it ain't never gonna fit (way to narrow). So I guess it depends a lot on individual finger size and shape for that. Cutting off the top segment of the pick would make it unusable for me!

They do come way too long for me though as far as the playing edge out front, and very rough on the playing edge. I use a heavy emory board to do the basic shaping and then a finer one, and last 1500 grit ultra fine sandpaper. Actually I do the exact same process with my flatpicks too with the extra step of bevelling them as well (right now I am using Pro Plec 1.5 picks by D/Andrea for flatpicking, but by the time I get done shaping and beveling they have a MUCH thinner playing edge which is highly polished). The polish at the end is critical for tone on both types of picks.

My Alaska shape is rounded but I try to get some off the sides so that I have a bit smaller sized curve out on the end (again for tone). I want a nice definition to the plucked sound, but with no thin or tinny characteristics. They aren't very long either when I'm done, just enough length sticking out over the edge of the natural nail to keep the tone right. (tone deteriorates quickly for me if the pick is too close to the natural nail, (either if the natural nail is too long or if the Alaska pick too short).

My main problem is that my flatpicking practice tends to almost destroy my index finger nail (really wears it down). That makes it hard to seat the index Alaska securely and I often have to use scotch tape to give support (like currently!).

How about an "Alaska Pick" jam at Kamp! Might be a small circle... but fun!
Dale:)