fighting (not biting) my nails

[jim_p]

I need to get my nails done...

I've started taking up classical guitar, which is traditionally played with fingernails. Trouble is, doing all the home-renovation stuff that I do I'm always breaking and chipping them, and it takes weeks for them to grow back into playing condition... during which time I'll have broken them some more. I tried fingertip picks, but they just don't have the same feel. So I gotta find a nail salon that can work with me ("No, I only need one hand done!")

Comments

[dglenn.livejournal.com]

I get one hand done (actually just three fingers). I've got a regular nail salon that I go to, but sometimes I don't have time to get to them and find myself near some random other nail salon and have to explain to new folks what I want. Most places seem to understand the idea once guitars are mentioned (sometimes it takes a little pantomime, due to language barriers). So you shouldn't have much trouble finding a nail salon that'll do what you want.

I'm not sure whether acrylic nails will work as well on classical guitar as they do on steel strings (yeah, I know, most people play folk guitar with a pick -- I've always used my nails),
but I guess you're about to find out. (Let me know how that works for you.) You defintely want to make the nail tech understand that you need really smooth edges. If there's a little bump or dip that becomes exposed as the nail grows out, and it starts to catch on the string, that's a problem.

I'm guessing that you'll probably want a thinner layer of acrylic than I usually get, since you're just trying to compensate for (and maybe protect from) normal breakage, whereas I'm basically grinding mine off against metal strings rather violently.

What may be a bigger problem than finding a place that can understand just doing one hand, is that short-but-still-there length favoured for classical guitar. The white parts of my nails on my strumming hand range from 3/16" to 3/8" depending on how recently I've broken, repaired, or trimmed them, and I'm pretty sure even the shorter end of that range is longer than you'll want (but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about that).

[gingicat]

(Just added you to my friends list, BTW.)
A friend of mine who plays wireharp constructs harp-playing nails from nail glue and carefully-cut-up pingpong balls. You might be able to find instructions for this somewhere.
--gingi

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

I've been seeing a lot of mentions of the ping-pong ball trick... maybe I oughta give that a try.