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Hi All,
I primarily comp with a pick and have always done it that way. More recently, I have been getting into comping with fingers only, and I am digging the mellower tone. I am also using thumb only at times now. I have to practice hybrid picking more as the bass note is still too loud to me. I have been playing for 45 years, so this is an old dog trying to learn new tricks. I used to play a lot of classical but stopped to only focus on jazz about 20 years ago. Anyway, right now, I have no right hand nails contacting the strings (they are really short). What do most of you do? No nails at all or short nails that make some contact with the strings?
Thanks,
Rick
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01-14-2026 09:41 AM
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Don’t think you need to do nails by any stretch, but if you do, take some time to shape and smooth them or they’ll sound pretty bad.
Im a nails guy for hybrid picking but I was a classical major in college so I never got rid of the nails. Wouldn’t call it necessary, but take a little time to get it right if you go that route.
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I majored in classical guitar and have always used nails and that is the way i am confortable playing.I have known people that don't use nails and sound fine,it's just whatever works for you.There is no right or wrong way in my view.
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second all of this
Originally Posted by pamosmusic
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Yeah, I know what to do because I used to have my nails good for classical playing years ago. For some reason, the thought of nails contacting metal strings sounds like it would feel unpleasant. Originally Posted by pamosmusic
I may just keep practicing without nails for now.
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All the advancements we've made medically and we still haven't figured out a way for guitarists to have retractable nails.
I love nails on nylon, hate them on steel.
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I wouldn't go so far as to say I hate them but I see your point. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Another former classical guitarist here. Tbh I enjoy not having to maintain my right hand nails now and I generally keep them short. Mostly for convenience but also because when I hybrid pick I prefer the tone of the flesh - right now I'm working on strengthening my right hand mostly for grabbing chords.
Some classical guitarists don't use nails but I would if I still played it (though that'd be a mix of flesh and nail). But since now I generally play electric I don't need to worry about making myself heard.
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Sure we have - but detachable not retractable -- Detachable Fingernails Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
But steel string players I've known used a nail hardening formula -- Nail Hardeners
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I keep my nails trimmed, I hybrid pick when I comp sometimes and often at home I'll play with thumb for single lines and fingers for chords because I'm learning something by ear that's playing on my phone.
I don't think I would recommend you copy this part of my practice routine, unless you are also trying to eke out 45 minutes of practice after the kids are asleep, and also while you wife is watching TV in the next room without a door between the two of you.
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Everyone is different. I am a "no pick" player and have been since day one which is stretching into 5 decades now. I like the nails on my thumb, index finger, and ring finger to be about 1/8"-3/16" long and shaped like rounded picks. So far my nails are still strong. Right handed player and I can use my index finger nail to mimic up and down strokes of a pick. I can also do that with my thumb with a slightly different result. Likewise with my ring finger, but I mostly only do up strokes with it. By down strokes it would be flicking it down like flamenco, but I really suck at flamenco, so I only use it for a point-in-time type of effect. For some reason. I have never embraced using my middle finger. (Well, I use it when I drive, but that is off topic.) I don't even let my index finger nail grow at all.
I keep telling myself to pick up a bass and see if I can adapt to playing with a thumb rest and finger upstrokes. Maybe I should get serious about that to broaden out more.
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i started as a rocker with pick and switched to jazz with pick, and in the last 10 years, only fingers. Without some nail, their is no articulation on the note, so it's the sound of a handfull of thumbs, if thats what you're going for.
I dont measure the length nor do any nail care, whatever's on my hand at the moment is how i play, but definitely prefer the sound of nail plus flesh.
Last edited by mikeSF; 01-14-2026 at 07:57 PM.
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I play exclusively fingerstyle picking with 'fingertips' without nails. I prefer the smooth warm rounded sound than a pick.
Here live, I'm the player in the flat cap.
I did play with a pick many years ago and playing with a pick is much faster than fingerstyle IMHO.
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I have found no useful nail hardeners so far and have tried a number of the ones on that page. Maybe not the right one. They all have peeled off in short order. Originally Posted by Mick-7
I am about a 90% fingerstyle player, using a pick for specific effects or certain songs, and have gone to very short nails (less than 1 mm) even on nylon strings. I have terrible nails: thin, weak, brittle and prone to hooking. Relying on having nails has been an exercise in frustration, usually breaking one the day before a gig. I've tried gel nails, the James Taylor method, glue-on nail tips, etc., but the constant maintenance needed to keep them glued on is just annoying. I found Rob MacKillop's advice about no-nails playing to be very helpful. My guitar life is just much simpler since then.
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I could switch to no nails if I had to. But my nails are still strong enough to take an hour a night of playing, so I will use them until I can’t. But that said, I mostly use the edges of my thumb and fingers along with the nails at the same time with the strokes, so my nails aren’t full-on thrashed against the strings.
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Even when I was classical student I hated nails... just physically I do not like the feeling of long nails.
But those days it was a must.
On steel string and electric I do not feel it necessary.
And after playing lutes for many years I developed nail-less technique on nylon strings too also on classical guitar.
I put very good quality and light tension strings and tune guitar to a=415, then you can make it sound without nails.
Sometimes I use very short nails when I play both flesh and a bit of a nail.
Otherwise I do not feel it is necessary.
Overall the difference for me is nails give shorter, bright and sometimes more precise attack. More precision in fast tempo.
But you have really to learn to control it as I feel the nail as still some medium, even more than a pick because you grab a pick and gives more control.
But flesh gives the most flexibility to me: soft, hard, loud, fast, slow... it is just natural continuation of myself as a player, best connection with the instrument
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I play mostly archtops but also use a flattop and a nylon string electric. While I used a pick for many years, and then hybrid with fingers, now its fingers only. I tried using nails, and they’re good for some moments, but I don’t like the nail care so it’s tips only now, with nails cut short.
For single lines, I’m a thumb player, while for chording I use thumb strumming or plucking with thumb and two fingers. It’s not studied, more haphazard, but suits me just fine. There’s something about fingers and strings, with nothing mediating between them, that is appealing.
I also dabble with non-Western string instruments, some with fingertips only (Gambian kora and Iranian setar and tambour, the latter two with some nails) or a narrow long pick (Turkish oud and saz) or a cylindrical short metal pick (Iranian tar).
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