The return of my most important tool

[Jim Soloway]

Five weeks ago I cut off my index nail at the quick on a very sharp cheese grater. No pain and no blood but functionally no nail either. It was the worst damage to my index nail in 27 years since my (now) wife talked me into going bowling. That nail is hugely important to how I play. I spend a lot of time and attention maintaining the length, edge and shape of that nail. I use it for most of my single note playing and without it I'm really lost. For the last five weeks I've been trying to work around it, mostly by using my middle finger instead of my index finger. Sometimes it worked, other times not so much. Yesterday the nail was finally long enough for me to shape and this morning I started to bring it back into my playing the way I've always used it. Hard to explain how much difference it made. My tone, my timing, my speed (what little i have), my accuracy are all dependent on that nail being functional. It feels like I got my hand back today for which I am very grateful.

[brad4d8]

>the worst damage to my index nail in 27 years since my (now) wife talked me into going bowling< When I was seriously into playing classical guitar, some co-workers organized a bowling party. I hadn't bowled since i was a teenager, at least 20 years, and was never much good. I bowled with my left hand, and didn't make a fool of it, and had no worries about my RH nails!. Haven't bowled since (another 20+ years).

[Woody Sound]

The tiniest change in nail length and shape makes a huge difference in feel, technique, and tone.

A related story: My buddy was taking his final nervous whiz just before his senior classical guitar recital. Pulling up his fly at the urinal, he broke his index nail on the zipper. Still did the recital like trooper. Every other note sounded dull and thumpy.

[wzpgsr]

The tiniest change in nail length and shape makes a huge difference in feel, technique, and tone.

A related story: My buddy was taking his final nervous whiz just before his senior classical guitar recital. Pulling up his fly at the urinal, he broke his index nail on the zipper. Still did the recital like trooper. Every other note sounded dull and thumpy.

So glad this story didn’t go where I thought it was going...

[BickertRules]

Glad to hear you’re back on your feet, or your nails, as it were, Jim!

I’ve played classical and fingerstyle and hybrid-picking steel-string acoustic and electric for years, and my nails were a constant source of concern - files, buffing, chemicals, polish, hardener, vitamin E, wearing down faster than growth, random breakage while performing mundane tasks, etc.

A few years ago I just trimmed my nails all the way down and played with the fingertips only for fingerstyle and hybrid picking. There was definitely an adjustment period, but eventually my technique modified, or the tips of my fingers changed over time, or my idea of what a good tone changed, etc., but I wouldn’t consider getting back in the nail game now. I’m sure I’ve saved hours of maintenance and lots of needless worry.

Here’s a nice page our own Rob MacKillop put together on nail-less playing:

Technique | rmclassicalguitar

Here’s a no-nails solo guitar performance:

[Doctor Jeff]

My nails are all perfect right now...oops just jinxed myself.

The worst offenders for breaking a nail are reaching for a doorknob or car door, or lifting up a toilet seat. If not wearing gloves, I virtually always reach for something like a door with my left hand. Never play frisbee anymore.

I posted before that the excellent fingerstyle guitarist and founder of Windham Hill William Ackerman said that he stopped trying to maintain his own nails years ago, and just goes to a local Vietnamese nail salon once a month or so.

If I do break a nail, I generally cut all the nails down a bit and just get by until they grow in sufficiently.

[pcjazz]

I posted before that the excellent fingerstyle guitarist and founder of Windham Hill William Ackerman said that he stopped trying to maintain his own nails years ago, and just goes to a local Vietnamese nail salon once a month or so.

I have relied on the nail salon for several years, but now it is closed as nonessential during the Covid lockdown and my nails are like broken eggshells.

[jazzkritter]

Get thee to the Internet and get nail silk. And crazy glue. Build up 4-5 layers of silk overlapping your broken nail. one at a time, but when the first layer of glue is tacky put the next on. It will be a bit thick in the end but a good filing gets them near perfect. It’s probably what your nail salon does anyway. I watched my Korean nail salon guy do it, and then maintained them myself. By shaping them to my preferred nail pattern they were reinforcement, not extensions. But you can extend it if you want.
They become, as ms jazzkritter called the....Weaponized Nails. Wonderful for scratching significant other’s backs. But forewarned they are darn hard and will kill if used incorrectly ?
Common trick when I studied at Peabody. Much cooler than cut up ping pong balls.
(studied, not graduated)

[Jim Soloway]

Get thee to the Internet and get nail silk. And crazy glue. Build up 4-5 layers of silk overlapping your broken nail. one at a time, but when the first layer of glue is tacky put the next on. It will be a bit thick in the end but a good filing gets them near perfect. It’s probably what your nail salon does anyway. I watched my Korean nail salon guy do it, and then maintained them myself. By shaping them to my preferred nail pattern they were reinforcement, not extensions. But you can extend it if you want.
They become, as ms jazzkritter called the....Weaponized Nails. Wonderful for scratching significant other’s backs. But forewarned they are darn hard and will kill if used incorrectly ?
Common trick when I studied at Peabody. Much cooler than cut up ping pong balls.
(studied, not graduated)

I've tried all those sorts of things over the years (including press-on's, gels and acrylics) and finally gave up on them. They weaken the actual nail bed and they sound really different after you file them. I just try to keep mine reasonably short and it's been decades since anything like this has happened (and that cheese grater was so sharp it would have cut off any kind of reinforcement just as easily as a bare nail). My problem is that I like to cook and we've been trying all sorts of new ideas in the kitchen. Cooking and healthy hands don't really go together. In addition to cutting off that nail I've also nicked a couple of finger tops with sharp knives lately ... On the other hand, the food's been good .

[feet]

your old pal james has some thoughts on the matter.

back in the 90s, my mom was running a slave labor camp in the kitchen when she used to sell what's known in english as pickled jalapenos (had to google that) to help make ends meet. somehow, carrots became my job. peel them, wash them and slice them.

one day, i was seated at the mandoline slicing away when it took a bit of my right index finger with it. the chunk was never recovered, so i guess it got pickled and eaten. fair bit of blood, but not enough to excuse me from my duties. but to this day, there's a flat spot on the end of the finger. an angle, you could call it. and weirdly, the nail grows out to match that angle. so no matter how i trim it, that nail will always grow out with a 45 degree angle built into it. good thing i suck at fingerpicking, and use either pick, pick and fingers or a thumb and finger whack and strum that is vaguely informed by my learning on a classical.

and since i've generally worked with my hands, long nails are largely a non starter. i give them a shot every now and again but can never really get used to it. i was never a good enough nylon guy to be bothered by fleshy tones. might even prefer them.

[jazzkritter]

Jim at my age a weakened nail bed is way low on my list of concerns)

Couple of coats of OPI Nail Envy works well and doesn’t mess with the sound but you probably know that trick already.

so instead get thee to the internet for knife handling videos?

[Jabberwocky]

San Jamar for kitchen duties: