A 1950's event brought all these "classic" cars to our doorstep. Things are really hopping at The Pickin' Parlor too. Lots of great events, so don't forget to check our Events page often. On a "classic" note here's an article by our classical guitar teacher.
The Guitarists Hands
by Nathan Kolosko Article #1
The Guitarists Nails
Whether you play steel or nylon string guitar you know full well the headaches nail breakage and wear can cause you. Many of us choose to play without nails simply due to the entire hassle involved. This article will briefly go through some of the solutions to natural nail breakage and wear, and will also provide some alternatives to the use of natural nails.
Even though all wound guitar strings act as cheese graters for your nails the nylon and steel string have to be dealt with as two very different beasts.
First lets discuss the steel string. The nature of the steel string is one of much more tension then the nylon string. Therefore it takes a greater amount of force to set the string in motion and create a projecting sound. Due to this fact one needs a much stronger nail to play steel string. Many players have made the chose to use finger picks. This is fine and dandy if you want to be a track star with prosthetic legs. In other words a great deal of control and feel is lost through the use of finger picks. There have been recent improvements in this area in the last few years with the introduction of such products as the Alaska Pick®. This pick allows you a more natural feel, but is still quite different from the real thing. The good news for steel string players who want to play with nails is that steel strings are much less sensitive than nylon strings. This means a player can have thick nails while playing a steel string guitar and not affect the sound.
The best kind of nail to use is acrylic. The acrylic nail process can be applied to fingers with almost no existing nail beyond the nail bed. The process begins with the placement of a fake nail onto your real nail to set a foundation for the acrylic overlay to follow. As your natural nail grows out the acrylic overlay is replaced or filled in. In several months one can have a natural nail with just a thin acrylic overlay to strengthen it. This Process can be done at any beauty salon for somewhere between $25-$50 per hand. The supplies are also sold in beauty supply and drug stores, but I would not suggest a do- it-yourself approach until you have witnessed a pro work there magic several times. The acrylic nail is strong and gives a great deal of sensitivity and agility to the player. I feel this is the best solution for the Steel string player.
As for the nylon string player the problem is much more complex. The thickness of the nail plays a much greater role in the classical guitarist's sound. If the nail is too thick then a lot of right hand noise such as clicking is very prevalent. Ideally the best solution for the nylon string player is natural nails. So much so that one should look into dietary supplements such as gelatin caps and calcium pills to solve nail breakage problems before resorting to and nail strengthening products. I have personally found no success with nail strengthening products, but due to my lactose intolerance, soymilk has saved the life of my nails.
There are two reasonably good nail products on the market for classical guitarists. One of these products has been around for years; the product I am speaking of is called Players Nails®. This product comes as a kit that allows the player to custom fit a plastic nail under the existing broken nail. Therefore some nail is required for this quick fix product. This technique can also be done with Ping-Pong balls and cuticle scissors. One can cut a Ping-Pong ball into little pieces to fit under ones nail and then glue it into place with crazy glue and file it into shape, and away you go. The other solution is a product recently put on the market by Savarez®, a company that also makes great nylon strings. This product is a silk over wrap, which is placed over an existing nail to strengthen it without adding an excessive amount of thickness to the nail. Both of this products can produce a very realistic sound on a nylon string guitar but once again nothing beats the real thing.
In the next installment of the Guitarist hands I will discuss the shaping of the right hand nails, show illustrations, and discuss such things as nail filling and buffing. Until next time this is Nathan Kolosko saying happy picking and don't cry over a broken nail.
