Wonky Fingernails?

Hi Everyone,

I have only been playing for 6 months, and am new to GuitarTricks, and have a question for all of you:

I have heard alot about how short/fat/weak/weird fingers should not be a reason to impede guitar fretting ability as long as you identify those traits and compensate. My question, however, is about fingernails.

Of course I cut them as short as possible, but the "quick" underneath my nails is right up against the top of the nail which makes it rather difficult to get the nails very short without cutting into that skin (which then bleeds, and is so painful that I can't play until the nail grows back out a bit).

My index finger in particular is really pointy. So, the combination of pointy fingertip + inability to cut the nail very short makes it hard to fret with my index finger at an angle perpendicular to the fretboard. This often causes a poor index finger angle that touches + mutes adjacent strings.

Any tips or tricks on how to work that skin underneath the nail back over time so I can get my fingers more prependicular to the fretboard in order to stop obstructing other strings?

Thanks for any advice!

//Jeff

I use to have nails that split and/or chipped easily but I seldom have the problem anymore because, I believe, I don't clip them.. For me, clipping brought it's own problems to include painful quicks and more splt fingernails. Was I clipping correctly? Who knows. But I switched to filing my nails only.

I no longer have the issues that clipping caused. More than that, by careful filing, once or twice a week I was able to shorten my nails much more than I could with a clipper. The nails on my fret hand are well below the fleshy tips/calluses of my fingers. Additionaly, the filing allows me better control of the shaping and the nails on my fret fingers are nice and straight across, i.e., as my fingers are parallel to the neck/strings so are my nails.

Two years of filing have resulted in shorter nails where they need to be short (fret hand) and longer nails where they need to me (finger picking hand). More importantly, they are way stronger and I seldom suffer a chip/split/break. I believe stopping the clipping and filing only has strengthened my nails.

One other hint -- olive oil can/should strenthen nails. I use to swab olive oil on my finger nails once or twice a week and leave it on for an half-hour. I think it helped. One thing for sure, I don't need to do that for my nails anymore. I do; however, apply olive oil to my cuticles to prevent hangnails.

YMMV. Good luck.

john

Lost in my memory is the source of this comment... it might be Keith Richards; 'We learned to play guitar to get girls, now we sit around and talk about our fingernails.'

Hi Jeff,

Sounds like I have the same exact problem as you. I have long nail beds and I keep filing them down but it's still not enough, in particular my index finger which is extra pointy. It stops me from playing easy chords like A minor. The nail just gets in the way and the second string ends up sounding plunky. I don't know what to do about it. I feel I've been making a lot of progress with playing the guitar, it's just my long nail beds getting in the way. Very frustrating. I've been googling the issue and there doesn't seem to be much useful advice that others can provide.

Hopefully we'll figure it out!

Lana

Agreed-- you generally can't find out much about this topic online. That's why I love GuitarTricks-- these people have tips about everything

At least, I'm not the only one facing the same problem. Coconut oil and Apple Cider Vinegar too can help strengthen your fingernails.

Fellow long nail bed person here, did anyone ever find a solution? I am struggling. How is it going so far?