Fingernails and tone

[Adamixoye]

I've been playing bass for five years. I've taken a few lessons and watched a few videos, but I'm mostly self-taught. I think I have okay technique, I just need to practice more.

 

However, when playing fingerstyle sometimes, I notice that my fingernail will hit the string and drastically alter the tone into Treble City. Does anyone else have this problem? Does this mean my technique is amiss?

[patrick_dont_fret]

Cut off your fingernails. Unless they aren't long and the tops of them strike the string.

 

In that case, smash your fingers with a hammer and after a while they'll fall off and you'll have a cool tone with both sides of your fingers.

 

But that would be bad.

 

Don't do that.

 

So basically, just pull your fingers away from the strings a little faster (it might help you play faster, too) so that your fingernails won't hit the strings. I know that sound too, it does suck. Hope this helped any.

[KikkyMonk]

I try to keep my fingernails cut really short... otherwise I get the same thing. Plus it keeps the girlfriend happy in more ways then one.

 

boy i can't believed I just said (typed) that

 

Dave

 

Or maybe you fingerangle is a bit too much... having never been taught formally myself (and been playing for 5 years myself) I don't know the "correct" way but to me the "correct" way should not make funky treble noises (but it can be a useful tool if you ever want that tone)

[The Fonz]

just keep 'em clipped. the shorter the better. besides, as kikky said, there are benefits with the ladies as well.

[Zack]

The people have spoken, gentlemen. Short fingernails are in vogue!

[Mike F.]

the g***ar player in my band also works as my warehouse manager in the day...he managed to drop a brake drum off of a pallet and onto his left hand pinkie about a week ago ...2 days later

i found myself dousing his finger with hydro clorox, pinning his hand down with my foot, and yanking the remains of the pinkie nail out with a pair of plastic tweezers... ...the point of all this is fingernails arent all that bad

[cornbread_medhotmail.com]

What a bunch of pervs!!!!

 

I agree with the clipping of the nails and the fringe benefits.

 

I would also look at the angle of attack and see if you're hitting more with the tips than the pads. Ideally you should be striking the string with the pads of your fingers.

[The Fonz]

if you trim short enough it shouldn't matter.

[patrick_dont_fret]

I bite all my fingernails off, so I don't have to worry about it. It's a nervous tick I've had since I can remember, so I don't ever really know if I'm gonna stop anytime in the future.

[Mike F.]

my wife is on that chewing kick too, i think im putting her next in line to have the ol' finger nail pullin...

[jeremy c]

I like the sound of nails on the strings!

 

(And some women like fingernails on their backs!)

 

Biting your fingernails is a disgusting habit, almost as bad as playing the guitar.

 

If I alter the angle of my fingers I can control whether I hit with the finger tip, the nail, or some combination of the two...thereby getting a whole possible range of sounds just by moving my hand a little bit.

 

Add in the location (between neck and bridge) where I hit the strings and you'll know why I rarely ever need to use a tone control to change the sound I want to get.

[g.]

I cut all my fingernails - and thumbnail too - at a length that allows me to conciously engage them when I choose. It's another tonal tool that's available when wanted, and for one thing is nice for raking. It was something I became aware of when working on evenness in my fingerstyle, and I decided to use it.

 

I don't have as good luck with my toenails and teeth though ; }

 

<-- greenboy ---<<<<   but the Bootsy tooth works wonders - it's indispensible!

[patrick_dont_fret]

Originally posted by jeremyc:

Biting your fingernails is a disgusting habit, almost as bad as playing the guitar.

Very true. I once tried to play the g***ar, but my fingers didn't like making the chord shapes, so I chose bass. Yahoooo!

 

I was actually at my friends house the other night to jam (this guy has 6 g***ars, a lap steel, a bass, and a drumset...maybe some other stuff) and played a little drums.

 

He said that I was a lot better than he was, and he'd only been playing for a few weeks....I've never sat there and played drums in my life! Sure, I've hit the bong-oes a few times, but not the drums.

 

Anywho, it struck me as odd. Refering to a long dead post: I think I have some black in me!

 

And my woman likes me the way I am, long fingernails or short.

[davebrownbass]

Being a violin teacher, I carry nail clippers on every key ring. Must cut those nails on the left hand short.

 

Many years ago, in a guitar-playing, garage-band, 20 something lust band I played in, I fractured the nail bed of my right hand index finger. This was due to massive power chords, using a pick but actually strumming all the way to my first joint!!!!. Disgusting, right? As a result, my fingernail splits at the growth plate, if I don't keep it trimmed, it will break open and bleed.

 

So I use the nail of my second finger if I need nail tone...like Jeremy said, I change the angle of attack and use a bit of nail...and it is actually interesting to get the contrast with a fleshy first and a naily second.

[Mike F.]

i just pictured some of the marvelous stringed instruments you get youre hands on dave, must be terrifying to get blood on them, not saying that it did happen or anything, just it would be terrifying... damn spelling

[The Fonz]

whenever i want that nail-like sound, i use a pick

[g.]

Blood washes off easily enough. When I started out I went to some marathon jam parties and clocked over 10 hours of playing one day alone. I had blood all over the body, pickups, hands, strings (they actually seemed to stain a little until it got played off over the next few weeks).

[g.]

...I find it easier to drop a 'nail in on selected notes in a fingerstyle line than I do to hit just those notes with a pick.

[Adamixoye]

I was trying to avoid explaining about how I keep my fingernails just a tad longer than ideal because in the past I've had them (accidentallly) cut too short to the point of discomfort, blah blah blah, and I'm trying keep them longer such that they will, over the course of time, heal and establish a better connection to my fingers.

 

As it stands, they are roughly even with the tip of my fingers, and I am quite ready to cut them. But it is still an issue for me. Unfortunately there has been only a little non-fingernail-cutting advice about the tone/technique problem that was the point of my post.

 

How should I "follow through" on a pluck? Maybe that's a better question.

[suspendedindusk]

Did somebody mention blood?!

 

Um, claws are a lot easier to use than picks, and you don't have to worry about dropping them.

[music-man]

Originally posted by Adamixoye:

I was trying to avoid explaining about how I keep my fingernails just a tad longer than ideal

 

...

 

How should I "follow through" on a pluck? Maybe that's a better question.

Follow through ... I'm staring at my fingers and trying to figure this out. I always make sure my fingernails are never longer than the pads on my right fingers when I squeeze them. So, unless I really dig in and TRY to get a nail-clanker, it's really rare for me to get any nail-string contact.

 

Perhaps you can cut your nails back to just short of the ends of your fingertips and still get them to "reattach"? I've hammered my fingers, dropped rocks on em, jammed em in basketball games, slammed them into car doors, closet doors, screen doors; and generally put em all kindsa places they shouldn't have gone - and somehow things always fit back together OK. But I always trim my fingernails, and like DBB, I always keep a set of clippers in my bass case.

[g.]

I think everybody is built a little different (great sighs go out across the net as this relevatory paraphrase of a BenLoy observation sweeps out and pulls the chain for imaginary light bulbs).

 

But once you become aware of this, I'd say, do what I do: EXPERIMENT! Find what's right for you, what fits your build and bass and hand positioning, and work on it once you think you have the way that's best for you.

 

...Then, when you find out there is a Proper Way to do this, and that you have done it woefully and completely inadequately WRONG, you can go out and delete/erase all your recordings and cancel all your gigs, and BLAME GREENBOY! ; }

 

Sounds like a good deal as far as the blaming part goes ; }

 

<-- greenboy ---<<<<    tiger woods: look at all the golf players who who hold their rackets - er clubs - wrong

[Mr M Pulsive]

Originally posted by greenboy:

I think everybody is built a little different (great sighs go out across the net as this relevatory paraphrase of a BenLoy observation sweeps out and pulls the chain for imaginary light bulbs).

You're killin' me man.

[A.P. Non-Prod.]

I was thinking about my nails recently. I've played with a pick and while I never drop it, sometimes I hold it a little loose and it moves around and the tip of my index finger ends up digging in and getting a blister(heavy attack). I thought I'd grow that nail out to protect it from the abuse. It worked but I can't stand having nails and I don't like them there when I'm playing fingerstyle. So now I'm choosing to cut them and build up a callous for protection along with working on holding the pick better.

I guess my attack isn't as bad as dbb's experience back many years ago. Do you have any pics with you from your garage days? I'll probably experiment with having a little nail for fingerstyle playing again someday.

[Boggs]

As a finger-picking guitarist, I really need the nails of my right hand. It does make playing the bass rather challenging, although not impossible. You have to really concentrate on right hand position and technique. I asked Victor Wooten about this problem, and he was stumped as to what the technique should really be, but I have found it can be done as there are a couple of songs we do that the regular bassist just can't get the vibe on or what have you and I end up playing bass for them. I shouldn't make it sound like punishment, because I love playing bass as much as I do my guitar. In fact, I wish I could play bass more often as well!

 

One thing someone with nails can do is get GHS Brite flat-wounds. They are not dead sounding wen "skinned" but don't brighten up as much when "nailed." Boggs

[Bob Gollihur]

I keep all my nails trimmed close except for one most of the time. I keep a little more nail on my right ring finger. This enables me to angle that finger to get a different sounding attack for some notes within phrases or runs where I want it.

[Tom Capasso]

Mine are kept short so if I want the sound for a particular note, I have to use the back of the nail.

 

Jeremy - thanks for helping me prioritze my vices - I almost started playing g****r !!!

 

Should we change Dave's handle to KinkyMonk? (Only kidding - let's not go in that direction - it's a family show).

 

greenboy, expect angry email from my wife - I blamed you for everything !!!

 

Tom

[bassbloke]

In his tuition books Chuck Rainey advises keeping right hand nails long enough to get different sounds with different angles of attack - like Jeremy does. Must confess I don't like the sound of nails though and keep them short.

[davebrownbass]

Originally posted by bassbloke:

In his tuition books Chuck Rainey advises keeping right hand nails long enough to get different sounds with different angles of attack - like Jeremy does. Must confess I don't like the sound of nails though and keep them short.

Of course, Chuck is the guy who popularized the in-and-out fingerstroke. When I was studying with him he confessed he did that because he couldn't play as fast as he felt other guys were, so he "cheated." Hmmmm...

 

Now Victor Wooten has adapted a similiar method with his thumb slap technique, and I can't get that smooth for the life of me.

[randy clay]

Let me jump on this bandwagon...

 

I used to read Chuck Rainey's column and was converted to using fingernails while playing. I was never able to master the in/out technique (need lots of compression, or REALLY strong fingers to be loud), but I am really hindered when I break a nail on my right hand. I use a combination of fingers (except the little one - that when ran all the way home )and try to keep the nails longer than usual. That way, when I want to, I can get a note to jump out , or not. I can even use it like a pick, if I keep it long enough. (like a classical guitarist, - or a manicurist )The only problem I encounter is how to make my nails stronger. Jello anyone? It doesn't help me. I bought a little plastic bottle of the nail strengther stuff ( it smelled horrible) and used to rub it on the area right before the nails start to grow "tough" nails. Didn't work. This might be OT, but does anyone have a nail strengthener tip?

 

I am a advocate of using fingernails to broaden the palette of tones I can produce with the instrument of my choice - contrabasssousaphone

 

Sound of one hand clapping.........