bass guitar, shorth nails <<<>>> ac.guitar, long nails...

kramer.j · #1 06-11-2010, 07:30 AM

Hi,

does anyone have a smart solution for the fact that I want short finger nails for bass playingm but at the same time long finger nails for playing steel string acoustic guitar??
Banjo players play these metal fingertip picks, but are there more subtle (plastic?) versions of that?? I tried these metal ones long ago, but they looked and felt very unpractical.
I wonder if there are "thimbles" with a "nail" on it???
Thanks, regards,
Jaap

Chasarms · #2 06-11-2010, 07:32 AM

MonetBass · #3 06-11-2010, 07:48 AM

^ That.

I play acoustic as well, and thanks to my callouses I can play it without nails. And playing bass fingerstyle with nails that need cutting drives me NUTS.

Chasarms · #4 06-11-2010, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonetBass

. . . playing bass fingerstyle with nails that need cutting drives me NUTS.

Agreed. So much in fact that I have about a dozen pairs of nail clippers in as many places as I can remember to leave them. I have a pair in my case, a pair on my key chain, in my car. Pretty much everywhere.

SeaBassSteve · #5 06-11-2010, 08:51 AM

ab abstract and possibly useless solution :
Keep your right nails short and left nails long.
Play Bass Right Handed
Play Guitar Left Handed.

kramer.j · #6 06-11-2010, 02:56 PM

Hi Chasarms,

yes, thanks, these look quite usable! I found them on http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/9020RShell/
Regards, Jaap

Richard Lindsey · #7 06-11-2010, 10:12 PM

In my experience, there is no real answer to this. Certainly not fingerpicks (for me anyway; YMMV). You just have to find a compromise. I've been doing this (nylon-string guitar and bass) for years. I haven't found a perfect answer, but I've found compromises I can live with. You may be able to do the same.

Flipsnake · #8 06-13-2010, 03:02 PM

Oh man, I had this dilemma a couple months ago. I played classical guitar, and I was itchin' to go back to bass.
And those finger-picks don't feel or sound good.

I eventually decided to play more bass than guitar, so now I cut my nails short. Steel-strings murder fingernails pretty quickly anyways. It's much easier to play with the flesh of your fingertips.

Steady Eddie · #9 06-16-2010, 07:28 AM

I keep my right hand fingernails quite long for playing fingerstyle classical guitar. When I first let them grow I kept clipping the bass strings and it really sounded terrible. But with perseverance I've managed to develop a techique of just plucking with the flesh of the finger and getting a really good sound. It takes time though, but worth it.

Bruce Lindfield · #10 06-16-2010, 07:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richard Lindsey

In my experience, there is no real answer to this. Certainly not fingerpicks (for me anyway; YMMV). You just have to find a compromise. I've been doing this (nylon-string guitar and bass) for years. I haven't found a perfect answer, but I've found compromises I can live with. You may be able to do the same.

I know somebody who plays classical acoustic guitar and Double Bass - surely that is the ultimate answer, as on DB (or EUB) you play the notes with the side of your finger(s) and long nails don't necessarily get in the way!