Double Bass Playing EUB with fingernails for Classical Guitar

[orchman]

Hello forum,
I have a question about the above. I am an acceptable jazz bassist; upright, EUB and fretless bass guitar. I am a hack classical guitarist but dearly love to play. If I allow my fingernails to grow long enough to use with CG, they are too long to play the bass pizzicato with, which is 99.99% of my bass playing. (I also play upright in a community orchestra with a bow)

I there any acceptable way to artificially enhance the nails aka fingerpicks or something of the sort that could be removed when I want to play bass? I would like to have more tone production possibilities than just my bare fingers, if possible.

I have asked this question in a CG forum and wondering/hoping to find some enlightment here maybe.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Steve Borgstrom
Orchestra Director/Beginning guitar instructor
Osseo Area Schools
Minnesota, USA

 

[depalm]

I have a similar problem with nylon guitar. I don't play classical music but Brazilian songs (Bossa Nova, Samba and stuff). But I can get my fingernails long enough to play both instruments.
Why don't you try to use those ceramic artificial fingernails just to practice and remove them to play bass?

 

[Mudfuzz]

Ani Difranco uses fake nails and a bit of electrical tape, and she gets a real cool guitar tone from this.


Sometimes I use the backs of my nails [although I do keep them short] for flamingo like backslapping & rolls [I don't know the technical term] for rhythmic accents on DB & EUB, sometimes on the strings and sometimes on the side of the finger board.