The guitar player manicure

[kestrell]

I had forgotten about this, and am getting way too much enjoyment out of it.

Comments

[cvirtue]

If there is a link, it's not there for folks without screen readers.

[kestrell]

There isn't a link, it was me being elliptical, and it may even be a made-up phrase. If one plays acoustic guitar fingerstyle one tends to have very short nails on the right hand (if you are a rightie), and longer nails on the left (to use as natural picks).

[cvirtue]

Ah, ok. Color me clueless!

[kestrell]

There isn't a link, it was me being elliptical, and it may even be a made-up phrase. If one plays acoustic guitar fingerstyle one tends to have very short nails on the left hand (if you are a rightie), and longer nails on the right (to use as natural picks).

[kestrell]

Um, except switch that around, short nails on the left, long nails on the right; I had it correct the first time but thought it was wrong. This heat is frying my brain.

[kestrell]

Except that I got those reversed, so see addendum, just to be mutually confused and confusing.

[cvirtue]

Paul McCartney plays with the guitar flipped, so maybe you were thinking of that....

[jesse_the_k]

I gave up after six months and went for picks.

The plastic fingerpicks would fall right off my wee fingertips. The metal ones, on the other hand, can be artfully deformed to stay in place (plastic for the thumbpick). I vaguely recall a picture of you wearing something that almost looked like metal fingerpicks, so I bet you know whereof I speak.

[kallistii]

Canadian folk musician Bruce Cockburn has an interesting technique to get around needing finger-picks. He takes regular guitar picks and cuts the tip of the picks off, then krazy glues them on to the top of his nails so he can play without needing finger picks and having them fall off or get caught in the strings...

[kestrell]

Ah, yes, my talons--I have a variety of those clawlike metal fingerrings, some of which are actually shaped into talongs. I may try those, but it's the flesh and nail kind of fingering which gives me the sound I like.

I got a professional manicure once with those glue-on nails, but they turned my real nails so soft they were the consistency of wet cardboard, so I would be reluctant to try glueing anything onto my nails again. Still, it's always fun to read about musicians's hacks and habits.

[jesse_the_k]

Huh! I'm a Bruce Cockburn fan, but I've never gotten close enough to his fingertips to see this particular hack. I admit that as I read it, I had this nauseated pulse in my stomach of how it would feel as the pick pulled up on the top of my fingernail.

OTOH, Bruce gets the most marvelous sound out of his guitars, and I'm sure this is part of it.

[jesse_the_k]

Speaking of hacks, Ani deFranco covered her fingertips with duck tape (cylindrically on the four, metal thumb pick). On more recent videos looks like she has super-heavy stick-on nails, painted a lovely lilac. But the duct tape sound is very close to the special tone of skin on steel: check out the sound from this Youtube vid of her amazing song, Two Little Girls:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUK5gXPMs8iBq8LKMxL2Z22A&feature=player_detailpage&v=7j3FZ1THi-Q

that's one long link, I have no idea how to shorten it.

[kestrell]

From my one experience with fake nails and the superglue they use to apply them, I'm going to guess that anyone who crazy glued plastic anything to his natural nails is not going to feel a tug, as even the plastic fake nails feel as if you have finger armour on, which is another thing I found off-putting about them.

[kallistii]

I've lucky enough to live in his home town of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, so I have seen him in concert at least a half dozen times. We have such a great folk tradition here in Canada with people like Bruce, Gordon Lightfoot, Ian & Sylvia Tyson, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Irish Rovers through to current day acts like Loreena McKennitt, Sarah McLachlan, The Arrogant Worms, The Crash Test Dummies, Great Big Sea and The Barenaked Ladies. And then there is the Celtic music scene...

p.s. Oops, I almost forgot Stan Rogers!

[kallistii]

Oh My Gods, that video was shot right here in Ottawa!

I had heard about her relationship with duct tape!

The tone you get is from the strings definitely does change depending on what you are striking them with...when I play my 12-string guitar, I like to use a lighter pick, as it helps soften the sound, but use a medium one for playing 6 string. I don't like using a heavy pick with the electric 6 string, I use a medium one, but many guitarists swear by a heavy pick, some of which actually use metal picks!