I’ve been doing classical guitar lessons for a while now and finally have some disgustingly long fingernails. It’s great for guitar playing but been kind of treacherous for the bass. Has anyone dealt with this issue? Is there a way to adapt fingerpicking to preserve my nails or am I better off switching to using a pick? Or would it be worth it to get artificial nails for guitar?
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Are long nails really necessary to play finger style guitar? Certainly they are a no-no for the bass
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Maybe you could tilt your fingers sideways a bit and pluck at an angle? I don’t know, I can’t even deal with a mm of fingernail. I trim them a couple of times a week.
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Long fingernails are actually a problem on bass. I guess you can fiddle around and try to find “your way”, however, I personally couldn’t deal with that.
You’re going to have to keep your index and middle finger nails filed down to the nub if you’re going to finger pluck. Otherwise, go with a pick
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They’re incredibly useful for classical guitar. You can increase your volume quite a bit and it also gives you more tones to play with between your fingerpads and nails.
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Yeah messed around with it a bit and I could approach my usual full sound but it was incredibly awkward.
Yeah I’m thinking pick is the way forward. At least while I’m pursuing fingerstyle guitar. Thanks Pam
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Nothing wrong with playing with a pick. I actually prefer it for a lot of the styles I like.
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Eww, a pick?
Nah, I’m just kidding. My first attempt at learning bass was pick-style. That’ll be your best bet if you want to have nails for classical guitar.
On the other hand, I have seen picks made to fit on the thumb and fingers for finger-style playing. Something like:
So you could have more bass-compatible hands and use picks for classical guitar if you wanted.
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I know I’m disappointed in me too!
I’ve seen those used before but they always looked uncomfortable. May be worth a few bucks to experiment though. Thanks!
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Hard to say because I’m struggling with the opposite. I’m a bassist who wants to play finger picking style guitar. I do have a classical guitar. My notes are coming out pretty soft and warm.
If you like tight thumpy bass tone, you are going to trim those claws, lol. It would take a lot of kung fu to play bass with finger nails, it’s quite painful.
Really, just try a pick 
Sounds much better for many styles to begin with
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This guy has incredibly long fingernails on his right hand and he manages to make it work:
Or tape on some Funk Fingers just like the great Tony Levin and call it a day.
My friend who plays classical and flamenco guitar has a secret recipe for his nails.
He layers up toilet paper and crazy glue, then sands them down.
So maybe as an option, you could just beef up your nails instead of trimming and learn to work with them?
Here is another approach:
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I don’t but I don’t know if I can hit my target string when the nail picks are that long, lol.
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