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Do it like me, take away the left side and play with a sharper angle:

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Look at videos of the great players on YouTube.

They all play differently.

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The thumbnail is very much too long.

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ORIGINAL: Paul Magnussen

Hmm, it's hooked the other way from normal. Still, maybe the same technique will work.

What follows is from my original post on rec.music.classical.guitar in 2000, on dealing with hooked nails:

The solution to this is easy, but almost nobody seems to know it. I owe my
knowledge to an article by the late Peter Sensier, in the old "BMG" magazine.
My nails are very hooked indeed, but, using this method I have had no problem
for 30+ years. Unfortunately, it is easier to demonstrate than describe.

Hold your hand horizontally, palm down. Then the usual way to hold the file is
vertically. But instead, hold the file horizontally too, so that it's parallel
to your hand. The basic idea is to file your nails this way, from underneath;
then the resulting cross-section must be flat, because the nail-file is flat.

There are a few wrinkles:

1) You will need to tilt the file towards you a bit, i.e. about 15
degrees towards the conventional position.

2) You will also need (if you play off the left side of your nails,
as most people do, Presti/Lagoya excepted) to tilt your hand to the
left a bit, so that nails are shorter on the left side than the right.

3) When finished, round of the nails with the file in the conventional
poistion to remove the resulting knife-edge.

4) Be careful not to cut the quick of your nails with the file -- and
especially, don't use an emery-board!

Hope this helps.

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That reads more for fingers then thumb