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Posts: 482
Joined: May 6 2009
From: Iran (living in London)
Curved thumb nail
Hi all,
I have flat nails more than the others, my curved thumb nail is really giving me grief! As soon as it grows a bit, it hooks down and if I file it back to get rid of the curve, I’m left with nothing and the sound suffers.
I have attached a few photos to show you what the problem is.
I am sure some of you might have the same issue. How do you deal with this problem?
I am not considering extreme measures (i.e products, glue, etc)
Thanks for your help and advice in advance.
A
Images are resized automatically to a maximum width of 800px
Looks like you wear your nails down they are probably soft. most guitarists that use a nail stroke of any kind have this happen.... strings are tuffer than nails I would say you will have to use some kind of protection least invasive is some kind of nail polish or hardener..i use whitchcraft as soon as it wears off, re apply so that your nails never get too much wear eventually you will find your right hand nails are harder than your left if your careful you can mayby avoid the glue.
Protect them better and dont file them to such a weird form. If they don´t break after 1 time playing when filed into this form, you don´t play correctly anyway.
I am sure some of you might have the same issue. How do you deal with this problem?
i used to have the same curve problem with my pinky and a finger, but instead they CURVED UP on right corner and thats where they used to break. now i dont have the problem anymore after i cut that corner and apply Nail Strengther and nail thickner coats, i kept doing it for a while and now its all almost gone, theres a tiny bit of curvutre left which can not be noticed and doesnt affect anything
Thanks for your comments and advices. I think I didn't explain the problem properly as most of your comments are about nail strength. My nails don't break at all; in fact they are very strong. It's the downward curve that is the problem (hooking downward). I've filed my finger nails so short that I'm playing the arpeggios and the tremolos almost all with flesh. I've done what Arash suggested in the past and filed the thumb nail shorter but the sound was very dull and the upward thump strokes (I.e while doing alzapua) would miss the strings. I guess I will have to file down little by little and keep playing to come up with a compromise between the playability and acceptable sound.
glue will actually change your nail shape a bit more toward what you want....but since you have a prejudice against using it I shrug my shoulders...sorry man. Filing differently will help the other nails too...they are way too short on left and thumb can be a bit shorter as well.
that is why i suggested nail polish or hardener.....less invasive both methods seem to help keep the nail straight if you play hard for dancers you will need more than just hardener or polish experiment...... dont be afraid
Thanks Ricardo. The thing is I don't know what side effects I could be expecting from these products, that's why I am reluctant to use them.
I will try to file them differently and perhaps keep a record to see which shape suits me best
Thanks again.
Cyanoacrylate is NON TOXIC......KRAZY GLUE....you can eat it if you want. Dont stick your fingers together or breath it in before it dries, or get in your eye. You can put it on open wounds to close your skin which they do intead of stitches in some cases.
Have you tried to file your nails more simetrically? Shorter on the right aide but longer on the left side compared to your shape today? I spent most of my life filing the nails in a similar way as you because my classical guitar teacher told me so, then I saw the video pumping nylon an decided to try a more symmetrical approach (still there is a bit of left to right slope to increase music volume and fullness but not that much. Since then I've noticed that o can do picados a lot faster and my nails don't get hooked to the strings that much. Once I'm back home I'll try to post a picture. Best regards
Have you tried to file your nails more simetrically? Shorter on the right aide but longer on the left side compared to your shape today? I spent most of my life filing the nails in a similar way as you because my classical guitar teacher told me so, then I saw the video pumping nylon an decided to try a more symmetrical approach (still there is a bit of left to right slope to increase music volume and fullness but not that much. Since then I've noticed that o can do picados a lot faster and my nails don't get hooked to the strings that much. Once I'm back home I'll try to post a picture. Best regards
Thanks a lot for your reply. You seem to have understood my problem well as your advice is to do with the shaping other than strenghthening
If I understand correctly, you're talking about filing my nails the opposite of the way it is now (ramping down from left to right when I look at the back of my hand). To be honest, I haven't tried that but I suppose I should if I want to confidently say that I've tried every possible shape
I filed my thumb nail a bit to get rid of most of the downward curve and the sound is not too bad. On the finger nails though, they are fairly short but they still hook down a bit which slows my tremolo down
If I am going to file them the opposite way, I will have to let the left side grow first.
I have the same affliction, Argaith. Keep me updated if you make any progress. I have experimented with nail shapes for years but feel like I have tried every possible shape. I have even read literature that is quite foreboding in regards to this hook (Charles Duncan classical guitar I think it was). They seem to catch on the string at every angle and filing technique/shape. Maybe my hand physiology has something to do with it, too.
Lately I just keep them super super short and very flat (like almost 90 degree angle to the nail plain flat) but because my nail bed ends so far from the edge of my fingertip, it's very hard to get a sound. I have to be extremely accurate and play relatively soft to facilitate that accuracy. Fakes have never worked for me because they generally still follow the contour of the natural nail.
I liked erictjie's suggestion to see a chinese herbal doctor. I just might try that.
Have you tried to file your nails more simetrically? Shorter on the right aide but longer on the left side compared to your shape today? I spent most of my life filing the nails in a similar way as you because my classical guitar teacher told me so, then I saw the video pumping nylon an decided to try a more symmetrical approach (still there is a bit of left to right slope to increase music volume and fullness but not that much. Since then I've noticed that o can do picados a lot faster and my nails don't get hooked to the strings that much. Once I'm back home I'll try to post a picture. Best regards
Thanks a lot for your reply. You seem to have understood my problem well as your advice is to do with the shaping other than strenghthening
If I understand correctly, you're talking about filing my nails the opposite of the way it is now (ramping down from left to right when I look at the back of my hand). To be honest, I haven't tried that but I suppose I should if I want to confidently say that I've tried every possible shape
I filed my thumb nail a bit to get rid of most of the downward curve and the sound is not too bad. On the finger nails though, they are fairly short but they still hook down a bit which slows my tremolo down
If I am going to file them the opposite way, I will have to let the left side grow first.
See if this helps: I wrote it several years ago. It certainly works for thumbnails like mine, which hooks over its whole width; yours may be more problematical.
Does anyone have a solution to nails that curve downward? If my nails grow to where you can just see the nail from palms up, they curve down and no amount of filing seems to avoid hooking. This has been a major problem for many years and any help would be greatly appreciated.
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 15º 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 off the nails with the file in the conventional position 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!
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