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Trouble Shaping my Middle Finger Nail
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Conrad
Posts: 533
Joined: Jul. 16 2003
From: Toronto, ON, Canada
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 RE: Trouble Shaping my Middle Finger... (in reply to Guest)
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Thanks, Ricardo. I'm jealous of both you guys and your gently curving, conical nails, however way you got 'em. I know that this straight filing should fix my hooked nails, but I still can't make it work. It's almost as if at no vertical or horizontal filing angle does my entire nail touch the flat file.
That's why I'm also interested in your response to Lionel's questions. For me, it always either catches on the left thumb side during index up-strumming like in bulerias (or rasgueados or thumb-index work) or during picados, and it catches on the right side when playing tremolo or arpeggios, all despite trying different angles and being very conscious of my angle of attack etc... on various techniques.
It's funny to see from one angle your nails look quite short, but then in the second picture they look to be the same length as your flesh. That's why for me it can be misleading to see pro players nails on video or pictures.
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Date Sep. 25 2007 19:04:17
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bb
Posts: 28
Joined: Mar. 1 2007
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RE: Trouble Shaping my Middle Finger... (in reply to oneofthesedays)
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I played classical guitar many years ago, but I am a flamenco playing beginner compared to many of you and certain not an expert, so caveat lector. However, I improved my playing recently by increasing the lengths of all my right-hand nails. I had been keeping all but the thumb nail near flesh length. I now have the centers of each nail end at these lengths beyond the flesh:
e = 5mm
a, m & i = 2mm
p = 4mm
The ends of e, a, m & i are filed flatter than flesh curvature, but they are not perfectly flat to avoid sharp points at the corners. The end of the p nail is shaped similar to the flesh. I don’t know whether any of that is ideal, but it is better for me that what I had before. My nails seemed too long and somewhat clumsy at first as they grew longer, but within two or three days of reaching their currently lengths I had become use to the longer lengths and my playing improved.
It seems intuitively reasonable that ideal nail lengths and maybe even end-shapes may vary somewhat from person-to-person due to variations in finger lengths, joint flexibilities (at least for us older players), nail strengths and durabilites, the precise hand and arm positions in all three dimension customarily used, and possibly other things such as the playing techniques such as picado, arpeggio, tremolo, alzapua, rasgueo, etc. a player is having trouble with. However, it probably is best for beginners like myself to follow the recommendations of experienced players at first, and then if necessary, to make minor adjustments to accommodate such variations.
I will be interested in what others have to say about this subject.
Bob
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Date Sep. 25 2007 21:52:47
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Ricardo
Posts: 14801
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Trouble Shaping my Middle Finger... (in reply to Guest)
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quote:
BUT, you know how he says it's supposed to be "slanted"? Well, do you make the same slant for all your nails or just some?
IT depends on how you play. THat guy plays with a straight wrist so he attacks at an angle, so he needs the "ramp" to go up away from the thumb. But I play more square to the strings like most flamenco players, but of course when playing pulgar and index I change postition. I ramp up away from thumb on the index, and cut that thumb side corner so it won't hook when I do p/i flamenco style. The right edge is not so high that I let the string get caught underneath when planting picados straight on. If it were much longer, the string WOULD catch under there. After you shape, you "play on the file" as if it were a string. Just a little bit, that really helps.
M finger is straight across pretty much, I only play straight on to the string. If my fingernail were not curved like is in picture 1, planting the finger on the string might make it get caught under the edge. Like I said, the GLUE makes the curve a bit more exaggerated, so the string sits right on the straight edge of the nail. Again if the nail were much longer, the edge of the nail on either side might catch the string. Also when I do picado, I play with my m finger bent a little bit so tirando and picado have the same "planting on the string" feeling.
"a" finger is always attacking bent or curved so I realized when experimenting that the RIGHT side edge, near the pinky, was catching on the string to much, but the left side not at all. So I need a longer thumb side edge, and much shorter pinky side edge. So I think that finger has the most exaggerated "ramp", but again because the angle I play it is opposite to the Scott Tennant ramp. And it does not look like a ramp because the nail is so darn curved, more than the other nails. Again if I play with that classical guitar angle wrist, that thumb side edge would hook under the string, so you have to be careful not to change your postion of playing too much. Of course "a" finger is used just for arps and tremolo. (I played "Spanish Dance no 5" by Granados, and you know those octave harmonics? Well I have to be carefull pluking with the "a" finger, not hook that edge. Hope that makes sense to anyone that played some classical.)
For the other questions, I think if anyone has nails that look like mine from the first photo, curved a bit, then this filing flat thing will work for you somehow, you just need to experiment and let the nails grow out. As oneofthesedays said, even though the nails have not come out yet, filing flat right away you start noticing improvment. Like buddha, I would not say SPEED so much as the feel of the string and tone. YOu dont' feel resistence and the sound is more crisp and full.
Ricardo
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Date Sep. 26 2007 16:06:11
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wiseguy493
Posts: 73
Joined: May 9 2007
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RE: Trouble Shaping my Middle Finger... (in reply to oneofthesedays)
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oneofthesedays, you have very healthy and well-developed nails. They shouldn't be hard to maintain once you find the right shape for your playing!
I would probably not be able to play with the middle nail that long and would probably give the index a LITTLE shortening as well. I keep my ring and little nails as LONG as possible, and occasionally trim the ring nail
The angle of how you hold your hands is such a huge factor in shaping/angling the nails that nobody can really tell you the best way to shape your nails, just a general idea. You need to feel when you play where your nails are resisting unevenly, and this just takes time to find the "perfect" shape. You need to adjust the shape based on your playing style and that's where the bulk of rounding one side, making one side heavier, which nails are flatter, which are rounder, and that kind of decision will be determined. It took a long time to grow nails long enough, it takes just about as much time to figure out what to do with them to get them as nice as they can be!
If you have an extremely curved nail then you can't file the entire tip of the nail at the same angle. I would suggest doing the nail in halves to get it generally close, then smooth the middle section where the two halves met. After you have "roughed" this shape, go over it with a fine paper or very flexible thin fine board to get it very smooth and you should get to the point of least resistance this way
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Date Sep. 26 2007 17:53:10
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Ricardo
Posts: 14801
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
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RE: Trouble Shaping my Middle Finger... (in reply to mrMagenta)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: mrMagenta
thanks ricardo! thats one of the clearst descriptions i've read on shaping.
i'm curious as to how you use glue to curve your nails, do you use something to press the nail from the sides while the glue cures?
my p, i and m nails don't grow out in nice archs (when looking at the fingers pointing at your eyes).. i especially have problems with the i finger. i hit it with a hammer when i was a child, and since then it it grows out with a weak line running through the middle, which deforms the profile, i have to keep it really short so it doesn't beak, and even so, i still can't get it straight, much less curved like yours..
You can see my pinky nail is much flatter. All my nails are like that normally, but after I put the glue on and it dries, my nails curve. Can't say why exactly, but they just do. I dont' do anything, just a coat or 2 of Krazy glue type stuff, cyanoacrelate, on top and that is it.
Ricardo
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Date Sep. 27 2007 16:21:12
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but is that generally a good idea?
