What am i doing wrong with my fingerpicking? It takes one song to completely destroy my nails. The strings just tears them down until it starts to hurt. And im not doing anything crazy here, I played some chords using hybryd picking.
2 Likes
Hi @pauliusmm.
I think you are contacting the strings with a very awkward part of your nail, based on where your fingernails are showing damage.
First, your going to have to give your nails a chance to recover and reshape them with a file. It’s very easy for a thin steel string to catch on a small burr in your nails. When I was first learning to fingerpick on a steel string guitar, a high string dug further into a chip on one of my fingernails and the nail was nearly torn off completely.
If you want to keep using your nails, let them recover and reshape them as in this tutorial:
Notice the correct contact point on the fingernail and the sloped shape of the nail.
It’s not necessary to have any appreciable length to your fingernails at all. I actually prefer to keep the finger nails of my picking hand short so that the flesh of my fingertips make initial contact and the nail provides some follow through.
Here is a picture of my picking hand fingernails:
The yellow circles show (approximately) where I contact the strings. Notice that my contact point is similar to that shown in the classical guitar lesson. and my nails are sloped to allow the string to release smoothly.
5 Likes
Everything @Tom_Gilroy says is correct. You may also find this video useful. The props are a little nutty but Kanengiser gives a wonderful and in-depth description of how the nails can be used even with differing nail shapes from person to person.
2 Likes
Strangely this started happening when i got a new Tele recently. It feels a bit different to Hybrid pick on my new tele than my strat.
I will try concentrate to contact the strings at the right point.
One other thing i sometimes do is tap muted strings on 2 and 4 beats with my right hand.
Its a sort of syncopated rythm pattern when you pick a bassnote with a pick then add chord with a hybrid picking and tap muted strings on 2 and 4 beats to keep the rythm. Think John Mayer playing a funky rythm with hybryd picking. So maybe tapping the strings might cause this damage.
1 Like
When I went to college there was this fantastic country guitar teacher who obviously did a tonne of hybrid picking. He glued false nails on, that way if he broke them it wasn’t a huge deal. I think he actually went to a nail bar sometimes! Haha! Maybe something worth thinking about!
2 Likes
Thanks for this. I really want to improve my hybrid picking as well. I still get ‘hung up’ on certain patterns… so I will try your tips.
1 Like
A note about false nails:
I used to get acrylic nails on my right hand but fount that it damaged and weakened the surface of my natural nails. (This is not an experience unique to me - it happens to everyone.) When I finally decided to go back to natural nails there was a long wait of using flesh only while I waited to the nails to grow all the way back. A lot of people use acrylics and while they are rock-solid know that they do require maintenance every few weeks to keep them from getting loose and falling off and will cause damage undernath. I only post because I have heard of people getting acrylics as a “quick fix” for a broken nail not realizing that they will not be able to go back to the natural nail quickly.
In retrospect, I think having to fingerpick with flesh only for a while helped me to understand how little nail I really needed to get the attack and tone I like.
2 Likes
On the topic of hybrid picking. When picking using the pick and one of the fingers… does everyone use a downstroke for the pick? Does anyone use an upstroke? or alternate picking?
Sorry for the novice question… I don’t have a lot of expertise in this area.
I use both downstrokes and upstrokes, and I use hybrid picked notes in conjuction with both alternate and economy picking. The latter approach is what Marshall Harrison calls “swybrid” picking. When I pick two strings simultaneously with the pick and a finger, it’s almost always a downstroke.
Yeah, I saw him do that swybrid picking. Interesting idea… he is a ‘light’ finesse picker… uses economy quite a bit… so it fits well into his system.
I actually wanted to ask the same question, because hybrid picking feels different after upstroke. Theres this little lag that happens if i try hybrid pick after upstroke. Is it just the matter of practice or people actually avoid hybrid picking after upstroke?
What about simultaneosly hybrid picking with upstroke?
Yeah… I run into this where I alt-pick… and try to mix in high notes… and if it isnt timed right… it feels very awkward. Maybe we just need to practice it more.
Brent Mason does that as well. I suspect it is quite common amongst the Nashville session guys.
I use some clear strengthener polish, but I have pretty strong fingernails to begin with, still it does wonders for keeping steel strings from eating your nails. There is also clear nail polish out there that will make your nails grow stronger.
The only way I’ve found to comfortable hybrid pick on an upstroke is using a sort of “scooping” maneuver with upward pickslanting.