Dilema regarding fingernails.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tawlks
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Tawlks

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I've been getting really into acoustic fingerstyle playing ala Andy Mckee, Antoine Dufour, Don Ross. I absolutely love it. Already learned 'All Laid Back And Stuff' and 'For My Father (partially)

Anyway, a local 80s style hard rock band has lost their bassist and since I'm good friends with the dummer they asked me to play bass for them.

Thing is, for bass I need short nails on my right hand and long nails for acoustic. There's a local bar that does open mic nights for things like acoustic guitarrists which I'd love, some friends of mine play there about once a week, but I'm weighing that up with 1 gig a week with Black Emerald.

What do you guys think?
 
How about keeping your nails and play the bass with a pick?
 
flimz":3h84x1b7 said:
How about keeping your nails and play the bass with a pick?
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I play slap as well as fingerstyle though. Good idea though, I play better with a pick since guitar is my main instrument.
 
They always break resulting in having to grow them back anyways..

I would cut them, have some fun playing bass.. You can always grow them back in the future..

I got used to and prefer the sound of the finger tips hitting the strings instead of finger nails anyways
 
OldSkoolNJ":ph8hyrsh said:
They always break resulting in having to grow them back anyways..

I would cut them, have some fun playing bass.. You can always grow them back in the future..

I got used to and prefer the sound of the finger tips hitting the strings instead of finger nails anyways
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Thanks. I'm leaning towards this, the only thing is I find it harder to get the speed and precision with fingers, and since andy mckee's right hand technique is fairly quick and precise I'll find it irritating.

On the other hands, it hurts when I play bass with nails. =/ I hate that I have to choose.
 
I had a similar problem some years ago. I ended up cutting my fingernails because playing bass (even with a pick) felt uncomfortable.
 
What some fingerstyle guys do when they break nails is to cut up a ping pong ball and glue pieces on your short/broken nails. Sort of like fingerpicks.
 
Mudder":3c0ml4nn said:
What some fingerstyle guys do when they break nails is to cut up a ping pong ball and glue pieces on your short/broken nails. Sort of like fingerpicks.
Click to expand...

Ah. =/ I'm not really willing to do that, I might just have to work around having short nails.
 
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