Nail care

[charles605]

I’m you’re stereotypicall mountain man, I make a good part of my income cutting wood and mining gold. Up intell last December I never worried about breaking a nail. Then I got a ukulele. How is the best way to care for nails?

Thanks
Charles

[surferjay]

Honestly, I’d would wait for someone who knows what they are doing to give you proper advice but tbh… I tried growing my nails a bit.. it didn’t work out, personally I did not find it super hygienic.. then there is the option to grow the thumb nail but let’s face it, it’s a bit of a commitment and looks a bit odd.

I think if you are going for that professional stage performance you can either grow them or even get plastic nails stuck on.

For me I just have normal nails and if I need to do something which requires a nail specifically I have a thumb pick.

I think it would be near impossible to keep long nails with your line of work and probably uncomfortable.

Just my opinion not based on any particular knowledge 😎

[mark1256]

Charles, I’ve been dealing with the same issue. Found that a nail strengthener helps somewhat. However, I recently saw one of the pros recommend short nails. He preferred the sound of the flesh on the string to the fingernail. I’m going to try keeping mine cut shorter and see how that works out.

[charles605]

@mark1256

@surferjay
Thanks for the feedback. I guess I’ll play it by ear, no pun intended. I do like the sound of finger style played with nails. Also I’m learning claw hammer technique and think the nails will be helpful.

Cheers

[smokealot]

Hej Charles, if you really wanna dive into nail care I found this video by Matt helfpul

[charles605]

@smokesalot

Thanks so much, I’m very much into finger style playing as my strumming is not up to parr. On that note good nails make the difference between a sweet or sour note. With my previously mentioned occupations in mind I may never grow them out, another reason to retire.

Thanks again
Charles

[charles605]

****. @smokealot

[mark1256]

@smokealot thanks for the video. Excellent reference.

[Author]

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