Lauren Bateman answers whether one can play guitar with long fingernails, aimed especially at female players. She explains that long nails can be beneficial on the picking hand (used to pluck strings or replace a pick) but are problematic on the fretting hand because long nails prevent properly pressing strings and mute notes. Her practical recommendation is to trim fretting-hand nails short for playability.
Hey, guitar enthusiasts. Lauren Bateman here. And I'm going to answer the simple question of how do I play guitar with long fingernails?
So this is obviously a question I.
Get more from female guitar players. And being a female myself, I figured.
I would be best equipped to answer this question.
So this is a question I often.
Get from female guitar players. And there's kind of a split answer.
So the, the simple answer is, yes.
You can kind of play with long fingernails in a part. And let me explain what I mean by that, and let me explain why.
So if we're talking about the picking.
Hand, I know a lot of players.
Including male guitar players, who like to play with long fingernails on their picking hand. Especially if they do a lot of finger picking. They actually use the nail and as opposed to a pick to pluck and play the strings, I personally use my.
Fingertips to or the pads of my.
Fingers when I do finger picking. But some people like to actually pick the strings with long fingernails.
So that's where long fingernails can be.
A benefit as a guitar player.
Now for the downside. The downside is the fretting hand.
You cannot have really long fingernails.
And this is a physics, it just.
It can just won't work.
You can see for my hands, I.
Don'T really have very long fingernails. And the reason is because when we play the guitar, we play at an.
Angle that is perpendicular to the guitar. So if you have a nail that is extending beyond your finger, you can't actually press down on the strings. It makes it near impossible to play the guitar. So for example, if I make a C chord, you'll see my fingers are curled and into the guitar. They're not laying flat because people with.
Long fingernails, this is what happens, they lay flat and we get muted strings.
And you can't unmute those strings unless you curl your fingers. See how my knuckles are bent? So when you have long fingernails, extremely long fingernails, then you're not able to actually press the strings down because the nail touches the fretboard and gets in the way. So for my female players, I recommend that they trim back their nails. They don't have to be as short as mine. You can see mine are pretty short. And I apologize for my non manicured hands, but you can have a little longer of a fingernail than what I have. But I highly recommend keeping them short. You do not want nails that are like overhanging your finger because it's just going to get in the way of your playing. So to answer your question, technically, no, you shouldn't have long fingernails to learn the guitar. I would highly recommend trimming them back.
Because it's going to make the guitar.
Sound better and make it easier to play.
