 To get the best tone from your playing it is important to ensure that you have a good nail shape at a good length, and that your nail edges are well-sanded and polished. The optimal nail shape and length varies from player to player, depending much on how the nail grows on the finger (whether the nails look straight or curved if you look at your fingers with the fingertips pointing at you), and the angle of the right wrist in relation to the strings (whether you play with a relatively straight right wrist or with right knuckles parallel to the strings). The key thing is experimentation to find out what nail shape and length is best for you, and here, patience is required!
Below are some suggestions of what you can try to get started off in the right direction.
Thumbnail Length and Shape
The tip of the thumbnail goes from beyond the tip of the thumb, by about 1.5mm-2.0mm. Note that the top part of the thumb nail is well-rounded, but the "sides" of the thumbnail have a steeper profile. This shape should work well regardless of your right wrist position. It should work even if you have a badly curved or "hooked" thumbnail (looking at the thumb with it pointing at you), as the sides have a steep profile that gets rid of most of the "hook" that causes your thumbnail to snag against the string. This shape is based on the "traditional" shape for the thumbnail (i.e. the thumbnail follows the profile of the thumb but extends beyond the thumb profile by about 1mm or so). The "traditional" thumbnail shape to be too short for comfortable playing, as too much flesh will be in contact with the strings prior to plucking. The shape above makes it easier for the thumb to play, as the nail is long enough to make playing easy, yet short enough to ensure there is sufficient flesh contact with the strings. This nail shape is preferred to the thumbnail shape recommended in Tennant's "Pumping Nylon", which tends to generate quite a bit of snag.
Fingernail Length and Shape
For the "flat nail", the recommended shape is based on the Tennant-style "ramp". The difference in this shape from the Tennant-style ramp however is in the "right" hand side of the nail. Here you will see that the right hand side of the nail is a straight edge, set at a roughly 45 deg angle, to where it meets the longer straight ramp of the nail. (In Tennant's book it is shown to be rounded-off to meet the straight ramp of the nail.) The 45 deg angle of the right hand side of the nail is to reduce the likelihood of having the nail snag on the string. Be very sure to round-off the pointy edges sufficiently!
For the "curved/hooked nail", the recommendation is based on the "traditional" nail shape. The main (and very important) difference is that the right hand side of the nail is -straight- and has a roughly 45 deg angle. Be sure to sufficiently round-off the part where the straight right hand edge of the nail joins with the rounded edge.
For both shapes it is recommended that you have a extension of about 1mm of nail at around the centre of the finger, when looking at the finger with the fingerprint side facing you.
Please note that the above recommendations for fingernail shape would only apply if the player uses a relatively straight right hand/wrist approach. If the player plays with the right knuckles parallel to the strings, the "traditional" nail shape is what is considered to be optimal for the fingers, although the recommendation for the -thumbnail- shape will still apply.
How to shape your nails
You can use an emery board strip to remove most of the excess nail, as well as to achieve the straight edges where required. After you have created the correct profile of the nail, lightly run the emery board strip under the edge of the nail at about a 45 deg angle, so that it creates a kind of 45 deg chamfer with the edge of the nail. Next, you can sand the edges with fine-grade silicon-carbide abrasive paper, making sure to sand the previously created chamfer of the nail as well. This should be followed by buffing the nail edges with a nail buffer, using the finest grade surface of the nail buffer (this is usually the grey surface of the typical 1-2-3 step nail buffer).
Emery board strips and nail buffers are usually available at most supermarkets / pharmacies / convenience stores, and silicon carbide abrasive paper is available from most hardware stores.
Achieving Good Tone Production
In addition to having a good nail shape and length, the amount of flesh of the fingertip coming into contact with the string prior to plucking is vital to good tone production. The key things to take note of in good tone production is that the main force in moving the RH finger should originate at large joints of the finger (where the finger joins with the hand); that you should ensure sufficient flesh contact of the RH fingertip with the string; then, while "pushing" the string "towards" the soundboard, execute the plucking action, during which the nail begins to have contact with the string and is of course subsequently released from the contact after the plucking stroke is executed.
From experience, the players who suffer from weak tone almost always have fingernails which are too long, have insufficient flesh contact of the fingertips prior to executing the stroke, and do not "push" the strings "towards" the soundboard sufficiently, or at all, while executing the plucking action.
Scott Tennant, in his book "Pumping Nylon", describes the process of achieving good tone production very clearly, and all readers who have not read the book are strongly urged to please get a copy! His book contains a number of very useful and effective techniques that are appropriate for players of all levels.
(Acknowledgement: "Hyz") |
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