Comments on: Fingernail Care http://liveukulele.com Tabs, lessons, and info for 'ukulele enthusiasts Mon, 30 Jan 2012 05:03:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Xelanhuahttp://liveukulele.com/gear/fingernail-care/#comment-11105 Xelanhua Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:23:16 +0000 http://liveukulele.com/gear/fingernail-care/#comment-11105 Thank you for this! My nails have always been good and strong but I started playing uke in June and since then they are permanently in trouble! Especially because I have never gotten the hang of the plectrum (I can't grip it hard enough due to rsi) and have this awful habit of strumming with my nails, I know it clicks but it's the only way I can get real speed and volume. (If anyone has any advice on this am willing to listen lol!) Anyway, strumming using the backs of my nails is really weakening them and causing them to break more which has suddenly become a heartbreaking occurence because it puts on hold what I can and can't play! (This is kinda funny because I have never been the kind of girl who gets upset by a broken nail before lol!) I will start drinking extra water and take better care filing them and also perhaps get me a couple of those Alaska piks so I can keep playing through breakages. Thank you again! Thank you for this! My nails have always been good and strong but I started playing uke in June and since then they are permanently in trouble! Especially because I have never gotten the hang of the plectrum (I can’t grip it hard enough due to rsi) and have this awful habit of strumming with my nails, I know it clicks but it’s the only way I can get real speed and volume. (If anyone has any advice on this am willing to listen lol!) Anyway, strumming using the backs of my nails is really weakening them and causing them to break more which has suddenly become a heartbreaking occurence because it puts on hold what I can and can’t play! (This is kinda funny because I have never been the kind of girl who gets upset by a broken nail before lol!) I will start drinking extra water and take better care filing them and also perhaps get me a couple of those Alaska piks so I can keep playing through breakages.
Thank you again!

]]> By: Ukulele petehttp://liveukulele.com/gear/fingernail-care/#comment-5547 Ukulele pete Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:16:03 +0000 http://liveukulele.com/gear/fingernail-care/#comment-5547 Good advice, but what sort of shape are you supposed to file them to? Good advice, but what sort of shape are you supposed to file them to?

]]> By: John Hoglehttp://liveukulele.com/gear/fingernail-care/#comment-5410 John Hogle Mon, 01 Mar 2010 15:33:48 +0000 http://liveukulele.com/gear/fingernail-care/#comment-5410 Good points. On the other hand, for those, such as myself, whose fingernails bend the wrong way when grown long enough to pick or are too thin and easily damaged, there is another choice. Regular picks, including finger and thumb picks, are little like actual fingernails; but Alaska picks (http://www.alaskapik.com/) are close to replicating the fingernail experience. They fare finger picks, but the actual picking part fits under a short fingernail. They are about $2 each. Independent music stores focusing on folk and acoustic stringed instruments (such as my local Gryphon Stringed Instruments on the mainland in Silicon Valley - www.gryphonstrings.com) tend to have these.I'm a beginner on the 'uke and don't use them in Uncle Siachi's classes, but I've been trying them out. It takes a little getting used to the additional distance to the string, but they are comfortable and can be trimmed shorter. Good points. On the other hand, for those, such as myself, whose fingernails bend the wrong way when grown long enough to pick or are too thin and easily damaged, there is another choice. Regular picks, including finger and thumb picks, are little like actual fingernails; but Alaska picks (http://www.alaskapik.com/) are close to replicating the fingernail experience. They fare finger picks, but the actual picking part fits under a short fingernail. They are about $2 each. Independent music stores focusing on folk and acoustic stringed instruments (such as my local Gryphon Stringed Instruments on the mainland in Silicon Valley – http://www.gryphonstrings.com) tend to have these.

I’m a beginner on the ‘uke and don’t use them in Uncle Siachi’s classes, but I’ve been trying them out. It takes a little getting used to the additional distance to the string, but they are comfortable and can be trimmed shorter.

]]>