Fingertip shapes

Everyone’s fingers are different and so there is no one-size-fits-all method for playing without nails. Just as different nail shapes/sizes/thicknesses produce different sounds, so it is with the flesh of our fingertips. Now, unlike nail players we can’t reshape our fingertips or put on fake fingertips, so we have to work with what we naturally have. The good news is that I’ve not yet encountered anyone whose fingertips can’t produce a pleasing sound,¹ while I’ve met plenty of guitarists who have very problematic nails.

People with thin tapered fingertips tend to get a sound with more overtones — slightly more like a nail. People with big fleshy fingertips tend to damp the overtones more and get a slightly rounder, less focused sound. However, changes of position can temper this. For example, people with tapered fingertips can pluck from further back on the fleshier part to get a warmer sound. Conversely, people with big fleshy fingertips can pluck more off the side of the fingertip if they want to give more clarity to their sound.

I strongly recommend to carefully experiment, using only one note at a very slow speed — and at a quiet dynamic, so as not to damage your yet-untrained fingertips — to find all the different sounds you can get by the smallest changes in the point of contact with the string. I did this — and only this — for a few weeks after first cutting off my nails. I still do it as part of my practice.

People with tapered fingertips seem to often have nail beds that extend close to the tip of the finger, and so they need to file the nail all the way back to ensure it won’t accidentally touch the string. Sometimes a very fleshy fingertip can be supported by letting the nail grow out a tiny bit. I used to do this myself, but now I find the fingertip has a firmer texture and that it’s easier to have the nail filed completely back.

1. That said, and although it is exceedingly rare, I have encountered a few players whose anatomy was such that they felt they could not avoid using the nail. ↩︎