GUITARISTS AND FINGERNAILS

Like many guitarists, I've spent a lot of time caring for my fingernails in the quest to get the perfect sound from plucking the strings. When in my teens, my guitar teacher at the time got first hand information from his beautician wife about nail care and passed it on to me. I learnt to file each nail following its 'grain' from each side to the middle and to use a very specific, diamond dust file which became increasingly difficult to buy. I once bought an industrial consignment of super fine, Crocus paper used by model makers and err.....my old guitar teacher and I. The minimum order was several thousand sheets, I used them for years but eventually got rid of the sheets I had left as they started to deteriorate! 

Later, I graduated to nail repairs using super glue and bits of stuck on ping pong balls [the cheaper and thinner the better]  to fix cracks and splits - a tip I learnt from my next guitar teacher. Lots of guitarists do this apparently! 

These days, I go to nail parlours and get acrylic painted on them so I can thrash away at the guitar to my heart's content without fear of breakages. Recently, I went to a nail parlour that refused to serve me as I'm a man....I had a little insight into the sexism that many women put up with daily!

If you look carefully, you can see a piece of ping pong ball glued on one of my nails in this video.....http://bit.ly/2m5YKQJ​

Stevon Russell plays Flamenco Guitar