easier with?

[ilzaf]

okay so, is it just me or is bassing with longer fingernails so much easier. the tone as well. its no longer do do do DO. do do do DO. but rather do do do do.

 

[yuujin]

i find it quite the opposite. i get better tone when i cut them short.

 

[shinobi]

but i cannot do my *do do DO do DO DO dodo do kerPIAK PIAK POP* with long fingernails :mrgreen:

 

[Resetti]

when i played classical guitar years back i ususally cut my fingernails but leave just a little bit sticking out so that I can get a bright tone if I want to with the little bit of nail, and a mellow tone easily with the fleshy part.

but now i play bass, i always cut until very short, no nails sticking out at all, and use the fleshy part always. I find that it gets the best tone, and if i want bright tone, i just player nearer the bridge. the nails sound somehow is pretty jarring, so just use fleshy part and play nesr the bridge is good enough for me.

 

[JayPeeK]

Mine are pretty short, but I find I do like to leave a bit of white nail out these days. Two reasons for that, one being that when I cut too deep, it REALLY hurts when I play; making me skip a few days' playing. Secondly, it helps when I'm picking harmonics; really comes out a lot cleaner and brighter. Still learning to hit the harmonics and nail accurately though... practice practice practice.

That being said, there's no hard and fast rule whether u can play bass with long or short nails. Play as you feel comfortable with. Cheers~

 

[Hickey_]

I dont like to keep my nails long when playing bass. It gives me a tiack tiack sound. I dont like. ): I used to keep long nails before starting out on bass.

 

[Vile]

I find that keeping my nails short are easier for me to play the bass to produce a deep warm and mellow sound.
Long finger nails give me a bright sound on the bass, so it depends.
But I prefer the dark and mellow sound of course haha.

 

[thunderbird1984]

my nails are short . i will play my bass with better feel

 

[Bryandt]

definitely short nails for me

 

[schmuardian]

okay so, is it just me or is bassing with longer fingernails so much easier. the tone as well. its no longer do do do DO. do do do DO. but rather do do do do.

haha if you are getting uneven tones then it's probably the fingering, and not so much the nails...

anyway i think different people has different definition of long and short.. whatever works.. works. for me i like maybe 1-0.5 mm of white. on my fingers that's some support for the pad, so i can get the sound i like

 

[lexxmexx]

Finger nails can give you the pick-style sound but I find the vibration on the nails too jarring for me.

 

[alanchia]

i kept my nails alittle since i play classical guitar previously (although lost touch since switching over to bass for over 10yrs).

i managed to pluck my bass with my nails + dolce + tirando which gave me similar tone as picking.