Ukulele kicked my finger's butt...

beeejums

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If fingers have butts... Do they? We could get philosophical here...

So my finger lost a fight with my ukulele today...

I've been playing all afternoon, and I stopped for dinner to find that my index finger was covered in black stuff and (I suppose) my wound G string is the one that shaved my fingernail down so it's all lopsided and now I've got to trim it down...

Am I strumming to hard? Do I need to get new strings? Has this ever happened? Do crappy GHS strings just eat fingers? WTF?
 
Hmm, the nail on my pointer finger is crooked too. But on my strumming hand, which is odd. I don't know if it's the strings or maybe your overexuberance:p
 
Are there any nail technicians out there (that is what they call those people in the manicure place, right? I don't mean to be rudely innacurate)? How do you strengthen fignernails? Take calcium? Put too many questions next to each other?

I want, like, Chuck Norris nails.
 
When I was playing acoustic guitar live 3 nights a week, my strumming nail used to crack across the nail bed and bleed. The only thing I found that worked well was layering on superglue like it was nail polish. It didn't look to pretty, but it held up well, and it sure did save me some pain.
 
I've tried lots of things: acrylic nails, guitar player's nails, finger picks, etc. I don't do the fake nail thing anymore...very time intensive and money consuming. For playing with natural nails, I reinforce my nail with self-adhesive fiberglass wrap (found at a beauty supply shop) and coat with either plain old superglue or acrylic polish (different from the stuff used for acrylic nails). I also stick with Alaska piks if I'm doing a lot of strumming. The combo of these two things works best for me.
 
Superglue? Srsly... well, alright.

Ditching the wound 3rd string won't help, huh? That's the vibe I'm getting anyway... It seems like I'm gonna have to get out the glue... This should be fun.

I bet I glue my finger to my face. :-D
 
Seriously, but then I was playing 2-3 hrs live, 3 nights a week, on steel strings, and I used to hit them hard, to make a sound that got attention. I've never had it since. If you're having real trouble, though, it will certainly work .
 
I started with longish naiIs, and I've been playing a *lot* more than usual the past couple of weeks, and the strings wore half of my fingernail down to the quick, and that's painful. I think it's the wound string. I just ordered some Pro-Artes... so I guess we'll see how it goes when I get the uke restrung.

This might be a blessing in disguise... I don't think I like those GHS strings that came on my uke.
 
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