Wearing away my fingernail?

HydePryde

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So I've only been playing for 4 days, but in my total of 3-4 hours of play time, I have worn away part of my fingernail...see pic.photo.jpg
You can see how my nail polish has work off along the right side where I hit the strings on the downward strum. So my question is, am I strumming wrong? I don't want to wear through my fingernail...
 
:) yep the gel definitely works, it lasted over 2 weeks for me, i just felt a bit of a fool, being a bloke going into a nail bar and having one nail done, but it was worth it lol
also welcome to the underground and the wonderful world of the uke :)
 
The one fingernail I never have to trim is my right index finger - I use mostly fluorocarbon strings and they keep it worn down quite well. :)

I use a nail hardner on my right thumb, because that is the only nail I keep long enough to hang over. I don't bother with hardener on the index finger because I can't let that one grow out anyway. If the nails on either my index or second fingers get long enough to hang out past the flesh of the fingertip I get annoying clicks when walking my fingers across the bass strings.

John
 
We are going to need pictures of this Davey.

:) yep the gel definitely works, it lasted over 2 weeks for me, i just felt a bit of a fool, being a bloke going into a nail bar and having one nail done, but it was worth it lol
also welcome to the underground and the wonderful world of the uke :)
 
That is an odd wear...I am thinking it is from the wounds on the baritone because I strum really hard and have total lady nails going. That choice on the concert will help-throw some south coasts in it an you will never need to strum hard again. My wife has one and it is a cannon :)
 
i go to a nail bar and have nail hardening gel put on my strumming finger,or the D.I.Y version is to brush super glue over your nail :)

I can beat that. I actually got a false finger nail as two weeks before I started playing I got a thorn under the finger nail and as soon as I started playing it peeled off half way down the nail bed. £3 for a false nail which has so far lasted me 4 weeks ish. The bizarre thing is I still have to cut and file it as my nail is regrowing underneath. The good thing is the acrylic nail doesn't seem to be wearing despite at least an hour a day of playing.
 
That is an odd wear...I am thinking it is from the wounds on the baritone because I strum really hard and have total lady nails going. That choice on the concert will help-throw some south coasts in it an you will never need to strum hard again. My wife has one and it is a cannon :)

The wound strings of the baritone would be my guess too. The only other thing I can think is you may be hitting the end of the fret wire along the top of the fingerboard. I am currently using super glue and acrylic powder on the end of my thumb nail to repair a vertical split. The nail of my index finger has always been thinner and I have to keep it trimmed so it does not break. I'm thinking about starting the super glue/acrylic powder on the tip of that nail as well. Here is the youtube video explaining the process of using super glue and acrylic powder.
 
After UWC I've gone back to using nail hardener on both my right thumb and index finger. I'll have to keep the index finger fairly short but it was wearing down to the nub - also, I noticed I get a lot louder strum when using the hardener, even without the nail being long.

I've thought about going to a nail salon and getting them to do just my right thumb and index fingernails up all fancy with color and little pictures of ukes, covered with clear hardener. Mostly just because I know how much it would annoy my daughter... LOL
 
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