Hey folks Happy New Year and I hope y’all are having a real nice Sunday. I’ve always loved finger style guitar and hopefully I can find the time to add it in and still further my progress with banjo this year. Here’s something I’ve been working on for a few days. Hope y’all enjoy and please leave lots of pointers and advice. Thanks M 
Something a little different for the new year
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Not bad!
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Emilie just a wee bit more practice and it will flow much better. I find it helps me when I isolate and loop the tricky bits.
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That was really good!! I would recommend not using picks on guitar, and instead grow your fingernails just a little bit. After a short adjustment time, you’ll find it much easier, and less clicky.
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While I don’t have any pointers or advice, I enjoyed your video, and encourage you to keep up the good work 
!! Lookin fwd to see what you come up with next!
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That worked for me until I picked up the fiddle and had to keep them short. I tried borrowing my little sister’s banjo fingerpicks, but those just feel awkward on my fingers.
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When I was learning fingerstyle (I’ve dropped the ball this last year 
) my teacher told me to not use picks OR nails but just my fingers, and I got calluses pretty fast. It was definitely the most comfortable and practical choice I think.
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I think Tommy Emmanuel uses just his finger pads, and Sungha Jung uses long nails. I personally have found that I like a combination, basically striking the string with the finger pads and releasing with the nail for some more “zing” in the tone. I use a thumbpick and I think most fingerstylists do and/or recommend doing so, especially if you mute the bass strings.
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Thanks for all the info and encouragement!
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Ok thanks! I’ve found it hard to keep nails in the past but I’ll give it another shot.
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I’ll spare you all the way too detailed explanation of how I like do my nails for playing. But the short answer is for classical you want to make first contact with the edge of the nail and some flesh and you shape the nail so you have almost a ramp from the contact point to the point of release which should be about the apex of your nail. Flesh and nail. On a side note I always use picks when playing fingerstyle on steel strings. I don’t care for the sound or feel of nails on steel strings, plus it tears them up a lot more than classical. Also the geometry is different for most steel string players, since they have a different right hand position it makes nails less useful. Alaskapiks are great if you don’t want to or aren’t able to maintain nails. I have a set shaped just like I do my actual nails.
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I know the consensus here is to not use picks on the guitar and keep nails fairly short. But I see Lester Flatt, Mother Mabel Carter and others use finger picks and of course Dolly breaks all the rules when it comes to nails.
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I agree with this. I don’t do much finger picking, but when I do, I get much better feel for the strings than with picks. It’s easier for me to change the dynamics that way
Stephen
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I only keep my index, middle, and ring finger nails longer, and only on the right hand. And by longer I mean even with the tip of the finger or so. Any longer and they break super easy
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