Guitarist: Lifting nail bed and nail ridges.

[Eighty]

Hi there,

I'm a young guitarist (17/Male/UK) and I have a few issues with my nails.

My first problem is the nail bed receeding and coming away from the nail on my left hand, I play blues and rock and so there's a lot of bends and vibrato going on which I'm sure are causing a bit of trauma.

I was a nail biter for a few years but I gave it up about two and a half years ago and they fully recovered, but when I got to playing guitar a bit over a year after that they started riding back again.

Also, my whole right hand as well as my thumb and pinky on my left hand are completely fine and healthy from this as they sustain no real stress.

What I'm wondering is, is there any treaments or methods of getting the tissue stronger. If I take a day or two's break they nail bed reattaches itself a little but when I play it comes back away.

I really don't want to end up with sausage fingers on my left hand, I'm not bothered about having fancy nails or anything, particularly as I'm male, but I just want, decent, clean and presentable hands, because, as a guitarist, the hands can be a large point of attention.

Also, I have recently noticed ridges on most of my nails, vertical from the (I think it's cuticle?) to the tip. I hear there's oils that can be used to get rid of them, so any specific advice on that would be great.

And a final note, I usually file my nails as I heard that makes them generally stronger, which is particularly good as I also do some fingerpicking.

So yeah, vertical ridges on most of my fingers and receeding nail beds on three of my left hand fingers due to string bending.....any help would be greatly appreciated.....!

I'm happy to do almost anything to sort it, except for giving up guitar that is; that'll never happen, lol.

Thanks, Mike. :green:

 

[The Geek]

Hi Mike,

Guitarists often experience a lot of nail trauma on their 'picking' hand. The problem you are mentioning is called "Onycholysis" and happens when the nail plate is pulled from the nail bed due to trauma (in this case plucking, strumming, etc...)

The plate will 'reattach' itself as it grows out, however since nail plates grow at the same rate continents move, that can take some time. There is no cure for onycholysis except prevention and time.

TBH I don't think there is a whole lot you will be able to do about the onycholysis. You can however look to have a thin natural nail coating over your natural nails (on your playing hand) that do experience trauma. This is actually quite common for guitarists (I once had a nice long conversation with James Taylor about his overlays). This will help to prevent sheeting of your nails and help prevent some malformations from the constant trauma.

Hope this helps!

 

[Eighty]

Thank you, the help's really appreciated. :green:

My picking hand (right hand) is perfectly fine btw, it's only my fretting hand (left hand) that has the nail bed peeling away due to string bending..

 

[The Geek]

So thats why I never made it as a rock star

Good luck and check out having a really thin overlay applied to the nails that get the most trauma (whichever hand that may be!)

 

[Urban Geek]

I have a guitarist who comes to me about every 2 months for a thin acrylic overly on the one hand which he plays with. For him it was a real blessiong when he discovered acrylic overlays resolved his problem of having weak nails.

Call SweetSquared and they will be able to recommend a Creative technician near you.

 

[junction]

I did an acrylic nail for a guitarist last summer - rock legend!! I was shaking like crazy when I first met him, but by the end I had calmed down and he loved his little fake nail. He plays his guitar so hard he would actually rip his natural nail right off! After I'd applied the tip, I was then so nervous in case it pinged off during the show in front of 20 thousand people. I am glad to say it didn't, it lasted three shows.

Where is it you're based? Someone on here might see this and e able to help if you are near them. X