Guitarists..fingernails?

Brad Paisley and Albert Lee--two country guitarists--are phenomenal guitarists who, most often, use hybrid picking. Albert Lee, however, doesn't just use his middle and ring fingers, but also uses his pinkie on his picking hand!

Anyway, another great hybrid picker, Johnny Hiland, once stated that he uses fake nails. I believe he said that in an older issue of Guitar Player Magazine. His reasoning was for the strength. He said that the fake nails are much stronger and less likely to break than his real nails. Also, in case you're wondering, Hiland doesn't just play country, but he does often play rock, blues and jazz as well. Brad Paisley can play many genres as well--surf rock, blues, jazz, country, western swing, bluegrass, rock and probably more that I have yet to hear him play! Albert Lee, from what I've heard, mainly sticks to rock, country and blues and is, by far, the best British country guitarist I know of...for now!

Instead of using fake nails, you could always just use finger picks, though that'd make more sense if you were using a thumb pick along with them. Another thing you could do is, instead of plucking the strings with your nails, cut them shorter and just use your actual fingertips. That's actually what I do (pluck with my fingertips, that is) instead of using my actual nails. I must admit, though, if I was using my nails, I think I'd be able to pick much faster! I often do some flatpicking and straight-up finger picking though...just not nearly as well as Cody Kilby (for flatpicking) or as well as Chet Atkins or Jerry Reed (both for finger picking). I'd recommend checking out all the guitarists I've mentioned, if you haven't already! They're all great!

Hope this helped!

File your nails regularly and buff them if they have ridges. That will strengthen them. Also, an old secret is to use clear polish on the top AND on as much of the underside as you can get to.

some nail strengthing stuff i guess. get clear though. google it