I don't know about clear tape but Rhoda Kemp played with a piece of medical (cloth) tape on her finger.

There is a product in the cosmetic department named Hard as a Nail. It brushes on like clear fingernail polish. Once ie dries, it's quite durable.

Hi. Thanks. I’m looking at those products, on amazon. This must be the hard as a nail product you’re referring to?

Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails™, Clear Nail Strengthener, Includes Retinol and Nylon, Nourishing

I appreciate that. Got it in my cart.

Don’t stop, folks, any other advice? Gotta get my nail situation under control some way. Maybe use tape and the nail hardening stuff.

Thanks.

Good news: there are dozens of products that claim they work wonders.

Bad news: you just have to try them all out. YMMV.

Tape is messy, it leaves sticky residue and it doesn't conform well to your finger. Nail polish chips and flakes off. Fake nails work...but then your nail grows and gaps have to be filled. High maintenance.

Specialized picks can work...unless you have big fingers like me. Nobody makes 2XL picks...

My nails are thin and flex (and break  etc.). I keep them trimmed very short...so short that I often CH with meat (callus) rather than nail.

Good luck!

I have used the Scotch tape on my fingernail a la Perlman. It does work to prevent wearing down the nail. I would put a piece on just big enough to cover the nail with the excess hanging off the tip. Then I would gently file off the excess with an emery board so as not to be making my nail shorter every time I put on a piece of fresh tape. It works well for a while but not all day.

Now I use a polycarbonate pick made for down picking available from Elderly. These weren’t around when I started so I used the tape because my nail would wear down when I started with clawhammer. Nowadays I only use the pick when I help play a dance or something, where I’ll be picking fairly hard for a relatively long time. With the tape you have to remember to keep the tape in your case and also an emery board. Have fun!

My experience is similar to what others are saying. I followed Ken Perlman's advice years ago and used scotch tape over my fingernail.  It worked ok.  I covered my nail only rather than trying to wrap my finger.  I tried other approaches as well, including a metal fingerpick turned around to cover the nail and John Balch's design for cutting ping pong balls to cover the nail held there with tape.  Once I came across the Fred Kelly Freedom Pick, I found an answer I have stayed with.  To be clear, I use my fingernail while playing at home and the polycarbonate Freedom Pick while playing at weekly contra dances and in jams.

David

When I compare the tone/sound I get while "picking" with my index finger and my middle finger, there a big difference in tone/sound. So keep in mind that a liquid that dries up hard compared to tape that's usually on the soft side, will most likely result in a substantially different tone.

Here’s a video from Tom Collin’s that addresses your question youtu.be/9Znxbp5ubAg?si=i3hkZNM6tC8zTH4G

Thanks, everyone. Some good info. Appreciate it.

until her nails have recovered,
the picks of Joel Hooks
https://banjothimble.com/banjo-thimbles
I can highly recommend them.

I have also used superglue,
but at your own risk!

Have a nice Sunday.

The people who originated old-time banjo playing didn't have long nails. They worked manual labor so they wouldn't be able to cultivate nails to play the banjo with. Just a thought.

Nails must be one of the most popular topics on the forum. Like strings, the alternatives are pretty cheap and it's different strokes for different folks, so find what works best for you. Good luck!

Just curious. Don’t know what you mean “Like strings, the alternatives….” There are alternatives to strings?

I am pretty sure you must have meant, like all the different string types that are out there you can find a lot of pick/nail options, work-arounds too. Sorry, if i came across a little snarky.

I've never understood the obsession with long fingernails. I keep mine short, just like the original old time players did back in the day, and it works just fine. In fact I've found tone is improved with short nails, and also short nails make the 'cluck' very easy to play.

If you must grow them, you should know that weak nails are a sign of nutrient deficiency. Eat more eggs, fish, and nuts, and your nails will grow strong.

How do people know how they did it originally? Maybe it’s like now there are some people who play with long nails, some short. Adam Hurt showed me how to play with just plain old nails,

This is an evergreen topic. Hardness and length of our nails and the tone each of us wants to get from our particular instruments varies considerably. There's no alternative except to try the various methods and find what works for you. (I use a glue-on cosmetic nail or a Fred Kelly Freedom pick.) Good luck!

I have hard nails, so never been a problem. A friend of mine follows Perlman's advice and carries a roll of tape with him. Re: eggs, fish, and nuts, these are a good source of biotin (vitamin B7). In Baboun, D., Yaghi, M., Keri, J. E., & Morrison, B. W. (2024). Natural treatment options for nail disorders. Skin Appendage Disorders, 10(2), 83-91, they indicate that biotin can be effective. They also have a list of "recommended measures" (that fortunately does not have "Avoid being in the same room with a banjo!"). One recommended measure is "Avoid long-term wearing of artificial nails." So, if I had to choose among, tape, picks, or artificial nails, I would stay away from the latter.

Well, i have purchased two aluminum (as opposed to the standard brass) banjo thimbles from hook’s professional. And two frailing picks from cling pro picks (the brass and the blue plastic). And the scotch brand Wall-Safe tape recommended by Tom Collins. (I already had the Jim Kelly freedom picks.). Here’s my experience: kind of to my surprise, i find the frailing picks and the banjo thimbles to be pretty nice. They both seem to stay on my finger pretty well, which was my concern. They both seem pretty comfortable and practical. I can’t say which i prefer at this point, perhaps the frailing picks by cling pro a tiny bit, but I’m going to give the banjo thimbles another try right now. So they were good investments. The way i look at it is that i will certainly at least use them until i build up my nails (if i ever do). Yes, they protect the nails, allowing me to restore and build them up. So that’s good. If i ever get good nails, maybe I’ll try playing with my nails, and then if/when the nails get all mangled up again, then I’ll be able to go back to the picks and be ok. As far as the Wall-Safe tape goes i haven’t really tried it while playing yet, but i can see that the table is also a helpful tool. If i do get good fingernails one day, maybe I’ll start of by taking off the picks and applying the tape to the finger nail and see how that works, see if the tape will protect the nails perfectly, maybe I’ll never have to go back to the picks if the tape works well and keeps my nails from getting mangled. I’ve just applied the tape to see how sticky it is; to see how well it will probably stay on the finger nail and it seems like it will stay on fine. I tried playing with regular scotch tape previously and found that scotch tape was a good protector and was a good solution, so hopefully the Wall-Safe will be even better (meaning i can take it off with stripping off some of the nail surface, which is what Tom Collins says regular scotch taped does. Photo attached.

I have the good fortune of strong nails but found that playing steel strings (even fresh ones) led to grinding a short lengthwise stripe of black metal oxides into my striking nail. Did not care for that look, so I took to using tape as described in the Tom Collins video mentioned above. For me that took care of the problem with only a very small change in tone. Looking back I think I was striking the strings way too hard, and have since changed my ways.

Re long nails and nail care in general, clawhammer folk have nothing on classical guitar players. Many of them totally dive into the nail care rabbit hole.

quote:Dont  do this   Go to a nail salon, get acryllic nails on the nails that you down pick with on your right  hand.  Google this.  There are many explanations of how to do this from master clawhammer players like Hilary Burhams (known her for about 15 years but not how to spell her name_,

Take a picture of which you will find many if you google this for the banjo,   In some parts of the country nail salon workers are quite familiary with this,

Classical and flamingo guitarists I have known since the 1960s do this,  Many Clawhammer banjoists do that.  I was introduced to this by the great Marc Johnson of Clawgrass fame about 2011, when I had retired and had started really working playing claw hammer on tubaphone banjoes with medium strings and had no nails.

Google this.

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Originally posted by Anthony S

I’m a beginning clawhammer (and banjo) player. Finding that my fingernail (index, right hand) is not that strong, keeps getting chewed up, broken down….i’m working through ken Perlman’s clawhammer style banjo book. In the back, he gives suggestions for nail care, one of which is…placing “scotch” tape over your finger. Anybody have any images of how this is done? What it looks like? Videos? Words of advice? Etc. I’m trying it but not sure I’m doing it right. Thanks for any help you can give me.

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Originally posted by Culloden

The people who originated old-time banjo playing didn't have long nails. They worked manual labor so they wouldn't be able to cultivate nails to play the banjo with. Just a thought.

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Actually until the late 1890s and for many people the early 20th century, banjoists did not play on metal strings, but played on strings that were made of animal gut, or plant fiber.  Banjos were tuned 3 or 4 steps below and the tension applied to make late 19th and early 20th century banjos loud and bright at higher pitches was not requred.  Still a huge proportion of professional and well known banjoists who down picked, which includes frailing,used banjo thimble which were like metal picks.  As noted above,  my hero Joel Hooks makes an exact reproduction of the standard banjo thimble that was used recommended by SS Stewart,   I do know traditional Black banjoist like Rufus Kasey of Virginia who said he continued using a banjo thimble into the 1970s but could not find them in music stores any more after that.

Metal strings did not come on as a general rule until about the turn of the century, as did raising the pitch of the banjo.  This led pretty much either to the demise of down picking,and the growth of finger picking as the main form of banjo playing, and the growth of finger picking, and that led to the growth of use of finger picks.  The older generation in Bluegrass represented by Earl Scruggs and Ralph Stanley started out as 2 finger pickers playing without picks, but ALL transitioned to picks.  Earl Scruggs was of the opinion that folks like him and Ralph who started out with bare hands had developed strnger hands than those who used picks.

I have been playing the banjo about 26 or 27 years now.  When I was working, it would have been impossible for me to to have had acrylic nails, I did physical work with parts and supplies for fixing buses, and constructed racks and bins for storing things.  Soon as I retired I ended up playing so much banjo on my Tubaphone with medium heavy strings that I had no nails,   I ran into the great Marc Johnson of Clawgrass fame and he told me about acryllic nails.   

Funny thing, once I got acryllic nails,  some of what I thought were my closest pals in the banjo world locally and around the country and beyond admitted they did that,

Typing with them right now!

Eat more jello.

19th century down picking banjoists especially but not restricted to the minstrel performers used banjo thimbles.  As Joel Hooks has posted,  Joel among others produces at an inexpensive price reproductions of the most authoritative thimbles of the 19th century as designed and marketed by SS Stewart, 

In fact down picking was called Thimble playing 

Of course early banjos did not have the string sizes or string tension or pitches that banjos have acquired in the 20th century and 21st century.  Banjos were uniformly tuned 3 or 4 steps lower than they have been since the 1890s, and banjos did not have metal strings, but strings made of fiber and gut.

The rise of the finger pick has come with the adoption of metal strings which only became economically viable and widely marketed in the early 20th century.  That led to the invention of the finger pick for the banjo, the growth of finger picking,,  There is no way for a person to do hard loud frailing on a Tubaphone with medium gauged strings and not lose his or her nails and then not be able to play period,

Fantasizing what you think early banjoists  is not as useful as learning the real history of the banjo!

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Originally posted by charles grimm

How do people know how they did it originally? Maybe it’s like now there are some people who play with long nails, some short. Adam Hurt showed me how to play with just plain old nails,

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Early banjoist used banjo thimbles, mostly made of metal.  Downpicking was often called Thimble playing as the major performers did that.