Bass Playing Question

I know this may sound strange, but is there anything you can put on your right hand fingertips to protect them when playing bass. I've been playing a lot of Spanish/Flamence guitar for the past 2yrs and my right hand technique is getting really good. This technique has helped my bass playing tremendously....the only problem is playing Bass tears up the fingernails which I need to for the nylon str guitar. Do they make anything that you can wear on the tips of your fingers that would protect them?

I´ve only seen "Peter Ratzenbeck[Mr. Fingerpicking, Austrian] putting some, how should i say "mini picks" on all his fingers while playing on his nylon string guitar, but i think this wasn´t thought as a protection, but as getting more pressure while playing.

By the way check out Peter Ratzenbeck´s songs on http://www.peter-ratzenbeck.at - They´re really good, especially download the guitar-pro file for "Brandenberg Rag",really cool melody, but much too hard for my fingerpicking...

As far as I know, you don't finger pick the bass the same as you would the guitar. I don't know too much about guitar finger picking, but on a bass you pick with the side of your finger - almost so that your finger slides off the string. When I see guitarists finger picking, their hands are directly over top of the strings and they're 'plucking' the strings. As a bassist I'd ... pulse the strings with the sides of my fingers.

(that means pointing your picking fingers towards the bridge of your bass, however ackward that may feel at first. now that i read this over it doesn't say much about maintaining your fingernails. cut em off, i say.)

Clear Nail Varnish with Teflon will help.

Have you tried using a pick rather than playing with two fingers ? I prefer the sound of a pick as when I compare it to walking it sounds more defined. It is a pain if you then want to start slapping but it is possible to tuck it away like you do when you are doing two handed tapping.

I know exactly what you're saying... I frequently play bass for a local band and if I have fingernails I end up chipping them. Not like breaking the whole nail, but just little chips in the nails which means I have to file them down. Basically, I haven't found anything to protect them. Even clear nail polish doesn't protect from those little nicks. Back when I used to play classical guitar at weddings (before I moved here to Minneapolis), I needed my fingernails; they were important to my income. Now that bass is what I play for money more than classical guitar, I find that I have to just keep my nails short. I like fingerstyle guitar, but hey, I gotta get my bills paid.

My one suggestion to to just be careful when playing the bass. Make sure that the pads of your fingers strike the string adn that you don't drag your finger off of the string (this is where the string bites your nails). Pluck through the string and just pray that it doesn't catch a nail.

Classical guitar fingerstyle and bass fingerstyle are pretty much the same technique...you have your rest strokes and your free strokes. Fingerstyle on a steel string acoustic is a whole nother thing...your hand is more clenched up and your fingers curled underneath.

I admire anybody who can play w/finger picks..they feel so unnatural and are very hard to get accustomed to.

As far as playing bass w/a pick....i have a real "thing" w/that, I never hire any bass players that play w/a pick..plus I really enjoy playing fingerstyle, which is why I have been seriously considering switching from lead guitar to bass in the band I'm with. I do use nail hardener, never tried the teflon...but I have doubts of wether even teflon would help after grinding my fingers on a bass for a 3hr gig. I could probably tape them up, but I could see that being a real pain in the but, especially if just want to pick up the bass and mess around for 20min or so. What I need is some type of thimball type thing that I could place on my fingertips.

You could wear a glove like the guy from Fleetwood Mac... actually, he might wear it on his fretting hand.

wrap the edges of your fingers in athletic tape. that should do the trick