Today one of my new online students, Dan, emailed me about an issue he had with his fingernails striking the strings. Even with trimmed nails, he was still hitting the string with the fingernail of his index finger. So Dan experimented with different hand angles and striking techniques.

After finding a suitable, slightly rotated hand angle the problem seemed to be fixed. So Dan told about this and wanted my opinion. One of the best things we can do in many situations is to experiment and find out for ourselves. And that is exactly what Dan did.

This pleased me greatly because I advocate and encourage experimentation. When we do, we usually find that not one technique suits all situations. As musicians we must be flexible (in mind and body) and willing to adapt to best suit the musical situation.

So, the fingernail catching is not at all unusual, and the option of changing the finger/hand angle is a good one.

I often use this playing angle myself. It is particularly good for playing fast passages as it gets the first two fingers to feel as though they are equally long. Also, the fingers are loose and flexible and the wrist is straight – all good stuff.

This is by no means a new technique. It is about as old as the bass guitar itself.

I took a photo (below) so you can see what we are talking about. I hope this helps you, too.

“Modified” right-hand position