How much of your nails do you cut?

[keitokyun]

When cutting your nails, how much do you trim off, how much white do you leave? I prefer mine very short but i've been told by some people that i cut my nails too short.

[dogperson]

My teacher's advice and therefore my guidance:
If you can see the tip of your nail over the end of your finger pad from the palm  side, your nails are too long.   It is difficult to get and keep them that short. 

[ted]

This is about as long as I let them grow. I suppose if you always used fairly flat fingers it wouldn't matter as much. Hangnails are more important than fingernails to cut off promptly. Once one of those things gets infected playing stops for up to a few days.

[outin]

I need to keep my nails extremely short otherwise I cannot play. I cut them as short as I can once a week and if I forget I will soon notice... Of course what works depends not only on how you play but also on the shape of your fingertips.

[adodd81802]

Rather strange post. But nevertheless. I cut mine short, and then file then as short as I can, so much so that I can't even open a can of drink afterwards for a day or so!

Admittedly my habbit is tailored towards my fear of dirty nails rather than ability at the piano, but it's never hindered me.

[vaniii]

I need to keep my nails extremely short otherwise I cannot play. I cut them as short as I can once a week and if I forget I will soon notice... Of course what works depends not only on how you play but also on the shape of your fingertips.

It is beyond me, however, I once encounter a person wearing faux nails; because of this they could barely play.  When I mentioned it they simply replied: "I am not removing them ... they cost more than this month's worth of lessons".

Mine are short; it would be impractical to have them any other way.  To be precise, no longer than the finger tip.

[minhogang]

Quite a lot. I play with very curved fingers so I would like to not hear the clacking sound

[avanchnzel]

My teacher has really long fingernails. Whenever she demonstrates something on the piano you can hear her fingernails going at it - but she's marvellous.

I cut my nails when they start to get in the way, but not too short for discomfort.

[debussychopin]

I keep all my fingernails really short except for my right hand thumb index and middle (I keep them longer but shaped a particular way for classical guitar).
It used to be a real pain trying to practice piano w those fingers as they would get caught between the keys on fast passages but I got used to negotiating movements w those fingers.

[timothy42b]

I cut mine very short.

If not, they break when the golf disc "rips" out of my fingers on a drive. 

[starlady]

Very, very, very short, because I hate the clicking noise. 

And also because once when they were just a bit longer--barely past the tip of the finger-- the 3rd finger, RH nail snagged on the grater when I was grating cheese and simply ripped half-way up.  It was just as painful as it sounds. --s.

[j_tour]

Rather strange post. But nevertheless. I cut mine short, and then file then as short as I can, so much so that I can't even open a can of drink afterwards for a day or so!

Yeah, I agree with the "strange post" part, and most of the rest.  I've never used a nail file -- yes, I know what they are! -- because all the rough bits get sanded down in a few hours while doing everyday tasks.  But my old Boy Scout manual from the 1940s suggested just keeping an ovoid shape.

From my experience, the "red bits" can and should be retrained to follow the shape of the finger.  Don't overdo it, and just keep them short. 

I hope this isn't TMI but long fingernails are gross.  I guarantee you no good woman piano player ever had long nails. 

And, my final 1950s educational film tag-line, which is entirely imaginary:  "Don't let bad grooming let you spill blood on these.." eh, highways, I guess.  Speaking as someone whose bad grooming habits as a young rock-and-roller got a LH nail caught between a few keys and spilled/gushed blood all over the keys.

Jesus, man, just clip your fingernails.  There's a right way, and a wrong way.  Modern science is a marvel.

[etudist]

I hate very short nails. I always watch Horowitz's or Trifonov's videos and find their nails so long which gives me an excuse to cut mine not so short. Then I have to play with flatter fingers. But... it is much easier to play when your nails are really short. As short as you can go.

[louispodesta]

When cutting your nails, how much do you trim off, how much white do you leave? I prefer mine very short but i've been told by some people that i cut my nails too short.

For those whose respond that this is some quasi-homophobic situation, it is not.  As a man, the length and shape of my nails are a huge deal, in regards my daily performance at the piano.

Every single day, I analyze the tips of my fingers, which entails hangnails (loose skin around the cuticle), split skin or fissures on the front of any finger, as well as the filing of the nail of any finger.  For this, I use an old style "Diamond Deb" nail file to properly shape the nail from side to side and also from top to bottom.

It is important that the nail has just enough white for it not to curl up and separate from the finger.  However, in that I play the Schumann Piano Concerto, it is possible to catch the outer tip of the nail of the thumb and/or forefinger of the left hand, if it is too long.

It is most common, and a royal pain, for me to get up in the middle of a practice session and have to go to my bathroom (where there is bright light), put on enhanced eyeglasses, and then file or manicure the situation so I can safely continue.

I also use my dermatologist recommended Cetaphil (pump) hand soap to cut down on the split skin problem because this in and of itself can be a very painful situation.

Once again, I commend the OP for broaching this most important question.

And for the record, the niece (not a young person and a concert pianist, herself) of one of the top piano teachers in the world (Rochester, NY) has a major problem in regards chronic painful split skin on her fingers just underneath the nail.