There are two kinds of people in the world.

People who break a fingernail and say, “Oh well.”

And classical guitarists.

For us, a broken nail has a way of becoming the central event of the day. You look at it. You touch it. You look at it again from another angle, as though perhaps the missing piece will reconsider and come back.

Then comes the important question:

Now what?

Before reaching for glue, scissors, a ping-pong ball or the number of the nearest nail salon, assess the damage. Not every broken nail is the same, and the best solution depends almost entirely on how much nail you actually lost.

First: Assess the Damage

Think of a broken nail in three categories.

1. The Partial Break

This is the best-case bad scenario.

Maybe a corner chipped off. Perhaps a small piece broke from the playing edge. The nail is still comfortably beyond the fingertip, but your carefully shaped ramp now looks like someone took a bite out of it.

Don’t immediately try to restore the missing piece.

First ask whether you still have enough natural nail to work with.

Often you do.

Carefully shorten and reshape the remaining nail, then polish the new playing edge until it is completely smooth. You may end up with a shorter nail than you’re accustomed to, but that’s usually preferable to attaching something unnecessarily.

The next challenge is balance.

If your m nail suddenly becomes considerably shorter than i and a, you may find that scales and arpeggios feel uneven. Before shortening all three nails to match, however, play for a while. Your hand is remarkably good at adapting to small differences.

The goal isn’t to make the nails look identical.

It’s to make them play evenly.

2. The Major Break

Now we’re in more serious territory.

A large portion of the nail is gone, but there is still some free edge remaining. You might be able to play, but the finger that once produced a full, controlled tone suddenly sounds thin—or barely contacts the nail at all.

This is where you have a decision to make.

If you have no important playing coming up, the simplest solution may be to shorten and smooth the nail and let nature do the repair.

But if you have a concert, recording session, audition or several weeks of serious practice ahead of you, waiting for regrowth may not be particularly appealing.

That’s when temporary nail replacements enter the conversation.

3. The Total Break

This is the one classical guitarists fear.

The nail breaks all the way back to—or very close to—the fingertip. There’s no useful playing edge left to reshape.

If the break extends into the attached portion of the nail, is bleeding, very painful, or exposes the nail bed, forget about guitar-nail engineering for the moment. Don’t put glue, acrylic or another artificial nail over an open injury. Protect the finger and allow it to heal; significant or concerning injuries are a matter for a healthcare professional, not a manicure.

But if the nail is simply extremely short and otherwise healthy, you have options.

And some of them are wonderfully strange.

Option One: The Ping-Pong Ball

Long before you could order practically anything overnight, guitarists became very good at improvisation.

Enter the ping-pong ball.

A piece of thin celluloid or plastic cut from a table-tennis ball can be shaped into a small artificial extension. The idea is to create a piece that follows the curvature of your natural nail, attach it to the remaining healthy nail, and then file and polish the extension into a usable playing surface.

It sounds ridiculous.

It can also work remarkably well.

The advantage is customization. You control the length, shape and ramp rather than accepting the predetermined shape of a commercial artificial nail.

But don’t expect to cut out a semicircle, stick it on and immediately play Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

The replacement has to behave like a nail.

That means its transition onto the natural nail should be secure, its playing edge needs to be carefully shaped, and—most importantly—the underside needs to be polished until the string can travel across it without catching.

A rough artificial nail is still a rough nail.

Option Two: A Fake Acrylic Nail

Commercial artificial nails offer a more convenient version of the same basic idea.

Choose a nail that closely matches the width and natural curvature of your finger rather than simply picking one that looks approximately correct. An oversized artificial nail can feel bulky, while one that’s too narrow may leave you fighting its shape.

Once fitted, the artificial nail can be shortened and filed just as you would your natural nail.

Don’t try to reproduce the length you had before the break immediately.

Start conservative. Play. File. Play again.

A fraction of a millimeter can make a surprisingly large difference in how an artificial nail releases the string.

And remember: you’re not trying to create a beautiful artificial fingernail.

You’re building a temporary playing surface.

Those are two very different jobs.

Option Three: Go to a Nail Salon

Sometimes the best guitar-nail repair tool is a professional who spends all day working with nails.

For a major break, a nail technician may be able to build an acrylic or gel enhancement over the remaining healthy nail, giving you enough material to recreate your normal playing length and shape.

But there’s one complication:

Your nail technician probably doesn’t play classical guitar.

That’s fine.

Their job is to build the structure.

Your job is to create the playing surface.

Explain that you use the nail to play guitar and that you don’t necessarily want the standard long, symmetrical salon shape. It can be helpful to show the technician your corresponding nail or even a photograph of your nail before it broke.

Ask them to err slightly on the side of too much material rather than too little length, because you can shape the final result yourself afterward.

Then take out your file.

Adjust the ramp.

Round the corners.

Polish the underside.

And test it on the guitar.

You may need several rounds of playing and filing before the replacement stops feeling like something attached to your finger and starts feeling like your nail.

Acrylic vs. Gel

For guitar purposes, the distinction matters less than getting a replacement that is secure, appropriately thin, comfortable and shapeable.

Acrylic tends to be quite hard and durable, which can make it appealing when the replacement needs to survive substantial playing. Gel systems can also provide a durable enhancement and may feel somewhat different depending on the product and application.

Either can change your tone compared with a natural nail.

That isn’t necessarily bad.

It is, however, something you’ll notice.

Artificial material may produce a brighter or harder attack, particularly if the replacement is thick. That’s another reason not to judge the repair by appearance alone.

Judge it with the guitar in your hands.

Don’t Forget the Other Three Nails

One of the most common reactions to a broken nail is to obsess over the repaired finger.

But listen to the whole right hand.

Suppose your new m nail is acrylic while i and a remain natural. The artificial nail might produce a noticeably brighter attack. During an arpeggio, suddenly every third note announces itself.

That’s not ideal.

You may be able to compensate by adjusting the shape and polish of the artificial nail rather than modifying the healthy ones. Small changes to the contact surface can soften the attack considerably.

The objective isn’t merely to make the repaired finger sound good.

It’s to make it disappear into the hand.

If You Have a Concert Tomorrow

This changes the equation.

The day before a performance is not the time for ambitious experiments.

If the break is minor, reshape the natural nail and adapt.

If it’s major and you’ve successfully used a particular artificial-nail system before, use what you know.

If you’ve never worn an artificial nail, don’t assume that attaching one at 11 p.m. will magically restore your technique by morning. Length, resistance and release can all feel different.

Whatever repair you choose, give yourself as much playing time with it as possible.

Run scales.

Play arpeggios.

Test rest strokes.

Play quietly.

Play loudly.

And play repertoire rather than spending the entire evening repeatedly plucking the first string while staring suspiciously at your finger.

At some point, you have to trust it.

And Then, Eventually, It Grows Back

This is the reassuring part.

A broken nail feels catastrophic because the difference is immediate. Yesterday the finger worked. Today it doesn’t.

But nails grow.

As your natural nail returns, keep the edge smooth and resist the temptation to grow it dramatically longer just because you’ve been deprived of it. Gradually return to the length and shape that worked before.

If you’re using an artificial enhancement, don’t aggressively peel or pry it off the natural nail when you’re finished with it. Follow the appropriate removal method for the product you’re using; a salon can remove professional enhancements if needed.

Eventually, the replacement comes off.

The natural nail reaches the string again.

Your scales feel normal.

Your arpeggios balance out.

And the five stages of classical-guitar grief finally come to an end.

Until you reach for the car door without thinking.

Then we start over.