If you fingerpick, you also know that fingernails are always developing rough, cracked or chipped edges. And, if you’re like the Former Me, you just reach for a nail file to deal with them. However, the Current Me has discovered the perfect response to fingernail surface problems: 3M 500-grit sandpaper. The grit is so fine that it feels like velvet to the touch, and it produces a flawlessly smooth surface on your fingernail edges. One place to get it is Strings By Mail (stringsbymail.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1320), 6 sheets for $4.99.
[photo: Kyknoord]
If you fingerpick, you know that Murphy’s Law decrees that you’ll break a fingernail right before a performance or recording session. Whenever it happens is always at the worst time. So it’s good to know that if you crack or tear a fingernail and the pieces are still attached, you can easily repair it by painting the nail with heavy-duty glue. My personal choice is Instant Krazy Glue in the brush bottle. If the glue alone doesn’t do the trick, layer a couple of layers of tissue paper and then glue. Looks wild but it works!
Many students ask me which products they should use to clean their acoustic guitars. Some of them have tried commercial guitar cleaning kits or polishes—or even (gasp!) Lemon Pledge. Don’t do it! Polishes build up on the finish of your guitar, dulling the sound of the wood. Instead, simply take a warm, damp cloth and wipe the wood down, and then dry it immediately with a soft, dry cloth. Micro-fiber cloths provide a soft, clean touch for drying. Your finish will look as good as new.
For those about to jam, we salute you.
Okay, I’m the first to admit it—many of the greatest rock guitarists used long straps that positioned their instruments somewhere just above their knees and played with their arms extended straight downwards in ape-like fashion. Think Slash, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry. And that’s why many of the current generation of rockers follow that example. It’s iconic and it looks cool. But, it creates a lot of technical problems. 
I learned this lesson early in life through the experience of a friend. He left his beautiful Martin acoustic guitar in its hard-shell case on his bed with the case unlatched. Then his mother decided to move the guitar. When she picked up the case by its handle, the top flew open and the guitar fell out and smashed into the case top, destroying the exquisite spruce face of the instrument.
I started out playing acoustic guitars with the standard medium-gauge bronze strings and got used to the stiff feeling of them. But when I started playing electric guitar with light-gauge strings I loved the lighter touch and the bend-ability they provided. 
As a guitar instructor, I’m often asked to help students shop for new instruments, and in shopping for them a great entry-level guitar has caught my eye—the Ibanez ART100 Artist.