You can use your fingernails for plucking and producing different sounds in various ways. The most common way is to pick the strings with your nails, fingers slightly bent. Another option is to hit or tap the strings so that the nail plate creates the sound.

With your nails, you can also pull, rub, or scratch the overspun string parallel to the string, and create scratchy, whirring, or sharp sounds, depending on the speed of movement and thickness of the overspun string.

Example 1: individual notes with two different techniques  

The example demonstrates two different techniques: picking with your nails and tapping the strings with the nail plate.

• Keep your fingers active when picking with your nails.
• Let the fingers relax immediately after the impulse. 
• If the edge of the quick is very close to the fingertip, plucking with your nails might be difficult. 
• In the latter technique, the finger movement can be active, yet fairly narrow. 

Example 2: Pekka Kostiainen: Imbroglio, bars 83-92 (with the right hand)

• This progression can be played with 1-3 fingers.
• When at least two fingers are used for plucking, it is possible to make gentle movements with the arm. 
• Plucking may get easier if you pick the notes with firm pressure and almost vertically upwards.
• You need a strong nail grip – supported by a strong palmar region – in the powerful figures at the end of the example.