Playing the guitar with long fancy nails isn’t easy. In fact, it’s kind of impossible. Here are 10 acrylic nail design options that will unmistakably let your bandmates and anyone else know you’ve chosen manis over music, and that’s that.

Modern Pastels

Delicate pink and pale blue contrast with dark botanical accents and detailed geometric linework. It’s a look that spells elegance, grace, and a giant hearty “Haha no, I still haven’t managed to even fake my way through the opening riffs of our new single, and with these new talons glued my fingers, you should know I have now officially decided to stop trying.” Welp. Looks like your band will be posting a help wanted ad.

Solid Black Short Semi-Oval

You thought you were playing it safe with this one. Nice, low-key solid color. Reasonable-length rounded tips for safety. No wimpy pastels or anything, and it all still matches your ripped jeans and now-more-duct-tape-than-canvas Converse high tops. Guess what? You still just told everyone your guitar-playing days are finito. Maybe you can learn to sing or something? Just try not to scratch up the mic.

Green and Blue Butterfly Wings

So you’re a dude who tripped a little too hard one day and decided to get iridescent butterflies applied to his nails because of a “vision.” That’s cool, and we totally support that self-expression, man. What we can’t support is how you lied to your bandmates and said you’d practice this week before your show. We hate to say it, but either those butterflies or your guitar strings are gonna break five strums in, tops. And you’ll choose to save the butterflies.

Dripping Blood

Is it arguably a sorta punk design? Maybe. But even though the songs you’re playing only have two chords, that’s two chords too many now that you’ve got these plastic babies superglued to your digits. And everyone knows it. Poser.

French Manicure With Rainbow Stripes

A fantastic look for Pride Weekend. Unfortunately it’s now Monday. You’re hungover, you’re covered in glitter, and you have your guitar lesson in four hours. Just send the kid’s mom whom you teach a pic of this fretboard-busting manicure and they’ll surely understand. Bonus points if you also have the stones to still ask to be paid for this week.

Space-Effect Burgundy

Okay. Apparently even TAB notation for the most basic rendition of “House of the Rising Sun” was too much for you to handle with these raven’s talons attached to your digits. So now you’ve decided you’re going to become physically unable to pick up a guitar pick. Or put in contacts. Or type a text that doesn’t look like drunken gibberish on the first three tries. Nice metallic red color, though.

Brown Vaguely Marble-Looking Thing

Sorry, this isn’t even a nice look. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just come out and admit that after you impulsively guitar and told everyone you were starting a band and purchased that app that was going to teach you to play in 90 days, you couldn’t figure out downstrokes and upstrokes and gave up and stuffed the guitar in your closet along with your bread maker and the silk screen kit you never use?

Pink and Red With Floral Appliqués

Wow. You really went all out, huh? Hope you enjoy fishing out tiny plastic flowers from your poor guitar’s body when they immediately fall off your nails and start rattling like a poor man’s egg shaker.

Purple Metallic Extra-Long

Two weeks ago, you had neatly trimmed nails and the will to learn to play guitar. As if these pointy monstrosities didn’t already broadcast that your music dream is kaput, you also had your nail tech file off those finger calluses you’d been building while trying to figure out the F major chord. Come on, it wasn’t that hard!

Silver Jewel-Encrusted

This blindingly bright metallic design makes a real statement! When you walk into a room, these nails will certainly do the talking. You won’t even need to respond any time someone asks how that guitar playing is coming along. Just raise a single finger and let those eye-poppingly long tips and minuscule sequins shout it out: The ol’ axe is definitely collecting dust in a corner now.