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nails

by mike
(southern england)

Is it a practical possibility to play classic style, with short nails on the right hand? I hate other than short nails.

Hi Mike,

Yes, it is possible to play classical guitar with short or even no nails on the right hand.

The "trade off" in my opnion is the loss of volume and even tone control but I guess it comes down to personal choice.

Trevor M.

Comments for
nails

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Check Out LJ
by: George

Laurence Juber is an excellent fingerstyle guitarist (steel strings) who plays without nails.

He has serious callouses on his picking fingers. His tone is different, very recognizable and quite good (IMHO). Whether that type of tone would suit you is a question of taste.

It seems like whenever I get my nail tone perfected something always reaches out and tears off one or two nails (zippers, tools...); it's then that I think about LJ...

I've never tried going completely nailess; when I'm missing one or two it seems that I don't have enough percussion/treble content with nylon strings for my taste, that might improve with time...

and it would take some added re-training to get the difference in tirando & apoyando to an acceptable level.

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