# Flesh VS. Fingernails for guitar



## Bgroovy2

Ok you guitar guys out there. I have been playing guitar for years but last year I made a serious commitment to delve into classical guitar. It has been fun, slow, frustrating but all in all, very rewarding. I did a bunch of reading on playing with fingernails. There is a lot of debate about this issue. I decided to give it a try and I have to say I love it! All of my nails on my right hand are ramped and stick out about a quarter inch past the ends of my fingers. I use Sally Hanson 4 in 1 nail treatment to keep them thick and hard. I have had a few small cracks, but nothing a little Krazy glue could't fix. This is a miricale for me considering I was a habitual nail biter. 

Anyone have some input on fingermails be it pro or con? I know that some players state that nails alter the tone and is not as pure as flesh only. It seems to be a mute point to me. My agility on the fret bord had gotten so much better and nails are louder as well. 

Chime in ladies and gents!


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Nothing wrong with nails. I really like using a mixture. The finger-tips for softer playing, then I come in with the nails in the more larger work. It is personal preference, no law of guitar playing is set in stone.


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## handlebar

While there is nothing wrong with nails I find it harder to control the strings that way. I use fingers only. But then again as SalieriIsInnocent says, these are personal preferences. After using nails on steel strings for years,the jump to classical guitar and nylon was a godsend! I wish I had been using them a long time ago. The timbre of the resonance with my fingers vs the nails sounds better to me.

Jim


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## Argus

For a nylon stringed classical guitar it's nails all the way. I have mine at about 4-5 mm of white nail over the edge of the finger. I use no treatment on them and have never had a broken nail. I just file them with a standard file once a week. No ramps, just following the natural curve of the finger. Maybe if I start playing more flamenco and using rasguaedo and golpe techniques my nails might break but for classical they are fine.

Pure flesh just sounds too dead for classical. Having nails gives the clarity of a pick and the polyphonic ability of the fingers required for classical play.

For electric and steel strings I am an 80% of the time pick guy, 20% fingers. For bass I am 50/50, but having now long nails does slighly makes my bass tone too bright for some fingerstyle stuff.

Just look at the best classical players. At least 90% of them use their nails over flesh. Well ideally it's a mixture of the two, catching the string with both, as all nails can be a bit too harsh and sharp, and all flesh too dead. You might be able to get away with no nail on the thumb, but I prefer an even sound all over.


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## Lukecash12

I keep my nails short, because flesh is much better for dynamic control, tone, and various effects. I can strike the string in several different ways, which means I can better balance chords (for example, I may use my thumb almost entirely vertical so as to bring out the bass line, as it will get increase volume and sustain doing such a thing). And I beg to differ on the technical benefits of nails. It is true that it takes more conditioning to play as loud as you want without nails, but flesh feel much more natural, and you have quite a bit more control over it.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

Well, I really think flesh can be better than nails, when you have a really resonate classical guitar. Nails add a bit of treble and snap to the sound. I like using flesh, because I like playing mellow. When I want to get wild with the guitar, I use fingernails, but I am no Segovia.


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## handlebar

SalieriIsInnocent said:


> Well, I really think flesh can be better than nails, when you have a really resonate classical guitar. Nails add a bit of treble and snap to the sound. I like using flesh, because I like playing mellow. When I want to get wild with the guitar, I use fingernails, but I am no Segovia.


That "snap" drives me crazy when listening to classical guitarists as much as it does with clicks by a clarinetist or oboist. I want to hear the music speak and not the string. So the flesh is what I prefer to use and listen to. I keep the nails closely trimmed on all accounts also due to my lumberyard job. I learned guitar with picks when a young lad and so it was difficult to get past the steel string issue.Now it is much better and easier for me to concentrate on the music and not the strings.

As for my playing: I would not be good enough to carry Segovia's bags to the airport much less be in his presence!


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## SalieriIsInnocent

handlebar said:


> That "snap" drives me crazy when listening to classical guitarists as much as it does with clicks by a clarinetist or oboist. I want to hear the music speak and not the string. So the flesh is what I prefer to use and listen to. I keep the nails closely trimmed on all accounts also due to my lumberyard job. I learned guitar with picks when a young lad and so it was difficult to get past the steel string issue.Now it is much better and easier for me to concentrate on the music and not the strings.
> 
> As for my playing: I would not be good enough to carry Segovia's bags to the airport much less be in his presence!


Neither could Esteban, but he is making a good slice of cheese off his name. Esteban is great, but I don't think he got very many lessons (if any) from Segovia.


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## Lukecash12

SalieriIsInnocent said:


> Neither could Esteban, but he is making a good slice of cheese off his name. Esteban is great, but I don't think he got very many lessons (if any) from Segovia.


Frankly, I don't like Esteban all that much (from a strictly musical standpoint). His technique and musicality is my standard for heavily cliched playing. Seldom do I just come out and say this expression, but *what a sellout*!


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## handlebar

I'm NOT a fan of Esteban at all. I agree that the money seems more the focus instead of the art.
He reminds me of Andre Riu. Not they are without talent nut that the commercialism they push smacks of kitsch so much. It muddies up the waters.

If forced to name favourite guitarists then it would be in this order:

Segovia
John Williams
Parkening
Isbin
Romero,P
Boyd
Reinhardt


Jim


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## Lukecash12

Have you ever heard of Tatsuo Tabei? Someone made a channel in his honor: http://www.youtube.com/user/19450817maestro

He was a pupil of Segovia, and here is a fantastic example of his mastery:


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## Bgroovy2

Hey yal, thanks for the imput. Since were talking about concert performers, I think Julian Bream has outstanding tone and technique and he is a nail only player. His baroque guitar recording is one of my favorites on my ipod.


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## Guest

I can't get the same speed, articulation, or array of tone colors with just fingers as I can with nails.


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## kv466

I like a good mix of the two although I keep the nails short; also, I use a Dunlop .74 nylon for a lot of playing as well


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## tdc

I have never met a classical guitarist that uses only flesh nowadays... I thought Tarrega was the last one (j/k). But seriously shorter well kept nails work much better imo for classical players and allow for a more dynamic sound than flesh only.


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## CedricE

Handlebar, you seem to like playing with the flesh. I've been exploring using nails for a while but they seem to frustrate me. Can you recommend some good strings to try playing with the flesh? and low tension strings is preferable, correct?
Thanks!
Cedric


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## Praeludium

Technique is more important than strings. 
Become acquainted with lute technique could be a good idea... They think of pulling the string toward the top and then releasing it. This concept (also present in the modern guitar technique of many contemporary guitarists ! I've also heard about Pujol recommending it) is the key of correct flesh technique for me. But of course, this is just a clue and is about 1% of what constitue a good technique.

Anyway if there's a good lutenist/HIP guitarist in your aera it could be very interesting for you to take a few lessons with him. On the top of regular (albeit not necessarily very frequent) lessons with a regular and competent guitar teacher of course...


BTW, Pujol, mentionned earlier, advocated flesh playing. He wrote a famous method in four books. The first one is mainly theoretical, the second and third one are about basic technique and the fourth one deals with virtuosity (ie. basic technique taken to the next level).

To conclude this post I'll just throw a few names of classical guitarists who play(ed) without nails because it can be interesting lol

Juan Mercadal
Emilio Pujol
his pupil Hector Garcia and many others Pujol pupils I'm sure (the guitarist on YT who share his name is not this hector garcia... for a while I thought so and becamde very skeptical about the Pujol method)
Phil de Fremery

historical guitars :

the guitarists from the Duo Historico
John Schneider (and his duo, but I forgot the name)
there are probably a lot of other guitarists but I forgot their name/don't know them


And of course the lutenists...


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## Head_case

Nobody like the cheap Planetwaves plastic finger picks then?


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

nails all the way - whether its nylon, steel ,12 string or electric nails- even Banjo lol every time.


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## NojaP

Im new to guitar and still get callosities, so i have to use both nails and flesh :lol:


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese

Are you referring to your fingerboard hand or your picking hand - got me confused there....


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## CedricE

What is the best combination of string tension to play without nails? I've heard that normal tension for the basses and hard tension for the trebles is good while having the guitar tuned a semi note or a full note lower than standard tuning? Also does anyone have experience with aquila strings?


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## ClassicalGuitarist

I started off using just my fingers because I am in sales and didn't think it was appropriate but now I have tried it and I just hide my nails when I am with customers. It has improved my technique and the volume is much louder. I create better dynamics with the nails.


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## denkirk

I use acrylic nails, my natural nails are very weak, maybe something because I am 60+yrs old, either way I tried lotions potions varnishes and tapes, but nothing for me is better than well applied acrylic nails. I use a well respected local nail studio where I was taken aback when I explained my needs and they immediately cried 'musician', apparently I'm one of many who sneak in embarrassed only to find I'm one of many !! I have my 3 fingers and thumb on my right hand overlaid with acrylic than trimmed so that when a flat object is applied to the finger tip to illustrate the angle between finger tip to the nail is 45 degrees. My thumb just a little more. On my left hand my nails are trimmed to within an inch of death ! really really short, any nail that taps when I tap my finger tips onto a table is to long!! Hope this helps, it makes my classical guitar playing so much more a pleasure. Hope this helps, Denis.


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## PetrB

Classical guitar = clip your nails so they are out of the way, with just enough they may be used as effect when called for in the score.

Anything else is no longer old-school classical guitar, but something else as dictated by personal taste.


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## Nightman

Playing with my nails always kinda gave me chills, their not very study, so it's just not very pleasant; I prefer to have them sliiightly long, just enough for the tips to influence the sound.


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## MissLemko

Nails are essential for a good tone, speed and control. But nails shouldn't be neither too long or too short. The little trick that helped me is to use the kind of paper used for woodwork, only much finer, about 2000 and put it under the 2nd string and over the 1st string and pluck it just as if it wasn't there. That way it will shape the nail into the minimal resistance shape. Then you polish the nail from beneath.


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