Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
I have a serious problem with nails .. i tried different shapes of finger nails.. i tried short for a short term (when i started playing ) .. currently, i have long finger nails .. what do u prefer guys long or short nails .. anyone recommend something i should do with my nails ..?
I tried long when I first started... Edward Scissorhands stuff... but it slows you down. So I shortened them and worked on developing the callous where the nail meets the skin and I get faster picardos than I do with long. The grip is good too. I can put a little expression into playing. All except the 'pinky' which is grossly long and freaky. I find that easier for Rasqueados and picking little colour notes out.
_____________________________
Visit web.mac.com/andrewmi for my Journey to Duende blog
Generally short nails will make your playing more precise and they won't break as easily and if they do break, you don't have to wait so long for them to grow out.
I have the fingers one after the other longer with the ring longest about 1/8", thumb also 1/8". I usually play on the inside corners of the nails half-nail half-callus, that works for me.
Just try out different things and see what works best.
_____________________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things
I am like John i prefer as short as posible...just a litlle edge ...enough to make sure atleas 65% of what hitts the string is meat.. feels more in control
also for extra feel i like not using absoluteley anything on my nails..its been good i play for classes bang the guitar all day...they dont brake as often ...maybe once every 3 months..the A fingher from tapping too hard ( or doing glope over the top with the back of the nail)..and takes about 2 days for it to grow to what i need anyway..probably because i keep it as short as posible and drink alot of dairy products..
At a workshop Rafael Cortés said he uses nothing which is amazing if you listen to the strength in his playing. He claims if your nails break, it's due to bad technique.
He's probably right, I start banging out the rasgueados hardest when I lose concentration, with the correct technique strength is less important.
Being the space cadet I am I have gel tips making my nails 1-2mm thick
_____________________________
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things
today i tried to shorten my finger nails i couldn't play anything .. i feel that my hand is too weak .. especially in rasgueados .. i am gonna try to practice on short nails ..
i have serious problem with picados .. the sound i produce is not continuous ..
i ll see what happens after practicing for few days on this new shape
I have a .pdf thesis (not by me) concerning tone production on a nylon stringed guitar. It goes into the physics of it through the first few chapters, then moves on to application.
Finger nails being rather subjective things, there are few hard and fast rules to it, but by gaining a better understanding of how it all works will no doubt help you to find the "right" shape.
today i tried to shorten my finger nails i couldn't play anything .. i feel that my hand is too weak .. especially in rasgueados .. i am gonna try to practice on short nails ..
i have serious problem with picados .. the sound i produce is not continuous ..
i ll see what happens after practicing for few days on this new shape
.
you'll get used to it. just shorten it a little each week, each time shorter than the last. that way, it'll give you some time to adjust.
ORIGINAL: verasalero I have a .pdf thesis (not by me) concerning tone production on a nylon stringed guitar.
My old boss was telling me once about how in music college to play classical guitar he had to carefully file each nail to the right shape to try and get exactly the same sound from each finger ... what a chore!
THat's a handy diagram (no pun intended!). Though not sure I agree with the pinkie 'never' being used to play notes - I was using my little finger in a downward arpeggio the other day and it came in most handy.
At a workshop Rafael Cortés said he uses nothing which is amazing if you listen to the strength in his playing. He claims if your nails break, it's due to bad technique.
I almost never break a nail while playing, but always when I'm doing anything else. Maybe I have good technique on guitar but bad technique in living.
Just got my 1st of acrylic nails. They are great! Why did I wait so long to finally go for it?
More important that the length of the nails and how many millimeters they extend past the fingertip is the actual shape of the nails, specifically the edges. This thread:
really hits the nail on the head (hey-o!), and was a breakthrough for me.
I haven’t checked the Pumping Nylon video that Ricardo and others frequently recommend, but the book Art of Classical Guitar Playing by Charles Duncan has a really good chapter on nails where he goes into quite a bit of detail about different nail types, arching, “ramping”, etc. The book’s not really worth buying for that alone, but definitely worth checking out at the library.
More important that the length of the nails and how many millimeters they extend past the fingertip is the actual shape of the nails, specifically the edges. This thread:
really hits the nail on the head (hey-o!), and was a breakthrough for me.
I haven’t checked the Pumping Nylon video that Ricardo and others frequently recommend, but the book Art of Classical Guitar Playing by Charles Duncan has a really good chapter on nails where he goes into quite a bit of detail about different nail types, arching, “ramping”, etc. The book’s not really worth buying for that alone, but definitely worth checking out at the library.
Pumping Nylon describes angles and different nail types. It's worth looking at for the diagrams. Some nails are flat (mine) some are curved (these tend to be stronger, shaped like an arch), some hook up or down (these ones need to be kept short enough to stop the hook from interfering with play).
IRC he is one of the people who suggest wrapping a piece of sandpaper around your guitar strings, hold your guitar at the angle you usually play and drag your nails accross it as though you were playing, the angle it shapes your nails at is likely to be ideal for your playing style.
1. Get some micro mesh paper and wrap it around a string and play in the same position you would. Then polish.
2. File exactly 45 degrees in one direction, your finger is perpendicular to the string.
3. The third way is exactly the same as the second, you place the file under the nail as far as it goes, put the finger 45 degrees and then file in the direction of your finger if that makes sense.
I use methods 2/3 combined. Occasionally I will use 1 if I have not taken care of my nails in a while.
I used to have long nails too a long long long time ago, you need to get used with shorter nails, that's for sure, it won't happen overnight. In my experience i found that a round shape is easier to play, since you don't have to take a lot of care looking your right hand angles, it's ready to go at any angle, besides, the nail gets easier to break or wear out and produces a poor sound. I mean, its a good shape if you have a bad technique (i used to have round nails)! A flat shape (like some fellas described above) has a big round tone and it makes the nails much more difficult to break or wear out, but it's not so easy to get used at the beginning because of the odd edges of the nails, that is, you need to improve your technique to get used to it, but it is worth it!!
At a workshop Rafael Cortés said he uses nothing which is amazing if you listen to the strength in his playing. He claims if your nails break, it's due to bad technique.
Wow, i find it difficult to believe, since it doesn't sounds like it, you can compare other players playing with no nails on youtube, it's a very distinguished sound!
Printable Version
) .. currently, i have long finger 
... what a chore! 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread