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Posts: 503
Joined: Jun. 14 2014
From: Encinitas, CA USA
Left hand nails
I have always had the thinking that left hand nails should be a short as possible, otherwise they can get in the way of pushing down on the strings. I was watching a video of Javier Conde and noticed his left hand nails were really long and I thought well maybe he was just lazy and forgot to cut them. Today I was watching his lesson on pull offs and he mentioned that he likes his left nails not to be too short even though his father would tell him otherwise. He also mentions Nino Miguel as having long left hand nails. I have noticed by accident that when my nails are longer I do get more sound on pull offs from the nail hitting the string and it kind of felt like cheating but I think will try growing them out slightly to see how it works.
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Ah well, there was a fantastic passion there, in my case anyway. I discovered flamenco very early on. It grips you in a way that you can't get away - Paco Pena
I think there is a sweet spot when it comes to left-hand nail length. If they are too short or non-existent, I feel that legatos can become a bit softer. If they are too long, the strings start to get stuck between the flesh and the nail. Someone else on YouTube (whose name we shall not mention) has also posted a video on this topic. I think there is some sense to it...
Yeah, that was my thinking there is probably a very small difference between being long enough to do some good and too long. Its amazing the nuances in technique that different players use. I am finding there is no right or ideal way to any specific technique.
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Ah well, there was a fantastic passion there, in my case anyway. I discovered flamenco very early on. It grips you in a way that you can't get away - Paco Pena
They need to be short....or you can plan to change your fingerboard in a few years. N. Miguel was like a homeless Howard Hughes
My impression is Niño Miguel always played with long left hand finger nails(especially the pinky)you can clearly see this in this video.
And here after he cleaned up and got to do the concert at Teatro Central de Sevilla.
P.s
I think it is god not to be dogmatic about these sort of things, if long left hand finger nails(as long as they dont look like nosferatu's nails)boosts your playing for some reason then why not?
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