I used to play with the nails many years ago. I got a pretty good sound as well but I didn't then realize that I was only playing one string in the pair that makes up a course. Once I learned to play with the finger tips and to strike both strings in a course I noticed the difference in the quality of the sound. Now if I have become lazy and allowed a nail to grow to long that it hits the strings I notice imeadiatly because the sound becomes brasy and strident. You can play with the nails but I think what you will find you either create a lousy sound or you do not play all the strings you are supposed to.
Vance Wood. ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Rastall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 26, 2006 9:56 AM Subject: [LUTE] Playing With Nails > Hello luters, > > Just out of curiosity: how many of you, if any, play the lute with > nails? I've been looking online at the various old paintings of > lutenists, and I can't see that any of them had long nails; but on > the other hand, one occasionally hears of people that do play with > nails. I've also heard it said that nail playing is appropriate when > accompanying singers or other instrumentalists. What do you all > think of nail playing on the lute? Another heresy perhaps? > > David Rastall > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > www.rastallmusic.com > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >
