Dear Chris > off my right hand guitar nails to concentrate on the .. > months, I'm afraid I will still have to perform some > casual gigs on the modern classical guitar from time > to time (I actually play a lot of contemporary music) .. > on my "very serious classical guitar teacher" hat and > nails again. .. > stringing their modern instruments with either nylgut > or even gut at a lower tension. If so, how has it > worked out? Any recommendations? (Before anyone says
I teach classical guitar two days a week, and play lutes the rest of the week. I cut my nails some years ago and suffered when playing classical guitar: sore fingertips from high tension nylon! I tried lower tension nylgut on my teaching guitar, but it didn't really work for me. The first string was buzzing all the time, so I quickly had to put back a nylon higher tension string. String two and three did work at about 5,5kg, but lacked the power and direct attack I needed in my lessons, they were just to light to make the instrument speak. I did also try some second hand gut from my 19th century guitar on my classical guitar. Again somewhere between 5 to 5,5kg. Again not enough mass to make the guitar speak, and lacking in power. By now I have to study a lot on my 19th century guitar for concerts, so the sore fingertis are a bit less of a problem. Practice solves a lot. Also, I find that with a minimum of nails and a slightly different angle of attack I can make a strong tone without hurting the fingers so much. I put my fingers so that the tip of the nail just touches the string, and supports the tip of the finger. The angle of the hand has also changed: less Segovia, more lute. Also I use a lot less rest stroke. All of which is a little akward for teaching purposes at times, but so be it. After all, most pupils play without naisl, so perhaps it's even better? The minimum of nail grows in about one to two days, so with a bit of 'nail-management' I can survive. Anyway, on most lutes the minimum of nails are not in the way, as with a slightly more streched finger they're out of the way. And for (especialy theorbo) continuo they come in handy, actually. :-) For nice solo playing on lutes I do prefer to get rid of the nails all together. Want another kind of advice: get a 19th century guitar, they're great little guitars! ;-) David To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
