Montesardo in the section "Del modo di sonare con la mano dritta says...
Chi vorrà hauer una bella, e leggiadra mano su la Chitarra, è necessario prima, e principalmente tener la mano relassa dall’ attaccatura di essa, quanto sia possibile, tanto che diventi leggiera; che cosi sarà molto leggiadra al sonare, I translated this as If you wish to have a beautiful and elegant hand on the guitar it is necessary first and foremost to keep the hand relaxed from the [wrist] joint of this as much as possible so that it becomes very light. However someone else I know thinks that because the word attaccatura in later sources refers to the joint between the body and neck of the guitar the phrase "tener la mano relassa dall’attaccatura di essa" should be translated as "to keep the hand relaxed at the point where the neck joins the body, as far as may be possible". I wonder whether any of our Italian members can say which translation is the more likely or indeed whether either might be appropriate and the sentence is ambiguous. Elsewhere Montesardo says you should play between the rose and the fingerboard, as does Abadessa. Any help would be much appreciated. Regards Monica To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
