Nail Science

I gave up using a plectrum, commonly known as guitar picks, back in 2009.  Using a pick eventually became limiting to me and revealed itself to be a massive impediment to my growth and progress as a guitarist.  I had worked on my pick technique for many years and was happy with the tone I was producing using a pick.  However, I wanted to tackle more challenging repertoire and I was internally hearing things and directions in which I wanted to move as a guitarist which were physically and technically impossible using picks.  When I returned home from the 2009 European Tour, I decided it was time to make the leap into the world of classical guitar right-hand technique and leave picks behind.

I knew it would be difficult and a tremendous challenge.  It many ways, it felt like starting over.  I bought the Carcassi book and used it in my daily practice.  Not long after that, I bought a copy of Heitor Villa-Lobos' 12 Etudes for Guitar and worked parts of that into my daily routine.  This material was very helpful to me, and both books became part of my daily shedding.  

As foreign as this initially felt, I knew and was entirely convinced that this was the way forward.  While frustrating in many ways, it was also exciting in many others.  I was able to begin to achieve the technical aspects that were impossible using a pick.

Moving from picks to classical guitar right-hand technique was more challenging than I can explain here.  I felt like a beginning guitar student, and in some ways I was.  It was like trying to learn to walk again.  I could tell it was re-wiring parts of my brain.  But this is only the physical aspect of it.  

There was also the issue of tone quality and sound production.

As I mentioned, I was happy with the tone I was producing using picks.  Of course, that didn't happen overnight.  I spent many years working on it.  But when I moved from picks to classical guitar right-hand technique, my tone quality just evaporated.  It went from a nice, full-bodied, bell-like tone to something thin, screechy, and harsh.   I knew that this was to be expected and was merely part of the migration.  I spent time every day just listening to the tone I was producing, and trying various things to improve it.  This involved steps such as right-hand location, physical proximity to the bridge, right wrist positioning, right arm positioning, angle of attack with the nails, the balance of skin to nail, right-hand angle regarding being perpendicular or parallel to the strings, and on and on.  Eventually when my right-hand tone quality was really getting me down, I decided to try it with no nails at all.  I love the tone and voice of lutes, and lute technique requires no nails, so I thought it might be a worthwhile experiment to eliminate nails. I filed them down as far as I could (which is how I keep the nails on my left hand - they're filed daily) and worked on that for several months.  It made for a rounder and arguably richer tone quality, but caused a lack of articulation, definition, and clarity.  I also felt as if physical accuracy was reduced without nails.

So I went back to growing my right-hand nails.

Side note: Many classical guitarists struggle with nail growth, as nails can easily be chipped or broken when using a classical guitar right-hand technique.  After doing some online research, I discovered biotin supplements, which I take every day.  This supplement encourages nail growth and nail strength.  I never chip or crack a nail when playing, and I'm playing double-course steel strings whereas classical guitarists are only playing single-course nylon strings.  In my case, nail breakage was not an issue, so that was one huge challenge solved.

Most classical guitarists keep their right-hand nails surprisingly long, and only contact the strings using 100% nails.  I worked at that for several months.  That said, there aren't many classical guitarists whose tone I really like.  To my way of hearing, most classical guitarists produce a tone that is imbalanced, thin, too bright, and all this with an attack that I can only describe as clacky and clattering.  That was not what I wanted at all.  I was trying to balance my right-hand attack such that I was keeping the rounder tone from using only skin, while attempting to introduce the clarity and articulation that was missing.  Balance being the key word here.  

Around this time, I started delving further into right-hand tapping techniques.  To describe this in a brief way: this is a technique wherein both hands are on the fingerboard in an almost piano-like way instead of the right-hand being limited to picking/plucking/strumming.  This was opening up entirely new worlds for me, enabling me to achieve more orchestral textures and far more complex harmonic structures and environments.  The problem was that right-hand tapping and classical guitar right-hand technique stand in opposition to one another.  Tapping requires no nails, as your right-hand fingertips are in contact with the string at something like a 90-degree angle.  Right-hand nails force your fingertips into something more of a 45-degree angle, and as such collide with neighboring string courses while not allowing your right-hand fingers to make a clean attack on the tapped string.  The fact that all my instruments are double-courses makes tapping far more difficult; both physically and in terms of tone production.  

At this point, it started to feel like I had to make a decision: did I want to use tapping as part of my technique, or did I want to develop my classical guitar right-hand technique?

It was very frustrating to think that I couldn't do both, but I wasn't about to give up.  I tried filing my right-hand nails much shorter, leaving no more than two millimeters of length.  This was short enough that I could still tap, but was long enough that I wasn't getting only skin contact with strings.  Discovering this balance in nail length was a landmark discovery for me.

Shorter right-hand nails also produced something closer to the tone I was seeking: I had the thicker and rounder tone of skin-only, but there was enough nail involved to provide articulation, clarity, and separation of notes in complex chords.  At this juncture, I had been working on classical guitar right-hand technique for around three or four years.  It was starting to feel more natural, and I no longer felt like a beginning guitar student.  However, I was still not happy with my right-hand tone production.

I began doing some research on fingernail shaping in classical guitar right-hand technique.  Shapes, filing techniques, using sandpaper, maintenance, and more.  Some classical guitarists use artificial fingernails; the glue-on/press-on types.  I tried these for a while, but didn't like the harsh tone they produced.  One thing that eluded me was the ideal shape of right-hand nails for classical technique.  There are many and opposing schools of thought on this.  Some of the more progressive classical guitarists swear by angled, or "ramped" nails.  Some of the more old-school classical guitarists and teachers insist that only rounded nails are proper.  I tried both approaches and gave each one several months of work.  Both had their advantages and limitations; both in terms of technical accuracy and tone production.

Then one day I read of an approach to right-hand nail shaping stating that the nail shape or profile should follow the profile of the finger itself.  This was something of a breakthrough for me.  It provided improvements in tone production, while also providing excellent control and technical accuracy.  It felt more natural to me than round or ramped nails.  I was also able to retain the ~2mm nail length that I'd discovered to work well for me.  It didn't all perfectly click into place immediately; it still required years of shedding and work, but as soon as I tried the fingertip-shaped nail approach, I could both feel and hear that this was the way forward.  

For several years, I used a kind of hybrid nail shape wherein my right-hand fingernails received the fingertip-shape nails, and my right thumbnail had a ramped shape.  That worked well for a long time; I felt that the ramped thumbnail, which was not 2mm, but more in the 4mm to 5mm length, provided a good tone and the ramp meant that the nail escaped the string faster, allowing more fluidity and speed.  It didn't impede tapping, as I do use my right thumb when tapping, but I use the side of my thumb; for tapping, thumbnail length is moot.  Then a couple of months ago, I broke my right thumbnail while doing a routine household task.  The break occurred on the left edge.  To be able to continue playing, I had to file down the broken area, and when I did, it put my nail shape back in a rounded shape instead of ramped.  I was forced to use a rounded thumbnail shape.  I was prepared to be in a state of frustration until my thumbnail grew back, but I found that I was starting to actually like the rounded shape.  That's how I have it at present, even though my nail has indeed grown back.  I will keep it rounded for a while longer to see how I like it.  I may go back to an asymmetrical shape, but I'm exploring the rounded shape for now.

What I've learned in this 13-year journey of classical guitar right-hand technique and nail maintenance is that there is no "correct" nail shape or length, in spite of what many classical guitarists and teachers staunchly claim.  I think that each classical guitarist has to, or should, find the nail shape and length that works best for them.  I posit that few classical guitarists pursue this route, as teachers indoctrinate them with the teacher's preferred nail length and shape.  They blindly adopt this and never question it.  Of course, finding your own path with nails can take, and did in my case, several years.  Years of frustration, setbacks, and questioning.  I can understand why so many guitarists don't take this route.  It's difficult.  It's frustrating.  It can make you feel like giving up.  It takes years.  But nail shape and length is a very highly personal choice.  What works for other guitarists isn't necessarily going to also work equally well for you.

It has taken me years to get to the place where I can say that I'm happy with the tone and sound quality I'm producing with my classical guitar right-hand technique.  I'm not entirely satisfied, as I'm always thinking about my right-hand tone, where it may be lacking, of what I'd like to hear more, what I don't like that I want to eliminate, and so forth.  And it is always improving, growing, and evolving.  Both in nail shape and in technique.

It's amazing how very personal nails can be for guitarists.

I'd be interested to hear how other guitarists are dealing with this, so feel free to contact me and let me know.

-kk