subject: Right Hand Technique Used to Play Classical Guitar [print this page] Right Hand Technique Used to Play Classical Guitar
You may have noticed that in order to play Classical Guitar players keep their right hand finger nails long but on their left they are usually clipped very short. The reason that the right hand nails are kept long is because they are used to pluck the strings and to play correctly a combination of the finger tip and nail is used to strike the string.
There has been much debate over how short or long the right hand nails should be in order to correctly play Classical Guitar, some players like the hard sound of just the nail striking the string and others prefer the softer sound of the meat of the finger. There is no "Correct" way it is a matter of personal preference and the ambiance that the piece is supposed to project. Part of the joy of playing Classical Guitar is the practicing of various pieces and experimenting with the different sounds as your mood changes.
If you want to see what I mean about the styles then you can watch the You Tube videos of John Williams and Andres Segovia playing Asturias they play in very different ways and yet both versions are beautiful! Both these players are and were the best in the world in their respective eras. Andres preferred shorter nails and used the top part of his fingers more and John uses more of the nail, which gives the more staccato sound to his music.
The right hand fingers used in picking are the thumb (p) the index (i) the middle (m) and the ring (a) each finger operates separately from the others and either side of the nail can be used to strike the strings. However it is usual for the fingers to strike the strings coming upwards and the thumb going downwards. The little finger is used to support the hand and usually rests on the face of the guitar just beneath the strings. Flamenco players however use all their fingers to strike the strings and mostly use a down stroke from the fingers. The "pima" sequence of the fingers is often used as an annotation to Classical Guitar music and this is one way that you can tell music that is specifically for the Classical Guitar.
Another aspect is the shape of the finger nails Scott Tennant the author of Pumping Nylon and one of today's better players likes to shape the nails squarer than usual and advises that they should be angled so that the straight part strikes the string evenly, this enables a smoother release of the string. Segovia is said to have kept his nails shorter and not much longer than twice the width of the strings. Whichever shape and length you choose it will be necessary to use a high quality fine nail file preferably a stainless steel one, as these last longer, some extremely fine grained jeweler's sandpaper and a high quality leather nail buffer. These are used in sequence to shape the nail and then smooth the tip, so that there are no parts that may snag the string. The buffer is used to polish all parts of the nail so that the string release is extremely smooth and predictable.
John Williams playing Asturias Andres Segovia playing Asturias
I hope that this article was informative and that you enjoyed reading it.
