1 post tagged “classical guitarists”

An important lesson in nailcare, for the classical guitarist!

Yesterday in my lesson with my teacher, Victor Pellegrini, we talked in depth about nail care.
To the guitarist, your nails are as important as the violinist' bow.
When a guitarist changes his nail length, it must be done with extreme caution, as in the swipe of a nail file, we can lose a months growth. Once the nail is damaged, we must wait possibly a month or more to recuperate.

Just as a runner trains with a certain set of running shoes, we play and train with our nails. Whichever nail length works best for you, you must notate!  If a runner were to change shoes, with a bigger sole , for example, he would certainly lose the race. Our nails are the same.  If we change one milimeter in nail length, expect the hand position, arm position, shoulder, back and kneck position to change with it. One mm difference can affect inches on the back, and cause extreme pain, and possible injury.

It's our point of contact to the strings. Unfortunately, the more we play, the more the strings eat up our nails. Our nails do not grow as fast as we consume them, and in order to avoid having a set of nails we cant play with, we must guard them.

We must not be careless when opening doors, pushing them shut, picking up luggage, etc.
Long or short, is your choice, but be sure to know which works best for you, and maintain it.
Do not carelessly swipe away at your nails while talking to friends. It is a sure recipe for disaster!!

I hope this helped!

Christopher