Dear David,
it all depends on the instrument you are playing. First of all playing
without nails requires strings of less tension - it's a matter of taste
which kind of string you want to use - nylgut or gut feels best imho.
If this doesn't lead to any success it's possible to file your nails
unequal: as James already pointed out you are playing the lute rather with
the right side of your fingers while the guitar is played with the left
side. If you file your nails in a way that the left side remains but is
short on the right side you could archieve a good nailtone on guitar and a
"fleshy" thumb-under on the lute.
I personally decided first not to play guitar anymore and now am starting
on a early romantic guitar which works perfectly without nails.
best wishes
Thomas
"David Cassetti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> am 15.12.2004 14:35:35
An: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kopie:
Thema: Re: Instrument Sounding
James,
I have a Takamine Hirade Arte Ten Concert Model made in 1989. With nails
it
sounded great, lots of volume and projection. Without nails thumb under
it
doesn't sound bad, but it's rather dull and quiet by comparison. Getting
volume and tone seems to take a lot of effort. I tried the Alaska Piks
and
the sound was much better but they still require some fingernail to fit
under, and they're a bit bulky.
I guess my point is that I have a nice instrument that doesn't get any
playing time, but if I could find a quick and easy way install
fingernails,
or found a set of strings more suitable for playing without nails, I
might
pick it up more often. I'd like to play some of the classical guitar
repertory, but also some non-standard pieces (e.g. Luis de Milan's
fantasia
13) that sound fantastic on a modern classical guitar with nails.
The problem is even worse with a steel-string guitars, which I would
also
like to play.
-- David
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In a message dated 12/14/2004 7:34:13 PM Pacific Standard Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
That's very interesting. If you have any insight into how your student
achieves such a sound I'm all ears.
Before obtaining a lute I played classical guitar thumb-under without
nails (about 8 years). While it was better than nothing, I found that
it
took a great deal of effort to get any sound volume compared to nails.
The very high tension of the guitar strings seem to be one of the
problems. The modern classical guitar seems very unresponsive to
finger
pads. Now that I have a lute the contrast seems accentuated because
the
lute is so "live".
Hi David,
I also have a student who plays a regular classical guitar "thumb
under"
and sounds fine; although he does have large hands and his natural
strength probably helps him get volume.
You might try a light tension string set; but it's hard to diagnose
the
problem through e-mail. What kind of guitar are you playing? There are
guitars that are more lightly built and could serve you better, perhaps?
I
might be able to help more if I knew where you're coming from with this
question. You have a lute and seem happy with that; are you wanting to
play
modern guitar repertoire also?
James
References
1. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
2. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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