Todays lesson is this.

A picture is worth a thousand words. (NB - One justified criticism of the way Tarrega holds the guitar is that his right shoulder is a little to high, a sign of excess tension.)

When playing fingerstyle it is important to move the fingers from the knuckles (primarily) rather than the inner joints. Why? Several reasons. It causes the finger to move in towards the hand instead of up and away from the guitar. Moving in towards the hand (a motion similar to that of grabbing a baseball bat) results in better tone. Also the muscles that control the knuckles have greater independence than those that control the inner joints. In other words when you play with your middle finger your index finger is less likely to go with it. So what do the inner joints do? They keep the curvature of the finger consistent. Not rigidly, but more like the shock absorbers on your car allow for a free ride.

Do you suffer from nails that break? Here are a few things that will help:

1) File them everyday. And when you file them use one of those files that has lots of different strengths. Start with the rough file and go through all the different levels until you get to ultra fine, that is the one that looks very smooth and feels like it doesn’t do anything. That will create a glassy look that is less likely to tear.

2) Do everything with your left hand. Open doors, turn keys, write (okay maybe that’s a little extreme).

3) Don’t let them get to long. Nails don’t need to be very long to be effective. If you keep them short they are less likely to break.

4) Take Gelatin supplements. They are supposed to strengthen your nails.

5) Wear gloves. Especially if you are moving something heavy. You will probably hear some Michael Jackson jokes, but at least your nails won’t break.

If anyone has any other ideas please comment.

This tip is for fingerstyle and classical guitarists. When it comes to plucking the strings with your fingers you want to avoid the claw. What is the claw? When you move your fingers from the inside knuckles of the finger rather than the big knuckle of the hand. Why? Two reasons.

1. The muscles used to control the large knuckle are located higher up in the arm and therefore have more seperation and endurance.

2. The tone produced by moving the fingers in towards the palm of the hand is far better than the tone produced by moving the finger up away from the strings. See the following video:

For more on this I highly recommend William Kannegiser’s Video Effortless Classical Guitar. Click on the link below for more info.