I think what’s so lovely about this approach is that it is a playing style and aesthetic that is totally focused on and committed to the domestic enjoyment of playing the instrument. So much of how guitar construction and playing technique has developed was conditioned by the desire to transform the guitar into a concertizing instrument (which is perfectly understandable and legitimate goal). The problem for me arises when we present, without explanation or alternatives, a concertizing technique to players, most of whom will never give (nor want to give) public concerts. For the domestic amateur who loves playing the guitar, purely as a source of lifelong joy and fulfillment, our pedagogical default (nail playing, nail maintenance, loud projection, large instruments, uncomfortable scale lengths, etc.) can seriously jeopardize a student’s love of the instrument. I think young students of the guitar would be better served learning your approach and then, when the ambitions to become a concertizing professional materialize in specific students in their early teenage years, switch to the appropriate technique for that career ambition. This would set up the 99% of students who will not become professionals which a much enjoyable and maintainable technique for lifelong playing, whereas now we cater to the 1% and watch the majority of students drift away from the instrument.

I love the sound that you get on a guitar and your musicianship in general. I also like your modest manner.

Dear Rob, thank you for liberating me from the tyranny of the bent-wrist, nails-only technique! My name is Cliff I'm a recently-retired, 63 year old professor of education who has played classical guitar on and off all his life but is getting serious about it again since I retired last year and am free of constantly having to publish. Your technique feels so natural and right to me and is allowing me to take my playing to higher levels than the nails technique ever did. You have made a big difference for me. Bless you!

Such a great video, love your explanation about your approach and pulling the strings just enough for the tone. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing Rob!

I loved listening to you distill your techniques. Very thoughtful. I also don't maintain nails. I've tried off and on. I do keep them just a bit longer than yours. They do come into play, but only just slightly. I love your relaxed approach. Having trained hard (3 hours a day) as a youngster in classical violin I can say I have definitely found more enjoyment just, well... enjoying the music. That rigid method feels like a starched collar now. Thanks for all of your content. I always learn well from your music and spoken word.

Fantastic video! I will try this technique because I love the beautiful and soft sound that you make.

This is so very helpful! Thank you Rob!!

I have played with flesh only for 30 years. Thank God! The day I started studying with Hector Garcia, my life changed and my sound did also, as did my focus on sound, and the allure of finding a guitar that truly embraces the nuance sound only. Your playing is elegant and timeless!

This is really refreshing to see. I'm a classically trained guitarist who has shifted towards a jack of all trades approach musically. I just like playing lots of different instruments and repertoire. Most of my 'classical' guitar playing these days is Renaissance or Baroque material, and I've shifted to playing either off my right leg or with a strap and the guitar against my chest like a lute. Along with this, I've also shifted to more of a 'thumb-under' position and playing with the flesh too. I love it. I've always thought it was funny nonsense to listen to 'very serious' guitarists pontificate on the classical posture and technique and then give a recital full of Bach and Dowland.

I wish I new about this 10 years ago

No Nails represent!

very interesting. thanks for that.

I also play with no nails. i always break my nails when there long and also feel that i have more control with the flesh of my fingers. Wonderful right hand technique. i will try to incorporate resting my pinky on the soundboard

thanks Rob

A great video and discussion going on here. I'm a steel string player, but have only seriously got into fingerstyle in the last year and a half. I've tried to grow my nails , but with steel they never get that long, but do make a little difference. My thumbnail, on the other hand (pardon the pun), has grown pretty long as I've been playing with a collapsed hand position and the nail seldom touches the string as the thumb is almost side on to the string. All the same, I have noticed that I have started to, on occasion, bend my wrist and go for a more 'Tarrega' type posture purely for the effect of using the thumbnail. I've been playing for years - well decades - with a plectrum, but messed about with flesh playing fingerstyle, and there is something nice about the feel or the direct contact of it. It does really encourage you to really pull the string.

You play small guitars- what make do you play? I've got very small hands-only 13cm from index to pinky and less if I want to make the notes clear and the transition smooth- some songs I have to change the fingering entirely so that they don't sound quite how they were written to sound. Pretty frustrating. And I've got to learn the piano as well to qualify for graduation- that's really hard (can't play an octave chord, and I'm always having to drop notes) anyway, I need a small guitar with a shorter scale length (but not a romantic guitar just a scaled down modern one) :

Bonjour. Bravo pour vos vidéos ! Je n'ai jamais osé mettre des Nylgut sur ma guitare classique . (J'utilise les Nylgut Aquila pour mes luths depuis des années ) Quels tirants me conseillez-vous pour une guitare espagnole qui a une longueur vibrante de 65,5cm ? Ou sinon ,quelles tensions préfèrez-vous , je peux peut-être calculer les diamètres si j'ai la tension pour chaque corde ? Merci. René.

Thanks for this enlightening video. Incidentally, I had the same problem of finding the modern guitar to be inadequate for playing in a "lute style", i.e. with flesh, little finger on the soundboard etc. Eventually, I had purchased an orignal late 19th century guitar. I wonder why use the guitar presented in this video, given that you also have a copy of a 19th century guitar. Does it have any advantages?

were can I buy one of these guitars can't find locally in Minnesota

I know a great guitarist/lutenist/banjoist plays just like you w/o using nails. I've read Emilio Pujol also played and taught the nail-less method. Do you know if the Emilio Pujol guitar school books are a good start to learn this technique? thx

Hi Rob, hope you are doing well. I have a query, whenever I try to plant my finger on a string, I hear a buzz why is that? And could you please guide me on how I can correct it.

Thank you, Rob, for this very informative video. I'm trying to adapt this technique to the ukulele. Would you say this is essentially the "thumb under" technique used by some lutenists? Or is it something else entirely?

hey Rob!! I really admire your work. I have a question. How do you execute tremolo and other right hand techniques with your form?

This is really interesting Rob, thanks for the video. Like Dana below I am about to retire and get serious about guitar again! I recently bought a 3/4 sized classical guitar to use as a travel guitar, scale length 58cm, and I find the shorter scale very charming and easy on the right hand. Can you tell us who makes your guitar and what is the nut width? Cheers, Bill

you can still buy gut strings? in glasgow? where?? :-D interesting info amigo, thanks!

hello ,fantastic video! I wanted to ask you what you think about touching villa-lobos without nails? Is there a recording? regards

Thank you. Can use your technique on acoustic guitar ?

Do you find it hard to do quick runs or play tremolo ?

Your video looks like a Rembrandt Painting.

which strings do u use?

Supposedly Joni Mitchell uses unusual tunings and no one is complaining about the results.

Interestingly different. I do like the tone you're getting from that technique. I'm guessing it's mainly based on Fernando Sor's style as spoken of in his method. Is that correct? In your opinion did Sor play rest strokes or strictly free stroke? All the best

Sound level is too low. My volume is turned all the way up and I can barely hear this.

As a p.s. to my previous comment, Rob, do you offer personal online lessons? I'm a long way from Edinburgh. Alas. Edinburgh is, truly, my favorite city in the world.

zzzzzzz...I´m tired