Meet Mitch, who among other things, loves music.
He’s been a guitarist most of his life. He first began playing at age 8, but when he was 13 something happened which would change the course of his musical journey forever. His grandmother took him to see the legendary Andres Segovia perform in concert. After that, Mitch knew exactly what he wanted to play: classical guitar.
Any classical guitarist can tell you from experience that busting up your fingernails is no fun. It’s usually not until the next day’s performance when the tenderness and soreness really takes effect. Not only is maintaining your nails good for your overall hygiene, it is essential for playing fingerstyle guitar.
Here’s a brief overview to help you keep your fingernails in great condition for playing classical guitar, as well as a few suggestions on how to protect them from harm.
Do you fingers ever cramp up or hurt while playing guitar? You're not alone, especially if you play classical guitar.
For many guitarists, avoiding finger cramps is a way of life. For classical players, the very nature of the instrument puts you at risk. Proper form requires extending your left hand fingers to their limits and rapidly plucking with your right hand. After awhile it can start to hurt a lot if you're not careful!
Here's some tools to help you minimize and hopefully avoid getting finger cramps as you're practicing all those classical guitar Sor studies in the curriculum here. If you take some time to incorporate these into your practice routine, it should help to at least alleviate the temporary pain and also it can prevent more serious injuries down the road.
Jason Vieaux aptly describes vibrato as a classical guitarist to make the guitar sing. It's a key component of adding a lyrical element to a piece of music, so let's discuss some different ways to improve your technique. Soon your vibrato will have your guitar singing like a star.