I have a question about right-hand fingering for guitar scales (I am about to take Grade 6, but I think it is relevant to the higher grades). The syllabus states that the candidate should be able to do scales with 'right-hand fingering i.m. and m.a., and any regular combination of i.m.a'. Does this mean that the examiner might pick any regular combination (presumably ima, ami, imam, amim) which I will have to use, or do I have a choice of which to use?

Thanks in advance.

Hi Will

Here's what it says in the syllabus:



So it looks like they will specify right hand fingerings for scales.

The combinations are im, ma, ia or ima. If you don't trip up and finger them as requested, they will probably only pick the fingering for 4 or 5 of the scales and then leave you do your own for the rest. Also be aware that they may, or may not, ask you to alternate fingers for the double stops as well. For example; he may ask for a one octave, double stop scale in octaves. in the key of A major with fingering i,a. You play the lower note with the thumb (p), so the fingering would be pi, pa, pi, pa etc.

Silly question time??

How many classical guitarists use right-hand finger picks, versus growing nails long?!

I would certainly want to try fingerstyle but do not want very short nails on my left hand, and long (ugly?) nails on the right.

Any comments/recommendations? Maybe technology has an answer lying in the music shop?

Richard
Hong Kong

I have had my nails long on the right hand and short on the left hand for a couple of years now, and almost no-one notices. Not to mention how useful those nails can be in various annoying situations.

As for the sound, I like the really clear notes you can get with nails, though to tell you the truth I can't remember what it was like playing without them.

p.s. Thanks guys for the help with the fingerings

I play right handed and I have nails but only P.I.M.A. on my right hand, but I wouldn't say they was long. I do play with the nail, but I try to have the nails not so long that I can contact the string with the flesh without the nail getting in the way or striking anything I don't want and causing extraneous noise. I find having the nails to long, will not necessarily create any problems when playing down by the bridge, but it does cause problems when your playing further up the neck to try to get the dolce. It is very easy while playing there to hit the fret board or the body of the guitar with the nails and then you sound like a skeleton on a tin roof.

I have trouble with my nails (they break easily) but find those right hand picks impossible to play with. I didn't like the way they made me feel oddly distant from the strings. I find once my right hand nails are about 3 or 4 mm long, that's good enough really, so I don't think you need to have nails like the Emperor of China to make it work.

You would have thought technology might have solved this problem by now! Maybe we need some genetically modified fingernails grafting on to solve this problem. Hmmm... there's a thought.

In the meantime, will consider growing some relatively short non-emperor nails. I guess the shorter you can play with, the stronger they must be. Physics.

Does anyone play with 'those right-hand picks' then?

Richard

I saw something on a guitar site (stafford guitar, I think) about silk nails - I wondered about those too...

I have seen someone playing with a glued on acrylic nail because they had broken one. Wouldn't have been so bad, but it was a bloke and it was one of them shiny womens nails