This is a list of musicians who have played, or currently play, any member of the classical guitar family without nails.
There are far more historic no-nail players than on this list. Even though there is usually no evidence to confirm whether a guitarist played with or without nails, there are still a great many confirmed examples of no-nail players, especially during the nineteenth century, when most guitarists likely played without nails. Therefore, I’ve decided to limit the list of historic players to the more notable and interesting. The contemporary list, however, will include every player I can find. I will try to remember to update the list as I discover more.
Regarding contemporary players, some are converts to no-nails, so in their older recordings they may be playing with nails. And some others even manage to switch back and forth between the two! I have added footnotes for these players. A number are lutenists who, in addition, play the guitar (the lute is generally played without nails).
If you have further information, please do leave a comment or send me an email.
Historic
Miguel de Fuenllana (c. 1500-1579)
Barthélemy Trille Labarre (1758-1797)
Bartolomeo Bortolazzi (1772-1846)
František Max Kníže (1784-1840)
Carl Blum (1786-1844)1
Matteo Carcassi (1792-1853)
Aubéry du Boulley (1796-1870)
Zani de Ferranti (1801-1878)
Justin Holland (1819-1887)
Catharina Josepha Pratten (1821-1895)
Charles James Dorn (1839-1909)
William Foden (1860-1947)
Alfred Cottin (1863-1923)
Ernest Shand (1868-1924)
Estanislao Marco (1873 – 1954)
Cornelius Daniel Schettler (1874–1931)
Josef Zuth (1879-1932)
Quintín Esquembre (1885-1965)
Vahdah Olcott-Bickford (1885-1980)
Erwin Schwarz-Reiflingen (1891-1964)
Reginald Smith Brindle (1917-2003)
Federico Orsolino (1918-1993)
John Roberts (1919-1998)
Jose Maria Sierra-Fortuny (1925-1998)
Contemporary
Joan Manuel de Zaldúa (1940-) Video
Phillip de Fremery (1946-) Website
Christopher Page (1952-) Video
Jose Miguel Moreno (1955-) Video
Rob MacKillop (1959-) Website | YouTube
Rolando Saad (1961-)
Mario Carreira (1962-) YouTube
Christopher Wilke (1973-) Website | YouTube
Brandon Acker (1990-)5 Website | YouTube
Steven Watson (1995-) Website | YouTube
Zlatko Josip Grgic (2001-) Website
Sator Alonso Video
Jelma van Amersfoort
Frederic Ben Attar
Pavel Bortnik YouTube
Danilo Delli Carri YouTube
Premek Hajek YouTube
Carmen Jiménez Video
Anna Kowalska YouTube
Karine Marchitto YouTube
Joaquin Panadés Video
Nicola Pignatiello8 Video | YouTube
Daniele Sardone YouTube
Enrica Savigni YouTube
Felix Schlundt YouTube
Thomas Schmitt YouTube
John Schneiderman Website
Taro Takeuchi Website
Adrian Walter9
Ulrich Wedemeier Video
Sandro Volta
- Used thumbnail. ↩︎
- Used thumbnail. ↩︎
- There is a question regarding whether he used nail on two of his fingers after 1965. See his page for more information. ↩︎
- Plays without nails since 2021. ↩︎
- Plays without nails since 2021. Has alternated between no-nail and nail playing since then. ↩︎
- Plays without nails since c. 2021. ↩︎
- Alternates between nail and flesh. ↩︎
- Plays without nails on classical guitar/gut strings (as well as Renaissance lute); plays with nails on classical guitar/nylgut strings (as well as theorbo). ↩︎
- Plays without nails since 2023. ↩︎
- Played without nails on his first two albums with Centaur records. ↩︎
- Alternates between nail ad flesh. ↩︎
No-Nail Guitar 
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