Fingertip Texture

If there’s one thing I can’t emphasise enough about no-nail playing, it’s that there is no one way to do it. This is evident when it comes to the texture of the fingertip. It’s a spectrum: at one end there’s Rob MacKillop, whose velvety sound is partly achieved by the complete avoidance of callus; at the other end there’s Juan Mercadal, for example, who apparently had calluses and was an exceptionally dynamic player.

I should clarify that although the fingertip may become firmer, it will still be fleshy. It should not become rock-hard or develop a rough surface, as this is likely to produce a bad sound — it should not have a callus akin to those on your left hand. You should follow Rob MacKillop’s advice and use moisturiser to help keep your fingertips ‘soft and smooth’.¹ (If you have any problems with blistering etc., read my post about caring for you fingertips.)

The texture of the fingertip is not explicitly mentioned in most historic accounts of playing without nails, but I think we can reasonably infer from Emilio Pujol‘s comments that his technique (and presumably Tárrega‘s and others’) involved a change in the fingertip texture:

‘It was … necessary that the fingertip be hardened through constant practice so that without the hardness of the nail, it would pluck the string with just the right softness needed to produce a full, strong and vibrant sound.’²

‘When playing without nails, they should be filed down right to the limited of their free part. With assiduous practice in striking the strings, the necessary consistency will eventually be achieved in the flesh of the fingers, so that without reducing their sensitivity, the strings can be struck with greater ease and exactitude.’³

Pujol and others of the Tárrega school placed emphasis on fullness of sound, as demonstrated by the central role of apoyando in their technique. Moreover, judging by the string measurements in Pujol’s method, high tension strings were commonly used. I would suggest this is conducive to a firmer fingertip texture, even a slight callousing. Indeed, I have come across some other twentieth-century references about learning no-nails technique that also suggest this.

(I’ve not yet come across references about this subject among nineteenth-century no-nail guitarists, so I’ll refrain from speculating — for now!)

In my own experience, the skin is definitely firmer yet still fleshy, and the texture less soft yet still smooth. You might even call it ‘mild’ callousing. Most no-nail players I’ve spoken to have experienced this to some degree — though not all.

1. https://rmclassicalguitar.com/technique/ ↩︎
2. Emilio Pujol, El dilema del sonido en la guitarra (Ricordi Americana, 1960), pp. 56-57. ↩︎
3. Emilio Pujol, Guitar School, ed. Matanya Orphe, trans. Brian Jeffery (Editions Orphee, 1983), p. 51. ↩︎