Nigel North: A Lute Legend

Brandon Acker interviews lutenist Nigel North about his career, his approach to lute playing and his advice to guitar players today. www.nigelnorth.com/
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Timestamps:
0:00 Introducing Nigel North
1:50 Nigel's origin story
4:43 Can you use nails on the lute?
11:40 Single-strung archlutes
14:28 Gut strings
20:24 No nail myths
21:34 Playing loud without nails
26:12 Playing fast without nails
28:55 Timbral change without nails
32:37 Cross-string trills
33:44 What guitarists need to know about the lute
39:44 The problem with modern guitars
42:20 Sharing information online
44:00 Renaissance lute music on guitar
47:53 Hand positions on the lute
49:46 Rest strokes
50:08 Bad habits
52:39 Nigel's one wish
54:07 Advice to guitarists
55:53 How to start playing lute
1:01:43 Problems in the lute world
1:05:03 Pinky on the soundboard
1:08:55 Parting thoughts
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#guitar #brandonacker #classicalguitar

[@brandonacker]

Learn to play classical guitar without fingernails in just 10 days with Brandon Acker 🎸 classicalguitar-pro.com/p/no-nails-in-10-days

[@user-fx8yd3nd9j]

The old master is so much humble and kind . That is the first thing we need to learn.

[@oreally8605]

Amen.

[@musiqtee]

Also ‘amen’, with the simple caveat - Being humble and kind is about being, thereafter doing…? Meaning that maybe the ‘learning’ bit is a little too reductively incomprehensible, whereas acceptance and presence are states of _being_ more than goals of _doing_ …? ♾️

[@ephraimluwemba1392]

Did anybody else notice Nigel’s slip: “[16th Century music is] such a good education for learning how counterpoint and polyphony works. Yeah, excellent. I could do that for _another_ 200 years”. Brandon is not alone 😉.

[@antonc81]

Confirmed… all lute players are vampires.

[@bbowjazz]

I could listen to renaissance vocal music for the next 200 years!

[@JoelAdamson]

I think he's saying he could spend the next 200 years reading tablature.

[@paddymeboy]

I think it's what's known as a figure of speech. Are lute players usually this literal-minded...?

[@garysimkins2179]

Once again I must say, Thankyou. Nigel gives up so much information and at the same time, simple logic. Such a great interview. Indeed a Legend in the world of Early Music. You never cease to impress me Brandon.

[@kevchard5214]

I think every serious or intermediate musician knows the legend Nigel North. His playing introduced me to the beauty of classical music. Brandon you have reached the gods level of players on this interview. Thanks for sharing this!!!!

[@sadicus]

~ Good Interview. Mr Brandon "I use to be in a METAL band" Acker

[@lucamassenziopalermo3140]

I met Nigel in two meetings of the Lute Society of England, in Cheltenham, where I had the privileg to have classes with him, and I agree absolutely every single word in this video. Nigel is absolutely a legend, both as player and teacher.

[@oreally8605]

Two geniuses in their own right. An older Jedi master, and a younger Jedi ( dressed in black ) keeping history and keeping the legendary lute alive..

[@callenclarke371]

Fantastic interview. I will rewatch this several times. Nigel North is my favorite performing artist on the lute, but musicality doesn't always translate into an interesting interview. I don't think I've ever heard an expert on a subject express himself with this quality of deft expertise, definite but not dogmatic, authoritative without being overbearing, and so many great questions and exchanges from the host Brandon Acker, who isn't afraid to push back and press for more. Really a fantastic exchange. I think this footage will be studied and reviewed for decades to come. Well done and a big thank you to both Brandon Acker and Nigel North.

[@cmosheh]

Excellent conversation / interview with the fabulous Nigel North. Thank you!

[@eduardpalatin2066]

Such a delightful and informative conversation! Thank you for sharing it with all of us!

[@tompommerel2136]

A wonderfully deferential interview while seminal questions and answers are generously and candidly given that benefit all of us interested in lutes, guitars, harpsichords and notions of 'authenticity' within early music. Thanks Brandon Acker & Nigel North.

[@nurembergcode6148]

Thanks Brandon. I went to a one week lute and guitar seminar at Humboldt back in the early 1990's and played for both Nigel and Paul O'dette. It was fun and inspiring to hang out with them and talk shoppe.

[@tomllewellyn4189]

I played classical guitar for around 10 years and one of my first teachers encouraged me to listen to Nigel North. Having a great love for the Lute repertoire after years I finally plucked up the courage to begin learning the renaissance lute. It takes some time to get used to the thumb inside technique but once it gets going and begins to feel natural it works like a dream. Great interview with the Maestro.

[@4hodmt]

37:15 Interesting point that historically there was more acceptance of varied timbre throughout the range of the instrument. I think it's true with wind instruments too. Compare a recorder (probably the most widely played early music instrument) with a modern concert flute. Forked fingerings and register changes on the recorder produce a very distinctive sound, but the keywork on the concert flute allows for transposing without dramatically changing the sound. I wonder if this is a consequence of the popularity of equal temperament tuning; perhaps the possibility of free transposition encouraged the attitude that instruments should support it. I think the more historical solution is just building more sizes of instruments, e.g. recorders were common in more sizes than just the modern standard C and F instruments.

[@chandraiyer1710]

I wish there was an Indian classical version of Brandon Acker

[@richorman1422]

Probably the best hour of lute related content in the history of the world. I am not exaggerating. Thank you!

[@multistring]

Great interview, Brandon. Truly revealing! My big take-aways are: always try to play “musically” (which shouldn’t be easy) but it helps to be informed (a journey well worth pursuing), one can intuitively learn from their instrument and cross-trilling can be done tastefully. Written trills? - ahhh! As a long time guitarist and now baroque lute player since 2009, everything you covered is so relevant and worth discussion which when I was starting there was very little in the way of readily available resources. So, thanks for your presence in YT. I agree with Nigel’s point about trying to avoid taking back steps in our quest for mastery. I also agree that lute tablature is so beautiful and easy to read which got me up and running faster than expected. The Method for Baroque Lute by Miguel Sedoura at Lute Doré still comes in handy from time to time and reading from an original or facsimile of an original score is quite a trill. You two sure ran the gamut which led right up to future discussions around a big topic - lute maintenance. Never boring. It was talked about a bit in the string chat regarding the trouble with humidity fluctuations but I think it’s important to also reveal just how much work goes into managing having a lute where everything is awesome until it’s not. Without access to a personal lute tech you have to be a bit more resourceful than say, a classical guitarist. I just finished changing out frets myself. You don’t do this frequently so for me it always seems it’s the first time. It requires time, materials, knowledge and a dash of intuition but again the result is worth it. It sounds like work but I see it as a labor of love. As string changes can also be relatively infrequent (ex. how often do lutenists change out an entire set?) I feel I’d be better informed to know about some common string changing strategies. It seems simple but with all the tension and overlapping… is there a practice that allows for single string accessibility while maintaining maximum parallel draw between peg and nut for each string in the pegbox?

[@agoogilyshnog]

Thanks for doing this. I hope to see more discussions like it because they’re extremely valuable for amateurs like myself

[@johnwestcott5606]

Thank you for the wonderful interview, Brandon! Fascinating! And I don’t play lute, though I would love to!

[@KindanThe1st]

I just bought a lute. I’m psyched. I’m gonna be a bard, a real life bard.

[@WashingtonJohnson]

I really love this interview ❤ I’ve never heard of Mr. North , but of course Julian Bream . I liked the fact that Nigel mentioned that at a workshop a banjo player player baroque. I met a mandolin player way back when, named Alfie , in California who not only was an amazing mandolin player who could play German folk songs and in the language, but he could play everything else in between. Thank Brandon for sharing this ❤

[@bunsyn]

I'd like to see an interview with Lucas Brar! He's also a fairly large guitar KZbin channel who's classically trained but transferred to jazz guitaring. His renditions of a jazzed up Capricho Arabe, and other songs, are absolutely outstanding and I'd love to see you two just chitchat about things I'll never comprehend.

[@tobie.5533]

I saw Nigel North twelve zears ago in Bremen. It was astonishing. He is so inspirational

[@Neueregel]

John Dowland would love this video !!

[@applegrovebard]

A really enjoyable interview. Thank you. I find the 'intimate' aesthetic of the lute fascinating and appealing. The idea that it's ok for an instrument to be relatively quiet, that then you are invited to come closer, drawn into a more intimate exchange of player and listener , music as a conversational speaking voice...

[@zaydmosh]

Wonderful interview, Brandon. Nigel is an amazingly sensitive player and teacher. As he said repeatedly, the main thing is to make music. To allow the instrument to speak. Corollary - don't let your ego intrude between the instrument and the music. Nigel reminds me very much of Eugen Dombois, who taught (at the Schola Cantorum in Basil) seemingly the entire generation of today's leading lutenists.

[@jeffreythaw3333]

Nigel North is amazing!

[@heidi7029]

Thank you!💕

[@ironmantran]

Your videos are getting better by the day ! . . . Great interview ! North is my eternal lute player.

[@promisespleases]

Such a great interview!!! Thank you, very informative.

[@yavor_lute]

Thanks for this wonderful interview! It is a pleasure!

[@hafid371]

Great interview , very informative ! Thank you very much 🙏

[@Cyrus_Jan]

Your voice makes me so calm ❤

[@resipsaloquitur13]

Wonderfull interview.

[@Roberto_MR]

Been listening to Nigel North for many years. So great that you got this interview !! thanks a lot. Greetings from Chile

[@edwardfosterart3848]

Great interview. Thank you Brandon. Great to hear the wise and open minded words of Nigel. His Dowland cds really got me into lute in a big way. I started as a classical guitarist. I performed concerts and created two albums. Then I fell in love with the Renaissance lute. I played with nails and classical guitar right hand at first. Then I cut my nails and worked hard on the thumb under technique. Now I am performing the lute in concerts. I say all this as it is quite a big thing for guitarists to change technique and instruments. They are similar in some ways, but after a while you realise they are completely different beasts. I love the variety of sounds that the lute makes, and it is such a sensitive and beautiful instrument to play. I think it is harder to play the Renaissance lute than the classical in the sense of touch and feel. The classical is still a stunning instrument, but my heart is now taken by the lute. I interviewed the maker of my Renaissance lutes in this video, and we discussed how a 6 course lute is constructed, and its history. This is it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHqQeK1siLSoiqssi=_BJGbNP6Sbk29ODr

[@applegrovebard]

Brandon- I would enjoy a video essay (if you haven't already done one) on the early lute- the evolution from a medieval oud-like instrument to the lute proper, from unfretted to fretted, and then the transition as music became more contrapuntal and harmonic from plectrum to fingers.

[@seemingmusic]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5uuZXqMh5Z4macsi=1laY-uHomvzU4_jG This might cover some of it!

[@externalreflection3147]

Hi, brandon... I really love your work... can you please play la catedral barrios i would love to hear it from you 💖

[@maHaTma86]

Did you hear about Peter Blanchette? In case you havent i would recommend you and everyone else to watch his "Si bheag, si mhor rendition" on youtube. I feel like you two would be a perfect fit for a collab for a broadcast or for some music even if he plays a archguitar. Thanks for the steady inspiration i learned so many things already from you :)

[@WashingtonJohnson]

Thanks!

[@brandonacker]

Very kind thank you!

[@WashingtonJohnson]

Back when first leaned guitar I had heard of the great Julian Bream . I’ve always loved string instruments and particularly want to learn kora , the original guitar from Africa. I have two friends out there in world who perform jazz music with traditional African instruments for a public radio station another was hosting back in 1980 ! Anyway I’ve always tried playing with a pick , without a pick liked many players. Jeff Beck , the great Jeff Beck , made a decision to give using a pick , no nails in his picking style. He just developed his own and no one can copy it ! That is what you call a unicorn 🦄 and a maestro . I enjoyed every bit this interview . I’ll probably watch it again because discovered it when first woke .

[@headbandbybrianlundeen3132]

This is a nice introduction to Lute for me as a guitarist.

[@user-qm7nw7vd5s]

I freed myself from nails (except for maintaining a modest thumb nail), several months ago. Love the sound, never going back…

[@giulianoforti542]

Hey Brandon, thatnk you so much for all the work you put into this channel. I've been watching your videos for some time now, and I was inspired to look into actually playing the lute myself. I was wondering if you could recommend an entry level lute for beginners, or even better if you could consider making a video about the different price ranges of lutes (like the ones you made with Mr. Bernè about guitars). Thank you so much, keep up the great work

[@brandonacker]

Thank you! Its a hard question because there aren't good cheap beginner lutes like there are for guitars. Often what people do is get something cheap (around 800usd) by the early music shop, thomann, or Roosebeck. They aren't good instruments but its ok to start to see if you want to continue. They quickly outgrow them. Id recommend following the lute society of America used lute page and trying to get a good instrument but at a user price around 2k if you can manage that. You'll be so much happier with the comfort and sound. Or start with the cheap ones and maybe one day treat yourself. Warmly, Brandon

[@chrisforbes]

Another another lute playing legend: Alan-A-Dale👍🏻👍🏻

[@quantum_thermodynamics_UMBC]

Hi Brandon, I really appreciate your educational content and I have learned a lot from you about the ancestors of my classical guitar. Recently, I have been contemplating to get myself a lute guitar aka German lute. I may have missed it, but I don't think I have seen any content covering this instrument. So, naturally I have been wondering whether you have any thoughts on this "in-between" guitar.

[@brandonacker]

I'm happy to hear you like it :) I don't know much about those but have seen them. They seem like lute shaped guitars so I don't see the appeal myself but if you are charmed by them, go for it!

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

I can’t believe Brandon 0-3-5’d with Nigel North rofl. Absolute legend.

[@johnfrewin7717]

Here’s an analogy for you - the Decathlete / Heptathlete can be a gold medalist whose skill and technique is outstanding across a number of disciplines, and yet their sprint time may be tenths of a second slower than the specialist.....fortunately musicians have time to taste different specialisms - thanks both for your work👍

[@paulembleton1733]

Added some extra perspectives for this six string strummer.

[@zappafile123]

I play classical guitar and baroque lute. The compromise I've landed at is very short nails - just long enough to give you an interface for classical guitar, short enough to allow for a predominantly flesh-based attack when you rotate your hand to play lute. Nigel is right, however, if you want to be a master, pick one, and don't play the other. That said, I do find keeping up some classical guitar practice is particularly good for left hand fitness for baroque lute playing as the left hand reqs for baroque lute aren't nearly as demanding. Because left hand baroque lute is less demanding, it can lead to loss of dexterity over time which makes parts feel harder than they need to be.

[@dw7704]

The name sounds familiar, I have almost certainly heard him playing, while I don’t listen to a lot of lute, I do sometimes I think I will be intentional and seek out some of his stuff

[@user-em4rc2ku5e]

You should learn the concertina

[@nadim4343]

There were no standard tuning or technique in these days. I am sure that you would find very different ways of playing.

[@SufyMusic]

I think I prefer you as a guitarist, but the Lute player is definitely a novelty that is different. I love your videos on expensive guitar, they really do make a difference to my own playing when I use my more expensive guitar.

[@rainerbernhardt6193]

Fernando Sor had no nails and also liked the different sound of different fingers. Definitely You can play Guitar without nails or short nails and make use of heavy/fleshy fingers to contrast the sound of skinny/light fingers. Emilio Pujol played guitar with nails for decades before he converted to play without. Narcisio Yepes was a flesh player from the start due to brittle fingernails. Dionisio Aguado, although being a convinced nail player, cut his thumb nail after hearing Fernando Sor play - he loved the warm sound Sor could produce. Long story short, try out and do what You like more. The idea of equality arrived with french revolution. So music before needs to be approached different then music that was written afterwards.

[@wintyrqueen]

If there are records of people saying “don’t use nails”, then you can conclude that people were using their nails, otherwise no one would be taking the time to correct people not to. But the real question is why aren’t people playing with feather quills?

[@musiqtee]

Oh, philosophy…; The younger player speaks about the moment, details and possibilities - The older player speaks of time passing, context and limitations. Both are valid, and coincidentally exist in unquantifiable relations. 💛

[@paddymeboy]

It's quite inspiring actually, this idea of music being like singing or speech. And actually, shouldn't that be the norm for all music?

[@BradHoytMusic]

After a very politely asked question by Brandon, the Maestro's very considered and expert reply: "Total bullshit" Nice. :)

[@brandonacker]

Definitely my favorite moment from the interview haha

[@euledj79]

playing baroque lute with nails is absolutely impossible for me. Even when I forget to file the cornea of my fingertips for 2 days the tone gets too sharp and I loose control. I always cut my nails as short as possible and file down the cornea. The fingertips must be as smooth as possible to get the proper baroque lute tone and control as well. Unfortunately I had to quit with classical and flamenco guitar cause you simply cannot get a proper tone without nails. Even if I use low tension gut strings, the tension is still too high to play a nice tremolo.

[@applegrovebard]

The strange inverse snobberries of guitar and lute. A guitarist reading Bach from tab (as I do) would be utterly disdained, but a lutenist reading tab is a mark of true culture. A guitarist despising tab, then moving to lute and gushing like a convert over how easy to learn and easy to read was tablature. edit... Re-reading the above it might come across as pointing a finger at Brandon. I didn't intend that at all. I was thinking of the general prejudice of modern guitarists regarding tablature.

[@donaldcatton4028]

Fab people…

[@Nuno.A]

Try a Portuguese Guitar, with what we call "nails" , a bit more modern instrument but with old roots and it's very own character.

[@agipalinay5859]

I Brandon, I am a Huge fan I listen to you on youtube a lot. Anyway I have a couple observations. First I noticed that your right hand is so much more relaxed that many other lutenists who seem to have their hand kind of bunched up. Yours lay almost flat and easy on the strings which in turn provides a much gentler melody then the once that seem to pluck with hands bunched up and somehow it is not as fluent as yours. It sounds too sharp to me for the kind of music it suppose to be. As in yours it is fluent and easy and natural. I also observed, The longer necked lutes sound so much better to me than the short necked once do. You familiar with the John Dowland / Sting interpretation with Lutanist Karamazov? He is playing a real short neck lute in my ear the plucking is so much harder and sharper, I find it not appropriate for music like Joh Dowland and that era and style. I think if I had to choose among the plucked instrument not including the violin - viola - harp family. My first choice is the Theorbo than the Arch Lute ( they are almost equal). I also adore the Viola da Gamba. I loved the videos you did of the music of Marin Maraes with you and the viola de gamba player he is a wonderful (actually the instrument he played looked more like a Cello, I think the true Viola da Gambas are smaller and more compact - like what Jordy Savall plays). You should do another one of the music of Sainte Colombe with him. ( Specially since Sainte Colombe was Marin Maraes tutor). 1. My next huge question is are you going to have a concert anytime maybe in the near future in the Chicago area. I would so much like to go and see you in a live concert!!!! 2. Now a question about the lute. Why is the last string or two strings on the bottom (the higher notes) are single strings and not double like the rest? By the way the sound of the arch lute is soooooooo amazing but even on that the last string is single. 3. What is your feeling about Dissonant sounding music? I personally don't like it so much so that some of it makes me cringe. It sound like it is off key even if it is intentional. However even early composers sometime do some dissonant sounding accords in their music. There was a Visee you played in one of your videos that had a real strange accord. Even Bach had a couple times experimented with such accords. For example Stravinsky's music I have a real hard time with. Perhaps the Firebird is the only exception. There was a Japanese keyboardist named Tomita that did a record called Planets, that had the most amazing interpretation of the Firebird and several other post modern pieces. 4. Since you played Rock as well, what was your favorite bands? What you think who are some of the best Guitarists from that late sixties to early eighties era. I love alternative or Fusion rock / Jazz Rock. So My favorites are such as Jan Akkerman from Focus, Santana, Zappa, David Gilmore, Brian May, of course Jimmy Page and Hendrix included but Eric Clapton( who is always mentioned as the best) I am not that sure about. I don't think he is on the same level as the others, this is just a few of course. But I always loved bands like Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Focus, Jethro Tull, Steely Dan, Oregon, Wether Report, Camel.... Anyway I know it is a long email I appologize, but since I can not have a conversation with you about all this in person I thought maybe you can reply. Thank you for years of many hours of magical music and enjoyment you gave me. Cheers, Agi from Princeton, IL

[@brandonacker]

Hi Agi, I perform 20-30 concerts a year in Chicago with groups like Haymarket Opera Company, the Newberry Consort, Music of the Baroque and most other early groups in Chicago. So you can come see me and ask questions then :) There are too many questions to answer in detail but I appreciate the nice things you said. Dissonance can be beautiful but I'm not a fan of atonal music. The chanterelle is always single on lutes and for Baroque lute it has two single strings. As to why, maybe because the difficulty of getting two gut strings that thin to sound well together. My favorite rock band is Metallica. Hopefully we'll meet someday after a concert. B

[@agipalinay5859]

THANK YOU FOR REPLYING TO ME. @@brandonacker

[@ultro6904]

33

[@sadicus]

The new Tesla LUTE-BOT 'Bach-timus' say ALL NOTES ARE SAME VOLUME AT ALL TIMES SUBLTY IS NOT AN OPTION...beep boop

[@resipsaloquitur13]

Fine line between respecting the past and pure snottyness. Dont be snotty.

[@resipsaloquitur13]

Re: Nails Not a deal breaker. The end.

[@wbwillie]

lemme guess, the banjo player playing Bach was Bela Fleck... LOL

[@euledj79]

your conclusion is so important: The main thing is to make music...and create the sound you like. Don't listen to purists telling you to fix the pinky near the bridge only cause they've seen it on a 16th century painting. All the beauty of a lute happens near or above the rose😊

[@brandonacker]

I would argue that with very low tension gut strings (what they probably used) playing by the bridge, as it seems they did, is indeed beautiful. It's not purist when the historical evidence is robust. I think the modern aversion to playing on the bridge has to do with our modern aesthetic as well as plastic strings which sound terrible on the bridge.

[@euledj79]

playing at the bridge makes much sense in ensemble/orchestra to cut through the sound of the louder instruments but for solo double string playing it is a pity to be fixed at the bridge most of the time. However there are some players like Richard Stone who provide good results playing at the bridge most of the time. I still prefer Nigel North's or Evangelina Mascardi's "round" tone close to the rose. Thank you for this great interview and making lute music more popular!

[@euledj79]

​@@brandonacker I only have experience with Aquila new/nylgut and cd-strings. Would there be a much more different sound using gut? I thought nylgut-strings shall imitate gut-string charactristics. Thanks for your advice!

[@brandonacker]

You're welcome 😊 🙏 Yes, that's my point. It sounds bad with modern synthetic strings but when you put on lute tension gut, it sounds beautiful. I love the warm sound too but the evidence suggests they might have had a different taste back then and a preference for brightness. In the end, of course we need to just make music and enjoy it

[@applegrovebard]

A perhaps somewhat interesting topic: Bach on the Renaissance lute. I was trying some Bach piece on my 7 course Renaissance lute and I thought I'd look on YT for some inspiration. After all, the great majority of musicians who have a lute have a RN rather than baroque lute. And most people who play lute probably love Bach. But on YT I found virtually nothing. Bach is played withdedication and passion, without apology on classical guitar which is just as anachronistic for Bach as RN lute (which is also tuned similarly). Also perhaps nothing (?) of Bach was actually composed for baroque lute. Does Bach not work on RN lute? It's amost as if there's a self-imposed prohibition, that people fear appearing to be historically ill-informed, that it's the wrong sort of anachronism. It's not that I expect pro performers to play Bach on RN lute, just more amateurs...

[@anthonyrich1592]

Hmm, "lute tablature is easy!" While avoiding mention of German tablature. :)

[@LeeiFJaw]

I cut my fingernail last September, and tried to rest my pinky. I probaby will never play with my fingernail again.

[@paddymeboy]

Weird to hear him saying cayp-oh rather than the English (ie correct) pronunciation, cap-oh. Just being polite I guess.

[@paddymeboy]

I don't think you can draw reliable conclusions about music from illustrations. Artists, then as now, generally had no idea how instruments are played and were not close observers of technique. I've seen pictures of harps drawn with curved strings, because the harp itself is curved.

[@brandonacker]

But when you see hundreds of paintings in the 17th century that show playing on the bridge and then the pinky wear marks on surviving lutes are at the bridge, this I think we can call good evidence.

[@paddymeboy]

@@brandonacker Well, marks on the instruments are evidence, sure. But I don't think even a large number of pictures is in itself conclusive. You know how things, especially then, tended to be pictured in quite a stereotyped way: if one does it, they will all do it. I'm not saying it's wrong - just saying it isn't compelling. As you said, what a difference it would make if we could actually hear - and see - one of these old masters playing, even for one minute.

[@IRSA1]

Very instructive, thank you. Could I possibly mention that I feel that you would be well advised to seek medical investigation to establish why you seem to struggle to breathe properly through your nose. Sorry for the intrusion, but it is rather striking.

[@brandonacker]

I had a terrible cold when filming.

[@IRSA1]

@@brandonacker Glad to hear it ! Hope you are fully recovered now, all the best !

[@DoctorMandible]

So much talk of nails. As a steel string folk guitarist, I'm left wondering if nobody there has heard of finger picks. Removable nails

[@brandonacker]

I wish they worked. Finger picks cannot replace real nails because they lack the sensitivity, control, and stability of real nails.

[@nickpearsonuk]

Having tried so many fingerpicks on both classical and steel-string guitars when my nails have been damaged, none sound anything like natural nail. Just about acceptable with steel strings but nail still sounds much nicer to me. For classical it’s a non-starter.

[@brandonacker]

Actually it's completely valid and historical to play classical guitar without nails. I have a course and many videos on the topic it you'd like to learn more :)

[@DoctorMandible]

​@@brandonacker Ah, interesting. Many bluegrass players seem to have superb control, stability, etc with finger picks. I wonder what the difference is

[@brandonacker]

Low tension nylon strings vs very high tension steel strings.

[@YouTubeHandlesAreMoronic]

Totally agree about operatic singing. It's just a weird, unnatural, and deliberately affected style. Hate it.

[@sadicus]

Try playing Master of Puppets Ʌ V Ʌ V and see what happens. You might get kicked out of your own METAL band. James Hetfield is a 'BAD' guitarist. bad = good in this modern Inversion world. ~ Remember: Be Better than Bad, Be Good.

[@brandonacker]

That is a different story. They are intentionally going for evenness of sound for a primal effect by ignoring the normal strong/weak of playing.