A fun and in-depth 10 day course designed to teach
classical guitarists the beautiful and under-used technique of playing without nails.
10 Modules-50 Videos-PDF Downloads -Quizzes
WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?
GOOD TONE
"Round and Warm" is the mantra of this course. Without nails, one can produce a much darker and more mellow sound than with nails.
NO NAIL REPERTOIRE
Learn dozens of new pieces composed by players who didn't use nails such as Sor, Carcassi, Tárrega and more.
CUTTING OFF YOUR NAILS
Learn how to do it the right way and with the right length.Avoid the mistakes I made when I first tried.
HOW TO PLAY FAST
Speed comes from the fingers, not the nails. Brandon will teach you how to play lightning fast without nails.
THE HISTORY
Learn the fascinating history of no-nail guitar playing. A technique used since guitars were invented by countless greats.
TREMOLO WITHOUT NAILS
Learn the famous Recuerdos de la Alhambra without nails as a finale to the course.
Meet Your Instructor
Brandon Acker is a professional classical guitarist who has performed both with and without nails. He has toured in several countries, taught hundreds of students in person and many thousands online, founded an online music school, holds two degrees in classical guitar performance, and has over 531,000 subscribers on YouTube. His performance and educational videos have been seen over 50 million times making him one of the most-watched classical guitarists on the internet.
DEBUNKING THE MYTHS
Here is a clip taken directly from Day 1
STUDENT TESTIMONIAL
TREMOLO WITHOUT NAILS
I recorded the famous Recuerdos de la Alhambra without nails on gut strings and a Torres replica guitar to prove it can be done. The sound is different than with nails. More mellow and brushy but beautiful!
MY BEGINNER GUITAR COURSE
This no-nail course is supplementary and does not replace a full classical guitar curriculum/method for beginners.
If you would like a full beginner course that takes you from knowing nothing all the way to your first recital (roughly 6 months to a year of normal weekly lessons) I'd invite you to take my full 53-video, 6-hour course Classical Guitar Pro. If you enroll in either course, you will get a discount on the other.
COURSE CURRICULUM
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Don't real guitarists use nails?
No. Guitarists have played with and without nails for at least 400 years. It is a very modern phenomenon that nails are used by the majority of players but it is mostly due to ignorance of the technique that it is not used. With courses like this one, I hope to change that.
Won't I sound too quiet without nails?
No. The volume difference once a good no-nail technique is acquired is marginal. I've played in duo with other players and the audience had no idea one of us played with nails and others didn't. I've also played with orchestras and singers both with and without nails and no one even once noticed whether I was using nail or not.
I'm a complete beginner, is this course right for me?
If you have no experience reading music or playing classical guitar, I'd recommend first taking my full beginner guitar course Classical Guitar Pro. That will teach you everything you need to know to play your first recital. Then, this course would be the perfect follow-up if you'd like to learn the no-nails technique.
However, if you can read music and have a basic understanding of the classical guitar, you will find No Nail Guitar in 10 Days completely doable. There will be certain pieces at the end which might take you more time before you can play but the majority of the course is accessible for an upper beginner.
Will I have to cut my nails off to take this course?
Absolutely. One cannot learn this technique without doing so but fear not because if you hate it you can simply grow your nails back in a few weeks :) Whether or not you return to nail playing, you will have learned something.
I'm more interested in one-on-one lessons. Do you offer those?
Weekly one-on-one lessons with a private teacher is one of the fastest ways to learn. I have an online music school called Arpeggiato where you can take weekly lessons with one of my expert teachers! You'll even get a 20% discount when you buy this course.
What if I do not like the course? What is your refund policy?
I offer a 14-day return policy if you can write to me with a good reason for wanting a refund. This course will indeed teach you what you need to know to play classical guitar without nails. More than that, you will learn good technique, new pieces, the art of interpretation, tremolo, and get access to countless exercises, sheet music, PDFs and a private Facebook group. Having said all that, I'm confident you'll get your money's worth.
