Sidebar 7

Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849) was Spain's most famous guitarist when he went to France to meet and play with Fernando Sor. They differed greatly in technique.

"I could never abide guitarists who play with their fingernails," said Sor.

Yet Aguado thought otherwise: "I prefer to play with the nails because the resulting sound is clear, metallic, and sweet. They enable very fast runs to be executed with great clarity."