How does Dolly Parton play guitar with such long fingernails?
The country hitmaker shaped her entire guitar style around her trademark talons
Dolly Parton set the guitar world alight when she chose to play a $99 mini electric guitar at her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. But it also revived the eternal question: how does she play guitar with those long fingernails?
Personally, it's been decades since I gave up any thought of having nails that went more than a millimeter past the ends of my fingertips. But Parton manages to coax luscious tones out of her guitars while sporting long – but delicately preened – hand talons.
She's able to play with long nails as she always plays in open tunings and barres every chord, or frets exclusively low-string notes with the open strings. Now, this method limits any advanced chordal coloring, like 7ths or 9ths, but Parton doesn’t care.
You can see Parton's open tunings in action above, as she plays the title track from her 1973 album, My Tennessee Mountain Home, all while sporting her trademark long nails – you can even hear her picking hand talons clacking against the guitar's body.
In another video, Chet Atkins asks her how she plays with long nails. She jokes about how they are a pain to play with, but she just can't part with them. The pair go on to perform a great duet of Black Smoke's a Risin'.
And here’s a clip of Dolly on BBC's The Graham Norton Show talking about how she used her nails as percussion for the song 9 to 5 from the 1980 movie of the same name. No guitars involved, but just pure Dolly ingenuity.
Parton goes on to explain on the show that while her hands are manicured when she takes to the stage, she often tames them a little when she's writing.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
“When I'm serious about my songwriting, I take these off and file 'em down,” she explains. “But I've learned to work them – these [right hand] work great as picks, there's no problem with this hand – but these [left hand] are the ones I have a problem with.
“I've learned to do open tuning, mostly, when I'm writing and stuff. But if I'm really serious about it, I just have to saw 'em down.”
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Laura B. Whitmore is a music industry marketing veteran, music journalist and editor, writing for Parade.com, Guitar World, and others. She has interviewed hundreds of musicians and hosts the She Rocks Podcast. As the founder of the Women’s International Music Network, she advocates for women in the music industry and produces the annual She Rocks Awards. She is the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Positive Grid, making the world safe for guitar exploration everywhere! A guitarist and singer/songwriter, Laura is currently co-writing an album of pop songs that empower and energize girls.
“Tom Morello ended up flying to Seattle and doing the vocals with Layne Staley. Tom came back and was like, ‘He’s in really bad shape. It’s scary’”: Martyn LeNoble on a career spent working with alt rock icons – and the kindness of John Entwistle
“I was a Brian May obsessive. I had the Star Licks video and had learned it all by the time I was 14”: Hooked on “bombastic lead rock guitar” before catching the songwriting bug, Seb Wesson is on a search for songs with meaning