Affiliations

Postgraduate Researcher at the International Guitar Research Centre

Member of the Cambridge Cohort of Guitar Research

Current Research Areas:

• The history of playing guitar without fingernails (see nonailguitar.com)
• The life of the eccentric poet-guitarist John Roberts (1919-1995)
• The classic banjo, particularly in England

Papers:

Forthcoming: An Alternative History of Guitar Playing: No-Nail Players in the Twentieth Century [Abstract]
GFA Symposium, Denver, June 2026

Pulp Friction: Discussions and Controversies Surrounding No-Nail Technique [Abstract]
IGRC Conference, Surrey, March 2026

‘The Number of Fools is Infinite!’ The Nail Question in the Nineteenth Century [Abstract]
19th Century Guitar Symposium, Innsbruck, January 2026

An Alternative History of Guitar Playing: No-Nail Players in the Twentieth Century [Abstract]
IGRC Conference, Festival Homenaje, Padua, September 2025

Articles:

Alternating Between Flesh and Nail: Is It Possible? (Soundboard, Vol. 52 No. 1, 2026) — subscribe/buy the issue here

Historical Evidence for Using the Right Hand Little Finger (nonailguitar.com)

---