Most guitarists make this choice intuitively, and will vary and adjust strokes while playing. Note: The following discussion presents points that may differ from guitarist to guitarist. In any case the angle of the right hand's fingers (when outstretched) to the strings is not varied greatly. The above discussion was mainly focused on the angle as a dependency on the speed of plucking. Even more important is the dependency of the angle on the tone. As usual there is always some sort of trade-off involved and the ultimate details depend on each individual guitarist separately, as well as the players fingers/nails. On the other hand, tremolo (etc.) should not be exclusively practiced with "speed-stroke", but also at slower speeds with a normal "stroke with preparation": to assist the guitarist in improving an intrinsic feeling for the location of the strings. There is a lot of freedom in the positioning of the right hand, which affects the angle at which the fingers will attack the string. Guitarists spend a lot of time finding their own individual positions (as there can be more than one) that allow the fingers/nails to pluck the strings with  Hand position is also influenced by the arm:  The hand can be varied in the following ways:  Modern practice generally makes use of the nails of the right hand in combination with the flesh of the fingertips in order to pluck the strings. During the 19th century many influential guitarists such as Fernando Sor, Francisco Tárrega and his pupil Emilio Pujol played using the flesh of the fingertip, in common with lute technique. This was more easily done with gut strings due to the surface texture, but became more difficult with the introduction of nylon strings where the surface was smooth. Plucking the strings usually involves making contact first with the fleshy part of the fingertip, the tip of the nail and then letting the string glide smoothly along the curvature of the fingernail until the string is released at the fingernail's tip. Generally the tip of the nail should be shaped so that it doesn't 'hook' on the string, but provides a reinforcing tone and clarity of articulation to the flesh. As the majority of modern players follow the practices of angling the stroke of the finger - it may be considered that the left tip of the nail (viewed from above palm down) can be shaped and tapered to facilitate the release of the string after plucking. This involves filing the nail so that it presents a profile where the curve of the tip almost joins the finger smoothly on the left, and increases away from the finger to the right.