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Classical guitar

A classical guitar, also called a Spanish guitar, is a musical instrument from the guitar family.

Contents 1 Background information 2 History of the classical guitar 2.1 The Golden Age 2.2 Guitarist-composers of the 20th century 2.3 Composers for the classical guitar 2.4 Modern performers 3 See also 4 External links

Background information

The term classical guitar is a recent one, necessary only with the introduction of guitars with steel strings, electric amplification, and the slightly diverged form of the modern Flamenco guitar which led to a plethora of guitar forms.

The classical guitar is distinguished by a number of features:

• It is an acoustic instrument. The sound is made more audible by a sound box.
• It has six strings. A few classical guitars have eight or more strings to expand the bass scale, even out overtone production, and allow lute music written for lutes with more than six courses of strings to be played.
• The strings are usually made from nylon (formerly catgut, which is made from sheep intestine, despite the name), as opposed to the metal strings found in some other forms of guitar. These strings have a much lower tension than steel strings. The lower three strings ('bass strings') are wound with metal, commonly silver or nickel. Some less common stringings use a fourth wound string.
• Because of the low tension of the strings the neck can be made entirely of wood, not requiring a steel truss rod.
• Also because of the low tension of the strings, the interior bracing of the sound board can be lighter, which allows more complex tonal qualities. The spruce top or sound board of each type has a different bracing pattern. A common classical guitar bracing pattern in is called fan bracing. A center spruce brace is glued on the inside of the soundboard along the center line of the guitar under the bridge. Additional braces fan out on ether side of the first brace. The extreme tension of steel-strings requires stronger bracing. A common steel-string pattern is called X bracing and was first developed by C.F. Martin & Co. X bracing consists of two larger braces crossed under the sound board of a steel-string guitar. The center of the X is usually centered between the underside of the bridge and the sound hole.
• The neck tends to be broader than with steel string guitars, making more complex fingerwork easier, but which may require a more exacting left hand position. A typical modern six-string classical guitar has a width of 48-54 mm at the nut, compared to around 42mm for a modern electric guitar design. The classical fingerboard is normally flat, whereas the steel string fingerboard has a slight radius.
• The strings are usually plucked with the fingers. Most players shape their fingernails so that they contact the string in a certain way to achieve the desired tone. Strumming is an unusual technique in classical guitar, and often referred to by the Spanish term "rasgueo", or for strumming patterns "rasgueado", and utilises the backs of the fingernails. Rasgueado is integral to Flamenco guitar.
• Traditionally, the tuning pegs (or "keys") at the head the fingerboard of a classical guitar point backwards (towards the player when the guitar is in playing position; perpendicular to the plane of the fretboard). This is in contrast to a traditional steel-string guitar design, in which the tuning pegs point outward (up and down from playing position; parallel to the plane of the fretboard).
• Classical guitars are typically built without pickguards. A pickguard is a piece of plastic affixed just below the strings on steel-string guitars to protect the sound board of the guitar from damage by aggressive strumming with a pick. It is assumed that a classical guitar will be played only with the fingers, and that a pick-guard is unnecessary. On flamenco guitars a tapping, or golpe board is attached to the front of the guitar, below the sound hole to allow the use of techniques that would normally damage a classical guitar.

Classical guitars are normally played without amplification of any sort but they can be equipped with an electronic pickup, which is sometimes used by performers in noisy environments. Either a piezoelectric pickup is placed under the bridge, or a microphone is suspended within the body.

History of the classical guitar

• Luis de Milán in the Siglo de oro 1550-1650.

The Golden Age

The first 'Golden Age' of the classical guitar repertoire was the 19th century. Some notable guitar composers from this period are:

Dionisio Aguado 1784-1849
Julián Arcas 1832-1882
Luigi Boccherini 1743-1805
Jose Broca 1805-1882
Matteo Carcassi 1792-1853
Ferdinando Carulli 1770-1841
Napoléon Coste 1806-1883
Anton Diabelli 1781-1858
Fernando Ferandiere 1771-1816
Francois de Fossa 1775-1849
Mauro Giuliani 1781-1829
Luigi Legnani 1790-1877
Antoine de Lhoyer 1768-1852
Antonio Gimeniz Manjon 1866-1919
Wenzeslaus Matiegka 1773-1830
Johann Kaspar Mertz 1806-1856
Francesco Molino 1768-1847
Giulio Regondi 1822-1872
Fernando Sor 1778-1839
Francisco Tárrega 1852-1909
Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti 1800-1878

Guitarist-composers of the 20th century

Sergio Assad 1952-
Agustín Barrios Mangoré 1885-1944
Gilbert Biberian 1944-
Leo Brouwer 1939-
Kevin Callahan 1958-
Abel Carlevaro 1918-2002
Carlo Domeniconi 1947-
John W Duarte 1919-2004
Roland Dyens 1955-
Dimitris Fampas 1921 - 1996
Angelo Gilardino 1941-
Brian Head 1965-
Evan Hirschelman 1976-
Francis Kleynjans 1951-
Nikita Koshkin 1956-
Annette Kruisbrink 1958-
Ian Krouse 1956-
Antonio Lauro 1917-1986
Miguel Llobet 1878-1938
Jorge Morel 1931-
Maximo Diego Pujol 1957-
Eduardo Sainz de la Maza 1903-1982
Teresa de Rogatis 1893-1979
Reginald Smith Brindle 1917-2003
Stepán Rak 1945-
Brad Richter 1969-
D.R. Auten 1951-
Heitor Villa-Lobos 1887-1959
Andrew York 1958-

Composers for the classical guitar

In the 20th century, many non-guitarist composers wrote for the instrument, which previously only players of the instrument had done. These include:

Malcolm Arnold 1921-
Vicente Asencio 1908-1979
Milton Babbitt 1916-
Richard Rodney Bennett 1936-
Luciano Berio 1925-2003
Lennox Berkeley 1903-1989
Benjamin Britten 1913-1976
Elliott Carter 1908-
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco 1895-1968
Peter Maxwell Davies 1934-
Stephen Dodgson 1924-
René Eespere 1953-
Manuel de Falla 1876-1946
Jean Françaix 1912-1997
Roberto Gerhard 1896-1970
Alberto Ginastera 1916-1983
Hans Werner Henze 1926-
Antonio José 1902-1936
Ernst Krenek 1900-1991
John Anthony Lennon 1950-
Ester Mägi 1922-
Joan Manen 1883-1971
Frank Martin 1890-1974
Ananiah McCarrell 1981-
Darius Milhaud 1892-1974
Frederic Mompou 1893-1987
Federico Moreno Torroba 1891-1982
Maurice Ohana 1914-1992
Astor Piazzolla 1921-1992
Manuel Ponce 1886-1948
Francis Poulenc 1899-1963
André Previn 1929-
Roger Reynolds 1934-
George Rochberg 1918-2005
Joaquín Rodrigo 1901-1999
Albert Roussel 1869-1937
Toru Takemitsu 1930-1996
Alexandre Tansman 1897-1986
Michael Tippett 1905-1998
Joaquín Turina 1882-1949
William Walton 1902-1983
Mason Williams 1936-

Modern performers

Guitarists also often play transcriptions of music originally written for other instruments. Lute transcriptions from the Renaissance and Baroque eras are common.

Some players of the classical guitar:

Laurindo Almeida 1917-1995
Magnus Andersson 1955-
Roberto Aussel 1954-
Agustín Barrios Mangoré 1885-1944
Manuel Barrueco 1952-
Gilbert Biberian 1944-
Liona Boyd 1949-
Julian Bream 1933-
Leif Christensen 1950-1988
Alirio Diaz 1923-
Zoran Dukic 1969-
Roland Dyens 1955-
Eva Fampas 1964 -
Eliot Fisk 1958-
Sila Godoy 1919-1949
Slava Grigoryan 1976-
Steve Hackett 1950-
Adam Holzman 1960-
Dimitri Illarionov 1979-
Sharon Isbin 1956-
Maria Kämmerling 1946-
Alexandre Lagoya 1929-1999
Roberto Legnani 1959
Gustavo Lopez 1920-1979
Carlo Marchione 1964-
Erling Møldrup 1943-
Christopher Parkening 1947-
“Esteban”, Stephen Paul 1948-
Marco Pereira
Alberto Ponce 1935-
Celedonio Romero 1913-1996
Pepé Romero 1944-
David Russell 1953-
Andrés Segovia 1893-1987
Göran Söllscher 1955-
David Starobin 1951-
Pavel Steidl 1961-
David Tanenbaum 1956-
Ana Vidović 1980-
John Williams 1941-
Kazuhito Yamashita 1961-
Yang Xuefei 1977-
Andrew York

External links

• Classical Guitar Magazine The world's only monthly magazine dedicated to the classical guitar
• Guitarrisimo.com - Classical Guitar Community A Classical Guitar Webzine in English and Spanish with free music, discussion forum and audio collection
• Barrios Competition Official website of Barrios International Guitar Competition
• World Guitarist Daily News Coverage for the World Classical Guitar Community
• Guitar Foundation of America
• Guitar Lesson Feedback Guitar lesson news and reviews
• List of Classical Guitar Sites
• GuitarGalleryMusicClassical Guitar Sheet Music and DVDs
• Shopping for Classical Guitars Online
• Hal Leonard Classical Guitar Music Books
• Tuscany Publications
• Mel Bay Publications
• Guitarra Magazine
• Luthier Music Manufacturer of Classical Guitar Strings
• [[1]] The Pedrick-Hutson Guitar Duo

Free music:

• Classical Guitar MIDI
• TablEdit collection (notation and tab)
• Alltabs (notation and tab)
• Dirk's (notation and tab)
• Delcamp collection
• Classical Guitar Tablature

Discussion forums:

• Italian CG Forum The Italian CG Forum
• Delcamp
• (Usenet) rec.music.classical.guitar
• Acoustic Guitar Magazine
• Guitar Salon
• Classical Guitar
• Netherlands

A collection of fine classical and flamenco guitars can be seen at the Classical Guitar Museum

• Classical Guitar Illustrated History