Classical guitar

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

Related Topics:
Musical instrument - Guitar

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The classical guitar is distinguished by a number of features:

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• It is an instrument. The sound is amplified 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 made from catgut (made from sheep intestine, despite the name), or much more commonly these days nylon, 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 volume and more complex tonal qualities.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 typically have just 12 frets betwen the nut and the body of the guitar, whereas steel string guitars typically have 14 frets between the nut and the body of the guitar.
• Classical guitars are typically built without pick-guards. A pick-guard 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.

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.

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

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• 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 include:

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• 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-
• 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
• 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-
• Heitor Villa-Lobos 1887-1959
• Andrew York 1958-

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

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• Malcolm Arnold 1921-
• Vicente Asencio 1908-1979
• Milton Babbitt 1916-
• Richard Rodney Bennett 1936-
• Luciano Berio 1925-
• 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
• Ester Mägi 1922-
• Joan Manen 1883-1971
• Frank Martin 1890-1974
• 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-
• 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

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

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Some players of the classical guitar:

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• Sergio Abreu
• Laurindo Almeida
• William Anderson 1962-
• Magnus Andersson
• Odair Assad
• Roberto Aussel
• Denis Azabagic 1972-
• Carlos Barbosa-Lima
• Agustín Barrios Mangoré 1885-1944
• Manuel Barrueco
• Gilbert Biberian 1944-
• Carlos Bonell
• Remi Boucher
• Liona Boyd
• Julian Bream 1933-
• Frank Bungarten
• Leif Christensen 1950-1988
• Ricardo Cobo
• Costas Cotsiolis
• Piera Dadomo
• Graham Anthony Devine 1971-
• Alirio Diaz
• Zoran Dukic
• Roland Dyens 1955-
• Margarita Escarpa
• Oren Fader
• Eduardo Fernández
• Eliot Fisk
• Shin-Ichi Fukuda
• Paul Galbraith
• Ricardo Gallen 1972-
• Gerald Garcia 1949-
• Antigoni Goni
• Slava Grigoryan
• Stefano Grondona
• Maria Esther Guzman
• Nicola Hall
• Evan Hirschelman 1976-
• John Holmquist
• Adam Holzman
• Tillman Hoppstock
• Dimitri Illarionov
• Sharon Isbin
• Jérémy Jouve 1979-
• William Kanengeiser
• Maria Kämmerling
• Hubert Käppel
• Dale Kavanagh
• Nobert Kraft
• Alexandre Lagoya
• Grégory Leclair
• Wolfgang Lendle
• Carlo Marchione
• Jeffrey McFadden
• Vladimir Mikulka
• Anders Miolin
• Erling Møldrup
• Anabel Montesinos
• Kaori Muraji
• Paul O'Dette
• Craig Ogden
• Elena Papandreou
• Christopher Parkening
• Marco Pereira
• Alberto Ponce
• Ida Presti
• Angél Romero 1946-
• Celedonio Romero
• Pepé Romero 1944-
• David Russell
• Richard Savino
• Karin Schaupp
• Todd Seelye
• Andrés Segovia 1893-1987
• Raphaella Smits
• Göran Söllscher
• David Starobin 1951-
• Pavel Steidl
• David Tanenbaum
• Scott Tennant
• Benjamin Verdery
• Jason Vieaux
• Victor Villadangos
• John Williams 1941-
• Kazuhito Yamashita
• Yang Xuefei 1977-
• Narciso Yepes 1927-1997
• Andrew York
• Fabio Zanon
• Frederic Zigante
 
Classical guitar: See also ►