Classical guitar
A classical guitar, also called a Spanish guitar, is a musical instrument from the guitar family.
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 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 42 mm for a modern electric guitar design. The classical
fingerboard is normally flat and without inlays, whereas the steel string fingerboard has a slight radius
and inlays.
- 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
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
- Julian Arcas 1832-1882
- Luigi Boccherini 1743-1805
- Jose Broca 1805-1882
- Matteo Carcassi 1792-1853
- Ferdinando Carulli 1770-1841
- Napoleon Coste 1806-1883
- Anton Diabelli 1781-1858
- Fernando Ferandiere 1771-1816
- Francois de Fossa 1775-1849
- Mauro Giuliani 1781-1829
- Luigi Legnani 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 Tarrega 1852-1909
- Franz Werthmuller (1769 - 1841)
- Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti 1800-1878
Guitarist-composers of the 20th century
- Sergio Assad 1952-
- Agustin Barrios Mangore 1885-1944
- Gilbert Biberian 1944-
- Leo Brouwer 1939-
- Kevin Callahan 1958-
- Abel Carlevaro 1918-2002
- L S Coker 1954-
- 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
- Stepan Rak 1945-
- Randy Rhoads 1956-1982
- 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. Some of the more well-known are:
- Louis Andriessen 1939-
- Malcolm Arnold 1921-
- Boris Asafiev 1884-1949
- Georges Auric 1899-1983
- Milton Babbitt 1916-
- Richard Rodney Bennett 1936-
- Niels Viggo Bentzon 1919-2000
- Luciano Berio 1925-2003
- Lennox Berkeley 1903-1989
- Benjamin Britten 1913-1976
- Elliott Carter 1908-
- Tristram Cary 1925-
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco> 1895-1968
- Peter Maxwell Davies 1934-
- Stephen Dodgson 1924-
- Petr Eben 1929-
- Manuel de Falla 1876-1946
- Michael Finnissy 1946-
- Jean Francaix 1912-1997
- Roberto Gerhard 1896-1970
- Giorgio Federico Ghedini 1892-1965
- Alberto Ginastera 1916-1983
- Cristobal Halffter 1930-
- Hans Werner Henze 1926-
- Vagn Holmboe 1909-1996
- Antonio Jose 1902-1936
- Ernst Krenek 1900-1991
- Gian Francesco Malipiero 1882-1973
- Frank Martin 1890-1974
- Nicholas Maw 1935-
- Darius Milhaud 1892-1974
- Frederic Mompou 1893-1987
- Federico Moreno Torroba 1891-1982
- Per Norgard 1932-
- Maurice Ohana 1914-1992
- Goffredo Petrassi 1904-2003
- Astor Piazzolla 1921-1992
- Manuel Ponce 1886-1948
- Francis Poulenc 1899-1963
- Andre Previn 1929-
- Einojuhani Rautavaara 1928-
- Alan Rawsthorne 1905-1971
- George Rochberg 1918-2005
- Joaquin Rodrigo 1901-1999
- Ned Rorem 1923-
- Albert Roussel 1869-1937
- Poul Ruders 1949-
- John Rutter 1945-
- Henri Sauguet 1901-1989
- Toru Takemitsu 1930-1996
- Alexandre Tansman 1897-1986
- Michael Tippett 1905-1998
- Joaquin Turina 1882-1949
- Peteris Vasks 1946-
- 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-
- Agustin Barrios Mangore 1885-1944
- Manuel Barrueco 1952-
- Gilbert Biberian 1944-
- Liona Boyd 1949-
- Julian Bream 1933-
- Leif Christensen 1950-1988
- L S Coker 1954-
- 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 Kammerling 1946-
- Alexandre Lagoya 1929-1999
- Roberto Legnani 1959-
- Gustavo Lopez 1920-1979
- Carlo Marchione 1964-
- Erling Moldrup 1943-
- Gordon O'Brien 1966-
- Christopher Parkening 1947-
- "Esteban", Stephen Paul 1948-
- Marco Pereira
- Alberto Ponce 1935-
- Celedonio Romero 1913-1996
- Pepe Romero 1944-
- David Russell 1953-
- Andres Segovia 1893-1987
- Goran Sollscher 1955-
- David Starobin 1951-
- Pavel Steidl 1961-
- David Tanenbaum 1956-
- Ana Vidovic 1980-
- John Williams 1941-
- Kazuhito Yamashita 1961-
- Yang Xuefei 1977-
- Andrew York
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It uses material from the Wikipedia article - Classical guitar
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