Plucked
143-672: New England String Ensemble was founded in 1993 by violinist Peter Stickel and cellist John Bumstead to champion strings in performance and education and is one of the country's leading professional string orchestras. The ensemble consists of 26 professional string musicians who perform four concert programs a year at both the Rogers Center for the Arts in North Andover, Massachusetts and New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston, Massachusetts . It
286-402: A "bass") is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length , and four to six strings. The four-string bass, by far the most common, is usually tuned the same as the double bass , which corresponds to pitches one octave lower than the four lowest pitched strings of a guitar (E, A, D, and G). The bass guitar is a transposing instrument , as it
429-413: A "normal" plucking point, producing a canonical harpsichord sound; the other has a plucking point close to the bridge, producing a reedier "nasal" sound rich in upper harmonics. A single string at a certain tension and length only produces one note. To produce multiple notes, string instruments use one of two methods. One is to add enough strings to cover the required range of different notes (e.g., as with
572-413: A 12-string guitar, allowing him to incorporate chiming 12-string elements in standard six-string playing. In 1982 Uli Jon Roth developed the "Sky Guitar", with a vastly extended number of frets, which was the first guitar to venture into the upper registers of the violin. Roth's seven-string and "Mighty Wing" guitar features a wider octave range. The bass guitar (also called an "electric bass", or simply
715-506: A String Competition in 1996, the New England String Ensemble's educational programs have expanded to support four community initiatives for students in grades K-12 that provide a progression from beginning to advanced students. The programs include: String instrument In musical instrument classification , string instruments , or chordophones , are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when
858-540: A cave painting in the Trois Frères cave in France depicts what some believe is a musical bow , a hunting bow used as a single-stringed musical instrument. From the musical bow, families of stringed instruments developed; since each string played a single note, adding strings added new notes, creating bow harps , harps and lyres . In turn, this led to being able to play dyads and chords . Another innovation occurred when
1001-431: A challenge to instrument builders, as compared with instruments that are only plucked (e.g., guitar), because on bowed instruments, the musician must be able to play one string at a time if they wish. As such, a bowed instrument must have a curved bridge that makes the "outer" strings lower in height than the "inner" strings. With such a curved bridge, the player can select one string at a time to play. On guitars and lutes ,
1144-402: A chordophone, and clay plaques from Babylonia show people playing a lute-like instrument which is similar to the guitar. Several scholars cite varying influences as antecedents to the modern guitar. Although the development of the earliest "guitar" is lost to the history of medieval Spain, two instruments are commonly claimed as influential predecessors: the four-string oud and its precursor,
1287-411: A clock or bell. Electric string instruments, such as the electric guitar , can also be played without touching the strings by using audio feedback . When an electric guitar is plugged into a loud, powerful guitar amplifier with a loudspeaker and a high level of distortion is intentionally used, the guitar produces sustained high-pitched sounds. By changing the proximity of the guitar to the speaker,
1430-440: A filler strip running down the length and behind the neck, used for strength or to fill the cavity through which the truss rod was installed in the neck. In acoustic guitars, string vibration is transmitted through the bridge and saddle to the body via sound board . The sound board is typically made of tonewoods such as spruce or cedar. Timbers for tonewoods are chosen for both strength and ability to transfer mechanical energy from
1573-427: A guitar with one finger (the bar). Known for its portamento capabilities, gliding smoothly over every pitch between notes, the instrument can produce a sinuous crying sound and deep vibrato emulating the human singing voice. Typically, the strings are plucked (not strummed) by the fingers of the dominant hand, while the steel tone bar is pressed lightly against the strings and moved by the opposite hand. The instrument
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#17330941514531716-507: A half a pear shape using three strings. Early versions of the violin and fiddle, by comparison, emerged in Europe through instruments such as the gittern , a four-stringed precursor to the guitar, and basic lutes . These instruments typically used catgut (animal intestine) and other materials, including silk, for their strings. String instrument design was refined during the Renaissance and into
1859-498: A heavier metal winding produces a lower pitch than a string of equal length without a metal winding. This can be seen on a 2016-era set of gut strings for double bass. The higher-pitched G string is often made of synthetic material, or sometimes animal intestine, with no metal wrapping. To enable the low E string to produce a much lower pitch with a string of the same length, it is wrapped with many wrappings of thin metal wire. This adds to its mass without making it too stiff. The frequency
2002-484: A key part of orchestras – cellos, violas, and upright basses, for example, were now standard instruments for chamber ensembles and smaller orchestras. At the same time, the 19th-century guitar became more typically associated with six-string models, rather than traditional five-string versions. Major changes to string instruments in the 20th century primarily involved innovations in electronic instrument amplification and electronic music – electric violins were available by
2145-683: A key role in the development of blues and rock music , both as an accompaniment instrument (playing riffs and chords ) and performing guitar solos , and in many rock subgenres, notably heavy metal music and punk rock . The electric guitar has had a major influence on popular culture . The guitar is used in a wide variety of musical genres worldwide. It is recognized as a primary instrument in genres such as blues , bluegrass , country , flamenco , folk , jazz , jota , ska , mariachi , metal , punk , funk , reggae , rock , grunge , soul , acoustic music , disco , new wave , new age , adult contemporary music , and pop , occasionally used as
2288-506: A key that plucks the string. Other musical instruments generate sound by striking the string. With bowed instruments, the player pulls a rosined horsehair bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy , the musician cranks a wheel whose rosined edge touches the strings. Bowed instruments include the string section instruments of the orchestra in Western classical music ( violin , viola , cello and double bass ) and
2431-527: A lute-like instrument came from Mesopotamia prior to 3000 BC. A cylinder seal from c. 3100 BC or earlier (now in the possession of the British Museum) shows what is thought to be a woman playing a stick lute. From the surviving images, theorists have categorized the Mesopotamian lutes, showing that they developed into a long variety and a short. The line of long lutes may have developed into
2574-484: A number of other instruments (e.g., viols and gambas used in early music from the Baroque music era and fiddles used in many types of folk music ). All of the bowed string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers, a technique called " pizzicato ". A wide variety of techniques are used to sound notes on the electric guitar , including plucking with the fingernails or a plectrum, strumming and even " tapping " on
2717-401: A performance. The frequency is inversely proportional to the length: A string twice as long produces a tone of half the frequency (one octave lower). Pitch can be adjusted by varying the tension of the string. A string with less tension (looser) results in a lower pitch, while a string with greater tension (tighter) results in a higher pitch. Pushing a pedal on a pedal steel guitar raises
2860-401: A performer strums, plucks, strikes or sounds the strings in varying manners. Musicians play some string instruments, like guitars , by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum (pick) , and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow , like violins . In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord , the musician presses
3003-402: A right-handed guitar strung in reverse (the treble strings and bass strings reversed). The problem with doing this is that it reverses the guitar's saddle angle. The saddle is the strip of material on top of the bridge where the strings rest. It is normally slanted slightly, making the bass strings longer than the treble strings. In part, the reason for this is the difference in the thickness of
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#17330941514533146-625: A sample in hip-hop , dubstep , or trap music . The modern word guitar and its antecedents have been applied to a wide variety of chordophones since classical times, sometimes causing confusion. The English word guitar , the German Gitarre , and the French guitare were all adopted from the Spanish guitarra , which comes from the Andalusian Arabic قيثارة ( qīthārah ) and
3289-413: A seated position and are used to play a diversity of musical styles including classical music . The classical guitar's wide, flat neck allows the musician to play scales, arpeggios, and certain chord forms more easily and with less adjacent string interference than on other styles of guitar. Flamenco guitars are very similar in construction, but they are associated with a more percussive tone. In Portugal,
3432-428: A slight vibrato technique from pushing the string down harder and softer. "Scalloped" fretboards, where the wood of the fretboard itself is "scooped out" between the frets, allow a dramatic vibrato effect. Fine frets, much flatter, allow a very low string-action , but require that other conditions, such as curvature of the neck, be well-maintained to prevent buzz. The truss rod is a thin, strong metal rod that runs along
3575-496: A sound closer to that of an acoustic guitar with the flip of a switch or knob, rather than switching guitars. Those that combine piezoelectric pickups and magnetic pickups are sometimes known as hybrid guitars. Hybrids of acoustic and electric guitars are also common. There are also more exotic varieties, such as guitars with two , three, or rarely four necks, all manner of alternate string arrangements, fretless fingerboards (used almost exclusively on bass guitars, meant to emulate
3718-403: A violin scale is only about 13 inches (33 cm). On the shorter scale of the violin, the left hand may easily reach a range of slightly more than two octaves without shifting position , while on the bass' longer scale, a single octave or a ninth is reachable in lower positions. In bowed instruments, the bow is normally placed perpendicularly to the string, at a point halfway between the end of
3861-423: Is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with some exceptions ) and typically has six or twelve strings . It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A guitar pick may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of
4004-482: Is a method of playing on instruments such as the veena , banjo , ukulele , guitar, harp, lute , mandolin , oud , and sitar , using either a finger, thumb, or quills (now plastic plectra) to pluck the strings. Instruments normally played by bowing (see below) may also be plucked, a technique referred to by the Italian term pizzicato . Bowing (Italian: arco ) is a method used in some string instruments, including
4147-436: Is expected to know his or her way around the instrument. In addition to fretboard inlay, the headstock and soundhole surround are also frequently inlaid. The manufacturer's logo or a small design is often inlaid into the headstock. Rosette designs vary from simple concentric circles to delicate fretwork mimicking the historic rosette of lutes. Bindings that edge the finger and soundboards are sometimes inlaid. Some instruments have
4290-404: Is glued into the corners where the rib meets the top and back. This interior reinforcement provides 5 to 20 mm of solid gluing area for these corner joints. Solid linings are often used in classical guitars, while kerfed lining is most often found in steel-string acoustics. Kerfed lining is also called kerfing because it is scored, or "kerfed"(incompletely sawn through), to allow it to bend with
4433-402: Is impractical. Instruments with a fingerboard are then played by adjusting the length of the vibrating portion of the strings. The following observations all apply to a string that is infinitely flexible (a theoretical assumption, because in practical applications, strings are not infinitely flexible) strung between two fixed supports. Real strings have finite curvature at the bridge and nut, and
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4576-457: Is inversely proportional to the square root of the linear density: Given two strings of equal length and tension, the string with higher mass per unit length produces the lower pitch. The length of the string from nut to bridge on bowed or plucked instruments ultimately determines the distance between different notes on the instrument. For example, a double bass with its low range needs a scale length of around 42 inches (110 cm), whilst
4719-758: Is led by conductor and music director, Federico Cortese , and performs music from the 17th century to the present. The New England String Ensemble began its inaugural concert season in 1994 under the guidance of founding music director, Christophe Chagnard, a native of Paris and resident of Seattle , who commuted to Boston for four years to help build the orchestra. Mr. Chagnard is also co-founder and music director of Seattle's award-winning Northwest Sinfonietta. The inaugural performance, A Musical Journey into Night , in September 1994 at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts received international attention, including pieces in
4862-409: Is mainly used on electric instruments because these have a pickup that amplifies only the local string vibration. It is possible on acoustic instruments as well, but less effective. For instance, a player might press on the seventh fret on a guitar and pluck it at the head side to make a tone resonate at the opposing side. On electric instruments, this technique generates multitone sounds reminiscent of
5005-413: Is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds (as is the double bass) to avoid excessive ledger lines being required below the staff . Like the electric guitar, the bass guitar has pickups and it is plugged into an amplifier and speaker for live performances. Modern guitars can be constructed to suit both left- and right-handed players. Typically the dominant hand is used to pluck or strum
5148-523: Is one of the five main divisions of instruments in the Hornbostel–Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification . Hornbostel–Sachs divides chordophones into two main groups: instruments without a resonator as an integral part of the instrument (which have the classification number 31, also known as 'simple'); and instruments with such a resonator (which have the classification number 32, also known as 'composite'). Most western instruments fall into
5291-670: Is one of the oldest string instruments. Ancestors of the modern bowed string instruments are the rebab of the Islamic Empires, the Persian kamanche and the Byzantine lira . Other bowed instruments are the rebec , hardingfele , nyckelharpa , kokyū , erhu , igil , sarangi , morin khuur , and K'ni . The hurdy-gurdy is bowed by a wheel. Rarely, the guitar has been played with a bow (rather than plucked) for unique effects. The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments
5434-462: Is played while sitting, placed horizontally across the player's knees or otherwise supported. The horizontal playing style is called "Hawaiian style". The twelve-string guitar usually has steel strings, and it is widely used in folk music , blues , and rock and roll . Rather than having only six strings, the 12-string guitar has six courses made up of two strings each, like a mandolin or lute . The highest two courses are tuned in unison, while
5577-411: Is strengthened by differing types of internal bracing . Many luthiers consider the top the dominant factor in determining the sound quality. The majority of the instrument's sound is heard through the vibration of the guitar top as the energy of the vibrating strings is transferred to it. The body of an acoustic guitar has a sound hole through which sound projects. The sound hole is usually a round hole in
5720-402: Is the neck-through-body construction. These are designed so that everything from the machine heads down to the bridge is located on the same piece of wood. The sides (also known as wings) of the guitar are then glued to this central piece. Some luthiers prefer this method of construction as they claim it allows better sustain of each note. Some instruments may not have a neck joint at all, having
5863-530: Is the point at which the neck is either bolted or glued to the body of the guitar. Almost all acoustic steel-string guitars, with the primary exception of Taylors, have glued (otherwise known as set) necks, while electric guitars are constructed using both types. Most classical guitars have a neck and headblock carved from one piece of wood, known as a "Spanish heel". Commonly used set neck joints include mortise and tenon joints (such as those used by C. F. Martin & Co.), dovetail joints (also used by C. F. Martin on
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6006-406: Is to strike the string. The piano and hammered dulcimer use this method of sound production. Even though the piano strikes the strings, the use of felt hammers means that the sound that is produced can nevertheless be mellow and rounded, in contrast to the sharp attack produced when a very hard hammer strikes the strings. Violin family string instrument players are occasionally instructed to strike
6149-528: Is tuned in the bass register. In Colombia, the traditional quartet includes a range of instruments too, from the small bandola (sometimes known as the Deleuze-Guattari, for use when traveling or in confined rooms or spaces), to the slightly larger tiple , to the full-sized classical guitar. The requinto also appears in other Latin-American countries as a complementary member of the guitar family, with its smaller size and scale, permitting more projection for
6292-548: Is used extensively in jazz , blues , R & B , and rock and roll . The first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar was invented by George Beauchamp , and incorporated into the 1931 Ro-Pat-In (later Rickenbacker ) "Frying Pan" lap steel; other manufacturers, notably Gibson , soon began to install pickups in archtop models. After World War II the completely solid-body electric was popularized by Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul , and independently by Leo Fender of Fender Music . The lower fretboard action (the height of
6435-899: Is usually credited to the American Orville Gibson . Lloyd Loar of the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co introduced the violin-inspired F-shaped hole design now usually associated with archtop guitars, after designing a style of mandolin of the same type. The typical archtop guitar has a large, deep, hollow body whose form is much like that of a mandolin or a violin-family instrument. Nowadays, most archtops are equipped with magnetic pickups, and they are therefore both acoustic and electric. F-hole archtop guitars were immediately adopted, upon their release, by both jazz and country musicians, and have remained particularly popular in jazz music, usually with flatwound strings . All three principal types of resonator guitars were invented by
6578-452: The guitarra latina (Latin guitar) and the so-called guitarra morisca (Moorish guitar). The guitarra morisca had a rounded back, a wide fingerboard, and several sound holes. The guitarra Latina had a single sound hole and a narrower neck. By the 14th century the qualifiers "moresca" or "morisca" and "latina" had been dropped, and these two chordophones were simply referred to as guitars. The Spanish vihuela , called in Italian
6721-421: The viola da mano , a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries, is widely considered to have been the single most important influence in the development of the baroque guitar. It had six courses (usually), lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist. It was also larger than the contemporary four-course guitars. By
6864-506: The Baroque period (1600–1750) of musical history. Violins and guitars became more consistent in design and were roughly similar to acoustic guitars of the 2000s. The violins of the Renaissance featured intricate woodwork and stringing, while more elaborate bass instruments such as the bandora were produced alongside quill-plucked citterns , and Spanish body guitars. In the 19th century, string instruments were made more widely available through mass production, with wood string instruments
7007-510: The New York Times and newspapers in Seattle, Paris and Tel Aviv as well as a feature by Paul Harvey, for its life-imitating-art triumph over a thunderstorm -induced power failure. In its fifth season, the 1998–99 season, the New England String Ensemble featured four finalists in its search for a local music director from which vocalist and conductor, Susan Davenny Wyner, was chosen to lead
7150-861: The Spoleto Festival in Italy; assistant conductor to Daniele Gatti at the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome; and assistant conductor to Robert Spano at the Brooklyn Philharmonic . Additionally, he has served as music director of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras since 1999. The mission of New England String Ensemble is to "engage, educate, and inspire with passionate string orchestra performances and innovative community programs." Initially starting with
7293-456: The classical guitar (Spanish guitar); the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar ; and the Hawaiian guitar (played across the player's lap). Traditional acoustic guitars include the flat top guitar (typically with a large sound hole) or the archtop guitar , which is sometimes called a " jazz guitar ". The tone of an acoustic guitar is produced by the strings' vibration, amplified by
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#17330941514537436-424: The loudspeaker . The original purpose of the resonator was to produce a very loud sound; this purpose has been largely superseded by electrical amplification , but the resonator guitar is still played because of its distinctive tone. Resonator guitars may have either one or three resonator cones. The method of transmitting sound resonance to the cone is either a "biscuit" bridge, made of a small piece of hardwood at
7579-455: The piano , which has sets of 88 strings to enable the performer to play 88 different notes). The other is to provide a way to stop the strings along their length to shorten the part that vibrates, which is the method used in guitar and violin family instruments to produce different notes from the same string. The piano and harp represent the first method, where each note on the instrument has its own string or course of multiple strings tuned to
7722-428: The saxophone and trumpet . The development of guitar amplifiers, which contained a power amplifier and a loudspeaker in a wooden cabinet , let jazz guitarists play solos and be heard over a big band. The development of the electric guitar provided guitarists with an instrument that was built to connect to guitar amplifiers. Electric guitars have magnetic pickups , volume control knobs and an output jack. In
7865-464: The tamburs and pandura . The line of short lutes was further developed to the east of Mesopotamia, in Bactria , Gandhara , and Northwest India, and shown in sculpture from the 2nd century BC through the 4th or 5th centuries AD. During the medieval era , instrument development varied in different regions of the world. Middle Eastern rebecs represented breakthroughs in terms of shape and strings, with
8008-688: The violin , viola , cello , and the double bass (of the violin family ), and the old viol family. The bow consists of a stick with a "ribbon" of parallel horse tail hairs stretched between its ends. The hair is coated with rosin so it can grip the string; moving the hair across a string causes a stick-slip phenomenon , making the string vibrate , and prompting the instrument to emit sound. Darker grades of rosin grip well in cool, dry climates, but may be too sticky in warmer, more humid weather. Violin and viola players generally use harder, lighter-colored rosin than players of lower-pitched instruments, who tend to favor darker, softer rosin. The ravanahatha
8151-489: The 16th century, the vihuela's construction had more in common with the modern guitar, with its curved one-piece ribs, than with the viols, and more like a larger version of the contemporary four-course guitars. The vihuela enjoyed only a relatively short period of popularity in Spain and Italy during an era dominated elsewhere in Europe by the lute ; the last surviving published music for the instrument appeared in 1576. Meanwhile,
8294-486: The 1920s and were an important part of emerging jazz music trends in the United States. The acoustic guitar was widely used in blues and jazz , but as an acoustic instrument, it was not loud enough to be a solo instrument, so these genres mostly used it as an accompaniment rhythm section instrument. In big bands of the 1920s, the acoustic guitar played backing chords, but it was not loud enough to play solos like
8437-465: The 1960s and 1970s, such as fuzz pedals , flangers , and phasers , enabling performers to create unique new sounds during the psychedelic rock era. Breakthroughs in electric guitar and bass technologies and playing styles enabled major breakthroughs in pop and rock music in the 1960s and 1970s. The distinctive sound of the amplified electric guitar was the centerpiece of new genres of music such as blues rock and jazz-rock fusion . The sonic power of
8580-420: The 1960s and 1970s; they are less prone to unwanted acoustic feedback . As with acoustic guitars, there are a number of types of electric guitars, including hollowbody guitars , archtop guitars (used in jazz guitar , blues and rockabilly ) and solid-body guitars , which are widely used in rock music . The loud, amplified sound and sonic power of the electric guitar played through a guitar amp have played
8723-408: The 1960s, larger, more powerful guitar amplifiers were developed, called "stacks". These powerful amplifiers enabled guitarists to perform in rock bands that played in large venues such as stadiums and outdoor music festivals (e.g., Woodstock Music Festival ). Along with the development of guitar amplifiers, a large range of electronic effects units , many in small stompbox pedals, were introduced in
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#17330941514538866-494: The D-28 and similar models) and Spanish heel neck joints, which are named after the shoe they resemble and commonly found in classical guitars. All three types offer stability. Bolt-on necks, though they are historically associated with cheaper instruments, do offer greater flexibility in the guitar's set-up, and allow easier access for neck joint maintenance and repairs. Another type of neck, only available for solid-body electric guitars,
9009-529: The European lute ; the former was brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 8th century. It has often been assumed that the guitar is a development of the lute, or of the ancient Greek kithara. However, many scholars consider the lute an offshoot or separate line of development which did not influence the evolution of the guitar in any significant way. At least two instruments called "guitars" were in use in Spain by 1200:
9152-550: The Latin cithara , which in turn came from the Ancient Greek κιθάρα which is of uncertain ultimate origin. Kithara appears in the Bible four times (1 Cor. 14:7, Rev. 5:8, 14:2, and 15:2), and is usually translated into English as harp . The origins of the modern guitar are not known. Before the development of the electric guitar and the use of synthetic materials, a guitar
9295-455: The Middle Ages. By the 16th century, most of the forms of guitar had fallen off, to never be seen again. However, midway through the 16th century, the five-course guitar was established. It was not a straightforward process. There were two types of five-course guitars, differing in the location of the major third and in the interval pattern. The fifth course can be inferred because the instrument
9438-540: The Slovak-American John Dopyera (1893–1988) for the National and Dobro ( Do pyera Bro thers) companies. Similar to the flat top guitar in appearance, but with a body that may be made of brass, nickel-silver, or steel as well as wood, the sound of the resonator guitar is produced by one or more aluminum resonator cones mounted in the middle of the top. The physical principle of the guitar is therefore similar to
9581-406: The Spanish guitar in Italy. Even later, in the same century, Gaspar Sanz wrote that other nations such as Italy or France added to the Spanish guitar. All of these nations even imitated the five-course guitar by "recreating" their own. Finally, c. 1850 , the form and structure of the modern guitar were developed by different Spanish makers such as Manuel de Soto y Solares and, perhaps
9724-419: The United States. Electric guitars , first patented in 1937, use a pickup and amplifier that made the instrument loud enough to be heard, but also enabled manufacturing guitars with a solid block of wood needing a resonant chamber. A wide array of electronic effects units became possible including reverb and distortion (or "overdrive") . Solid-body guitars began to dominate the guitar market during
9867-440: The abundant nature of sub-categories and its unique tonal & functional property. Acoustic guitars form several notable subcategories within the acoustic guitar group: classical and flamenco guitars ; steel-string guitars, which include the flat-topped, or "folk", guitar; twelve-string guitars ; and the arched-top guitar. The acoustic guitar group also includes unamplified guitars designed to play in different registers, such as
10010-708: The acoustic bass guitar, which has a similar tuning to that of the electric bass guitar. Renaissance and Baroque guitars are the ancestors of the modern classical and flamenco guitar . They are substantially smaller, more delicate in construction, and generate less volume. The strings are paired in courses as in a modern 12-string guitar , but they only have four or five courses of strings rather than six single strings normally used now. They were more often used as rhythm instruments in ensembles than as solo instruments, and can often be seen in that role in early music performances. ( Gaspar Sanz 's Instrucción de Música sobre la Guitarra Española of 1674 contains his whole output for
10153-406: The action and strings of the piano were taken out of its box, it could still be played. This is not true of the violin , because the string passes over a bridge located on the resonator box, so removing the resonator would mean the strings had no tension. Curt Sachs also broke chordophones into four basic subcategories, "zithers, lutes, lyres and harps." Dating to around c. 13,000 BC ,
10296-459: The air inside it. The vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of most string instruments is hollow, in order to have better sound projection. Some, however—such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification—may have a solid wood body. In musicology , string instruments are known as chordophones. It
10439-542: The artistic success of the New England String Ensemble was evidenced locally by growing audiences, high critical acclaim, and performance invitations, such as an invitation to the Bank of America Celebrity Series in 2004–05. National recognition included a Koussevitzky commission, one of seven in the United States awarded in 2003–04. Ms. Wyner resigned her position in April 2005 to pursue opera. In July 2005, Federico Cortese
10582-473: The bare fingers or a plectrum, bowed or (in the Aeolian harp, for instance) sounded by wind. The confusing plenitude of stringed instruments can be reduced to four fundamental type: zithers, lutes, lyres, and harps. In most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with
10725-437: The bow harp was straightened out and a bridge used to lift the strings off the stick-neck , creating the lute. This picture of musical bow to harp bow is theory and has been contested. In 1965 Franz Jahnel wrote his criticism stating that the early ancestors of plucked instruments are not currently known. He felt that the harp bow was a long cry from the sophistication of the civilizations of western Asia in 4000 BC that took
10868-487: The bridge can be flat, because the strings are played by plucking them with the fingers, fingernails or a pick; by moving the fingers or pick to different positions, the player can play different strings. On bowed instruments, the need to play strings individually with the bow also limits the number of strings to about six or seven; with more strings, it would be impossible to select individual strings to bow. (Bowed strings can also play two bowed notes on two different strings at
11011-421: The bridge, because of its motion, is not exactly nodes of vibration. Hence the following statements about proportionality are approximations. Pitch can be adjusted by varying the length of the string. A longer string results in a lower pitch, while a shorter string results in a higher pitch. A concert harp has pedals that cause a hard object to make contact with a string to shorten its vibrating length during
11154-430: The constant 17.817—an approximation to 1/(1-1/ 2 12 {\displaystyle {\sqrt[{12}]{2}}} ). If the nth fret is a distance x from the bridge, then the distance from the (n+1)th fret to the bridge is x-(x/17.817). Frets are available in several different gauges and can be fitted according to player preference. Among these are "jumbo" frets, which have a much thicker gauge, allowing for use of
11297-441: The difference is perhaps more subtle. In keyboard instruments, the contact point along the string (whether this be hammer, tangent, or plectrum) is a choice made by the instrument designer. Builders use a combination of experience and acoustic theory to establish the right set of contact points. In harpsichords, often there are two sets of strings of equal length. These "choirs" usually differ in their plucking points. One choir has
11440-468: The dynamic and timbre (tone colour) range of orchestras, bands, and solo performances. String instruments can be divided into three groups: It is also possible to divide the instruments into categories focused on how the instrument is played. All string instruments produce sound from one or more vibrating strings , transferred to the air by the body of the instrument (or by a pickup in electronically amplified instruments). They are usually categorised by
11583-401: The end of the nineteenth century in the United States, but nylon and steel strings became mainstream only following World War II . The guitar's ancestors include the gittern , the vihuela , the four- course Renaissance guitar , and the five-course baroque guitar , all of which contributed to the development of the modern six-string instrument. There are three main types of modern guitar:
11726-429: The exterior surface of a guitar, both for decoration and artistic purposes and, in the case of the markings on the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 12th fret (and in higher octaves), to provide guidance to the performer about the location of frets on the instrument. The typical locations for inlay are on the fretboard, headstock, and on acoustic guitars around the soundhole, known as the rosette . Inlays range from simple plastic dots on
11869-498: The fingerboard and the bridge. However, different bow placements can be selected to change timbre . Application of the bow close to the bridge (known as sul ponticello ) produces an intense, sometimes harsh sound, which acoustically emphasizes the upper harmonics . Bowing above the fingerboard ( sul tasto ) produces a purer tone with less overtone strength, emphasizing the fundamental , also known as flautando , since it sounds less reedy and more flute-like. Bowed instruments pose
12012-554: The fingerboard and using feedback from a loud, distorted guitar amplifier to produce a sustained sound. Some string instruments are mainly plucked, such as the harp and the electric bass . Other examples include the sitar , rebab , banjo , mandolin , ukulele , and bouzouki . In the Hornbostel–Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification , used in organology , string instruments are called chordophones. According to Sachs , Chordophones are instruments with strings. The strings may be struck with sticks, plucked with
12155-423: The five course guitar. A literary source, Lope de Vega's Dorotea, gives the credit to the poet and musician Vicente Espinel . This claim was also repeated by Nicolas Doizi de Velasco in 1640, however this claim has been contested by others who state that Espinel's birth year (1550) make it impossible for him to be responsible for the tradition. He believed that the tuning was the reason the instrument became known as
12298-437: The five-course baroque guitar , which was documented in Spain from the middle of the 16th century, enjoyed popularity, especially in Spain, Italy and France from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century. In Portugal, the word viola referred to the guitar, as guitarra meant the " Portuguese guitar ", a variety of cittern . There were many different plucked instruments that were being invented and used in Europe during
12441-474: The fretboard and accessible through the sound hole. Some truss rods can only be accessed by removing the neck. The truss rod counteracts the immense amount of tension the strings place on the neck, bringing the neck back to a straighter position. Turning the truss rod clockwise tightens it, counteracting the tension of the strings and straightening the neck or creating a backward bow. Turning the truss rod counter-clockwise loosens it, allowing string tension to act on
12584-616: The fretboard and located at exact points that divide the scale length in accordance with a specific mathematical formula. The exceptions include fretless bass guitars and very rare fretless guitars. Pressing a string against a fret determines the strings' vibrating length and therefore its resultant pitch. The pitch of each consecutive fret is defined at a half-step interval on the chromatic scale . Standard classical guitars have 19 frets and electric guitars between 21 and 24 frets, although guitars have been made with as many as 27 frets. Frets are laid out to accomplish an equal tempered division of
12727-448: The fretboard to intricate works of art covering the entire exterior surface of a guitar (front and back). Some guitar players have used LEDs in the fretboard to produce unique lighting effects onstage. Fretboard inlays are most commonly shaped like dots, diamond shapes, parallelograms, or large blocks in between the frets. Dots are usually inlaid into the upper edge of the fretboard in the same positions, small enough to be visible only to
12870-403: The fretboard usually differs from the wood in the rest of the neck. The bending stress on the neck is considerable, particularly when heavier gauge strings are used (see Tuning ), and the ability of the neck to resist bending (see Truss rod ) is important to the guitar's ability to hold a constant pitch during tuning or when strings are fretted. The rigidity of the neck with respect to the body of
13013-534: The fretboard's surface constitutes a segment. The smaller the fretboard radius, the more noticeably curved the fretboard is. Most modern guitars feature a 12" neck radius, while older guitars from the 1960s and 1970s usually feature a 6-8" neck radius. Pinching a string against a fret on the fretboard effectively shortens the vibrating length of the string, producing a higher pitch. Fretboards are most commonly made of rosewood , ebony , maple , and sometimes manufactured using composite materials such as HPL or resin. See
13156-410: The guitar is one determinant of a good instrument versus a poor-quality one. The cross-section of the neck can also vary, from a gentle "C" curve to a more pronounced "V" curve. There are many different types of neck profiles available, giving the guitarist many options. Some aspects to consider in a guitar neck may be the overall width of the fretboard, scale (distance between the frets), the neck wood,
13299-423: The guitar is projected either acoustically , by means of a resonant hollow chamber on the guitar, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier . The guitar is classified as a chordophone , meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood, with its strings made of catgut . Steel guitar strings were introduced near
13442-401: The guitar, bass, violin, etc.) can be played using a magnetic field. An E-Bow is a small hand-held battery-powered device that magnetically excites the strings of an electric string instrument to provide a sustained, singing tone reminiscent of a held bowed violin note. Third bridge is a plucking method where the player frets a string and strikes the side opposite the bridge. The technique
13585-419: The guitarist can produce sounds that cannot be produced with standard plucking and picking techniques. This technique was popularized by Jimi Hendrix and others in the 1960s. It was widely used in psychedelic rock and heavy metal music . There are three ways to change the pitch of a vibrating string . String instruments are tuned by varying a string's tension because adjusting length or mass per unit length
13728-403: The hollow body of the guitar, which acts as a resonating chamber . The classical Spanish guitar is often played as a solo instrument using a comprehensive fingerstyle technique where each string is plucked individually by the player's fingers, as opposed to being strummed. The term "finger-picking" can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass, and country guitar playing in
13871-405: The inside of the neck. It is used to correct changes to the neck's curvature caused by aging of the neck timbers, changes in humidity, or to compensate for changes in the tension of strings. The tension of the rod and neck assembly is adjusted by a hex nut or an allen-key bolt on the rod, usually located either at the headstock, sometimes under a cover, or just inside the body of the guitar underneath
14014-478: The loudly amplified, highly distorted electric guitar was the key element of the early heavy metal music , with the distorted guitar being used in lead guitar roles, and with power chords as a rhythm guitar . The ongoing use of electronic amplification and effects units in string instruments, ranging from traditional instruments like the violin to the new electric guitar, added variety to contemporary classical music performances, and enabled experimentation in
14157-536: The lowest four strings of the six-string guitar, which is the same tuning pitch as an electric bass guitar. It can, more rarely, be found with five or six strings, which provides a wider range of notes to be played with less movement up and down the neck. Electric guitars can have solid, semi-hollow, or hollow bodies; solid bodies produce little sound without amplification. In contrast to a standard acoustic guitar, electric guitars instead rely on electromagnetic pickups , and sometimes piezoelectric pickups, that convert
14300-416: The most important of all guitar makers, Antonio Torres Jurado , who increased the size of the guitar body, altered its proportions, and invented the breakthrough fan-braced pattern. Bracing, the internal pattern of wood reinforcements used to secure the guitar's top and back and prevent the instrument from collapsing under tension, is an important factor in how the guitar sounds. Torres' design greatly improved
14443-585: The neck and creating a forward bow. Adjusting the truss rod affects the intonation of a guitar as well as the height of the strings from the fingerboard, called the action . Some truss rod systems, called double action truss systems, tighten both ways, pushing the neck both forward and backward (standard truss rods can only release to a point beyond which the neck is no longer compressed and pulled backward). The artist and luthier Irving Sloane pointed out, in his book Steel-String Guitar Construction , that truss rods are intended primarily to remedy concave bowing of
14586-414: The neck and sides built as one piece and the body built around it. The fingerboard , also called the fretboard, is a piece of wood embedded with metal frets that comprises the top of the neck. It is flat on classical guitars and slightly curved crosswise on acoustic and electric guitars. The curvature of the fretboard is measured by the fretboard radius, which is the radius of a hypothetical circle of which
14729-471: The neck, but cannot correct a neck with "back bow" or one that has become twisted. Classical guitars do not require truss rods, as their nylon strings exert a lower tensile force with lesser potential to cause structural problems. However, their necks are often reinforced with a strip of harder wood, such as an ebony strip that runs down the back of a cedar neck. There is no tension adjustment on this form of reinforcement. Inlays are visual elements set into
14872-454: The nut, which can adversely affect tuning stability, some guitarists fit a roller nut. Some instruments use a zero fret just in front of the nut. In this case the nut is used only for lateral alignment of the strings, the string height and length being dictated by the zero fret. A guitar's frets , fretboard , tuners , headstock , and truss rod , all attached to a long wooden extension, collectively constitute its neck . The wood used to make
15015-413: The octave. Each set of twelve frets represents an octave. The twelfth fret divides the scale length exactly into two halves, and the 24th fret position divides one of those halves in half again. The ratio of the spacing of two consecutive frets is 2 12 {\displaystyle {\sqrt[{12}]{2}}} ( twelfth root of two ). In practice, luthiers determine fret positions using
15158-724: The orchestra into its sixth season, 1999–2000. That sixth season also featured a move into Cambridge, Massachusetts , with a series at the First Church Congregational at the invitation of keyboard artist Peter Sykes. A gradual migration into the Sanders Theatre at Harvard University and then to the Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory in Boston completed the progression. Under the direction of Ms. Wyner,
15301-502: The others are tuned in octaves. The 12-string guitar is also made in electric forms. The chime-like sound of the 12-string electric guitar was the basis of jangle pop . The acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than, that of a six-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar and the double bass , the acoustic bass guitar commonly has four strings, which are normally tuned E-A-D-G, an octave below
15444-402: The pitch of certain strings by increasing tension on them (stretching) through a mechanical linkage; release of the pedal returns the pitch to the original. Knee levers on the instrument can lower a pitch by releasing (and restoring) tension in the same way. A homemade washtub bass made out of a length of rope, a broomstick and a washtub can produce different pitches by increasing the tension on
15587-420: The pitch. The traditional tuner layout is "3+3", in which each side of the headstock has three tuners (such as on Gibson Les Pauls ). In this layout, the headstocks are commonly symmetrical. Many guitars feature other layouts, including six-in-line tuners (featured on Fender Stratocasters ) or even "4+2" (e.g. Ernie Ball Music Man). Some guitars (such as Steinbergers ) do not have headstocks at all, in which case
15730-451: The player presses keys on to trigger a mechanism that sounds the strings, instead of directly manipulating the strings. These include the piano , the clavichord , and the harpsichord. With these keyboard instruments , strings are occasionally plucked or bowed by hand. Modern composers such as Henry Cowell wrote music that requires that the player reach inside the piano and pluck the strings directly, "bow" them with bow hair wrapped around
15873-419: The player. These usually appear on the odd-numbered frets, but also on the 12th fret (the one- octave mark) instead of the 11th and 13th frets. Some older or high-end instruments have inlays made of mother of pearl, abalone, ivory, colored wood or other exotic materials and designs. Simpler inlays are often made of plastic or painted. High-end classical guitars seldom have fretboard inlays as a well-trained player
16016-499: The playing of single-lined melodies. Modern dimensions of the classical instrument were established by the Spaniard Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817–1892). Flat-top guitars with steel strings are similar to the classical guitar , however, the flat-top body size is usually significantly larger than a classical guitar, and has a narrower, reinforced neck and stronger structural design. The robust X-bracing typical of flat-top guitars
16159-482: The primitive technology and created "technically and artistically well-made harps, lyres, citharas, and lutes." Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in Ancient Mesopotamian sites, like the lyres of Ur , which include artifacts over three thousand years old. The development of lyre instruments required the technology to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen
16302-427: The rope (producing a higher pitch) or reducing the tension (producing a lower pitch). The frequency is proportional to the square root of the tension: The pitch of a string can also be varied by changing the linear density (mass per unit length) of the string. In practical applications, such as with double bass strings or bass piano strings, extra weight is added to strings by winding them with metal. A string with
16445-430: The roughly classical-sized OO and Parlour to the large Dreadnought (the most commonly available type) and Jumbo . Ovation makes a modern variation, with a rounded back/side assembly molded from artificial materials. Archtop guitars are steel-string instruments in which the top (and often the back) of the instrument are carved from a solid billet, into a curved, rather than flat, shape. This violin-like construction
16588-423: The same fashion as other guitars, although slides are also often used, especially in blues. A steel guitar is any guitar played while moving a polished steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar in that it does not use frets; conceptually, it is somewhat akin to playing
16731-460: The same instrument is often used with steel strings particularly in its role within fado music. The guitar is called viola , or violão in Brazil, where it is often used with an extra seventh string by choro musicians to provide extra bass support. In Mexico, the popular mariachi band includes a range of guitars, from the small requinto to the guitarrón , a guitar larger than a cello, which
16874-439: The same note. (Many notes on a piano are strung with a "choir" of three strings tuned alike, to increase the volume.) A guitar represents the second method—the player's fingers push the string against the fingerboard so that the string is pressed firmly against a metal fret. Pressing the string against a fret while plucking or strumming it shortens the vibrating part and thus produces a different note. Guitar The guitar
17017-531: The same time, a technique called a double stop .) Indeed, on the orchestral string section instruments, four strings are the norm, with the exception of five strings used on some double basses . In contrast, with stringed keyboard instruments, 88 courses are used on a piano , and even though these strings are arranged on a flat bridge, the mechanism can play any of the notes individually. Similar timbral distinctions are also possible with plucked string instruments by selecting an appropriate plucking point, although
17160-399: The second group, but the piano and harpsichord fall into the first. Hornbostel and Sachs' criterion for determining which sub-group an instrument falls into is that if the resonator can be removed without destroying the instrument, then it is classified as 31. The idea that the piano's casing, which acts as a resonator, could be removed without destroying the instrument, may seem odd, but if
17303-607: The section "Neck" below for the importance of the length of the fretboard in connection to other dimensions of the guitar. The fingerboard plays an essential role in the treble tone for acoustic guitars. The quality of vibration of the fingerboard is the principal characteristic for generating the best treble tone. For that reason, ebony wood is better, but because of high use, ebony has become rare and extremely expensive. Most guitar manufacturers have adopted rosewood instead of ebony. Almost all guitars have frets, which are metal strips (usually nickel alloy or stainless steel) embedded along
17446-405: The shape of the rib). During final construction, a small section of the outside corners is carved or routed out and filled with binding material on the outside corners and decorative strips of material next to the binding, which is called purfling . This binding serves to seal off the end grain of the top and back. Purfling can also appear on the back of an acoustic guitar, marking the edge joints of
17589-514: The solo guitar.) Renaissance and Baroque guitars are easily distinguished, because the Renaissance guitar is very plain and the Baroque guitar is very ornate, with ivory or wood inlays all over the neck and body, and a paper-cutout inverted "wedding cake" inside the hole. Classical guitars, also known as "Spanish" guitars, are typically strung with nylon strings, plucked with the fingers, played in
17732-406: The sound of a stand-up bass ), 5.1 surround guitar , and such. Solid-body seven-string guitars were popularized in the 1980s and 1990s. Other artists go a step further, by using an eight-string guitar with two extra low strings. Although the most common seven-string has a low B string, Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds and Rickenbacker ) uses an octave G string paired with the regular G string as on
17875-533: The string tension. Lyres with wooden bodies and strings used for plucking or playing with a bow represent key instruments that point towards later harps and violin-type instruments; moreover, Indian instruments from 500 BC have been discovered with anything from 7 to 21 strings. In Vietnam, a 2,000 year old, singularly stringed instrument made of deer antler was also discovered. Musicologists have put forth examples of that 4th-century BC technology, looking at engraved images that have survived. The earliest image showing
18018-449: The string with the stick of the bow, a technique called col legno . This yields a percussive sound along with the pitch of the note. A well-known use of col legno for orchestral strings is Gustav Holst 's "Mars" movement from The Planets suite. The aeolian harp employs a very unusual method of sound production: the strings are excited by the movement of the air. Some instruments that have strings have an attached keyboard that
18161-476: The strings from the fingerboard), lighter (thinner) strings, and its electrical amplification lend the electric guitar to techniques less frequently used on acoustic guitars. These include tapping , extensive use of legato through pull-offs and hammer-ons (also known as slurs), pinch harmonics , volume swells , and use of a tremolo arm or effects pedals . Some electric guitar models feature piezoelectric pickups, which function as transducers to provide
18304-542: The strings to the air within the guitar body. Sound is further shaped by the characteristics of the guitar body's resonant cavity. In expensive instruments, the entire body is made of wood. In inexpensive instruments, the back may be made of plastic. In an acoustic instrument, the body of the guitar is a major determinant of the overall sound quality. The guitar top, or soundboard, is a finely crafted and engineered element made of tonewoods such as spruce and red cedar . This thin piece of wood, often only 2 or 3 mm thick,
18447-419: The strings, or play them by rolling the bell of a brass instrument such as a trombone on the array of strings. However, these are relatively rarely used special techniques. Other keyed string instruments, small enough for a strolling musician to play, include the plucked autoharp , the bowed nyckelharpa , and the hurdy-gurdy, which is played by cranking a rosined wheel. Steel-stringed instruments (such as
18590-427: The strings. Physical properties of the thicker bass strings require them to be slightly longer than the treble strings to correct intonation . Reversing the strings, therefore, reverses the orientation of the saddle, adversely affecting intonation. The headstock is located at the end of the guitar neck farthest from the body. It is fitted with machine heads that adjust the tension of the strings, which in turn affects
18733-425: The strings. This is similar to the violin family of instruments where the dominant hand controls the bow. Left-handed players usually play a mirror image instrument manufactured especially for left-handed players. There are other options, some unorthodox, including learn to play a right-handed guitar as if the player is right-handed or playing an unmodified right-handed guitar reversed. Guitarist Jimi Hendrix played
18876-404: The technique used to make the strings vibrate (or by the primary technique, in the case of instruments where more than one may apply). The three most common techniques are plucking, bowing, and striking. An important difference between bowing and plucking is that in the former the phenomenon is periodic so that the overtones are kept in a strictly harmonic relationship to the fundamental. Plucking
19019-430: The top of the guitar under the strings. The air inside the body vibrates as the guitar top and body is vibrated by the strings, and the response of the air cavity at different frequencies is characterized, like the rest of the guitar body, by a number of resonance modes at which it responds more strongly. The top, back and ribs of an acoustic guitar body are very thin (1–2 mm), so a flexible piece of wood called lining
19162-550: The tuning machines are located elsewhere, either on the body or the bridge. The nut is a small strip of bone , plastic , brass , corian , graphite , stainless steel , or other medium-hard material, at the joint where the headstock meets the fretboard. Its grooves guide the strings onto the fretboard, giving consistent lateral string placement. It is one of the endpoints of the strings' vibrating length. It must be accurately cut, or it can contribute to tuning problems due to string slippage or string buzz. To reduce string friction in
19305-400: The two or three sections of the back. Binding and purfling materials are generally made of either wood or plastic. Body size, shape and style have changed over time. 19th-century guitars, now known as salon guitars, were smaller than modern instruments. Differing patterns of internal bracing have been used over time by luthiers. Torres, Hauser, Ramirez, Fleta, and C. F. Martin were among
19448-476: The type of neck construction (for example, the neck may be glued in or bolted on), and the shape (profile) of the back of the neck. Other types of material used to make guitar necks are graphite ( Steinberger guitars), aluminum ( Kramer Guitars , Travis Bean and Veleno guitars ), or carbon fiber ( Modulus Guitars and ThreeGuitars ). Double neck electric guitars have two necks, allowing the musician to quickly switch between guitar sounds. The neck joint or heel
19591-453: The vertex of the cone (Nationals), or a "spider" bridge, made of metal and mounted around the rim of the (inverted) cone (Dobros). Three-cone resonators always use a specialized metal bridge. The type of resonator guitar with a neck with a square cross-section—called "square neck" or "Hawaiian"—is usually played face up, on the lap of the seated player, and often with a metal or glass slide . The round neck resonator guitars are normally played in
19734-453: The vibration of the steel strings into signals , which are fed to an amplifier through a patch cable or radio transmitter . The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices ( effects units ) or the natural distortion of valves ( vacuum tubes ) or the pre-amp in the amplifier. There are two main types of magnetic pickups, single - and double-coil (or humbucker ), each of which can be passive or active . The electric guitar
19877-584: The volume, tone, and projection of the instrument, and it has remained essentially unchanged since. Guitars are often divided into two broad categories: acoustic and electric guitars . Within each category, there are further sub-categories that are nearly endless in quantity and are always evolving. For example, an electric guitar can be purchased in a six-string model (the most common model) or in seven- or twelve-string formats. An instruments overall design, internal construction and components, wood type or species, hardware and electronic appointments all add to
20020-484: Was defined as being an instrument having "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard , ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides." The term is used to refer to a number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe, beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas. A 3,300-year-old stone carving of a Hittite bard playing a stringed instrument is the oldest iconographic representation of
20163-471: Was developed in the 1840s by German-American luthiers, of whom Christian Friedrich "C. F." Martin is the best known. Originally used on gut-strung instruments, the strength of the system allowed the later guitars to withstand the additional tension of steel strings. Steel strings produce a brighter tone and a louder sound. The acoustic guitar is used in many kinds of music including folk, country, bluegrass, pop, jazz, and blues. Many variations are possible from
20306-564: Was engaged as conductor for the 2005–06 season and named music director in 2006. From the moment of his debut as assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1998, stepping in at short notice to conduct Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in place of an ailing Seiji Ozawa , Cortese's work with the Boston Symphony Orchestra was widely praised. His other appointments include music director and associate conductor of
20449-428: Was known to play more than the sixteen notes possible with four. The guitar's strings were tuned in unison, so, in other words, it was tuned by placing a finger on the second fret of the thinnest string and tuning the guitar bottom to top. The strings were a whole octave apart from one another, which is the reason for the different method of tuning. Because it was so different, there was major controversy as to who created
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