The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six 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 string ...
family used in
classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden
string
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
instrument with strings made of
gut
Gut or guts may refer to:
Anatomy
* Abdomen or belly, the region of a vertebrate between the chest and pelvis
* Abdominal obesity or "a gut", a large deposit of belly fat
* Gastrointestinal tract or gut, the system of digestive organs
* Ins ...
or
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...
, it is a precursor of the modern
acoustic and
electric guitars
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic g ...
, both of which use metal
strings. Classical guitars derive from the Spanish
vihuela
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
and
gittern
The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...
of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. Those instruments evolved into the seventeenth and eighteenth-century
baroque guitar
The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string.
History
The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lute ...
—and by the mid-nineteenth century, early forms of the modern classical guitar.
For a right-handed player, the traditional classical guitar has twelve frets clear of the body and is properly held up by the left leg, so that the hand that plucks or strums the strings does so near the back of the sound hole (this is called the classical position). However, the right-hand may move closer to the
fretboard
The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The st ...
to achieve different tonal qualities. The player typically holds the left leg higher by the use of a
foot rest
A footstool (foot stool, footrest, foot rest) is a piece of furniture or a support used to elevate the foot. There are two main types of footstool, which can be loosely categorized into those designed for comfort and those designed for functi ...
. The modern steel string guitar, on the other hand, usually has fourteen frets clear of the body (see
Dreadnought
The dreadnought (alternatively spelled dreadnaught) was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her ...
) and is commonly held with a strap around the neck and shoulder.
The phrase "classical guitar" may refer to either of two concepts other than the instrument itself:
* The instrumental finger technique common to classical guitar—individual strings plucked with the fingernails or, less frequently, fingertips
* The instrument's classical music repertoire
The term ''modern classical guitar'' sometimes distinguishes the classical guitar from older forms of guitar, which are in their broadest sense also called ''classical'', or more specifically, ''early guitars''. Examples of early guitars include the six-string early romantic guitar (c. 1790–1880), and the earlier baroque guitars with five
courses
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
.
The materials and the methods of classical guitar construction may vary, but the typical shape is either ''modern classical guitar'' or that ''historic classical guitar'' similar to the early romantic guitars of France and Italy.
Classical guitar strings
Classical guitar strings are strings manufactured for use on classical guitars. While steel-string acoustic guitar strings and electric guitar strings are made of metal, modern classical guitar strings are made of nylon and nylon wound with wi ...
once made of
gut
Gut or guts may refer to:
Anatomy
* Abdomen or belly, the region of a vertebrate between the chest and pelvis
* Abdominal obesity or "a gut", a large deposit of belly fat
* Gastrointestinal tract or gut, the system of digestive organs
* Ins ...
are now made of materials such as
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...
or
fluoropolymer
A fluoropolymer is a fluorocarbon-based polymer with multiple carbon–fluorine bonds. It is characterized by a high resistance to solvents, acids, and bases. The best known fluoropolymer is polytetrafluoroethylene under the brand name "Teflon, ...
s, typically with silver-plated copper fine wire wound about the acoustically lower (d-A-E in standard tuning) strings.
A guitar family tree may be identified. The
flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the cl ...
derives from the modern classical, but has differences in material, construction and sound.
Today's ''modern classical guitar'' was established by the late designs of the 19th-century Spanish
luthier
A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of ...
,
Antonio Torres Jurado
Antonio de Torres Jurado (13 June 1817 – 19 November 1892) was a Spanish guitarist and luthier, and "the most important Spanish guitar maker of the 19th century."
It is with his designs that the first recognisably modern classical guitars are ...
.
Contexts
The classical guitar has a long history and one is able to distinguish various:
*
instruments
Instrument may refer to:
Science and technology
* Flight instruments, the devices used to measure the speed, altitude, and pertinent flight angles of various kinds of aircraft
* Laboratory equipment, the measuring tools used in a scientific l ...
*
repertoire
A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform.
Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a ...
(composers and their compositions,
arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...
s, improvisations)
Both instrument and repertoire can be viewed from a combination of various perspectives:
Historical (chronological period of time)
*
Baroque guitar
The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string.
History
The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lute ...
– 1600 to 1750
*
Early romantic guitars – 1750 to 1850 (for music from the
Classical and
Romantic
Romantic may refer to:
Genres and eras
* The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries
** Romantic music, of that era
** Romantic poetry, of that era
** Romanticism in science, of that e ...
periods)
*Modern classical guitars
Geographical
*Spanish guitars (
Torres) and French guitars (
René Lacôte, ...), etc.
Cultural
*Baroque court music, nineteenth-century opera and its influences, nineteenth-century folk songs, Latin American music
Historical perspective
Early guitars

While "classical guitar" is today mainly associated with the modern classical guitar design, there is an increasing interest in early guitars; and understanding the link between historical repertoire and the particular period guitar that was originally used to perform this repertoire. The musicologist and author Graham Wade writes:
Nowadays it is customary to play this repertoire on reproductions of instruments authentically modelled on concepts of musicological research with appropriate adjustments to techniques and overall interpretation. Thus over recent decades we have become accustomed to specialist artists with expertise in the art of vihuela (a 16th-century type of guitar popular in Spain), lute, Baroque guitar, 19th-century guitar, etc.
Different types of guitars have different sound aesthetics, e.g. different colour-spectrum characteristics (the way the sound energy is spread in the fundamental frequency and the
overtones
An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...
), different response, etc. These differences are due to differences in construction; for example, modern classical guitars usually use a different bracing (fan-bracing) from that used in earlier guitars (they had ladder-bracing); and a different voicing was used by the luthier.
There is a historical parallel between musical styles (baroque, classical, romantic, flamenco, jazz) and the style of "sound aesthetic" of the musical instruments used, for example:
Robert de Visée
Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar.
Biography
Robert de Visée's ...
played a baroque guitar with a very different sound aesthetic from the guitars used by
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century.
Biography
Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's center ...
and
Luigi Legnani – they used 19th-century guitars. These guitars in turn sound different from the Torres models used by Segovia that are suited for interpretations of romantic-modern works such as
Moreno Torroba.
When considering the guitar from a historical perspective, the musical instrument used is as important as the musical language and style of the particular period. As an example: It is impossible to play a historically informed de Visee or Corbetta (baroque guitarist-composers) on a modern classical guitar. The reason is that the baroque guitar used courses, which are two strings close together (in unison), that are plucked together. This gives baroque guitars an unmistakable sound characteristic and tonal texture that is an integral part of an interpretation. Additionally, the sound aesthetic of the baroque guitar (with its strong overtone presence) is very different from modern classical type guitars, as is shown below.
Today's use of Torres and post-Torres type guitars for repertoire of all periods is sometimes critically viewed: Torres and post-Torres style modern guitars (with their fan-bracing and design) have a thick and strong tone, very suitable for modern-era repertoire. However, they are considered to emphasize the fundamental too heavily (at the expense of overtone partials) for earlier repertoire (Classical/Romantic: Carulli, Sor, Giuliani, Mertz, ...; Baroque: de Visee, ...; etc.). "Andrés Segovia presented the Spanish guitar as a versatile model for all playing styles"
to the extent, that still today, "many guitarists have tunnel-vision of the world of the guitar, coming from the modern Segovia tradition".

While fan-braced modern classical Torres and post-Torres style instruments coexisted with traditional ladder-braced guitars at the beginning of the 20th century, the older forms eventually fell away. Some attribute this to the popularity of
Segovia
Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia.
Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes o ...
, considering him "the catalyst for change toward the Spanish design and the so-called 'modern' school in the 1920s and beyond."
[Early Classical Guitar and Early Romantic Guitar Time Period](_blank)
by earlyromanticguitar.com The styles of music performed on ladder-braced guitars were becoming unfashionable—and, e.g., in Germany, more musicians were turning towards folk music (Schrammel-music and the
Contraguitar). This was localized in Germany and Austria and became unfashionable again. On the other hand, Segovia was playing concerts around the world, popularizing modern classical guitar—and, in the 1920s, Spanish romantic-modern style with guitar works by Moreno Torroba, de Falla, etc.
The 19th-century classical guitarist
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and '' Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often calle ...
first popularized the Torres design as a classical solo instrument. However, some maintain that Segovia's influence led to its domination over other designs. Factories around the world began producing them in large numbers.
Characteristics
*Vihuela, renaissance guitars and baroque guitars have a bright sound, rich in overtones, and their courses (double strings) give the sound a very particular texture.
*Early guitars of the classical and romantic period (early romantic guitars) have single strings, but their design and voicing are still such that they have their tonal energy more in the overtones (but without starved fundamental), giving a bright intimate tone.
*Later in Spain a style of music emerged that favoured a stronger fundamental:
"With the change of music a stronger fundamental was demanded and the fan bracing system was approached. ... the guitar tone has been changed from a transparent tone, rich in higher partials to a more 'broad' tone with a strong fundamental."
*Thus modern guitars with fan bracing (fan strutting) have a design and voicing that gives them a thick, heavy sound, with far more tonal energy found in the fundamental.
Style periods
Renaissance
Composers of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...
period who wrote for four-course guitar include
Alonso Mudarra
Alonso Mudarra (c. 1510 – April 1, 1580) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance, and also played the vihuela, a guitar-shaped string instrument. He was an innovative composer of instrumental music as well as songs, and was the composer ...
,
Miguel de Fuenllana
Miguel de Fuenllana (c.1500–1579) was a Spanish vihuelist and composer of the Renaissance.
Biography
Little is known of his life. It is assumed from his name that his roots lie in the municipality of Fuenllana, in the province of Ciudad R ...
,
Adrian Le Roy
Adrian Le Roy (c.1520–1598) was an influential French music publisher, lutenist, mandore player, guitarist, composer and music educator.
Life
Le Roy was born in the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer in northern France to a wealthy family. Very little i ...
, ,
Guillaume de Morlaye Guillaume de Morlaye (c.1510–c.1558) was a French Renaissance era lutenist, composer and music publisher. He was a pupil of Albert de Rippe and lived and worked in Paris. In 1552 he received a ten-year license to publish music from Henry II, ...
, and .
;Instrument
Four-course guitar
Baroque
Some well known composers of the
Baroque guitar were
Gaspar Sanz
Francisco Bartolomé Sanz Celma (April 4, 1640 (baptized) – 1710), better known as Gaspar Sanz, was a Spanish composer, guitarist, and priest born to a wealthy family in Calanda in the comarca of Bajo Aragón, Spain. He studied music, theolog ...
,
Robert de Visée
Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar.
Biography
Robert de Visée's ...
,
Francesco Corbetta
Francesco Corbetta (ca. 1615 – 1681, in French also Francisque Corbette) was an Italian guitar virtuoso, teacher and composer. Along with his compatriots Giovanni Paolo Foscarini and Angelo Michele Bartolotti, he was a pioneer and exponent of ...
and
Santiago de Murcia
Santiago de Murcia (25 July 1673 – 25 April 1739) was a Spanish guitarist and composer.
Biography
Until new research was published in 2008, few details about the life of Santiago de Murcia were known. However, it is now known that he was born ...
.
;Examples of instruments
*Baroque guitar by
Nicolas Alexandre Voboam II: This French instrument has the typical design of the period with five courses of double-strings and a flat back.
*Baroque guitar attributed to Matteo Sellas : This Italian instrument has five courses and a rounded back.
Classical and romantic
From approximately 1780 to 1850, the guitar had numerous composers and performers including:
*
Filippo Gragnani (1767–1820)
*
Antoine de Lhoyer
Antoine de Lhoyer 'Hoyer(6 September 1768 – 15 March 1852) was a French virtuoso classical guitarist and an eminent early romantic composer of mainly chamber music featuring the classical guitar. Lhoyer also had a notable military career; he was ...
(1768–1852)
*
Ferdinando Carulli
Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli (9 February 1770 – 17 February 1841) was an Italian composer for classical guitar and the author of the influential ''Méthode complète pour guitare ou lyre'', op. 27 (1810), which ...
(1770–1841)
*
Wenzel Thomas Matiegka
Wenzel Thomas Matiegka (Czech: ''Václav Tomáš Matějka''; baptized 6 July 1773 – 19 January 1830) was a Czech composer and one of the most celebrated guitarists of the 19th century.
Life
Wenzel Thomas Matiegka was born in the town of Choce� ...
(1773–1830)
*
Francesco Molino (1774–1847)
*
Fernando Sor
Fernando Sor (bapt. 14 Feb. 1778, died 10 July 1839) was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer of the Early Romantic era. Best known for writing solo classical guitar music, he also composed an opera (at the age of 19), three symphonies ...
(1778–1839)
c. 1780–1850)
*
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century.
Biography
Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's center ...
(1781–1829)
*
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices f ...
(1782–1840)
*
Dionisio Aguado Dionisio, a variant of Dionysius, may refer to:
People Given name
* Dionisio Lazzari (1617-1689), Italian sculptor and architect
* Dionisio Aguado y García (1784-1849), Spanish classical guitarist and composer
* Papa Isio (1846-1911), Dionisio ...
(1784–1849)
*
Luigi Legnani (1790–1877)
*
Matteo Carcassi
Matteo Carcassi (8 April 1796 – 16 January 1853)Raffaele Carpino, Mario dell'Ara: "Matteo Carcassi. Un nuovo aggiornamento biografico", in: ''Il Fronimo'' no. 184 (2018), p. 5–9. was an Italian guitarist and composer.
Life
Carcassi was born i ...
(1792–1853)
*
Napoléon Coste
Claude Antoine Jean Georges Napoléon Coste (27 June 1805 – 14 January 1883) was a French classical guitarist and composer.
Biography
Napoléon Coste was born in Amondans (Doubs), near Besançon, France. He was first taught the guitar by his ...
(1805–1883)
*
Johann Kaspar Mertz
Joseph Kaspar Mertz (in hu, Mertz János Gáspár) (17 August 1806 – 14 October 1856) was an Austro-Hungarian guitarist and composer.
Biography
Caspar Joseph Mertz (baptised Casparus Josephus Mertz) was born in Pressburg, now Bratislava (Slov ...
(1806–1856)
*
Giulio Regondi
Giulio Regondi (1822 – 6 May 1872) was a Swiss-born classical guitarist, concertinist and composer active in France and (mainly) the United Kingdom.
Regondi was born of a German mother and an Italian father in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1831 ...
(1822–1872)
Hector Berlioz
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
studied the guitar as a teenager;
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
owned at least two and wrote for the instrument; and
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
, after hearing Giuliani play, commented the instrument was "a miniature orchestra in itself".
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò (or Nicolò) Paganini (; 27 October 178227 May 1840) was an Italian violinist and composer. He was the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique. His 24 Caprices f ...
was also a guitar virtuoso and composer. He once wrote: "I love the guitar for its harmony; it is my constant companion in all my travels". He also said, on another occasion: "I do not like this instrument, but regard it simply as a way of helping me to think."
Francisco Tárrega
The guitarist and composer
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and '' Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often calle ...
(November 21, 1852 – December 15, 1909) was one of the great guitar virtuosos and teachers and is considered the father of modern classical guitar playing. As a professor of guitar at the conservatories of Madrid and Barcelona, he defined many elements of the modern classical technique and elevated the importance of the guitar in the classical music tradition.
Modern period
At the beginning of the 1920s,
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students.
Segovia's contribution to the m ...
popularized the guitar with tours and early phonograph recordings. Segovia collaborated with the composers
Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba (3 March 189112 September 1982) was a Spanish composer, conductor, and theatrical impresario. He is especially remembered for his important contributions to the classical guitar repertoire, becoming one of the leading tw ...
and
Joaquín Turina
Joaquín Turina Pérez (9 December 188214 January 1949) was a Spanish composer of classical music.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' online (2014)"Joaquín Turina"/ref>
Biography
Turina was born in Seville. He studied in Seville as well as in Madri ...
with the aim of extending the guitar repertoire with new music. Segovia's tour of South America revitalized public interest in the guitar and helped the guitar music of
Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a mostly forgotten traditi ...
and
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...
reach a wider audience. The composers
Alexandre Tansman
Alexander Tansman ( pl, Aleksander Tansman, link=no, French: Alexandre Tansman; 12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of ...
and
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...
were commissioned by Segovia to write new pieces for the guitar.
Luiz Bonfá
Luiz Floriano Bonfá (17 October 1922 – 12 January 2001) was a Brazilian guitarist and composer. He was best known for the music he composed for the film ''Black Orpheus''.
Biography
Luiz Floriano Bonfá was born on October 17, 1922, in R ...
popularized Brazilian musical styles such as the newly created Bossa Nova, which was well-received by audiences in the USA.
"New music" – avant-garde
The classical guitar repertoire also includes modern contemporary works – sometimes termed "New Music" – such as
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernism (music), modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism a ...
's ''Changes'',
Cristóbal Halffter
Cristóbal Halffter Jiménez-Encina (24 March 1930 – 23 May 2021) was a Spanish classical composer. He was the nephew of two other composers, Rodolfo and Ernesto Halffter and is regarded as the most important Spanish composer of the gene ...
's ''Codex I'',
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering wo ...
's ''
Sequenza XI
''Sequenza XI'' for solo guitar (1987–1988) is one of a series of Sequenzas by Luciano Berio. Written for the American guitarist Eliot Fisk, it is an innovative investigation into the dramatic and virtuosic possibilities of musical performance.
...
'',
Maurizio Pisati
Maurizio Pisati (born in Milan in 1959) is an Italian musician and composer.
He composes and performs his works with his group ZONE. He founded the LArecords label in 1997, he is artistic director of pactaSOUNDzone festival in Milan, and leads C ...
's ''Sette Studi'',
Maurice Ohana
Maurice Ohana (12 June 1913 – 13 November 1992) was a French composer. Ohana's output includes choral works, string quartets, suites for ten-string guitar, a ''Tiento'' for six-string guitar, and operas.
Life and career
Ohana was born in Casab ...
's ''Si Le Jour Paraît'',
Sylvano Bussotti
Sylvano Bussotti (1 October 1931 – 19 September 2021) was an Italian composer of contemporary classical music, also a painter, set and costume designer, opera director and manager, writer and academic teacher. His compositions employ graphic n ...
's ''Rara (eco sierologico)'',
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a stud ...
's ''Suite für Guitarre allein, Op. 164'',
Franco Donatoni
Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer.
Biography
Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...
's ''Algo: Due pezzi per chitarra'', Paolo Coggiola's ''Variazioni Notturne'', etc.
Performers who are known for including modern repertoire include Jürgen Ruck, Elena Càsoli,
Leo Brouwer
Juan Leovigildo Brouwer Mezquida (born March 1, 1939) is a Cuban composer, conductor, and classical guitarist. He is a Member of Honour of the International Music Council.
Family
He is the grandson of Cuban composer Ernestina Lecuona y Casa ...
(when he was still performing),
John Schneider,
Reinbert Evers,
Maria Kämmerling
Maria Kämmerling (born 20 February 1946) is a German classical guitarist.Maurice J. Summerfield: ''The Classical Guitar. Its Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1800'', 5th edition (Blaydon-on-Tyne: Ashley Mark Publishing Co., 2002), p. 16 ...
,
Siegfried Behrend,
David Starobin
David Starobin (born September 27, 1951) is a highly honored figure in the world of classical guitar. Called "arguably the most influential American classical guitarist of the 20th century" ('' Soundboard''),
Starobin was born in New York City. ...
,
Mats Scheidegger Mats Scheidegger (born 1963 in Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated ...
,
Magnus Andersson, etc.
This type of repertoire is usually performed by guitarists who have particularly chosen to focus on the avant-garde in their performances.
Within the contemporary music scene itself, there are also works which are generally regarded as extreme. These include works such as
Brian Ferneyhough
Brian John Peter Ferneyhough (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer. Ferneyhough is typically considered the central figure of the New Complexity movement. Ferneyhough has taught composition at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and ...
's ''Kurze Schatten II'',
Sven-David Sandström
Sven-David Sandström (30 October 1942, in Motala – 10 June 2019) was a Swedish classical composer of operas, oratorios, ballets, and choral works, as well as orchestral works.
Life and career
Sandström studied art history and musicology at ...
's ''away from'' and
Rolf Riehm
Rolf Riehm (born 15 June 1937) is a German composer who wrote stage and orchestral works as well as music for ensembles and solo instruments. He began as an oboist and music teacher and was later a professor of music theory at the Hochschule f� ...
's ''Toccata Orpheus'' etc. which are notorious for their extreme difficulty.
There are also a variety of databases documenting modern guitar works such a
Sheer Pluckand others.
Background
The evolution of the classical guitar and its repertoire spans more than four centuries. It has a history that was shaped by contributions from earlier instruments, such as the lute, the vihuela, and the baroque guitar.
History
Overview of the classical guitar's history
The origins of the modern guitar are not known with certainty. Some believe it is indigenous to Europe, while others think it is an imported instrument. Guitar-like instruments appear in ancient carvings and statues recovered from Egyptian, Sumerian, and Babylonian civilizations. This means that the contemporary Iranian instruments such as the
tanbur
The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the '' New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a comp ...
and
setar
A setar ( fa, سهتار, ) is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half oct ...
are distantly related to the European guitar, as they all derive ultimately from the same ancient origins, but by very different historical routes and influences.
During the late
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
,
gittern
The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...
s called "guitars" were in use, but their construction and tuning was different from modern guitars. The ''
guitarra latina
The guitarra latina is a plucked string instrument of the Medieval period in Europe. It has single string courses, and it is normally played with a pick. This gittern or citole with curved sides is illustrated in the medieval musical text the Can ...
'' in Spain had curved sides and a single hole. The ''
guitarra morisca
The Guitarra morisca or Mandora medieval is a plucked string instrument. It is a lute that has a bulging belly and a headstock as sickle. Part of that characterization came from a c. 1330 poem, ''Libro de buen amor'' by Juan Ruiz, arcipestre de ...
'', which appears to have had
Moorish
The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a distinct or ...
influences, had an oval soundbox and many sound holes on its soundboard. By the 15th century, a four-course double-string instrument called the ''
vihuela de mano
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
'', that had tuning like the later modern guitar except on one string and similar construction, first appeared in Spain and spread to France and Italy. In the 16th century, a fifth double-string was added. During this time, composers wrote mostly in tablature notation. In the middle of the 16th century, influences from the vihuela and the Renaissance guitar were combined and the baroque five-string guitar appeared in Spain. The baroque guitar quickly superseded the vihuela in popularity in Spain, France and Italy and Italian players and composers became prominent. In the late 18th century the six-string guitar quickly became popular at the expense of the five-string guitars. During the 19th century the Spanish luthier and player
Antonio de Torres
Antonio de Torres Jurado (13 June 1817 – 19 November 1892) was a Spanish guitarist and luthier, and "the most important Spanish guitar maker of the 19th century."
It is with his designs that the first recognisably modern classical guitars are ...
gave the modern classical guitar its definitive form, with a broadened body, increased waist curve, thinned belly, improved internal bracing. The modern classical guitar replaced an older form for the accompaniment of song and dance called
flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
, and a modified version, known as the
flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the cl ...
, was created.
Renaissance guitar
Alonso de Mudarra's book ''Tres Libros de Música'', published in Spain in 1546, contains the earliest known written pieces for a four-course guitarra. This four-course "guitar" was popular in France, Spain, and Italy. In France this instrument gained popularity among aristocrats. A considerable volume of music was published in Paris from the 1550s to the 1570s:
Simon Gorlier
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
's Le Troysième Livre... mis en tablature de Guiterne was published in 1551. In 1551
Adrian Le Roy
Adrian Le Roy (c.1520–1598) was an influential French music publisher, lutenist, mandore player, guitarist, composer and music educator.
Life
Le Roy was born in the town of Montreuil-sur-Mer in northern France to a wealthy family. Very little i ...
also published his Premier Livre de Tablature de Guiterne, and in the same year he also published Briefve et facile instruction pour apprendre la tablature a bien accorder, conduire, et disposer la main sur la Guiterne. Robert Ballard, Grégoire Brayssing from Augsburg, and Guillaume Morlaye (c. 1510 – c. 1558) significantly contributed to its repertoire. Morlaye's Le Premier Livre de Chansons, Gaillardes, Pavannes, Bransles, Almandes, Fantasies – which has a four-course instrument illustrated on its title page – was published in partnership with Michel Fedenzat, and among other music, they published six books of tablature by lutenist Albert de Rippe (who was very likely Guillaume's teacher).
Vihuela
The written history of the classical guitar can be traced back to the early 16th century with the development of the ''
vihuela
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
'' in Spain. While the lute was then becoming popular in other parts of Europe, the Spaniards did not take to it well because of its association with the Moors. Instead, the lute-like vihuela appeared with two more strings that gave it more range and complexity. In its most developed form, the vihuela was a guitar-like instrument with six double strings made of gut, tuned like a modern classical guitar with the exception of the third string, which was tuned half a step lower. It has a high sound and is rather large to hold. Few have survived and most of what is known today come from diagrams and paintings.
Baroque guitar
"Early romantic guitar" or "Guitar during the Classical music era"
The earliest extant six-string guitar is believed to have been built in 1779 by
Gaetano Vinaccia
Gaetano (anglicized ''Cajetan'') is an Italian masculine given name. It is also used as a surname. It is derived from the Latin ''Caietanus'', meaning "from ''Caieta''" (the modern Gaeta). The given name has been in use in Italy since medieval pe ...
(1759 – after 1831) in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
; however, the date on the label is a little ambiguous. The Vinaccia family of luthiers is known for developing the
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
. This guitar has been examined and does not show tell-tale signs of modifications from a double-course guitar.
The authenticity of guitars allegedly produced before the 1790s is often in question. This also corresponds to when Moretti's 6-string method appeared, in 1792.
Modern classical guitar

The modern classical guitar (also known as the "Spanish guitar"), the immediate forerunner of today's guitars, was developed in the 19th century by
Antonio de Torres Jurado
Antonio de Torres Jurado (13 June 1817 – 19 November 1892) was a Spanish guitarist and luthier, and "the most important Spanish guitar maker of the 19th century."
It is with his designs that the first recognisably modern classical guitars are ...
,
Ignacio Fleta
Ignacio Fleta Pescador (31 July 1897 – 11 August 1977) was a Spanish luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as guitars, violins, cellos, violas, as well as historical instruments. Fleta is widely regarded as one of the foremost clas ...
,
Hermann Hauser Sr., and Robert Bouchet.
Technique
The fingerstyle is used fervently on the modern classical guitar. The thumb traditionally plucks the bass – or
root note
In music theory, the concept of root is the idea that a chord can be represented and named by one of its notes. It is linked to harmonic thinking—the idea that vertical aggregates of notes can form a single unit, a chord. It is in this sense ...
– whereas the fingers ring the melody and its accompanying parts. Often classical guitar technique involves the use of the nails of the right hand to pluck the notes. Noted players were:
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and '' Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often calle ...
,
Emilio Pujol
Emilio Pujol Vilarrubí (or ''Emili''; 10 September 1886 – 21 November 1980) was a Spanish composer, guitarist and a leading teacher of the classical guitar.
Biography
Emili Pujol was born in the little village of Granadella just outside Ll ...
,
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students.
Segovia's contribution to the m ...
,
Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...
,
Agustín Barrios
Agustín Pío Barrios (also known as Agustín Barrios Mangoré and Nitsuga—Agustin spelled backward—Mangoré; May 5, 1885 – August 7, 1944) was a Paraguayan virtuoso classical guitarist and composer, largely regarded as one of the greatest p ...
, and
John Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams (born 24 April 1941) is an Australian virtuosic classical guitarist renowned for his ensemble playing as well as his interpretation and promotion of the modern classical guitar repertoire. In 1973, he shared a Grammy ...
.
Performance
The modern classical guitar is usually played in a seated position, with the instrument resting on the left lap – and the left foot placed on a footstool. Alternatively – if a footstool is not used – a ''guitar support'' can be placed between the guitar and the left lap (the support usually attaches to the instrument's side with
suction cup
A suction cup, also known as a sucker, is a device or object that uses the negative fluid pressure of air or water to adhere to nonporous surfaces, creating a partial vacuum.
Suction cups are peripheral traits of some animals such as octop ...
s). (There are of course exceptions, with some performers choosing to hold the instrument another way.)
Right-handed players use the fingers of the right hand to pluck the strings, with the thumb plucking from the top of a string downwards (downstroke) and the other fingers plucking from the bottom of the string upwards (upstroke). The little finger in classical technique as it evolved in the 20th century is used only to ride along with the ring finger without striking the strings and to thus physiologically facilitate the ring finger's motion.
In contrast,
Flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
technique, and classical compositions evoking Flamenco, employ the little finger semi-independently in the Flamenco four-finger
rasgueado
Rasgueado (also called Rageo (spelled so or Rajeo), Rasgueo or Rasgeo in Andalusian dialect and flamenco jargon, or even occasionally Rasqueado) is a guitar finger strumming technique commonly associated with flamenco guitar music. It is also us ...
, that rapid strumming of the string by the fingers in reverse order employing the back of the fingernail—a familiar characteristic of Flamenco.
Flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
technique, in the performance of the rasgueado also uses the upstroke of the four fingers and the downstroke of the thumb: the string is hit not only with the inner, fleshy side of the fingertip but also with the outer, fingernail side. This was also used in a technique of the
vihuela
The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
called
dedillo which has recently begun to be introduced on the classical guitar.
Some modern guitarists, such as
Štěpán Rak
Štěpán Rak (born 8 August 1945) is a Rusyn, Ukraine-born Czech classical guitarist and composer. He is well known for the technical innovations that he uses in his compositions.
Biography
Rak first studied at a Fine Arts School in Prague a ...
and
Kazuhito Yamashita is a Japanese classical guitarist and husband of the composer Keiko Fujiie. His technique and expression are highly acclaimed. By the age of 32, Yamashita had already released 52 albums, including repertoires for solo guitar, guitar concertos, cha ...
, use the little finger independently, compensating for the little finger's shortness by maintaining an extremely long fingernail. Rak and Yamashita have also generalized the use of the upstroke of the four fingers and the downstroke of the thumb (the same technique as in the rasgueado of the
Flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
: as explained above the string is hit not only with the inner, fleshy side of the fingertip but also with the outer, fingernail side) both as a free stroke and as a rest stroke.
Direct contact with strings
As with other plucked instruments (such as the lute), the musician directly touches the strings (usually plucking) to produce the sound. This has important consequences: Different tone/
timbre
In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and music ...
(of a single note) can be produced by plucking the string in different manners (
apoyando Apoyando ("supporting") is a method of plucking used in both classical guitar and flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like ...
or
tirando
Tirando is a method of plucking used in classical guitar and flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guita ...
) and in different positions (such as closer and further away from the guitar bridge). For example, plucking an open string will sound brighter than playing the same note(s) on a fretted position (which would have a warmer tone).
The instrument's versatility means it can create a variety of tones, but this finger-picking style also makes the instrument harder to learn than a standard acoustic guitar's strumming technique.
Fingering notation
In guitar ''scores'' the five fingers of the right-hand (which pluck the strings) are designated by the first letter of their Spanish names namely p = thumb (''pulgar''), i = index finger (''índice''), m = middle finger (''mayor''), a = ring finger (''anular''), c = little finger or pinky (''meñique/chiquito'')
The four fingers of the left hand (which fret the strings) are designated 1 = index, 2 = major, 3 = ring finger, 4 = little finger. 0 designates an open string—a string not stopped by a finger and whose full length thus vibrates when plucked. It is rare to use the left hand thumb in performance, the neck of a classical guitar being too wide for comfort, and normal technique keeps the thumb behind the neck. However Johann Kaspar Mertz, for example, is notable for specifying the thumb to fret bass notes on the sixth string, notated with an up arrowhead (⌃).
Scores (contrary to ''tablatures'') do not systematically indicate the string to pluck (though the choice is usually obvious). When indicating the string is useful, the score uses the numbers 1 to 6 inside circles (highest-pitch sting to lowest).
Scores don't systematically indicate fretboard positions (where to put the first finger of the fretting hand), but when helpful (mostly with barrés chords) the score indicates positions with Roman numerals from the first position I (index finger on the 1st fret: F-B flat-E flat-A flat-C-F) to the twelfth position XII (index finger on the 12th fret: E-A-D-G-B-E. The 12th fret is where the body begins) or even higher up to position XIX (the classical guitar most often having 19 frets, with the 19th fret being most often split and not being usable to fret the 3rd and 4th strings).
Alternation
To achieve tremolo effects and rapid, fluent scale passages, the player must practice alternation, that is, never plucking a string with the same finger twice in a row.
Using p to indicate the thumb, i the index finger, m the middle finger and a the ring finger, common alternation patterns include:
* ''i-m-i-m'' : Basic melody line on the treble strings. Has the appearance of "walking along the strings". This is often used for playing
Scale (music)
In music theory, a scale is any set of musical notes ordered by fundamental frequency or pitch. A scale ordered by increasing pitch is an ascending scale, and a scale ordered by decreasing pitch is a descending scale.
Often, especially in t ...
passages.
* ''p-i-m-a-i-m-a'' : Arpeggio pattern example. However, there are many arpeggio patterns incorporated into the classical guitar repertoire.
* ''p-a-m-i-p-a-m-i'' : Classical guitar tremolo pattern.
* ''p-m-p-m'' : A way of playing a melody line on the lower strings.
Repertoire
Music written specifically for the classical guitar dates from the addition of the sixth string (the baroque guitar normally had five pairs of strings) in the late 18th century.
A guitar recital may include a variety of works, e.g., works written originally for the lute or vihuela by composers such as
John Dowland
John Dowland (c. 1563 – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", " Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe" ...
(b. England 1563) and
Luis de Narváez
Luis de Narváez (fl. 1526–1549) was a Spanish composer and vihuelist. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Narváez is known today for '' Los seys libros del Delphín'', a collection of polyphonic music for the vihuela which includes the earl ...
(b. Spain c. 1500), and also music written for the harpsichord by
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, also known as Domingo or Doménico Scarlatti (26 October 1685-23 July 1757), was an Italian composer. He is classified primarily as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the devel ...
(b. Italy 1685), for the baroque lute by
Sylvius Leopold Weiss
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (12 October 168716 October 1750) was a German composer and lutenist.
Born in Grottkau near Breslau, the son of Johann Jacob Weiss, also a lutenist, he served at courts in Breslau, Rome, and Dresden, where he died. Until ...
(b. Germany 1687), for the baroque guitar by
Robert de Visée
Robert de Visée (c. 1655 – 1732/1733) was a French lutenist, guitarist, theorbist and viol player at the court of the kings Louis XIV and Louis XV, as well as a singer and composer for lute, theorbo and guitar.
Biography
Robert de Visée's ...
(b. France c. 1650) or even Spanish-flavored music written for the piano by
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...
(b. Spain 1860) and
Enrique Granados
Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enric Granados in Catalan or Enrique Granados in Spanish, was a composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catalonia, Spain. ...
(b. Spain 1867). The most important composer who did not write for the guitar but whose music is often played on it is
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
(b. Germany 1685), whose baroque lute works have proved highly adaptable to the instrument.
Of music written originally for guitar, the earliest important composers are from the classical period and include
Fernando Sor
Fernando Sor (bapt. 14 Feb. 1778, died 10 July 1839) was a Spanish classical guitarist and composer of the Early Romantic era. Best known for writing solo classical guitar music, he also composed an opera (at the age of 19), three symphonies ...
(b. Spain 1778) and
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century.
Biography
Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's center ...
(b. Italy 1781), both of whom wrote in a style strongly influenced by Viennese classicism. In the 19th-century guitar composers such as
Johann Kaspar Mertz
Joseph Kaspar Mertz (in hu, Mertz János Gáspár) (17 August 1806 – 14 October 1856) was an Austro-Hungarian guitarist and composer.
Biography
Caspar Joseph Mertz (baptised Casparus Josephus Mertz) was born in Pressburg, now Bratislava (Slov ...
(b. Slovakia, Austria 1806) were strongly influenced by the dominance of the piano. Not until the end of the nineteenth century did the guitar begin to establish its own unique identity.
Francisco Tárrega
Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and '' Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often calle ...
(b. Spain 1852) was central to this, sometimes incorporating stylized aspects of flamenco's Moorish influences into his romantic miniatures. This was part of late 19th century mainstream European musical nationalism. Albéniz and Granados were central to this movement; their evocation of the guitar was so successful that their compositions have been absorbed into the standard guitar repertoire.
The steel-string and electric guitars characteristic to the rise of rock and roll in the post-WWII era became more widely played in North America and the English-speaking world.
Agustín Barrios Mangoré
Agustín is a Spanish given name and sometimes a surname. It is related to Augustín. People with the name include:
Given name
* Agustín (footballer), Spanish footballer
* Agustín Calleri (born 1976), Argentine tennis player
* Agustín C� ...
of
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
composed many works and brought into the mainstream the characteristics of Latin American music, as did the Brazilian composer
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...
. Andrés Segovia commissioned works from Spanish composers such as
Federico Moreno Torroba
Federico Moreno Torroba (3 March 189112 September 1982) was a Spanish composer, conductor, and theatrical impresario. He is especially remembered for his important contributions to the classical guitar repertoire, becoming one of the leading tw ...
and
Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez (; 22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999), was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the '' Concierto de Aranjuez'', a cornerstone of the classical ...
, Italians such as
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...
and Latin American composers such as
Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a mostly forgotten traditi ...
of Mexico. Other prominent Latin American composers are
Leo Brouwer
Juan Leovigildo Brouwer Mezquida (born March 1, 1939) is a Cuban composer, conductor, and classical guitarist. He is a Member of Honour of the International Music Council.
Family
He is the grandson of Cuban composer Ernestina Lecuona y Casa ...
of Cuba,
Antonio Lauro
Antonio Lauro (August 3, 1917 – April 18, 1986) was a Venezuelan musician, considered to be one of the foremost South American composers for the guitar in the 20th century.
Biography
Antonio Lauro was born in Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela. H ...
of Venezuela and
Enrique Solares of Guatemala.
Julian Bream
Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...
of Britain managed to get nearly every British composer from
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the canta ...
and
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
to
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music.
As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Mus ...
to write significant works for guitar. Bream's collaborations with tenor
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years.
Pears' musical career started ...
also resulted in
song cycles
A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle, of individually complete songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online''
The songs are either for solo voice or an ensemble, or rarely ...
by Britten,
Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer.
Biography
Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Char ...
and others. There are significant works by composers such as
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as ...
of Germany,
Gilbert Biberian
Gilbert Biberian (born 19 February 1944, died 27 January 2023) was a British guitarist and composer.
Born in Istanbul, Turkey of Greek-Armenian heritage. Biberian's ethnic roots was integral to his compositions. He studied at Trinity College of ...
of England and
Roland Chadwick
Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...
of Australia.
The classical guitar also became widely used in popular music and rock & roll in the 1960s after guitarist
Mason Williams
Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental " Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on '' The Smothers Brother ...
popularized the instrument in his instrumental hit
Classical Gas
"Classical Gas" is an instrumental musical piece composed and originally performed by American guitarist Mason Williams with instrumental backing by members of the Wrecking Crew. Originally released in 1968 on the album '' The Mason Williams P ...
. Guitarist
Christopher Parkening
Christopher William Parkening (born December 14, 1947) is an American classical guitarist. He holds the Chair of Classical Guitar at Pepperdine University under the title Distinguished Professor of Music.
Biography
Parkening was born in Los Angel ...
is quoted in the book ''Classical Gas: The Music of Mason Williams'' as saying that it is the most requested guitar piece besides Malagueña and perhaps the best-known instrumental guitar piece today.
In the field of
New Flamenco
New flamenco (or ''nuevo flamenco'') or flamenco fusion is a musical genre that was born in Spain, starting in the 1980s. It combines flamenco guitar virtuosity and traditional flamenco music with musical fusion (with genres like jazz, blues, ro ...
, the works and performances of Spanish composer and player
Paco de Lucía
Francisco Sánchez Gómez (21 December 194725 February 2014), known as Paco de Lucía (;), was a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first fl ...
are known worldwide.
Not many classical guitar concertos were written through history. Nevertheless, some guitar concertos are nowadays widely known and popular, especially
Joaquín Rodrigo
Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez (; 22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999), was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the '' Concierto de Aranjuez'', a cornerstone of the classical ...
's ''
Concierto de Aranjuez
The ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' (, "Aranjuez Concerto") is a classical guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Written in 1939, it is by far Rodrigo's best-known work, and its success established his reputation as one of the m ...
'' (with the famous theme from 2nd movement) and ''
Fantasía para un gentilhombre
''Fantasía para un gentilhombre'' (''Fantasia for a Gentleman'') is a concerto for guitar and orchestra by the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. The concerto is Rodrigo's most popular work after the famous ''Concierto de Aranjuez''.
The four ...
''. Composers, who also wrote famous guitar concertos are:
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread ...
(originally for mandolin or lute),
Mauro Giuliani
Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century.
Biography
Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's center ...
,
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...
,
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (3 April 1895 – 16 March 1968) was an Italian composer, pianist and writer. He was known as one of the foremost guitar composers in the twentieth century with almost one hundred compositions for that instrument. In ...
,
Manuel Ponce
Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a mostly forgotten traditi ...
,
Leo Brouwer
Juan Leovigildo Brouwer Mezquida (born March 1, 1939) is a Cuban composer, conductor, and classical guitarist. He is a Member of Honour of the International Music Council.
Family
He is the grandson of Cuban composer Ernestina Lecuona y Casa ...
,
Lennox Berkeley
Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer.
Biography
Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Char ...
and
Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an England, English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music a ...
.
Nowadays, more and more contemporary composers decide to write a guitar concerto, among them ''Bosco Sacro'' by Federico Biscione, for guitar and string orchestra, is one of the most inspired.
Physical characteristics
The classical guitar is distinguished by a number of characteristics:
*It is an
acoustic instrument. The sound of the plucked string is amplified by the
soundboard and resonant cavity of the guitar.
*It has six
strings, though some classical guitars have seven or more strings.
*All six strings are made from
nylon
Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers composed of polyamides ( repeating units linked by amide links).The polyamides may be aliphatic or semi-aromatic.
Nylon is a silk-like thermoplastic, generally made from pet ...
, or nylon wrapped with metal, as opposed to the metal strings found on other acoustic guitars. Nylon strings also have a much lower
tension than steel strings, as do the predecessors to nylon strings, gut strings (made from ox or sheep gut). The lower three strings ('bass strings') are wound with metal, commonly silver-plated copper.
*Because of the low string tension
** The neck can be made entirely of wood without a steel truss rod
** The interior bracing can be lighter
*Typical modern six-string classical guitars are 48–54 mm wide at the nut, compared to around 42 mm for electric guitars.
* Classical fingerboards are normally flat and without inlaid fret markers, or just have dot inlays on the side of the neck—steel string fingerboards usually have a slight radius and inlays.
*Classical guitarists use their right hand to pluck the strings. Players shape their fingernails for ideal tone and feel against the strings.
*Strumming is a less common technique in classical guitar, and is often referred to by the Spanish term "rasgueo", or for strumming patterns "rasgueado", and uses the backs of the fingernails. Rasgueado is integral to
Flamenco
Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura an ...
guitar.
*
Machine head
A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...
s at the
headstock
A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the pegs or mechanism that holds the strings at the ...
of a classical guitar point backwards—in contrast to most steel-string guitars, which have machine heads that point outward.
*The overall design of a Classical Guitar is very similar to the slightly lighter and smaller
Flamenco guitar
A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the cl ...
.
Parts

Parts of typical classical guitars include:
*
Headstock
A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the pegs or mechanism that holds the strings at the ...
* Nut
*
Machine head
A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses and others, and ar ...
s (or pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines, tuners)
*
Fret
A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instru ...
s
* Neck
* Heel
* Body
* Bridge
* Bottom deck
* Soundboard
* Body sides
*
Sound hole
A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board.
Sound holes have different shapes:
* round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins;
* F-holes in instruments from the vi ...
, with
rosette inlay
*
Strings
* Saddle (Bridge nut)
*
Fretboard
The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The st ...
Fretboard
The fretboard (also called the fingerboard) is a piece of wood embedded with metal frets that constitutes the top of the neck. It is flat or slightly curved. The curvature of the fretboard is measured by the fretboard radius, which is the radius of a hypothetical circle of which the fretboard's surface constitutes a segment. The smaller the fretboard radius, the more noticeably curved the fretboard is. Fretboards are most commonly made of
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...
, but may also be made of
rosewood
Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues.
True rosewoods
All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated in ...
, some other hardwood, or of phenolic composite ("micarta").
Frets
Frets are the metal strips (usually nickel alloy or stainless steel) embedded along the
fingerboard
The fingerboard (also known as a fretboard on fretted instruments) is an important component of most stringed instruments. It is a thin, long strip of material, usually wood, that is laminated to the front of the neck of an instrument. The st ...
and placed at points that divide the length of string mathematically. The strings' vibrating length is determined when the strings are pressed down behind the frets. Each fret produces a different pitch and each pitch spaced a half-step apart on the 12 tone scale. The
ratio
In mathematics, a ratio shows how many times one number contains another. For example, if there are eight oranges and six lemons in a bowl of fruit, then the ratio of oranges to lemons is eight to six (that is, 8:6, which is equivalent to the ...
of the widths of two consecutive frets is the
twelfth root of two
The twelfth root of two or \sqrt 2/math> (or equivalently 2^) is an algebraic irrational number, approximately equal to 1.0594631. It is most important in Western music theory, where it represents the frequency ratio (musical interval) of a se ...
(