Guitars
There are four main types of guitar: classical (or Spanish) guitars, Acoustic guitars, Electric Guitars, and Bass guitars.
Conventionally, Spanish (Classical) guitars, acoustic guitars and electric guitars have 6 strings and are tuned to E A d g b e’, while bass guitars have four strings and are tuned to E, A, D G. Guitars can be plucked using the fingers (this is referred to as ‘finger-style’ in modern popular music), acoustic and electric guitarists often use a plectrum, or pick, to strum the strings. A plectrum is a small thin bit of plastic shaped as a rounded triangle. Spanish, or Classical, guitars are used mainly for Western Classical Art Music; though sometimes feature in popular music. Electric and Acoustic guitars are used in Popular Music and Jazz.
Guitars are fretted which means that they have small strips of (usually) metal across a fingerboard. When a guitarist presses his or her finger between frets, the string is ‘stopped’ at that particular fret (thus shortening the string) and the pitch of the note is determined. Guitarists work around chord shapes (arrangement of several of the fingers against several frets) to produce numerous notes simultaneously when strummed, or finger patterns to produce single notes for more melodic work.
On Spanish, or Classical, guitars the strings are made of nylon, whereas electric guitars and acoustic guitars use steel strings. Nylon strings create a different timbre to steel strings, suiting each guitar to different styles.
There are four main types of guitar: classical (or Spanish) guitars, Acoustic guitars, Electric Guitars, and Bass guitars.
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Conventionally, Spanish (Classical) guitars, acoustic guitars and electric guitars have 6 strings and are tuned to E A d g b e’, while bass guitars have four strings and are tuned to E, A, D G. Guitars can be plucked using the fingers (this is referred to as ‘finger-style’ in modern popular music), acoustic and electric guitarists often use a plectrum, or pick, to strum the strings. A plectrum is a small thin bit of plastic shaped as a rounded triangle. Spanish, or Classical, guitars are used mainly for Western Classical Art Music; though sometimes feature in popular music. Electric and Acoustic guitars are used in Popular Music and Jazz.
Guitars are fretted which means that they have small strips of (usually) metal across a fingerboard. When a guitarist presses his or her finger between frets, the string is ‘stopped’ at that particular fret (thus shortening the string) and the pitch of the note is determined. Guitarists work around chord shapes (arrangement of several of the fingers against several frets) to produce numerous notes simultaneously when strummed, or finger patterns to produce single notes for more melodic work.
On Spanish, or Classical, guitars the strings are made of nylon, whereas electric guitars and acoustic guitars use steel strings. Nylon strings create a different timbre to steel strings, suiting each guitar to different styles.
