Misplaced Pages

Ten-string guitar: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 13:17, 3 December 2008 edit129.94.133.166 (talk) Undid revision 255599589 by Andrewa (talk)← Previous edit Latest revision as of 06:38, 19 May 2024 edit undoGraham87 (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Event coordinators, Extended confirmed users, Page movers, Importers291,513 editsm →English guitar: copyedit 
(360 intermediate revisions by 97 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Musical instrument}}
:This article is about ten-''stringed'' guitars. For the five-''course'' guitar with nine or ten strings, see ].
{{More citations needed|date=January 2018}}
]


There are many varieties of '''ten-string ]''', including:
Two historically significant versions of '''ten-stringed guitars''' exist (both are ]s) - a '''ten-stringed ]''' or '''Romantic ten-stringed guitar''', with four or five "floating basses" that are not fretted, and a '''modern ten-string guitar''' (with frets under every string), the latter of which was designed with a ''singular tuning'' in mind, with the aim of enhancing and balancing resonance. Both instruments also extend the tonal range and technical possibilities of the guitar.


* Both electric and acoustic guitars.
==('Romantic') Ten-stringed harp-guitars==
* Instruments used principally for classical, folk and popular music.
* Both ] and uncoursed instruments.


== Uncoursed ten-stringed guitars ==
Different Romantic ten-stringed guitars exist<ref name="multis">{{cite web|url=http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com/erg/multibass.htm|title=Multi-Bass 7-string, 8-string, 9-string, 10-string and 19th Century Harp Guitars|publisher=www.earlyromanticguitar.com}}</ref>


===Ten-stringed harp-guitar by Scherzer=== <!-- check Talk page: === Ten-stringed harp guitars ===
{{Main|harp guitar}}
Period instruments built by Johan George Scherzer survive:
'''Harp guitars''' are guitars to which extra strings have been added which are never fretted but may be plucked or strummed. These strings are therefore played in a manner similar to those of the ], while those of the principal neck are played as a ], hence the name.<ref name="what">{{cite web|last1=Miner|first1=Gregg|title=What is a Harp Guitar| url=http://www.harpguitars.net/history/org/hgorg.htm|website=Harp Guitars.net|access-date=18 September 2017|date=March 2015}}</ref>
*
] is known to have played ten-stringed harp-guitars.
Based on surviving instruments and urtexts of music written for it, the following tuning was used:
*e<sup><small>I</small></sup> - b - g - d - A - E - D - C - B<sub><small>I</small></sub> - A<sub><small>I</small></sub>


Often a second neck, parallel to the fretboard, carries these extra strings. There have been many designs of harp guitar, but in the nineteenth century ten-string versions were particularly popular. Information on nineteenth-century harp guitars comes from three main primary sources:
===Décacorde (a ten-stringed harp-guitar)===
In the early 19th century ] designed the '''Décacorde''' together with René Lacote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.harpguitars.net/history/lacote/lacote.htm|title=The Lacôte Harp Guitars|publisher=Gregg Miner}}</ref>
Carulli played this type of guitar and wrote a method for it titled ''Méthode Complète pour le Décacorde'' wherein he describes the following tuning:
*e<sup><small>I</small></sup> - b - g - d - A - G - F - E - D - C (The last five strings are not fretted.)


* Surviving instruments (and in some cases, copies of instruments) in museums and private collections.
Versions of the Décacorde were made by René Lacote and two of his Décacordes are housed in the Music Museum of the Cité de la Musique in Paris:
* Surviving music, tablature, and in at least one case a complete student method for the instrument.
*
* Paintings and drawings in which the instrument is visible. These must of course be treated with some suspicion, as the artist may not have considered the details of the instrument important, and in the case of portraits may have completed these details from memory rather than at sittings.
*


==== Décacorde ====
Neither the Décacorde nor the versions by Scherzer can be said to have flourished, but the Decacorde had little repertoire except for the Method book and some Divertissements by Carulli.
In the early 19th century ] and René Lacôte developed a harp guitar they called the Décacorde (French for "ten-string").<ref name="Miner">{{cite web|last1=Miner|first1=Gregg|title=Lacote multi-course harp guitars| url=http://www.harpguitars.net/history/lacote/lacote.htm|website=Harp Guitars.net|access-date=18 September 2017|date=April 2013}}</ref> Carulli played this type of guitar and wrote a method for it titled ''Méthode Complète pour le Décacorde''.<ref name="Carulli1981">{{cite book|last=Carulli|first=Ferdinando|title=Méthode complète pour le décacorde| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xoQJAQAAMAAJ|access-date=17 September 2017|year=1981|publisher=Studio per Edizioni Scelte}}</ref> In it he describes the tuning as C-D-E-F-G-A-d-g-b-e' (strings 10 to 1), with the upper five strings A-d-g-b-e' fretted and the lower basses C-D-E-F-G not fretted. Carulli also wrote ]s for this instrument.
Two Décacordes by Lacôte are housed in the Music Museum of the Cité de la Musique in Paris:
* One circa 1826, with five fretted and five unfretted strings.<ref name="museum1826">{{cite web| title=Décacorde| url=http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0130341| website=collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr |access-date=18 September 2017|language=fr-FR}}</ref>
* One circa 1830, with six fretted and four unfretted strings<ref name="museum1830">{{cite web| title=Décacorde |url=http://collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0130264| website=collectionsdumusee.philharmoniedeparis.fr |access-date=18 September 2017|language=fr-FR}}</ref>


There is also a Décacorde (attributed to Lacôte) that was in the workshop of Françoise Sinier de Ridder, which has 7 strings on the neck (fretted) and 3 sub-basses (unfretted strings).<ref name="unique">{{cite web|last1=Sinier de Ridder |first1=Françoise| last2=Miner|first2=Gregg|title=Harp Guitar of the Month - Lacote Decacorde|url=http://www.harpguitars.net/history/month_hg/month-hg-11-08a.htm|website=Harp Guitars.net|access-date=18 September 2017}}</ref>
==The modern "Ten-String Guitar" by Yepes/Ramirez==


{{quote|Sinier and de Ridder have pointed out that the décacorde was made in three different string configurations. Those instruments that adhere to the Carulli patent have 5 strings on the fingerboard and 5 floating basses . Other specimens that do not bear the patent stamp are known with 6 strings on the fingerboard and 4 floating, and 7 strings on the fingerboard and 3 floating.<ref name="unique" /> I now speculate that these latter may have been configured, not as true Carulli Patent Décacordes, but as similar-appearing Lacôte ten-strings tuned more traditionally, and perhaps, played "professionally."<ref name="Miner" />}}
{{quote|My reasons were purely musical, and the first of them was that the guitar was not properly balanced. There was no equilibrium, because of the 12 notes of the scale, only four - E, A, B, D - had any resonance. If you play one of those notes and then stop the string with your finger, you will hear the sound lingering. But if you play one of the other eight notes of the scale, the sound dies immediately. On the 10-string guitar, I have resonance on all 12 notes.|]|1981}}


==== Other romantic harp guitars ====
After Yepes had already achieved international fame, he reached the point where the 6-string guitar no longer sufficed for his needs. He was disturbed by the irregularity of ] produced by the ] of its bass strings, vibrating in sympathy with notes played on the fingerboard. Four notes in particular (E, A, D, B) sounded full, enriched by this sympathetic vibration, while the other eight tones of the chromatic scale were without the same lustre and sustain. Yepes's idea to correct this imbalance - a guitar with fully ] string ] created in 1963 in collaboration with ] - followed a strict musical and scientific logic.
Period harp guitars built by Johann Gottfried Scherzer<ref name="petz">{{cite web|last1=Miner|first1=Gregg|title=The Petzval-Scherzer Guitharfe by Gregg Miner|url=http://www.harpguitars.net/history/month_hg/month-hg-6-13.htm|website=Harp Guitars.net|access-date=18 September 2017|date=June 2013}}</ref> survive. A copy of one of these, based on an original circa 1862, has six fretted and four unfretted strings.


] is known to have played ten-string harp guitars. Based on surviving instruments and ] of music written for it, the tuning was A<sub>I</sub>-B<sub>I</sub>-C-D-E-A-d-g-b-e'. -->
Upon adding four bass strings '''''tuned a very specific way'' - C, B-flat, A-flat, G-flat''' - the same ] is elicited by each of the notes that make up the fingerboard's sonorous catalogue, by taking advantage of the natural ] (the ] as well as the ]s) of the bass strings, which produce ], sympathetic vibrations with notes played on the fingerboard. In other words, the additional strings act as tuned ], or string resonators, that sustain and enrich the sound. (That is not to say that these strings are not played. They are indeed fingered with the left hand and/or sounded by the right, if/when this is required by the musical context). Thus, the C-string adds the resonance for itself, its octaves and their fifths, i.e. G's; B-flat resonates with B-flats and F's; A-flat resonates with A-flats and E-flats; and G-flat with G-flats and D-flats, completing the string resonance for the twelve tones of the chromatic octave.


=== Yepes' ten-string guitar ===
{{quote|This does not mean a break from nor lack of respect for the admirable instrument of tradition. My new guitar is not basically different in sound colour, timbre, nor technical approach from the 6-string guitar. Imagine a piano without a pedal which suddenly acquired one - what new possibilities in the enrichment of sound this means is self-evident.|Yepes}}
{{Main|ten-string extended-range classical guitar}}
The extended-range classical guitar is a ] with additional strings, normally extra bass strings past the bass E string, that are available on the fingerboard.


Many configurations have been produced, but the ten-string classical guitar received a particular boost<ref name="Ramirez">{{cite book|last1=Ramirez III|first1=José|title=Things about the Guitar|date=1994|publisher=Soneto|location=Bold Strummer|isbn=8487969402|pages=137–141|chapter=The Ten String Guitar}}</ref> in 1964, when ] performed the ] with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aussieobserver.blogspot.com/2009/08/narciso-yepes-and-concierto-de-aranjuez.html|title=''Narciso Yepes and the Concierto de Aranjuez''}}</ref>
This result could be termed linearised chromatic resonance since the bass strings now resonate equally in sympathy with any of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, similar to the piano's sustain when the pedal is used. And just as a pianist has the option of whether or not to employ the pedal, the competent 10-string guitarist is able to execute complete control, sustaining or stopping notes at will. ''"If I have resonance, I can stop it. But first I must have it. You see, the problem is not in the guitar, but in the player."'' (Yepes 1981) With respect to the traditional 6-stringed guitar, this chromatic resonance and equal timbre of tone are intrinsically absent from it, but also equally unachievable with any tuning of the 10 strings other than the one invented by Yepes.
, using a ten-string guitar invented by Yepes in collaboration with ], with a specific tuning designed to supply sympathetic string resonance to all twelve notes of the ], in unison with any note played on the treble strings.<ref>| Narciso Yepes Plays and Explains his Guitar</ref> This was significant for two reasons:


* The endorsement of an artist of Yepes' calibre drew attention to the instrument, and demonstrated its capabilities. Starting in 1963, and for the rest of his life, Yepes used only the ten-string guitar in recording and performance.
{{quote|But that is not my only reason. If the guitar is to the lute what the piano is to the harpsichord - that is, a new expression of an old instrument - then, I should be able to take a piece of music composed for the lute and play it directly on the guitar, without making any in the text, just as a pianist can play a harpsichord work of Bach or Scarlatti. This cannot be done on the six-string guitar, because the lute had more than six strings, especially during the Baroque period. At the same time, having the expanded range of the 10-string guitar makes it possible for me to approach the music of Albeniz, Falla and other Spanish composers inspired by the guitar, but who composed for the piano. I can play their music as it is written, with no sacrifices.| Yepes|1981}}
* The availability of high-quality ten-string classical guitars from the ] allowed and encouraged other performers to investigate the instrument.


The use of the ten-string classical guitar is similar to that of the harp guitar:
Thus, it now becomes possible for the guitarist to play Bach and repertoire written for the Baroque ] without deleterious ] of the bass notes, by employing ], lowering the tuning of the 7th string (the one with the lowest pitch) to B<sub><small>I</small></sub> or A<sub><small>I</small></sub> - in ], B1 or A1. A ubiquitous misconception (also among 10-string guitarists) is that these additional strings are intended to simplify the execution of bass notes by playing as many of them as possible on open strings, as on the lute. However, this approach is not consistent with the performance practice of ]. Actually, he played all notes between the tones of the open 6th and 7th strings as stops on the 7th string, not on individual open strings. This is evidenced in autograph manuscript sources indicating his own fingerings, which also show an implementation of the open (and stopped) strings 8-10 that, however, never becomes gratuitous or perfunctory.


* Six-string guitar music can be played on the first six strings, but with added resonance from the extra strings. This was Yepes' original intention and the reason for the design.
Aside from the fact that the instrument opens up possibilities for more faithful transcription of music originally written for lute or keyboard, it also opens up new possibilities for original composition, as exemplified in the solo guitar works of the great ] composers ] and ] who wrote substantial works specifically for this instrument.
* Music specifically arranged for the instrument can make use of the extra strings directly, thus:
** Music originally written for instruments with more than six strings can be more faithfully transcribed. Music written by ] and his contemporaries for ] is of particular interest in this regard. The bass strings can be appropriately tuned.<ref>|Bach,Stephan Schmidt – Lute Works Original Versions, 10-string Guitar</ref>
** New music specifically written for the ten-string guitar can make use of the extra strings however the composer might wish.<ref>|About The Ten-String</ref>


Unlike the harp guitar, the extended-range classical guitar has a single neck and allows all strings to be fretted.
{{quote|Of course, the final reason is that, if I have a 10-string guitar, I have within it a six-string guitar; but if I have only six strings, I do not have 10. I have all the advantages and none of the disadvantages." However, he warns, "it is very difficult to find a well-made 10-string guitar, and the number of poorly made ones on the market have led many guitarists to assume that those instruments are bad because they have 10 strings. No - they are bad because they are bad!|Yepes|1981}}


While the six-string classical guitar remains the standard and most common instrument, since 1963 ten-string guitars in similar configuration to the original Ramírez have been adopted by many classical guitarists and produced by several first-class luthiers, using both Yepes' original tuning and others.
===Standard tuning===
The standard tuning of the modern ten-string guitar is (from string 1-10):
]


In January 2009, Gadotti Guitars announced the 10 String Nylon King Electric, a solid body, nylon-stringed ten-string guitar, suitable for both Yepes and other tunings such as the Baroque.<ref name="Gadotti">{{cite web|title=Gadotti: The 10-string King Nylon Electric|url=https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/gadotti-the-10-string-king-nylon-electric-1|website=Premier Guitar| access-date=18 September 2017|language=en|date=9 April 2008}}</ref>
*e<sup><small>I</small></sup> - b - g - d - A - E - C - B{{music|flat}} - A{{music|flat}} - G{{music|flat}}


A ten-string ] by Mike Shishkov, based on the ten-string extended-range classical guitar, was demonstrated at the 3rd International Ten String Guitar Festival in October 2008. {{citation needed|date=May 2017}}
(as written in the ] system) which can also be written enharmonically as:


=== Ten String Electric Guitar ===
*e<sup><small>I</small></sup> - b - g - d - A - E - C - A{{music|sharp}} - G{{music|sharp}} - F{{music|sharp}}
These guitars are either custom-made or produced in small quantities due to the very niche market they are intended for.
Most of these instruments are tuned like nine string guitars with either an extra High A string or an extra Low G# string, in that arrangement for the latter : G# ,C#, F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E.
]


== Five- and six-coursed guitars with ten strings ==
In the so-called ], or American system, the tuning is written (from 1-10) as:


=== Baroque guitar ===
*E4 - B3 - G3 - D3 - A2 - E2 - C2 - B{{music|flat}}2 - A{{music|flat}}2 - G{{music|flat}}2


{{Main|baroque guitar}}
This is the string configuration and tuning, that was originally developed with the idea of enhancing and balancing sonority, by allowing bass strings to vibrate in resonance with all 12 chromatic notes.


The baroque guitar is one of the earliest instruments considered a guitar, and the first to have significant surviving repertoire.
NB. In both pitch referencing systems the octave starts on C. Thus, correctly, string 7 or C should be that with the widest diameter and lowest pitch. String 8 is thus a minor seventh above string 7, not a whole tone below it. Numerous authors, apparently not ''au fait'' with these systems of notation, have misrepresented the instrument's tuning in print. It is thus no surprise that numerous guitarists have also adopted erroneous string configurations in order to tune one or all of strings 8, 9 and 10 an octave lower than they ought to be.


Surviving baroque guitars have (or originally had) nine or ten strings, in five ].<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Powers|first1=Wendy |first2=Jayson Kerr |last2=Dobney |title=The Guitar |website=Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/guit/hd_guit.htm|access-date=2023-08-20|publisher=] |language=en}}</ref> ] guitars (of which two, the ''Hill'' (1688) and ''Rawlins'' (1700) survive complete, plus a neck and several other fragments) all had ten strings in five courses.<ref>]</ref>
===Composers who have written for modern ten-string guitar===
* ], ], ], Antonio Ruiz-Pipó, Philippe Drogoz, Jorge Labrouve, José Ramón Encinar, Michèle Reverdy, Robert Keeley, Martin Derungs, Stephen Goss, T.E. Flemming, Chris Malloy, Ignacio Yepes, José Peris, ]


=== English guitar ===
== Comparison of Ten-stringed Guitars ==


{{Main|English guitar}}
Prior to 1963, a number of different types of guitars with ten strings were played by, among others, ] and ]. The first played an instrument with four additional free-floating basses tuned diatonically from D to A<sub><small>I</small></sub>. Carulli called his instrument the Decacorde, which was tuned e<sup><small>I</small></sup>-b-g-d-A-G-F-E-D-C. (The last five strings are not fretted.) Indeed, if one is to do justice to the music of numerous 19th century composers who wrote for instruments with more than six strings, these period instruments would be most suitable.


The '''English guitar''' is a type of cittern that was particularly popular in Europe from around 1750 to 1850. The English guitar has a pear-shaped body, a flat base, and a short neck. Its distinguishing feature is that it has ten strings in six courses, of which the highest eight are paired in four courses (duplicated strings) with the two lowest strings in two separate courses. This is the same stringing as was later used for the B.C. Rich Bich 10 Guitar, although the traditional tuning for the English guitar is a repetitive open C tuning (C E GG cc ee gg).
Taking nothing away from their suitability for the performance of 19th century repertoire, it has to be pointed out, however, that the concepts behind these guitars are contrary to that of the Yepes ten-string guitar, since the tunings of these instruments were not intended to resolve - and do not resolve - the problems of resonance inherent in the design of the guitar. As Yepes said about instruments that add redundant resonances such as B, A, or D: "My idea of the 10-string guitar is exactly the contrary - to provide sympathetic vibration for the notes that do not have this kind of reinforcement" (Yepes 1978: 46).


=== Viola guitar ===
However, to complicate matters, since 1963 ten-string guitars that seem to be modern in appearance have been appropriated by some proponents of the abovementioned Romantic ten-stringed guitar, tuning the additional strings diatonically from D to A<sub><small>I</small></sub> (a system also known by the misnomer "Baroque" tuning). This has led to some confusion between two visually similar but conceptually disparate instruments: on the one hand, the Romantic ten-stringed guitar (whose purpose is an extended bass register - one that, inadvertently, augments the guitar's resonant imbalance), and, on the other hand, the Yepes ten-string guitar, whose ''raison d'être'' is, first, linearised resonance for the entire chromatic octave, and second, an extended bass register.


]
One cannot consider as synonymous (just because they have the same number of strings) different instruments that do not have a commonly accessible original repertoire, that approach music through different performance practices (different techniques, especially with respect to the use of the 7th string, open and stopped strings), different instruments that are not only tuned differently but strung differently, and most problematic of all, one cannot simply disregard that the true modern 10-string guitar was invented, by definition, first and foremost, to linearize (to balance, to create consistency among) all twelve tones, by means of a singular tuning based in an understanding of physics, so that any note could be sustained or stopped, brought out or underplayed as the Musical context requires, not as instrumental limitations necessitate. As such, the guitar comes to possess only those qualities that have already been common but vital features of (to a certain extent) the harpsichord and (especially) the piano, instruments that have set the standard of the concert hall for centuries. The true modern 10-string guitar is as little defined by its number of strings for their own sake, divorced from their singular tuning, as a piano is defined by its number of keys. The modern 10-string guitar proper is defined by the introduction of additional strings (resonators) possessing only those overtone frequencies corresponding to resonances that are missing or weak on the traditional guitar (by which is meant the overtone frequencies corresponding to the octave and the perfect fifth above the open string, and to a weaker extent, the double-octave and its perfect fifth), and introducing no redundant resonance of D, A, E, B, which already receive this sympathetic support from the basses of the (6-string) guitar. In addition, it features an extended bass range that opens the baroque lute repertoire to more stylistically faithful transcription on the guitar. However, on the modern 10-string guitar proper, a number of these basses are stopped on the 7th string in keeping with the performance practice of classical guitarists (as opposed to lutenists). If the point were to play basses on open strings, an instrument with at least eight diatonic basses below the 5th string would be required to do justice to baroque lute music. Attempts to import a lutenist's performance practice, such as those witnessed in transcriptions of Bach and Weiss for the 'Marlow Method', introduce stylistically impermissable augmented octaves and other compound intervals and leaps where there should be movement in 2nds, since (in contrast to the lute) the instrument does not possess a true diatonic scale in the open basses (lacking the required number of strings). On the modern 10-string guitar proper, the bass notes can be stopped/fretted on the lowest string, seven, at the correct pitches, maintaining the correct melodic intervals.


{{Main|viola caipira}}
As such, there are period instruments of the 19th century with ten strings, which are perfectly suited to the performance of repertoire written specifically for such instruments; there is the true modern 10-string guitar invented in 1963, with its singular tuning; and then there are guitars that happen to have ten strings, which can be tuned any way their players like. However, they are three distinctly different types of guitar that have little more in common than the number of strings.


The '''viola guitar''' is a guitar with ten light steel strings in five courses, played with the fingers rather than with a plectrum. It is particularly prevalent in the folk music of ], where it's called "viola caipira" (country guitar) or simply "viola." The ''']''' and ''']''' are other types of ten-string Portuguese folk guitars,<ref>See </ref> which are possibly predecessors of the Brazilian instrument.
== Baroque guitars ==


=== Bich 10 ===
{{Main|baroque guitar}}
<!-- "Bich 10" redirects to this section heading. If the heading changes, please also fix the redirect --><!-- most content relocated to ]-->
The initial ] Bich design is a six-course instrument, with four two-string courses. The top E and B strings are strung as unison pairs, and the G and D strings as pairs with a principal and octave string, in the manner of the top four courses of a ]. The A and lower E strings are single-string courses. This unusual stringing was said to obtain the brightness of the twelve-string guitar, while allowing higher levels of distortion before the sound became muddy.


The Bich had a conventional six-string headstock for the six principal strings. The four additional strings are tuned by machine heads positioned in the body, past the ], with a large angled notch allowing access to the tuners. This radical body shape also countered the common tendency of coursed electric guitars to be head-heavy due to the weight of the extra machine heads.
Baroque guitars typically had five ], of which either four or five were double-strung making a total of nine or ten strings. (A course is a pair or more of strings that effectively function as one string.) While many baroque guitars have ten strings, they are not normally called ''ten-string guitars''. Note that this terminology clashes with that of the '']'', which has six courses each of two strings.


One notable guitar player who played a 10-string Bich was ] who played one during his early professional years with ]. Mustaine only used the regular six string configuration on the headstock and never used the other four strings. Mustaine also played the guitar during the early years of his band ].
== See also ==
*]s
*]
*]
*]


The design was moderately successful, but many players bought it for the body shape alone, and removed the extra strings. B.C. Rich eventually released six-string guitars with the Bich body shape. All Bich variants are hardtail guitars with ]s and two ]s.
== References ==
<references />


== Guitar-like instruments with ten strings ==
== Partial Bibliography ==
]
*Ramirez III, Jose. 1994. in ''Things About the Guitar''. Bold Strummer. pp. 137-141.
Close relatives of the guitar with ten strings include:
*Yepes, Narciso. 1978. "The 10-String Guitar: Overcoming the Limitations of Six Strings". Interview by Larry Snitzler. ''Guitar Player'' 12(3): pp. 26, 42, 46, 48, 52.
*Yepes, Narciso. 1981 . Interview-Article by Allan Kozinn.
*''The New York Times'', Nov. 22: p. D21


* The ], an ancestor of the guitar, which had several variations including a five-course version.
==External links==
* The Puerto Rican ], a bass instrument most commonly having ten strings in five courses, although eight and twelve string versions also exist.
* Links to various articles and other media related to the modern 10-string guitar
* The Puerto Rican ], with ten strings in five doubled courses.<ref></ref>
* Discussion Group
* The North Mexican ], which is a five-course bass instrument used in ] and ] music.<ref></ref>
* as used by ] for his ''recording'' of Bach's lute music {{ASIN|B00004TVFG}}
* The five-course ] and other members of its family (], ], ], ''et al'') have ten strings. This a South American folk instrument appears from the front to be a small guitar. It has a bowl-back, traditionally made from an ] shell, though these days it is often a wooden bowl. These instruments are from the ] family, rather than the guitar family.<ref></ref>
* The electric ], which may have eight, ten or twelve <ref>]</ref>
* The name '']'' is given to a wide range of plucked instruments, including some modern guitar derivatives with ten strings.<ref></ref>]
]]


== Photos == == See also ==
*]
* ,
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]

== References ==
<references />


{{Guitars}} {{Guitars}}


] ]
] ]
]

Latest revision as of 06:38, 19 May 2024

Musical instrument
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Ten-string guitar" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
A classical ten-string guitar

There are many varieties of ten-string guitar, including:

  • Both electric and acoustic guitars.
  • Instruments used principally for classical, folk and popular music.
  • Both coursed and uncoursed instruments.

Uncoursed ten-stringed guitars

Yepes' ten-string guitar

Main article: ten-string extended-range classical guitar

The extended-range classical guitar is a classical guitar with additional strings, normally extra bass strings past the bass E string, that are available on the fingerboard.

Many configurations have been produced, but the ten-string classical guitar received a particular boost in 1964, when Narciso Yepes performed the Concierto de Aranjuez with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , using a ten-string guitar invented by Yepes in collaboration with José Ramírez III, with a specific tuning designed to supply sympathetic string resonance to all twelve notes of the chromatic scale, in unison with any note played on the treble strings. This was significant for two reasons:

  • The endorsement of an artist of Yepes' calibre drew attention to the instrument, and demonstrated its capabilities. Starting in 1963, and for the rest of his life, Yepes used only the ten-string guitar in recording and performance.
  • The availability of high-quality ten-string classical guitars from the Ramírez Company allowed and encouraged other performers to investigate the instrument.

The use of the ten-string classical guitar is similar to that of the harp guitar:

  • Six-string guitar music can be played on the first six strings, but with added resonance from the extra strings. This was Yepes' original intention and the reason for the design.
  • Music specifically arranged for the instrument can make use of the extra strings directly, thus:
    • Music originally written for instruments with more than six strings can be more faithfully transcribed. Music written by Bach and his contemporaries for lute is of particular interest in this regard. The bass strings can be appropriately tuned.
    • New music specifically written for the ten-string guitar can make use of the extra strings however the composer might wish.

Unlike the harp guitar, the extended-range classical guitar has a single neck and allows all strings to be fretted.

While the six-string classical guitar remains the standard and most common instrument, since 1963 ten-string guitars in similar configuration to the original Ramírez have been adopted by many classical guitarists and produced by several first-class luthiers, using both Yepes' original tuning and others.

In January 2009, Gadotti Guitars announced the 10 String Nylon King Electric, a solid body, nylon-stringed ten-string guitar, suitable for both Yepes and other tunings such as the Baroque.

A ten-string jazz guitar by Mike Shishkov, based on the ten-string extended-range classical guitar, was demonstrated at the 3rd International Ten String Guitar Festival in October 2008.

Ten String Electric Guitar

These guitars are either custom-made or produced in small quantities due to the very niche market they are intended for. Most of these instruments are tuned like nine string guitars with either an extra High A string or an extra Low G# string, in that arrangement for the latter : G# ,C#, F#, B, E, A, D, G, B, E.

Ten string Electric Extended-Range guitar.

Five- and six-coursed guitars with ten strings

Baroque guitar

Main article: baroque guitar

The baroque guitar is one of the earliest instruments considered a guitar, and the first to have significant surviving repertoire.

Surviving baroque guitars have (or originally had) nine or ten strings, in five courses. Stradivarius guitars (of which two, the Hill (1688) and Rawlins (1700) survive complete, plus a neck and several other fragments) all had ten strings in five courses.

English guitar

Main article: English guitar

The English guitar is a type of cittern that was particularly popular in Europe from around 1750 to 1850. The English guitar has a pear-shaped body, a flat base, and a short neck. Its distinguishing feature is that it has ten strings in six courses, of which the highest eight are paired in four courses (duplicated strings) with the two lowest strings in two separate courses. This is the same stringing as was later used for the B.C. Rich Bich 10 Guitar, although the traditional tuning for the English guitar is a repetitive open C tuning (C E GG cc ee gg).

Viola guitar

Viola guitar
Main article: viola caipira

The viola guitar is a guitar with ten light steel strings in five courses, played with the fingers rather than with a plectrum. It is particularly prevalent in the folk music of Brazil, where it's called "viola caipira" (country guitar) or simply "viola." The viola braguesa and viola amarantina are other types of ten-string Portuguese folk guitars, which are possibly predecessors of the Brazilian instrument.

Bich 10

The initial B.C. Rich Bich design is a six-course instrument, with four two-string courses. The top E and B strings are strung as unison pairs, and the G and D strings as pairs with a principal and octave string, in the manner of the top four courses of a twelve-string guitar. The A and lower E strings are single-string courses. This unusual stringing was said to obtain the brightness of the twelve-string guitar, while allowing higher levels of distortion before the sound became muddy.

The Bich had a conventional six-string headstock for the six principal strings. The four additional strings are tuned by machine heads positioned in the body, past the tailpiece, with a large angled notch allowing access to the tuners. This radical body shape also countered the common tendency of coursed electric guitars to be head-heavy due to the weight of the extra machine heads.

One notable guitar player who played a 10-string Bich was Dave Mustaine who played one during his early professional years with Metallica. Mustaine only used the regular six string configuration on the headstock and never used the other four strings. Mustaine also played the guitar during the early years of his band Megadeth.

The design was moderately successful, but many players bought it for the body shape alone, and removed the extra strings. B.C. Rich eventually released six-string guitars with the Bich body shape. All Bich variants are hardtail guitars with through body necks and two humbucking pickups.

Guitar-like instruments with ten strings

Vihuela de mano

Close relatives of the guitar with ten strings include:

  • The vihuela de mano, an ancestor of the guitar, which had several variations including a five-course version.
  • The Puerto Rican bordonua, a bass instrument most commonly having ten strings in five courses, although eight and twelve string versions also exist.
  • The Puerto Rican Cuatro, with ten strings in five doubled courses.
  • The North Mexican bajo quinto, which is a five-course bass instrument used in tejano and norteño music.
  • The five-course charango and other members of its family (hualyacho, charangon, ronroco, et al) have ten strings. This a South American folk instrument appears from the front to be a small guitar. It has a bowl-back, traditionally made from an armadillo shell, though these days it is often a wooden bowl. These instruments are from the lute family, rather than the guitar family.
  • The electric Chapman Stick, which may have eight, ten or twelve
  • The name cittern is given to a wide range of plucked instruments, including some modern guitar derivatives with ten strings.
    Cittern
Charango
Ten-string Chapman Stick

See also

References

  1. Ramirez III, José (1994). "The Ten String Guitar". Things about the Guitar. Bold Strummer: Soneto. pp. 137–141. ISBN 8487969402.
  2. "Narciso Yepes and the Concierto de Aranjuez".
  3. | Narciso Yepes Plays and Explains his Guitar
  4. |Bach,Stephan Schmidt – Lute Works Original Versions, 10-string Guitar
  5. |About The Ten-String
  6. "Gadotti: The 10-string King Nylon Electric". Premier Guitar. 9 April 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  7. Powers, Wendy; Dobney, Jayson Kerr. "The Guitar". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
  8. Stradivarius#Guitars
  9. See Lark in the Morning
  10. A short history of the Puerto Rican cuatro and its music
  11. Bajo Quinto: The Instrument That Will Not Go Gently
  12. What in the World is a Charango?
  13. The 10 string Chapman Stick
  14. Cittern
Guitars
Playing
By type (six string)
Additional strings
Ancillary
Related topics
Categories: