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Classical Guitars

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Spanish Guitar Music and Strings

What is a classical guitar?

Classical guitars are a form of acoustic guitar. It is also known as the Spanish guitar because it was given the form it has now in Spain. The acoustic guitar has its origins in the medieval lute, the Moorish guitar and the North African aud, but the immediate ancestor of the modern guitar was developed in Spain in the 19th and 20th centuries. Antonio de Torres Jurado made a guitar around the mid-19th century that was similar to today's modern classical guitar.

It can also be called the nylon-string guitar to differentiate it from steel-string guitars. This is because the classical guitar uses nylon guitar strings these days, but fifty years ago, before nylon strings were made, gut was used for the plain strings and the wound strings were made with silk. The body is completely symmetrical and being an acoustic instrument there is no electronic amplification involved.

Playing a classical guitar

Classical guitars do not use guitar picks; they use their fingers. They pluck each string individually rather than playing chords. They play sitting down with the instrument on their left thigh with a small stool under the left foot. This method of playing was developed by Antonio de Torres Jurado in Spain. It takes longer to learn how to play the classical guitar because more emphasis is placed on the right hand and the guitarist needs to play both a melody and a bass line at the same time. Keeping your fingernails in good condition will improve your guitar playing.

Classical guitar music

The majority of guitar sheet music available for classical guitarists uses traditional music notation, therefore it is preferable for someone wanting to play classical music to learn classical music notation. It is not that difficult and does increase the range of music open to you as a classical guitarist. There are other forms of music notation such as tab, or tablature, but not much classical music has been transcribed into these formats and so they are a bit limiting. Also tab does not give note lengths and therefore requires some knowledge of the melody beforehand. It is easier to write your own music using the traditional method.

Left-handed guitars

Classical guitars can be adapted for left-handed use but many left-handed people choose to stick with a right-handed guitar. Both hands have an equal amount of work to do when playing the classical guitar, so many left-handed people find that it is no harder playing a right-handed guitar than a left-handed one.

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