The guitar is a plucked musical instrument that has its roots in Spain. The origins of the guitar can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when the instrument was first developed as a simple, four-stringed version known as the vihuela. Over time, the guitar evolved into its modern form, which features six strings and a variety of different playing styles and techniques.
The material used to craft guitars originally consisted of wood easily available in the Iberian Peninsula. For example, cedar, pine, maple, walnut, pomegranate, and cypress, among others. Later, other types of wood were also used, such as mahogany and ebony.
The classical guitar is made up of a body with a sound hole, a neck on which the fingerboard or fretboard is attached, six strings and a head.
The guitar head is one of the most distinctive and instantly recognizable aspects of this instrument. With its intricate design and functionality, the guitar head combines form and purpose. The six strings of the classical guitar elegantly thread through the tuning pegs. Tuners allow players to tighten or loosen each string with precision. Each subtle adjustment of the tuners breathes life into the instrument.
Another essential component is the neck. Here, the guitarist’s left hand weaves its magic, deftly manipulating the tension of the strings. Nestled on the fingerboard lie the frets that bestow the guitarist with a treasure trove of musical possibilities. The frets divide the musical continuum into the twelve notes of the tonal system.
The guitar body is where elegance meets acoustic marvel. Its design encompasses the soundboard, where the vibrations of the strings resonate into timeless melodies; the sound hole; the roseta (rosette); and the bridge.
Although the roseta was originally designed to protect the wood body from crackling near the sound hole, today, the rosette adorns the guitar purely as a testament to human creativity featuring stunning ornate designs.
The guitar bridge is a vital link that binds the strings to the soundboard. This unassuming yet crucial component serves as a conduit for the strings’ vibrations, channeling their energy into the resonant core of the guitar.
One of the defining characteristics of the guitar is its versatility. The instrument can be used to play a wide range of musical genres, from western classical music and flamenco to rock, jazz, blues and world music. This versatility has made the guitar a popular instrument among musicians of all skill levels, from beginners to seasoned professionals. The ease of playing the guitar is another reason why it is so popular. With just a few basic chords, a beginner can quickly start playing songs, making it a great instrument for self-expression and creativity.
The guitar is also highly portable, which has helped to spread its popularity around the world. Spanish sailors, minstrels, and settlers introduced the guitar to many other cultures.
Whether playing in a concert hall, on a street corner, or in a park, the guitar can be taken anywhere and played at any time. This portability has made the guitar a staple of popular culture, with many famous musicians and bands using the instrument in their music.
The effect of the guitar on music is impossible to overstate. From its early beginnings in Spain, the guitar has become one of the most widely played and recognizable instruments in the world. It has been used to create countless classic songs, and its influence can be heard in almost every musical genre. The guitar has also inspired countless musicians to pick up the instrument and start playing, furthering its reach and impact on the world of music.
Guitar Types:
Classical Guitar
Also known as the Spanish guitar, this is the most traditional type of Spanish guitar. It has nylon strings, a larger body, and a wide neck, making it well-suited for playing classical music.
Leading Spanish classical guitar composers include Manuel de Falla, Joaquín Turina, Regino Sainz de la Maza, Federico Moreno Torroba, and Joaquín Rodrigo. Notable international composers include Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Italy), Manuel Ponce (Mexico), and Leo Brouwer (Cuba).
Top classical guitarists include Andrés Segovia (Spain, 1893–1987), Francisco Tárrega (Spain, 1852–1909), Narciso Yepes (Spain, 1927-97), Pepe Romero (Spain), Sharon Isbin (USA), John Williams (Australia), Manuel Barrueco (Cuba), Laura Verdugo (Spain), David Russell (UK), Marcin Dylla (Poland), Christopher Parkening, Xuefei Yang (China), Andjela Misic (Serbia), Zoran Dukic (Croatia), Aniello Desiderio (Italy), Maria Ohotina (Russia), Luis Quintero (Venezuela), Rovshan Mamedkuliev (Azerbaijan), Romilio Orellana (Chile), and José María Gallardo del Rey (Spain).
Flamenco Guitar
This type of Spanish guitar is designed specifically for the flamenco style of playing. It has a smaller body, a thin soundboard, and often features fan bracing for increased volume and projection.
Although flamenco guitars were typically made of lighter colored Spanish cypress wood, there are various types of flamenco guitars that feature different colors, depending on the wood used. There is a darker flamenco guitar made out of rosewood that is known as flamenca negra.
Top flamenco guitarists include early 20th century pioneers like Ramón Montoya, Niño Ricardo and Sabicas, as well as the innovators from the 1970s such as Paco de Lucia, Manolo Sanlúcar, Victor Monge “Serranito“. Then came the Young Flamencos generation: Rafael Riqueni, Pepe Habichuela, Tomatito, Gerardo Núñez, El Viejín, Moraito, Juan Manuel Cañizares, Óscar Herrero, Niño de Pura, and Emilio Caracafé.
Leading flamenco guitarists born in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s include Salvador Gutiérrez (Écija, Sevilla, 1970); Joselito Acedo (1979); Juan Torres Fajardo, Juan Habichuela Nieto (Granada, 1989); Dani de Morón (Seville, 1981); Paco Soto (Águilas, 1991); Pipo Romero (Cadiz); Rycardo Moreno (Lebrija, Sevilla, 1981); David Carmona (Granada, 1985); Luis González Lavado (Badajoz, 1993); child prodigy Amos Lora (Madrid, 1995); Joni Jiménez (Madrid, 1990); Alvaro Martinete (Granada, 1995); and José del Tomate (Almería, 1998), Tomatito‘s son.
Top Flamenco guitarists born outside Spain include David Tavares (Brazil); Malaga-based Amir-John Haddad, “El Amir” (Germany-Colombia); Andreas Arnold (Germany); Juan Carmona (France); Punta Umbría-based Martín Fayos Limón, ‘Niño Martín’ (Frankfurt, Germany, 1991); and Madrid-based Bettina Flater (Sweden).
Steel-String Guitar
This guitar has steel strings and is commonly used for a variety of musical genres, including folk, country, bluegrass, rock, classical and pop.
Tres Flamenco
An innovative hybrid between the flamenco guitar and the Cuban tres created by Spanish flamenco and world music instrumentalist and composer Raúl Rodríguez (Seville, 1974).
12-String Guitar
This guitar has 12 strings, with six pairs of strings tuned in unison. The added strings provide a rich, complex sound and are typically used in folk, rock, and pop music.
Electric Guitar
This instrument is designed to be plugged into an amplifier, allowing the player to control the volume and tone of the instrument. Electric guitars are frequently used in rock, blues, pop, jazz, progressive music (progressive rock, jazz-rock and electronic music), and world music.
Top electric guitar players include Jimi Hendrix (1942 – 1970), B.B. King (1925 – 2015), Jeff Beck (1944 – 2023), Eric Clapton, John McLaughlin, Frank Zappa (1940 – 1993), Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Duane Allman (1946 – 1971), Steve Howe, Steve Hackett, Dave Gilmour, Alan Holdsworth (1946 – 2017), Jan Akkerman, Andy Latimer, Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954 – 1990), Al Di Meola, Bill Frisell, Ali Farka Touré (1939–2006), Franco Luambo (1938–1989), Steve Rothery, Pat Metheny, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Bonnie Raitt, Djelimady Tounkara, Louis Mhlanga, Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Vieux Farka Touré, Guthrie Govan, Dewa Budjana, Ana Popović, Ousmane Kouyaté, Jane Getter, Sarah Longfield, Joe Bonamassa, and Selwyn Birchwood.
Resonator guitar
Also called resophonic guitar and dobro, it uses spun metal cones to conduct string vibrations and produce sound, instead of using the guitar’s top like traditional acoustic guitars. They were originally designed to be louder than acoustic guitars to avoid being drowned out by other instruments in dance orchestras. Resonator guitars are known for their unique and distinct tone and are popular in bluegrass and blues music. More about the resonator guitar.
Regional Spanish Guitars
Guitarrico aragonés – Small 4-string guitar from the Aragon region in northern Spain. Also known as guitarrillo aragonés.
Guitarrillo – Generic name for small 4-string guitars found throughout Spain.
Guitarro – Generic name of a small guitar from Spain, specially Murcia, Alicante, and Almeria in southeastern Spain and Castille-La Mancha, that is built in various sizes with 5 pairs of strings, although there are variations with 4, 5 or 6 single strings. Guitarros range from smaller size (higher voice, lower draw, smaller snare) to larger (deeper voice, higher draw, larger snare):
- Zaramangüel – Higher voice, only known in Lorca (Murcia). It is tuned an octave higher than the guitar.
- Guitarrillo or timple – It is tuned ten semitones higher than the guitar.
- Guitarro, also known as requinto or also timple – It is tuned seven semitones higher than the guitar, although it can also be five.
- Tenor – Five semitones higher than the guitar. It features original gut strings, a mirror, wooden pegs, a bridge decorated with two teardrops, and a lid with a mouth embellished by concentric circles of different colored wood inlays using the inlaid technique.
One of the leading performers of guitars from the Murcia area is maestro Juan José Robles.
Guitarró – Name used for the small Spanish guitar in the northern part of Valencia region and Balearic Islands regions.
Timple – Small five-stringed guitar derived from the mainland Spanish guitarrillos that is popular in the Canary Islands (Spain). It is known for its bright, ringing tone and is often used in traditional folk music from the region. Spanish sailors and settlers carried to Puerto Rico (in Puerto Rico it is known as tiple) and other parts of Spanish-speaking America,
Leading timple players include: Domingo Rodríguez Oramas ‘El Colorao,’ Pedro Izquierdo, Benito Cabrera, Germán Lopez, Althay Paez, Yone Rodríguez, Beselch Rodríguez, José Domingo Curbelo, Alexis Lemes, Josele del Pino, Gabriel García, Abraham Ramos Chodo, Abraham Ramos Sánchez, Javier Castro-Gomis, Juan Pablo Pérez López, Jesús Martín and Ismael Campos.
These regional Spanish guitars are unique to their respective regions and are frequently used to play traditional music that is specific to those areas. They offer a different sound and playing style compared to the more widely known Spanish guitars, and they help to demonstrate the rich diversity of Spanish guitar music.
Portuguese Guitars
Guitarra portuguesa (Portuguese guitar) – With its teardrop-shaped body and twelve steel strings arranged in six courses of two, the Portuguese guitar has become synonymous with the nostalgic melodies of fado. Custódio Castelo and Carlos Paredes are two of the leading players.
Viola de fado – The fado guitar, also known as the viola de fado, bears a striking resemblance to its classical counterpart, save for its six steel strings. This instrument forms an integral part of the Lisbon fado tradition, where it serves as the rhythmic and harmonic backbone of the music, accompanying the singer alongside the Portuguese guitar.
Cavaquinho – Small 4-string guitar used in Portugal and Brazil, related to the Spanish guitarrillos, timple and guitarros. The Brazilian cavaquinho is typically larger than the Portuguese version. Notably, Portuguese sailors carried the cavaquinho to Hawaii, where it gave way to the ukulele. The cavaquinho is known as braguinha on the island of Madeira.
Mexican Guitars
Guitarrón, bajo quinto, and requinto are all types of guitars derived from Spanish guitars, used in traditional Mexican music, particularly the music of the mariachi genre.
The guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied six-string bass guitar that is played with either a pick or fingers. It provides the bass and rhythmic foundation of the mariachi ensemble.
The bajo quinto, meaning “fifth bass” in Spanish, is a twelve-string guitar with a short scale length and a deep body. It provides the harmonic and rhythmic structure of the mariachi ensemble.
Requinto is a smaller version of the traditional classical guitar, with a scale length slightly shorter than a standard guitar. It is used to play melodies and solos in the mariachi ensemble.
The requinto jarocho is a plucked string instrument with 4-5 strings, originating from Veracruz, Mexico. It is shaped like a guitar with a small body, has a shallow body, and a slightly raised fingerboard with 12 frets. It is played with a special pick and is typically used in jarocho ensembles to introduce the melodic theme and provide improvised counterpoint to the vocal line. Its strings are made of nylon, and it produces a sound similar to the bottom four strings of a classical guitar.
The jarana is a guitar-like string instrument originating from Mexico. It has different regional variations, such as the jarana huasteca from the Huastec region and the jarana jarocha from Veracruz. The jarana huasteca is a five-stringed instrument with a similar range to the mandolin and a scale length of around 40 cm. It is commonly used in the trío huasteco ensemble. On the other hand, the jarana jarocha is a fretted stringed instrument resembling a guitar. It typically has eight strings arranged in five courses and is strung with nylon strings (previously gut). Its body is narrower than a guitar due to its lineage from the Spanish baroque guitar. The jarana jarocha comes in various sizes, including the chaquiste, mosquito, primera, segunda, and tercera, each with different lengths comparable to ukuleles.
Other Guitars
Chaturangui – The chaturangui is a contemporary slide guitar invented by Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, a renowned Indian classical musician. It has six primary strings and several additional drone and sympathetic strings. The name is derived from the Sanskrit term “chaturanga,” meaning “four limbs,” referencing the instrument’s four sets of strings. Bhattacharya created the Chaturangui to capture the tonal qualities of the Indian slide guitar and make it more accessible to modern guitarists. The instrument is played on the lap and employs a metal bar or slide to adjust the pitch of the strings by gliding along the frets.
Tres cubano – The tres cubano is a musical instrument with three courses of two strings each, widely used in traditional Cuban music genres such as son cubano, changüí, and bolero. Its bright, rhythmic, and harmonic sound makes it an ideal accompaniment for other instruments and vocalists. The tres likely emerged in Cuba’s eastern region in the late 19th century, possibly as a variation of the Spanish guitar. It has gained popularity beyond Cuban music and is used worldwide. Musicians use various techniques, including strumming and plucking the strings with the fingers of the right hand while pressing down on the frets with the left hand, to produce sound on the tres.
Octavina – The octavina, also known as the Philippine octavina, is a guitar-shaped instrument native to the Philippines. It has a tuning similar to the Spanish laúd (lute). The octavina originated from Spain but was assimilated into Filipino culture due to the strong Spanish influence from the 16th to the 19th century. Over time, it evolved into a distinct instrument with unique characteristics.
Ukulele – The ukulele, also known as a uke, is a string instrument originating from Portugal and popularized in Hawaii. It has four nylon strings and its tone and volume vary based on its size and construction. The ukulele is derived from small, guitar-like instruments such as the machete, cavaquinho, and rajão, which were brought to Hawaii by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and the Azores in the 1880s.
There are several types of ukuleles, including the soprano (standard), concert, tenor, and baritone. Less common types include the sopranino, bass, and contrabass ukuleles. Banjo ukuleles and electric ukuleles are also available. The soprano is the second smallest and original size, while the concert size was developed in the 1920s to be slightly larger and louder with a deeper tone. The tenor, created shortly after, offers more volume and a deeper bass tone. The baritone, resembling a smaller tenor guitar, was introduced in the 1940s. More recent innovations include the contrabass and bass ukuleles, introduced in 2010 and 2014, respectively.
Venezuelan Cuatro – The Venezuelan cuatro (cuatro venezolano) is a smaller, four-stringed instrument that belongs to the guitar family and is often used for strumming. It arrived in South America with Spanish settlers, and it is an essential part of Venezuelan folkloric music. While traditionally used for rhythmic and harmonic support, a recent evolution in playing technique has made it capable of handling solo parts. The cuatro is used in various genres of Venezuelan music, as well as in other countries like Colombia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Aruba.
The Venezuelan cuatro has had several prominent innovators, including Hernán Gamboa who developed the “rasgapunteo” technique, Fredy Reyna who elevated the instrument’s capabilities and created a teaching method, Leonardo Lozano Escalante who composed and performed notable works for the cuatro and various ensembles, and Henry Linarez who fused jazz with Venezuelan folk music. More about the Venezuelan cuatro.
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.