Bookmark Classical Guitar Corner
“The guitar is a wonderful instrument which is understood by few.”
- Franz Schubert
Welcome Classical Guitarists!
Classical Guitar Corner is a site where you will find links for all your guitar needs. From free sheet music to forums and festivals all you need to do is bookmark this site and start searching for what you need. Use the search box at the top of each page to find exactly what you want in this site.
If you have any suggestions for links or additions to the site mail them in the guestbook or email info@guitar-classical.com
Happy plucking!
Top Ten Pages
-
Top ten Sheet Music Sites
-
Top ten Midi Sites
-
Top Ten Guitar Festivals
-
Top 10 Guitar Forums
-
Top 10 Guitarists
All About the guitar
The evolution of the classical guitar and its repertoire spans more than four centuries and was shaped by contributions from earlier instruments such as the renaissance guitar, vihuela and the baroque guitar. The popularity of the classical guitar has been sustained over the years by many great players, arrangers, and composers. A very short list might include Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710), Fernando Sor (1778-1839), Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909), Andrés Segovia (1893-1987), Julian Bream (1933), and John Williams (1941).
By using the fingers, or more specifically fingernails and/or fingertips, to pluck instead of a plectrum or bow, the performer can play polyphonic music. It is common to encounter classical guitar music that sustains two, three, or four musical lines or voices. The use of fingernails combined with some flesh of fingertips is generally the most accepted convention. However there are renowned players who do not utilise fingernails and prefer flesh over nail, examples include Fernando Sor and Francisco Tárrega (in his later years). The classical guitar has more space between the strings and a slightly wider fingerbaord than other guitars. This satisfies technical demands made upon the left hand for the execution of polyphonic music and the requirement that the right hand fingers pluck the strings.
Classical guitarists hold the instrument by raising the left leg (with a footstool), placing the guitar on that leg and holding the guitar in place with the right arm. Alternatively the left foot can be placed on the floor and a small support placed between the left leg and the guitar. Either of these positions support the guitar in a way that gives the player greater mobility and access to the strings and the fingerboard. The right hand is a classical guitarist's voice similar to that of a string player's bow. By using a combination of flesh and fingernail to pluck the strings, a classical guitarist is able to generate a wide variety of sounds.
The classical guitar's most characteristic physical feature is the use of nylon strings (which have, largely, supplanted the use of gut strings), although since the mid 1990s carbon fibre or composite treble strings have gained popularity for their nylon-like sound and significantly better reliability. Nylon strings give the classical guitar a unique, varied and rich color palette. The size and shape of the classical guitar have been nearly standard for over 100 years. The finest guitars are built with a solid Western red cedar or spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides, traditionally a Spanish cedar or more recently a mahogany neck and an ebony fingerboard.
Thanks to www.wikipedia.org