History And Description Of The Classical Guitar

Ever famous for classical music, or even in folk music, the classical guitar has always been a favorite for those who enjoy soft and soothing music. For many years, and in fact for many centuries, musicians have been using this guitar for many purposes; live shows, plays, sketches, and many more pastimes

Classical guitars date back to the 17th century, when many renowned players, arrangers, and composers  used the instrument extensively for all their music performances. Some of these exponents would include Gaspar Sanz in the 17th century, Fernando Sor in the 18th century, Mauro Giuliani in the 19th century, and Francisco Tárrega in the 20th century.

The more recent and possibly more well-known classical guitarists  would be the likes of Andrés Segovia, John Williams, Phillip Glass andJames Newton Howard amongst others.

The Components Of The Classical Guitar

Classical guitars are also known as Spanish guitars, probably because that’s where they might have originated from. This guitar is played using fingers, and not necessarily plectrum or bow. And just using the fingers to pluck produces beautiful polyphonic music. It's common for these guitars to sustain up to four musical lines or voices.

There are many parts of the classical guitar which have a significant impact on performance. Such parts of a typical classical guitar would include the headstock, the nut, the machine heads or tuning machines, the fret wires, the neck, the heel, the body, the bridge, and many more. Each of these parts has their own function in producing the best quality of sound.

Just to explain a few, let’s examine the headstock, the nut, the neck and the Bridge.

The headstock, located at the end of the guitar neck, has the machine heads which are used to adjust the string tension, which in turn affects the pitch produced. The nut is a medium-hard material which guides the strings onto the fret board, giving consistent and accurate lateral string placement and tuning.

The neck is a long wooden extension containing the entire guitar attributes such as the frets, fret board, tuners, and the headstock, and this neck needs to be very strong in all circumstances, because the rigidity determines the quality of the classical guitars. The bridge, just like on any other guitar, is designed to transfer the vibration from the strings to the sound board to be amplified into a beautiful sound. The bridge also functions to hold the strings in place on the body.