 Baroque guitar built by Matteo Sellas, c. 1630–50 | |
| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Classification | String instrument (plucked) |
| Hornbostel–Sachs classification | 321.322 (Composite chordophone) |
| Developed | 17th century |
| Attack | Fast |
| Related instruments | |
| Musicians | |
The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string.[1]
- ^ Harvey Turnbull, The Guitar (From The Renaissance to the Present Day) (3rd impression 1978), London: Batsford (ISBN 0 7134 3251 9), p. 15: "Early lutes, vihuelas and guitars share one important feature that would have been of practical concern to the player; the frets, unlike the fixed metal frets on the modern guitar, were made of gut and tied round the neck" (Chapter 1 - The Development of the Instrument).