Classical guitar with additional strings: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Guitar with more than six strings}}

{{refimprove|date=March 2018}}

[[File:JME ten string guitar.jpg|thumb|Ten-string classical guitar]]

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While the invention of the seven-string guitar has sometimes been attributed to Russian guitarist and composer [[Andrei Sychra]], guitar historian [[Matanya Ophee]] has found evidence that seven-string classical guitars may have already existed in Europe in the late 18th century, when Sychra was just beginning his career.<ref>Ophee, M.; ''The Story of the Lyre-Guitar''; '''Soundboard''', XIV:v8 (1987), 235v43. (A slightly rewritten version of this article appears in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, under the ''Lyre Guitar'' article.)</ref>

[[Image:RussianTropinin acoustic guitar with seven steel stringsgitarist.JPGjpg|thumb|A seven-string Russian guitar]]

There is no question, however, that Sychra was a great proponent of the seven-string instrument, having written a method, and more than one thousand compositions for the instrument. Seventy-five of these pieces were republished in the 1840s by [[Stellovsky]], then again in the 1880s by [[Gutheil]]. Some of these were published again in the [[Soviet Union]] in 1926.

Sychra's guitar was a nylongut-string "classical" variation of the traditional [[Russian guitar|Russian Gypsy Guitar]] (now usually steel-strung), and tuned in a similar manner, to an open 'G' chord:

*D2 - G2 - B2 - D3 - G3 - B3 - D4

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== Eight-string ==

{{main|Eight-string guitar}}

Eight-string classical guitars are generally tuned with two extra basses ([BD]EADGBE) that vary in pitch depending on the piece being played. Another common variation is to add an extra bass and treble string. The extra treble is almost always tuned to A,{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} while the added bass string usually falls on A,B, or C.

[[Paul Galbraith]] and [[Alexander Vynograd]] are two of the most notable 8 string players who use the extra high and low string tuning. Galbraith generally tunes (B)EADGBEA which puts standard 6 string guitar chord voicings and scale shapes within the neck and allows him to read [[lute]] tablature directly (a whole [[Steps and skips|step]] higher). Vynograd chooses to tune AEADGCEA (notice the b string is tuned up a half step) which allows him to play the top 6 strings like a guitar a 4th higher. Vynograd writes his music on a grand staff in a different key and plays as if the guitar was tuned EBEADGBE.

8-string guitarist [[Javier Reyes]] of the progressive metal band [[Animals as Leaders]] also plays 8-string classical guitar for which he uses the tuning EBEADGBE.

The Brazilian guitarist [[Raphael Rabello]] also adopted the 8 string guitar on many of his presentations also Australian guitarist SirsomLaszlo Solo-JazzSirsom plays the 8-string Classical guitar (BEADGBEA tuning).

=== Brahms guitar ===

{{main|Brahms guitar}}

The [[Brahms guitar]] was developed by guitarist [[Paul Galbraith]] and luthier [[David Rubio]] to allow the music of [[Brahms]] to be played more comfortably on the guitar. Information: [http://www.paul-galbraith.com/engl/8string.htm 8 string guitar] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423170109/http://www.paul-galbraith.com/engl/8string.htm |date=2018-04-23 }}

== Nine-string ==

Late 18th and early 19th -century method books for nine-string guitars exist,<ref>Doisey (1801).</ref> but examples of these instruments are rare. Modern nine-string guitars are almost exclusively steel-string or electric instruments.

== Ten-string ==

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The Yepes 10-string guitar adds four strings (resonators) tuned in such a way that they (along with the other three bass strings) can resonate in sympathy with any of the 12 chromatic notes (or their primary harmonics) that can occur on the higher strings; the idea behind this being an attempt at enhancing and balancing sonority.

[[File:Narciso Yepes' reentrant tuning for the ten-string guitar.jpg|thumb|Yepes Ten-string Guitar Tuning (shown in reverse order from the actual string order)]]

The tuning of the Yepes ten-string guitar is: