The Friendly Guitar Fret

The guitar fret makes a musician’s life a lot easier, as frets help guitarists determine where their fingers are placed. Other instruments containing frets include the viol and the lute (just in case you feel the inclination to extend your playing skills to other instruments). Here’s a bit of guitar history.

The ancestor of the guitar is found in a sixteenth century instrument called the vihuela de mano. The modern guitar is tuned as such: E, A, d, g, b and e’. The upper case E (lowest note) is pitched an octave and a minor sixth below middle C. All of the other strings are tuned a perfect fourth apart, with the exception of the distance between the g and b strings (they’re a major third apart).

A great virtuoso of the nineteenth century was Fernando Sor (1778-1839). Other virtuosos, from past to present, cover various genres and include Francisco Tarrega, Julian Bream, John Williams and Carlos Santana.

The electric guitar was first developed in the 1930s. Presently, bass and electric guitars are staples in rock bands, with the latter using a plectrum as part of its playing technique.

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