The types of guitar
The different types of guitar construction reflect the intended musical role of the instrument. To properly understand the various types of guitars it is helpful to first understand the musical purposes that they are designed to meet. In simplified terms these roles can be summarized into two broad categories:
Musical roles
1) Solo playing : this involves playing complete musical compositions or arrangements on the guitar. This approach usually makes full use of the guitar’s ability to independently play more than one note at a time (i.e. its polyphonic capabilities). The guitar may be required to concurrently play both melody and harmony.
2) Accompaniment : accompaniment is the practice of providing musical support to the voice and/or other instruments. Accompaniment usually takes the form of harmony and chords and/or rhythmic support. An accompanist can be a solo artist accompanying her/his own singing or he/she can be a member of a group of musicians such as a rock band or an orchestra.
A third musical role can also be said to be met by the guitar. It reflects the guitar’s ability to perform as a melody instrument. The vast majority of musical instruments are not designed to produce more than one note at a time, thus, when they are played on their own they are melody instruments, incapable of producing harmony. The major exceptions to this are the true polyphonic instruments: i.e. the keyboards, the plucked-string family (includes the guitar), the non-tuned percussion instruments and some of the tuned percussion family e.g. the vibrophone.
All guitars are capable of both harmony and melody playing, therefore their constructions do not generally reflect attempts to exploit melody playing over other considerations. Specialist exceptions to this observation do exist, such as pedal steel and slide or bottleneck guitars, both designed to exploit a unique melodic sonic effect.
The well known practice of “taking a solo” within a band or orchestral context describes the practice of an instrumentalist, i.e. the “soloist”, playing a melody (usually) whilst being allowed to stand out from the rest of the players. Such solos, being part of a wider group performance, do not meet the definition of solo instrumental performance in this article.
It is important to note that the roles of solo performer and accompanist do not dictate the style of music performed, although musical style also has an important bearing upon the choice of instrument. A solo performance might as easily consist of a 1930s blues tune as of a baroque fugue. A guitar can be found in a role as an accompanist in a classical trio as well as in a jazz band.
Guitars used for solo performance
The nylon-string guitar, played using the fingers to pluck the strings, excels in the execution of solo music. The nylon string guitar and its playing technique has developed over six centuries and is known as the classical guitar.
The description of this style of guitar as classical is a relatively recent development. Prior the twentieth century the classical guitar was simply known as ‘the guitar’ but later developments of alternative constructions required the adoption of a more specific designation. Classical is a term that recognizes the instrument’s place as being the product of high culture and of being a design that has stood the test of time. Music of many styles and eras can be performed on the classical guitar, including the cutting edge music of the modern avant-garde.
The classical guitar has a rich and deep sound capable of varied nuance, its playing technique has evolved to exploit this attribute as well as everything else that the unaided instrument can offer. Some describe classical guitar as akin to a small piano in its effect but with a far greater tonal palette. It is the most stylistically versatile of all the types of guitar. It can also be used for accompaniment in many styles of music.
The acoustic steel string guitar, sometimes known as the flat-top acoustic or even as the folk guitar, is less frequently used in a solo capacity. Its construction presents the player with certain technical and musical difficulties if it is required to play solo arrangements. These difficulties arise because its design is primarily aimed toward accompaniment, as is described in the following section. However, its bright tone and its ability to produce distinctive effects, such as string bending, is enough to motivate some artists to overcome the difficulties and use it as a solo finger-style instrument, particularly when performing twentieth century musical styles from the USA. Some modern guitar makers are even responding to player demand and offering custom made steel string guitars with some features similar to the classical guitar, making its use in finger-style solo playing more accessible.
Guitars used for accompaniment
In contrast to the field of solo guitar music, which is dominated by the classical guitar, a range of instruments has evolved for use in various accompaniment situations. These situations fall broadly into two categories, acoustic and electric.
Acoustic accompaniment.
The acoustic guitars most commonly used in the role of accompaniment are the nylon classical guitar and the steel string or flat-top acoustic guitar. The choice is highly dependent on musical style performed and is often also influenced by geographical and cultural context.
The nylon string classical guitar has long remained the the instrument of choice for many cultures, notably Latin cultures and those of South America, where it is used both for popular styles and for classical music.
The steel string acoustic guitar is the instrument of first choice for many folk musicians and popular performers who often require relatively simple or percussive chordal accompaniment. It is found particularly in North American and Western European popular, rock, jazz and folk music cultures. It is very seldom used for playing the classical repertoire.
