Joel Glassman
Mar-06-2006, 11:00am
http://www.djangobooks.com/archives/2005/08/28/fapy_lafertin_portuguese_guitar.html#000341
Richard Russell
Mar-06-2006, 10:50pm
Thanks for sharing the video link w/ us! That is fantastic stuff! Seeing a master at work is always inspiring!
Gerry Cassidy
Mar-06-2006, 11:26pm
WOW! That was really fun to watch!
The tremolo he does a couple times in the tune is simply amazing. I can't tell if he is just picking or combining fingers in there along with the pick. Maybe some left hand pull off action?
Is it tuned like a regular guitar? Double courses? I can't see it clear enough to tell.
Thanks so much. I am definitely gonna share this with friends.
Gerry Cassidy
Mar-08-2006, 7:50am
As I said in my post above: I was gonna share this with friends. Turns out a one of those friends I shared with has some experience with this instrument/music/culture.
Thought I'd share his reply:
Hey Gerry,
Yes, the Portuguese Guitar is a completely different animal than what we know. In fact, in Portugal they use the term "Spanish guitar" to refer to what we call a guitar, and just "guitar" to refer to their own. Actually they have two versions, one from the city of Coimbra, where it is said to have originated, and then one from Lisbon. The main difference is the Coimbra one is larger. (Also some differences in the headstock/scroll design I believe).
Their guitar is the main instrument in their traditional style of music, Fado (pron. "FAH-doo") which is a very raw, emotional, earthy sort of folk music, usually sung in cafes by locals. When I was there, I heard some in the cafes in the old section of Lisbon and also visited a great museum, the Museums of Fado. Unlike here, when someone gets up in public to sing Fado, the whole place is SILENT. Nice!
I also went up to Coimbra (about four hours north of Lisbon) and visited a luthier who builds very fine examples of both, as well as Spanish guitars, cavaquinhos, and the occasional violin. All I did was visit, however, because his cheapest instrument, the little uke-sized cavaquinho, would have run me over $1000 US. His guitars start at more than double that.
Anyway, I digress: the Lisbon version of the guitar is tuned (lo-hi) B - A - E - B - A - D, and the Coimbra version is A - G - D - A - G - C.. From what I saw, they tend to do mostly fingerpicking rather than strumming.
Very cool instruments, probably a little strange to learn, for us anyway.
Jim