3 ms·

I’m a bit skeptical of the claims given that multi-course tunings are almost as old as guitar-family instruments.

by dhosek 3mo ago

timdellinger 3mo ago
agreed - America went through a "mandolin mania" in ~1880s, and even in the 1900s and 1910s, the guitar was by no means an established instrument. As a matter of fact, the "tenor guitar" was made for people who knew how to play the very popular four string banjo, but wanted to play a guitar without learning new chords. Instruments were in a state of change, and the "harp" nomenclature (and styling) for a 12-string guitar was more a marketing flourish than a family lineage.
- SoftTalker 3mo ago
  > the "tenor guitar" Would that be a ukulele? Or is that something different yet?
  - bilegeek 3mo ago
    Different lineage[1] as (partially) mentioned above; the ukulele evolved from small Portuguese instruments[2], and is tuned about 3 full steps higher. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor_guitar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor_guitar [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele#History
ofalkaed 3mo ago
>almost as old as guitar-family instruments. They are as old as we can trace it back, vihuela/viola de mano were multi-course, as was the baroque guitar which developed from them. The romantic guitar brought us single string courses and in the guitar family double courses died out other than in a few nooks and crannies. I don't think this has any effect on what TFA proposes and the author is well aware of this bit of information, but it has been years since I read it and maybe I am forgetting something?
dahart 3mo ago
Multi-course ouds and lutes of course predate anything resembling the modern guitar by a long, long way. Do you consider those in the “guitar family”? If so, I’d refer to the group as oud or lute family. Guitar family is a recent subset of lute family, and doesn’t even contain the first multi-course instruments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Guitar_family_instruments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Guitar_family_instrum... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lute-family_instruments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lute-family_instrum...
- dhosek 3mo ago
  I was being loose with terminology, but yes, oud/lute family is more accurate.

I’m a bit skeptical of the claims given that multi-course tunings are almost as old as guitar-family instruments.

by dhosek 3mo ago

I’m a bit skeptical of the claims given that multi-course tunings are almost as old as guitar-family instruments.

agreed - America went through a "mandolin mania" in ~1880s, and even in the 1900s and 1910s, the guitar was by no means an established instrument. As a matter of fact, the "tenor guitar" was made for people who knew how to play the very popular four string banjo, but wanted to play a guitar without learning new chords. Instruments were in a state of change, and the "harp" nomenclature (and styling) for a 12-string guitar was more a marketing flourish than a family lineage.

SoftTalker 3mo ago
> the "tenor guitar" Would that be a ukulele? Or is that something different yet?
- bilegeek 3mo ago
  Different lineage[1] as (partially) mentioned above; the ukulele evolved from small Portuguese instruments[2], and is tuned about 3 full steps higher. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor_guitar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor_guitar [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele#History

ofalkaed 3mo ago

>almost as old as guitar-family instruments. They are as old as we can trace it back, vihuela/viola de mano were multi-course, as was the baroque guitar which developed from them. The romantic guitar brought us single string courses and in the guitar family double courses died out other than in a few nooks and crannies. I don't think this has any effect on what TFA proposes and the author is well aware of this bit of information, but it has been years since I read it and maybe I am forgetting something?

dahart 3mo ago

Multi-course ouds and lutes of course predate anything resembling the modern guitar by a long, long way. Do you consider those in the “guitar family”? If so, I’d refer to the group as oud or lute family. Guitar family is a recent subset of lute family, and doesn’t even contain the first multi-course instruments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Guitar_family_instruments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Guitar_family_instrum... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lute-family_instruments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lute-family_instrum...

dhosek 3mo ago
I was being loose with terminology, but yes, oud/lute family is more accurate.