The Portuguese guitar (Portuguese: guitarra portuguesa) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising two strings each. It has a distinctive tuning mechanism. It is most notably associated with fado, although it has and is being used in a broader context.
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The origin of the Portuguese guitar is a subject of debate. Throughout the 19th century the Portuguese guitar was being made in several sizes and shapes and subject to several regional aesthetic trends. A sizeable guitar making industry flourished in Coimbra by the late 19th century, propelled by the Portuguese guitar's popularity among the students of the city. Eventually the developments of the local luthiers led to the modern model, named after the city.
Over the first half of the 20th century the Portuguese guitar underwent standardization into two distinct models and enjoyed several technical improvements, such as the refinement of the tuning mechanism and the revision of its dimensions, retaining throughout the process, however, its overall appearance and distinct sound.
There are two distinct kinds of modern Portuguese guitar models — the Lisboa guitar and the Coimbra guitar. A third kind of Portuguese guitar, the "guitolão", has recently been added to the family, but this will be discussed later.
The differences between the two guitars are their scale, body measurements and other finer construction details. Overall, the Coimbra guitar is of simpler construction than the Lisboa guitar.
Visually and most distinctively, the Lisboa guitar can be differentiated from the Coimbra guitar for its larger soundboard and scroll ornament above the tuning machine in place of Coimbra's teardrop shaped motif. The Lisboa guitar has a narrower neck, smaller string spacing and a slightly shorter scale.
Both guitars have a very distinct timbre - the Lisboa guitar has a resonant bell-like sound that the Coimbra guitar lacks; the Coimbra guitar has a more accentuated bass sound.
As for the Guitolão, it is fair to say it is a "bigger" version of the Portuguese guitar, and with a wider timbric range, allowing lower and higher pitches.
The technique employed to play the Portuguese guitar is what is historically called dedillo or dedilho. This technique comprises playing solely with the thumb and the index fingers. On the Portuguese guitar the strings are picked with the corner of the fingernails, avoiding contact of the flesh with the strings. The unused fingers of the picking hand rest below the strings, on the soundboard. Nowadays most players use synthetic materials in place of natural fingernails; these fingerpicks are usually made of plastic or tortoiseshell.
To give a very brief account of some of the most recent influential players, Armandinho, born in 1891, became one of the most influential guitar players in Lisbon, leaving a vast reportoire of variations and fados behind. Following in his footsteps, and to name but a few, came other guitarists, namely Jaime Santos, Raul Nery, José Nunes and Fontes Rocha.
Artur Paredes, born in 1899, not unlike Armandinho, was an equally important player in the city of Coimbra. Much of today's Coimbra guitar features can be traced back to his contact with local luthiers. His son Carlos Paredes was a virtuoso and attained great popularity becoming the most internationally known Portuguese guitar player. His compositions on the Portuguese guitar go beyond the traditional use of the instrument in Fado musicianship giving him (and the instrument) a status above folklore or regional music.
Historically, the oldest commonly used tuning was the natural tuning. This tuning fell entirely out of favor by the end of the Second World War, however, and is now considered obsolete. The Coimbra fado tuning, popularised by and named after Artur Paredes's city, is the same as Lisbon's but tuned a step down.
Natural tuning
C4C3 E4E3 G4G3 C4C4 E4E4 G4G4
Lisboa fado tuning
D4D3 A4A3 B4B3 E4E4 A4A4 B4B4
Coimbra fado tuning
C4C3 G4G3 A4A3 D4D4 G4G4 A4A4
Guitolão tuning
G2G1 D3D2 E2E2 A2A2 D3D3 E3E3
There is a free lesson on how to play the Lisbon style Portuguese guitar at: http://www.fernandezmusic.com/PortugueseGuitarMethod.html
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   | Terreiro do Fado - TERREIRO DO FADO :: www.fado.biz |
| | Videos of Portuguese guitar playing - YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. |
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