Bowed guitar

Jón Þór Birgisson of Sigur Rós playing Bowed Guitar at the Roskilde Festival in 2006

Bowed guitar is a method of playing a guitar, acoustic or electric, in which the guitarist uses a bow to play the instrument, similar to playing a cello or a viola da gamba. Unlike other bowed instruments, the guitar has a flat bridge, making it difficult to bow individual notes on the middle strings. Probably the most famous use of this technique was by Jimmy Page in The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.

Bowed guitar players

One of the first 20th century guitarists to use a bow was Eddie Phillips. His bowed guitar can be heard on The Creation's "Making Time". The bowed guitar is most famously used by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and The Yardbirds, such as on the songs "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times" (from the album Led Zeppelin) as well as "In the Light" (from the album Physical Graffiti). Bowed guitar is also used extensively by Jón Þór Birgisson, the vocalist and guitarist for the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Rós. Jonny Greenwood, the guitarist of Radiohead plays bowed guitar live on "Pyramid Song" to make the "whale" sounds (his brother Colin Greenwood used to make them on double bass). Jeff Martin of the Canadian rock band The Tea Party plays bowed guitar on some of his earlier songs such as "Save Me", from the album Splendor Solis. Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo plays bowed guitar on occasion, most notably in the intro to "Hey Joni". The Besnard Lakes also make use of bowed guitar. Avant-garde composer Scott Fields often uses bows, including modified bows, in performance and on recordings, including "Mamet", "From the Diary of Dog Drexel", "We Were the Phliks", and "Beckett". Claudio Sanchez from the American rock band Coheed and Cambria often uses a bow during live performances. Pink Floyd's Roger Waters used a bowed bass guitar on the songs "Lucifer Sam" and "The Scarecrow". Tim McTague of Underoath uses a bow in the songs "Writing on the Walls," "To Whom It May Concern," and "Casting Such a Thin Shadow." English instrumentalist and composer Mike Oldfield played bowed guitar on his album Amarok. Andrew McKellar of the South African band Civil Twilight also uses a bow, on their songs "Perfect Stranger" and "Letters from the Sky" when performing live (source: video YouTube). Skyler Skjelset of Fleet Foxes uses a bow on live performances of "Drops in the River". Russell Senior of Pulp used a bow on live performances of "Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)".

See also

• EBow
• Arpeggione

External links

• Information and discussion for bowed guitar players