Ten-string guitar

The modern ten-string guitar is similar to a normal six-string classical guitar with its characteristic use of nylon strings (the basses additionally wound with a very thin metal string), except that it has four additional bass strings.

In fact these four additional bass strings are seldom plucked, their function is mainly to improve the sonority, by being able to freely vibrate in resonance with the other six strings (which are usually tuned the same way as the six strings of the normal classical guitar). Thus all the traditional classical guitar repertoire can be played on the ten-string version. An exception is the playing of some baroque music where lower notes are required (or other repertoire where lower notes are needed), so that now the extra bass strings can be used.

The modern 10 string guitar was developed in 1963 when spanish luthier José Ramírez III was experimenting with the possibilies of using extra strings that resonate in unison with the normal plucked strings in order to enhance the sound. He had originally planned to have six extra strings in the inside of the guitar, but needed a mechanism to stop the vibrations when desired - similar to a pianists pedal. When he met spanish classical guitarist Narciso Yepes the two of them experimented with possible solutions. Later Yepes convinced Ramírez that by adding four strings tuned in a certain way one can achieve the same resonant and harmonic supports as with inner strings, with the added benefit that one can stop the resonance-vibrations of the bass strings with the hand.

The ten-string guitar has never reached the popularity its six-string cousin, but there are nevertheless luthiers who build ten-string guitars; and accessories such as strings for the instrument are readily available. Guitarists often adapt the tuning of the strings to suit their needs and tastes: normally the higher 6 strings have the same tuning as the standard six-string guitar (e' - b - g - d - A - E), while the four bass strings are tuned in various ways, depending on

• the music played (e.g. baroque)
• desired bass-string resonance
• string availability
• player's preferences.

Two main/usual tunings of the instrument can be distinguished, based on the availability of string-sets:

• Modern/Yepes Tuning: e' - b - g - d - A - E - C - Bb - Ab - Gb
• Romantic Tuning: e' - b - g - d - A - E - D - C - Bˌ - Aˌ

(These strings can also be tuned differently - scordatura). Other tunings/strings are used as well (for example lute tunings on the guitar).

Modern/Yepes Tuning: The aim of having acoustic resonance for all 12 chromatic notes

Yepes' tuning for a balanced acoustic resonance over all 12 chromatic notes

The Modern/Yepes tuning of the ten-string guitar is:

• e' - b - g - d - A - E - C - Bb - Ab - Gb

Or, written enharmonically:

• e' - b - g - d - A - E - C - A# - G# - F#

(The above notation uses the Helmholtz system. Thus, 7 or C is the string with the lowest pitch. This is sometimes lowered to B1 or A1, particularly for transcriptions of baroque lute music.)

After Narciso Yepes's meeting with José Ramírez, he used the ten-string guitar in concerts and recordings. He felt that the irregular acoustic resonance of the 6-string guitar could be improved by using the 10-string guitar with particular tunings. The acoustic resonance is produced by the overtones of bass strings, vibrating in sympathy with notes played on the fingerboard. On a 6-string guitar the normal tuning of the 3 bass strings is D, A, E: When these strings a free to vibrate, and notes are played on the treble strings, some notes (E, A, D, B) sound full, enriched by this sympathetic vibration, while others are without that lustre and sustain. Yepes's felt that this imbalance could be corrected by using the 10-string guitar with a appropriate tuning of the four bass strings. These bass strings, together with the usual three can approximate chromatic resonance:

Upon adding four bass string tuned a very specific way - C, B-flat, A-flat, G-flat - the same resonance is elicited by each of the notes that make up the fingerboard's sonorous catalogue, by taking advantage of the natural harmonics (the octaves and the fifths) of the bass strings, which produce unison, sympathetic vibrations with notes played on the fingerboard. In other words, the additional strings act as string resonators (though they can be, and are also, fingered with the left hand and/or sounded by the right). The result is termed linearised chromatic string resonance since the bass strings now resonate equally in sympathy with any of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale, similar to the piano's sustain when the pedal is used. And just as a pianist has the option of whether or not to employ the pedal, the competent 10-string guitarist is able to execute complete control, sustaining or stopping notes at will. This chromatic resonance and equal timbre of tone are intrinsically absent from the six-string guitar.

Furthermore, it now becomes possible for the guitarist to play repertoire written for the Baroque lute without transposition of the bass notes, by employing scordatura (lowering the tuning of the 7th string - the lowest-sounding string - to B1 or A1) and fingering the bass-line on the lowest strings. (A common misconception, even amongst some 10-string guitarists, is that these basses are intended to make it easier and simpler to play bass notes by playing as many of them as possible on open strings. This approach very much goes against the methodology employed by Narciso Yepes himself.) The instrument also opens up possibilities for more faithful transcription of music originally written for keyboard, and opens up new possibilities for original composition, as exemplified in the solo guitar works of Maurice Ohana and Bruno Maderna.

"This does not mean a break from nor lack of respect for the admirable instrument of tradition. My new guitar is not basically different in sound colour, timbre, nor technical approach from the 6-string guitar. Imagine a piano without a pedal which suddenly acquired one - what new possibilities in the enrichment of sound this means is self-evident." (Narciso Yepes)

Composers

• Maurice Ohana, Bruno Maderna, Leonardo Balada, Antonio Ruiz-Pipó, Philippe Drogoz, Jorge Labrouve, José Ramón Encinar, Michèle Reverdy, Robert Keeley, Martin Derungs, Stephen Goss, T.E. Flemming, Chris Malloy, Ignacio Yepes, José Peris

Romantic Tuning

Prior to 1963 (the year Yepes/Ramirez invented the Modern ten-string guitar), a number of different types of guitars with ten strings were played by, among others, Johann Kaspar Mertz and Ferdinando Carulli. The first played an instrument with four additional free-floating basses tuned diatonically from D to A1. The latter called his instrument the Decacorde, which was tuned e'-b-g-d-A-G-F-E-D-C. (The last five strings are not fretted.) These tunings are however not a precursor of the Modern/Yepes Tuning, since the tunings of these instruments were not intended to resolve - and do not resolve - the problems of resonance inherent in the design of the guitar.

Since 1963, Modern ten-string guitars - more readily available than replicas of period instruments - have been appropriated by some proponents of the abovementioned "Romantic" ten-stringed guitar, tuning the additional strings diatonically from D to A1.

Baroque Tuning

The ten-string guitar can also be tuned "similar" to a lute (with low bass-register strings), which facilitates the performing of baroque works: examples are Stephan Schmidt's recording of Bach. It seems highly probable that even Narciso Yepes used a lute-tuning (or something similar, using low bass strings) on the ten-string guitar, for selected performances of baroque works: He has recorded Bach's entire lute works on the lute - using lute tunings, rather than tunings that favour chromatic resonance - so he will probably have done the same (or in approx.) for his recording of these works on the ten-string guitar. (In any case he will have had access to the necessary bass strings.) In other cases when the guitar was strung with strings for his Modern/Yepes tuning, it seems likely that Yepes will have played both normal repertoire for the six-string guitar and baroque repertoire using these strings (with additional scordatura on the bass strings for baroque works requiring low notes), rather than restringing the instrument with more appropriate lower strings, as was probably done for his carefully prepared Bach/baroque recordings.

Often guitars with still more strings are used for the performance of lute music (lutes often used more than 10 strings!), especially the alto guitar.

Chromatic resonance versus a favouring of certain keys

There is some confusion between two visually similar but conceptually disparate tunings: on the one hand, the ten-stringed guitar with e.g. "Romantic tuning", whose purpose is an extended bass register that, by the nature of its tuning, augments the guitar's already inherent resonance (preferring the tones of E, A and D - the very keys in which most of the reportoire is performed/composed), and, on the other, the ten-string guitar with "Modern/Yepe tuning", whose raison d'être is linearised resonance for the entire chromatic octave as well as an extended bass register (both enabled by its specific tuning and the configuration of its strings).

Other guitarists still have adopted new, individualised tunings that facilitate the playing of their highly personal repertoires; most notably Dominic Frasca and Egberto Gismonti.

Players

• Narciso Yepes, Stephan Schmidt, Dominic Frasca, Egberto Gismonti, Ismael Barambio, Jonathan Leathwood, Godelieve Monden, Viktor van Niekerk, Simon Wynberg, Andreas Hiller, Néstor Benito, Pascal Boëls, Pierre Laniau, Maurizio Verna, Daniel Küper, Janet Marlow, Mari Mäntylä, Paolo Garganese, Marcos Puña, Maria Teresa Nayumi Kakinuma, Ogawa Kazutaka, Hideo Sugimoto, Sensu-Otoko, Yoshinobu Iwanaga, Juan Antonio Muro

Strings

• La Bella
  Set 10MT Ten String Modern Tuning e' - b - g - d - A - E - C - Bb - Ab - Gb
  Set 10RT Ten String Romantic Tuning e' - b - g - d - A - E - D - C - Bˌ - Aˌ (previously called: Set 10BT Ten String Baroque Tuning)
• Hannabach
  "E815010 H-Blue" and "E815010 M-Black" e' - b - g - d - A - E - D - C - Bˌ - Aˌ
• Pyramid
  info e' - b - g - d - A - E - D - C - Bˌ - Aˌ
• Savarez
  info e' - b - g - d - A - E - D - C - Bˌ - Aˌ
• Janet Marlow Signature Set
  e' - b - g - d - A - E - B - F# - C# - G#ˌ
• Necesito Cuerdas para Guitarra Clásica 10 Cuerdas Discussion - guitarra.artelinkado.com Template:Es icon

See also

• Multi-string classical guitar
• 18-string guitar

External Links

• 10-string guitar Yahoo Groups Discussion Group
• Ten String Guitar International
  organized by Janet Marlow who has chosen to mainly use the following rare tuning: e' - b - g - d - A - E - B - F# - C# - G#
• Tuning for Bach Lute Suite on the 10-string guitar as used by Stephan Schmidt on his Bach-Recording ASIN B00004TVFG [1]

Opinions on the ten-string guitar

• Two reasons for the 10-string guitar (1995)
• Concerning the 10 string guitar David Norton (2002)

Photos

Narciso Yepes with his ten-string guitar,