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Portuguese Guitar (Guitarra Portuguesa, fado guitar) - what is it? How is it played? In English!
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- Опубликовано: 7 авг 2024
- #portugueseguitar #guitarraportuguesa #fadoguitar #fadomusic
Curious about the Portuguese guitar but don't speak Portuguese? This video is for you! Part 1 of a series talking about the various instruments used on the Quatrapuntal album looks at the Portuguese guitar, the history, construction and playing techniques. With examples played live. Please also check out the other videos on our channel & PLEASE SUBSCRIBE to see more videos like this!
NEW! The studio recording of the Daybreak featuring the Portuguese guitar as heard in this video has just been released, please have a listen and tell us what you think:
• Daybreak - guitar, Por...
Also check out this BRAND NEW VIDEO featuring the mandora (a type of lute, explanation video coming soon):
• Snowbound - a winter's...
Facebook: / quatrapuntal
Website: www.quatrapuntal.com
(pode comentar em português também)
![[Eng Sub] MANDOLIN vs PORTUGUESE GUITAR - FADO and CHORO - RHYTHMS by Danilo Brito](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/8tH3T2OhQBI/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Eng Sub] MANDOLIN vs PORTUGUESE GUITAR - FADO and CHORO - RHYTHMS by Danilo Brito](/img/tr.png)
NEW VIDEO demonstrating various types of lutes - if you are interested in unusual instruments watch this:
NOVO VÍDEO demonstrando vários tipos de alaúde - se você estiver interessado em instrumentos estranhos, assista a este:
ruclips.net/video/r4FaF7eH8Tg/видео.html
Great intro to the instrument ✨️
Love the Guitarra Portuguesa, first time I've found an explanation in English. I now live in Portugal with my Portuguese wife, Fernanda.
Well you are surrounded by the best players then, wish I had more of a chance to hear them play live. Recordings are all very well but there is a certain atmosphere in a fado house that you don't get on a video. And the weather is better of course, I thought about moving to Madeira at one point but ended up on a different island. Boa sorte!
Brutal um inglês a tocar a difícil guitarra portuguesa, saudações de Portugal 🇵🇹,👏👏👏👏👏👏
Sim senhor! A guitarra tem uma técnica única. Veja isso também:
ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Você e de onde em portugal?
@@Quatrapuntal sou do porto atualmente estou na Alemanha saudações de 🇵🇹
OK ich verstehe. O Porto é uma cidade linda, cheia de história. E que vinho fantástico!
Verdad.
The pure song of Portuguese Guittar starts at 5:46. Congrats to the player that caught the soul of the guitar. Thank you for such a precious moment.
Thank you for your kind comment. Have a look at this which is a more recent performance video with the guitarra: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Sou brasileiro, sou ascendente de portugueses com muito orgulho e amo esse instrumento lindo que é a guitarra portuguesa e que é a imagem do fado.
👏👏👏👏
Eu fiz alguns concertos no Brasil anos atrás (com o alaúde) e adoraria voltar um dia. Tive muitos amigos brasileiros aqui no Reino Unido também. Lindo país e pessoas muito amigáveis
Great explanation, thank you so much! And well played!
Thanks, that video is a few years old now, this one has a better performance to show the instrument off: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Absolutely fascinating and so illuminating. Thank you
Thanks, I also did one about lutes (my main instrument) which you might find interesting as well: ruclips.net/video/r4FaF7eH8Tg/видео.html
Two variations of the same guitar but the same enchanting magic that makes me proud of being Portuguese
Sim, Portugal tem um grande património musical, não só tradicional mas também grupos como Madredeus, que me influenciaram muito
Most interesting and informative. Will enjoy listening to the Portuguese Guitar even more. Thank you.
Thanks, it is a unique instrument in many ways.
Awesome performing and description about the portuguese guitar.
Thank you so much, here is a better performance video playing a famous piece of music on the Portuguese guitar: ruclips.net/video/zl5iw6ShtD4/видео.html
I am very impressed with this video. Amazing job my friend. You are a very classy person with great knowledge of Portuguese culture. Cheers mate.
Muito obrigado amigo! I have this video with the guitarra as well: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Beautifully composed and outstandingly expressive playing.
I have always been a fan of the Portuguese guitar (childhood memories). Cheers.
Thanks so much for your feedback. I have just added a new video with 2 guitarras, check it out: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Agree.
Very Nice! Beautiful tutorial. Forca !
Thank you. I have done a more recent short performance video using 2 guitarras: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
my mom got me one of these a year ago and i couldn't find any English material. Thank you so much!
No worries, that's why I did this video as there wasn't much else in English. But I'm guessing you have some Portuguese heritage though with a name like Silva?
Love it. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for watching. There is also a performance video on this instrument: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
thank you for this great video
Fantastic explanation!
Thanks, there is also a video of me playing my new Portuguese guitar (traditional fado piece) on here: facebook.com/quatrapuntal/
The Fado in known to me.
Very nice instrument.
Lovely high tones.
While back, a guy played this very instrument, but in bluegrass style.
Wonderful.
He was surprised I knew it was a Fado.
Thank you so much for this really informative tutorial! You covered the basics of Portuguese guitar beautifully!
Thanks Kevin, please subscribe to see more videos like this! This also features the Portuguese guitar (the music heard at the end of this video) ruclips.net/video/hSOVbybxNNs/видео.html
Being Portuguese with a hint of English, I can vibe with this music. Would like to learn to play it. I also found out that the Portuguese introduced the ukulele to hawaii. I love my culture : )
Yes it's amazing how far the Portuguese reached around the world in sailing ships some 500 years ago. I have seen some Portuguese ukulele-like instruments (rajão) and I really want one! The guitarra has a very unique technique and takes a while to learn if you play the normal guitar.
Thank you for the insight. I too would like to learn despite not being too familiar with string instruments.
Meant to say, the rajão I liked is shaped like a fish (www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/503738 ) but I don't think you can get them like that any more. I would advise learning the normal guitar first, you can play fado on this anyway as it always requires a normal guitar (viola) underneath the Portuguese guitar. Then you could try the guitarra if you want once you have learned some basic technique.
Obgrigdo : )
@@QuatrapuntalThe Ukulele is supposed to be an adaptation of the rajão, cavaquinho and viola de arames. To explain better cavaquinho is originally from Minho (north of portugal) and rajão is also a typical portuguese folk instrument but, what arrived to Hawaii was brought around the beginning of the XX century by Portuguese emigrants mostly from the island of Madeira and the archipelago of the Azores. So these instruments were the local versions of those instruments from those islands. This is something common to see through folk instruments in Portugal even the Guitarra Portuguesa has different variations, the most well known being the one from Lisbon (extensively used through all kinds of “traditional” fado) and the one from Coimbra (used in Fado de Coimbra and in Tunas which are music groups made out of University students who wear the traditional outfit of Portuguese university students called “Traje académico” Fun Fact: JK Rowling got the idea for the outfit in Harry Potter from the time she lived in Porto and seeing students using the traje académico is a common site even today, I wear mine whenever I have a chance, still finishing my masters). The variation of the cavaquinho from Madeira Island is called the braguinha, the changes from the original cavaquinho are not that much. When those emigrants arrived in Hawaii the brought those instruments with them and started making new ones out of the woods and materials available in the islands. It also went through some adaptations ending up in what we know as a Ukulele now-a-days. Hope this helped you to understand the culture behind the music a little bit better but, it’s hard because there is so much more context that would be impossible to explain through these comments. Even if I wrote many more of these text walls ahahah
Amazing passion my friend I love this video ' your in depth history lesson as well as your playing and knowledge...of the Fado guitar is great and me being of portuguese decent watching this is wonderful keep inspiring my friend....
Muito obrigado! Que bom que você gostou, não tenho tocado muito nos últimos anos, mas eu deveria começar de novo. De onde você é em Portugal? Eu fiz este vídeo também: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
NEW VIDEO WITH 2 PORTUGUESE GUITARS! Check it out:
NOVO VÍDEO COM 2 GUITARRAS PORTUGUESAS! Assista aqui:
ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
The origins of the Portuguese guitar dates back to the 18th century (before UK wine trade).
The origins of the Portuguese guitar go back to the Middle Ages, the medieval cytola.
The eighteenth-century English cistre (in Portugal called the English Guitar), sometimes erroneously considered the ancestor of the Portuguese guitar, is also a descendant of the Renaissance cistre, but added with substantial alterations, such as a completely different tuning and interior construction from the typical ones. cistre. He is not an ancestor, but a close relative.
The earliest evidence we know of anything that could be described as a guitar is from what is now Turkey, although other ancient cultures in the region certainly had similar instruments such as the Egyptians, which is of course in Africa. That was the earliest origins 3000 years ago though, the Portuguese guitar specifically which has only been around about roughly 200 years in its current form doesn't have any connection with Africa that I know of.
@MrReallionaire100 NO
They come from Asia. From RPC ...
@MrReallionaire100 🤦♀️
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Portuguese Guitar is Portuguese not African!
OK???
@MrReallionaire100 Moors weren't black.
Stop copy pasting Wikipedia.
Anyway, they both come from the same medieval instrument. There is no proof that English Guitar were of any influence in Portuguese Guitar. Furthermore, Fado wasn't a style from Porto. Fado was a musical folk style from Lisbon and Coimbra because of Students from the capital. Northern Portugal had a completely different set of local instruments as the culture of those 2 regions were massively different back then.
It is true that there was a lot of trade between England and Portugal at the time but most of it was based on Northern resources like live cattle (From the Barrosã breed that was very appreciated by British nobility), Port obviously but also White wine from Alvarinho variety, corn, linen etc.
As such there is no way trade routes were of any influence. Exports and trade were made from Porto and Viana. Those instruments were present in all Europe since the middle ages and that's where they come from.
Very informative. Thank you
Thanks for watching. I have recently done one demonstrating various lutes if you are interested in unusual instruments:
ruclips.net/video/r4FaF7eH8Tg/видео.html
Considering getting one been wanting to learn for years
Finally I found someone explaining and demonstrating the Portuguese guitar in English and so well done! Congratulations, parabens.
Thanks, l had to speak Portuguese myself to learn the guitarra but I was aware that there was hardly anything in English. But you have a Portuguese name? On the channel I also have some performance videos on the guitarra, and a similar explanation video about lutes if you are interested. Lute is my main instrument
@@Quatrapuntal I am Portuguese living in the UK. I just love Fado and Portuguese guitar but I am not a player...
Então por que você queria o vídeo em inglês? Tem muito mais em portugues!
@@Quatrapuntal para passar aos meus amigos Ingleses!!!
Ah tudo bem entendi 🇵🇹🇬🇧
I cannot play guitar but I would love to buy one. What a beautiful instrument
Yes they look good hung on the wall as well! I have 2, one I bought in Lisbon 20 years ago (in this video) and another which is nicer to play - you can hear it here ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Really interesting 👍
Absolutely great video very informative.
Thanks a lot for that and for the sub. There are a few videos of me playing the instrument on the channel as well, including one I added a couple of days ago. The point of this video was more to describe and explain it, rather than to demonstrate
@@Quatrapuntal Cheers, will be watching them, am on the start of my guitar journey, but being Portuguese, I'd love to also learn Fado in addition to the styles i'm learning :D
@@POLYX A guitarra portuguesa é muito diferente do violão, especialmente para a mão direita. Existem alguns vídeos de instruções no RUclips em português. Eu amo música portuguesa, o Madredeus foi uma grande influência na minha própria música, como esta: ruclips.net/video/moHvD38PFeY/видео.html
Holy cow that is beautiful music!
Thanks, the full version of it is here: ruclips.net/video/hSOVbybxNNs/видео.html
Very informative
Wow! Very nice indeed!
Thank you, there are a couple of performance videos using it on the channel as well.
Great video
Thank you, new videos coming very soon
Hi!! I am very impressed for the way you master the portuguese guitar ,and also for all the aditicional imformation regarding the origin of the "portuguese" guitar thanks ,keep the good work.
Thanks for watching, I have a short performance on the guitarra as well, which was also featured on the 'Mais Fado' site: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Você é português?
Sim,sou português ,ha mais de 50 anos que sai de Portugal ,contudo o inconfundível som da guitarra esta entranhado no meu DNA
E com grande contentamento que vejo alguém tocar a guitarra com tanta habilidade e talento ,por vezes ate fazem a guitarra Falar
continue com o bom trabalho
Muito obrigado
Sou muito influenciado pela música portuguesa, não só o fado mas também Madredeus - você gosta deles? A música original (que é o objetivo principal deste canal) é um pouco como Madredeus - este por exemplo tem a guitarra: ruclips.net/video/hSOVbybxNNs/видео.html 50 anos é muito tempo! Você mora no Reino Unido agora?
I believe Steve Howe of Yes recorded “I’ve Seen All Good People” with a Portuguese guitar.
Laud.
CHEERS FROM PORTO o/ thank you for doing this!!!!!
Obrigado. Eu visitei o Porto há 20 anos, cidade muito bonita. Adoro vinho do Porto também, tenho uma garrafa com 20 anos esperando para Natal! Vocês tocam muito fado no Porto? Parece ser mais Lisboa e Coimbra
@@Quatrapuntal you have to look in very specific locations. Fado usually hides in the darkest corners of the city. It's not as noticeable as it once was , the rush for tourism development , combined with this whole pandemic , took a big hit on local businesses and the culture itself , but Fado is rooted , i don't think it will ever disappear , may you be interested in looking for it if you happen to come back , look around Rua da Bainharia and around Sé do Porto.
Yes it's true, even in Lisbon it's easy to find tourist fado, but you have to look a bit harder to find the genuine article. I went to a nice little fado bar in Funchal as well a few times. I have been very influenced by Portuguese music in general, not just fado. Madredeus was a big inspiration on my own songs, this one for example has elements of fado, Madredeus and other things: ruclips.net/video/hSOVbybxNNs/видео.html
It`s a beautiful fado, you could learn to sing`t, fado is about the felling you can project on the songs meaning. An accent is a interesting addition, some emigrant Portuguese singers do have it. Their songs, relate to their personal lives (and loves) in a foreign environment, and the crush and longing, of being separated from their homes.
I can speak Portuguese (you must to learn this instrument properly) but I can't sing well enough that people would want to hear it! I feel that it would be a bit of an insult to the ears of all the fantastic fado singers out there! I do work with a great singer though, here is an example - it's an original song but inspired by fado and other Portuguese music: ruclips.net/video/hSOVbybxNNs/видео.html
I've seen all good people turn their heads each day so satisfied I'm on my way.
I don't understand
@@Quatrapuntal I believe Steve Howe is playing Portuguese guitar on the song in the link above.
@@mcbigswig1569 It was actually a laud.
Quase que conseguia ouvir a guitar cantar em português. Parabéns 👏🏼👏🏼
Obrigado, sinto-me muito ligado à música portuguesa. Também fiz esse vídeo com a guitarra, que é mais emocionante: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
@@Quatrapuntal parabéns! Gostei do toque pessoal dado a um instrumento clássico que geralmente associamos ao fado. Certamente tiveste uma vida passada portuguesa 😉 um abraço e força 💪🏼
Great job
Thanks, do you play fado?
NICE YOU PLAY VERY GOOD (TANK YOU ) = muito obrigado) FOR POST THIS VIDEO
Thanks! Você é português? Tenho uma outra canção com a guitarra aqui: ruclips.net/video/hSOVbybxNNs/видео.html
Very interesting. I loved it. I love fado. May be in your other life you were born Portuguese.
Sim talvez!
You have some portuguese soul in you for sure! Great "guitarra" playing skills!
I'm azorean and we have two traditional local guitars here in the islands. Ours are the "viola da terra" and "viola de dois corações".
From the Azores
ruclips.net/video/7EkDOJQKqk4/видео.html
Muito obrigado. Não fui aos Açores mas já vi alguns dos instrumentos que usam lá, mas a música não é como o Fado. Já estive duas vezes na Madeira e gostei muito.
Veja este vídeo também: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Maravilhoso! Muito Obrigado!
Parece um pouco com a guitarra amarintina de Portugal Continental.
I feel like I missed out a lot by not hearing about this instrument before despite knowing and playing guitar and mandolin. I just assumed it was mandolin by sound. But I also didn’t know a lot of “Portuguese music” until stumbling on it by chance.
Yes I play the mandolin as well (there are a couple of videos of Neapolitan songs on the channel) and it is quite different. This is mainly because of the unique right hand technique, which also dictates how the music played on it is constructed. You don't play chords that often in Lisbon fado, it's mostly improvised melodies which is difficult to learn. The normal guitar it's always paired with plays the chords and bass.
What an interesting shape!
Congratulations!
Obrigado. Veja este vídeo também com duas guitarras: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
in Spain it's called laúd, meaning "lute", and it's considered a tenor version of the bandurria, a smaller one, both being part of the Spanish folk instruments. I never heard about the Portuguese guitar. This one is played like an actual guitar while in Spain this is played whith a pick like the mandolin. It's nice that both countries share an instrument but each one gives it their own spin.
The Portuguese guitar is not really a guitar at all, but a cittern. Some types of cittern were called guitar or guittar in places where the Spanish guitar was not much used (e.g. in Britain) in the 18th century, which persisted in this case. The technique as shown on the video is nothing like the normal guitar, it is played entirely with the index finger and thumb, with false plastic nails. It's really unlike any other plucked instrument but that way of playing accounts for its unique sound.
From the Azores, Portugal, thanks.
Obrigado. Nunca estive nos Açores, gostaria de visitar parece muito bonito. Já estive na Madeira algumas vezes.
Very good...
Thanks. Você deve ser português com um nome assim?
Thank yu for such an informative video on fado guitar. Did you make your own picks?
Thanks, yes I did, I don't know of anywhere that sells them ready made and they have to fit your fingers closely. I use plastic cards like shop loyalty cards, ID cards etc. There is a bit of a knack to making them but once you get the hang of it not that hard and they last quite a while. Some tape them on but I use elastic.
Very good! Thnx!
Thanks for watching, are you interested in learning this instrument?
@@Quatrapuntal -you are most welcome. Where else does one see such an instrument? Next I go to the “Big Smoke” (either Vancouver or Victoria, British Columbia), I’m a go ask one a them city-slicker salesmen at my favourite music store (Long & McQuaid) if they’ve ever stocked one. I’d love to simply hear one live-and double-love to try play one-or at least make some sound come out of it.
I had to do a it of math to answer your question. I surprised myself to realize (by calculation) that I’ve been interested in learning guitar for 57 years by now (holy cow! I must be gettin old!) and, at this point, I think I better see if I can get at least that job done while my coil is still smouldering. I did send the link to my 90 year-old mother who might be interested -but if it has anything to do with computers, she’d need my sister to help her (and I’m not sure baby sis is up for that; me, I’m too far away: I live on a little Island just off the Big Island of Vancouver on the Salish Sea -the rain shadow side- about four hours drive from the two of them).
Thanks for asking, though. And, naturally: keep on rockin’!
I live on a small island as well! Probably quite different though. I know that you can get Portuguese guitars in the USA, it's mainly folk music shops that have them. It would probably be cheaper though to mail order one from Europe. The place in the USA that has them is called Lark in the Morning, surely there must be somewhere in Canada as well.
@@Quatrapuntal yes, I’ve seen Lark’s catalogue-prob’ly at L&M’s someplace. Thnx again!
5:45 what’s this price called I’m from Lisboa but I was born in Australia
This actually gave me the chills this was so beautiful great job man ❤
It's called Balada para una velhinha. Try this which is better played: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Interesting presentation. Thanks for the video.
I purchased mine from Portugal -- a Coimbra model, like yours. But the back of mine is actually crowned a bit; not flat. It looks like you have a flat fingerboard; mine is tightly radiused, like the fingerboard on a violin or a viola. I've seen those Preston-style tuners on German waldzithers, too.
Any particular reason you're using the Lisboa tuning on the Coimbra instrument? I use the Coimbra tuning, basically a whole step lower:
Both of mine are Lisbon models, you can tell straight away because they have a scroll headstock, the Coimbra type have a teardrop shape (and a slightly different body shape). A lot of professional players use the Coimbra instruments in the Lisbon tuning, I don't know why presumably there is a slight difference in tone that they prefer. One of the main differences in tone between the two is because of the lower tuning, so if you tune it the same it will be a subtle difference. I only play the Lisbon type of fado anyway, so the instrument I have is fine for that.
The guitar in this video is my old one bought in Lisbon years ago, it has a flat fingerboard but they usually don’t. I have since got another which is nicer to play, and has the typical cambered fingerboard, you can see it here: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Carlos Paredes - Variações em Re menor
I bought one years ago but gave up due to the 2 different types of tuning, Lisboa or Coimbra and fiddly tuning... your video has triggered me to retry.. thanks
Lisboa is by far the most common and useful in my opinion, many professionals play Coimbra model guitarras in Lisboa tuning just to complicate things. I would say by far the most difficult aspect for a beginner is the RH technique with the false nails on index and thumb only. It is completely different to any other plucked instrument I know of.
Thank you just amazing
Thanks! Please check out the other videos on the channel as well. Você é de Portugal?
Sim sou Português. I will check your other channel. 👌👍❤ thank you
@@oiudsaf
Sou muito influenciado pela música portuguesa - fado, mas também pelo Madredeus. Estive em Portugal algumas vezes e adoraria tocar lá, já toquei no Brasil anos atrás. Nosso site também está disponível em português: quatrapuntal.wixsite.com/quatrapuntal?lang=pt
@@Quatrapuntal também gosto de Madredeus, Justino Nascimento, Amália, Ana Moura, etc... gosto muito dos fados de coimbra, baladas de despedida, toco Viola acústica mas sou muito fraquinho, gostaria um dia de poder tocar como voçe toca guitarra Portuguesa. E um prazer ouvi-lo.
@@oiudsaf Você só precisa continuar praticando - é uma questão de tempo que você dedica a isso! Meu instrumento principal é o alaúde, você pode ver neste vídeo: ruclips.net/video/moHvD38PFeY/видео.html
This is wonderful on YT Mariza in Lisboa.
Yes Mariza is great, probably the top modern fado singer. I will be doing another video about lutes soon if you are interested in unusual instruments, you can hear it played here: ruclips.net/video/hNeOu00VlxA/видео.html
Quatrapuntal Yes, thanks.
I would love to learn guitar.. can you please make the video of a regular guitar.
I am going to do some more about different instruments, I do play the normal guitar on a couple of songs but my main instrument is the lute, I will be doing one about that soon
@@Quatrapuntal I play the portuguese Cavaquinho. This instrument is so beautiful. Maybe take a look at the Cavaqo, and get one?
Also other nice instruments in Portugal, like the Braguesa, Braguinha, Rajao...
Hi I know the cavaquinho, I have heard it more in Brazilian music but I haven't got one yes it's a nice sound. My main instrument is the lute (alaúde em português), the type I use for Quatrapuntal is called a mandora, you can hear it here: ruclips.net/video/hNeOu00VlxA/видео.html
I'm Portuguese and you got me curious about the English guitar. I never heard of it so I'm about to doing some online search about it. I'm super curious about how it sounds and how similiar it is.
Eu aprendi mais sobre isso desde que fiz o vídeo alguns anos atrás. A guitarra portuguesa moderna provavelmente se desenvolveu a partir de mais de um instrumento anterior, incluindo a "guitarra inglesa" (note que não foi inventada na Inglaterra, nem era particularmente inglesa, é apenas um nome moderno para distingui-la da guitarra espanhola ) e outras cítaras mais antigas em Portugal. Eu li vários estudos e a verdade é que ninguém realmente sabe, não há evidências suficientes. Mas algumas características certamente foram influenciadas pela "guitarra inglesa".
Great video! I'm interested in exploring guittar/English guittar music of James Oswald. Would you recommend the Portuguese guitar in CEGceg tuning?
It would be cheaper than buying an original guittar for sure, but the modern Portuguese guitar is quite a different instrument. It has a cambered fingerboard which might affect chords. It also has very high tension strings even at a 3rd below the guittar tuning, so tuned in C at a tension playable with fingers it would need incredibly thin strings, maybe impossible. You could possibly tune it to the same intervals but lower in E - this is one theory as to where the modern Lisbon tuning came from as the E guittar tuning was apparently used in the 19th century. Old 18th century guittars had a much smaller scale length, they do crop up occasionally for sale.
Now I am side tracked to the "English guitar" from the Spanish guitar! Will it never end? 😜
There are people who play the original English 'guittar', it is played with fingers and is smaller and quieter than the Portuguese guitar there are a couple of videos on RUclips. The Portuguese guitar has a very different technique to the normal guitar in the right hand and is not like anything else I know of.
Thank you for the video. Can I ask you did you find the first backing track? Or did you create it yourself?
I recorded it myself, there are some backing track on Ricardo Araújo's channel, but not that many.
Thank you 😉
Hello there! I'm really interested in learning how to play the PT-guitar. I live in Switzerland and there are no teachers around who could teach me. Do you think it is possible to learn the guitar by oneself without any prior experience witj guitars?
And is your guitar one from coimbra or lisboa?
Sandra
Hi my instruments are Lisbon models, the Coimbra fado is quite a different sound and not something I have much experience of. You can tell easily because the Lisbon guitar has a scroll headstock, and the Coimbra one has a teardrop shape. Although just to confuse things a lot of professional players use the Coimbra guitar but string it in the higher Lisbon tuning.
I would say it is more difficult than the standard guitar, mainly because of the right hand technique. There are quite a few online instruction videos and courses now, but they are all in Portuguese. If you don't understand the language I think it would be difficult to find enough. Lessons via Zoom have been done by most instrument teachers during lockdowns etc. so maybe that would be a good option?
Thank you so much for getting back to me! I might give the classical guitar a try first then.
After watching a few videos I figured if I would try the PT guitar,I might go for the lisboa one even though there are more online courses on the coimbra type. The Lisboa type just sounds magical.
Thanks for the information on this instrument.
As you described the tuning, I guess that it is not possible to use chords that you normally use on a usual guitar?
Is it "chord friendly" at all (major/minor/sus/7/9 and so on)?
The tuning is totally different to a standard guitar so no, you can't play any of those chords on it. In fact I think the only 6 note chord you can play is D major/minor, which is a very common key in fado for that reason. There are very few full chords, A is another but others are often 3 notes. It's not used like that in fado, it is primarily a melodic instrument and as it's always paired with a standard guitar, that does the chords. You play occasional small chords but it's mostly melodies.
@@Quatrapuntal Would be interresting to try and tune it to normal guitar intervals. It has a quite unique timbre/tone.
The tuning is part of that unique sound though, the fact that the b and a are repeated an octave lower is used a lot to play across the strings which you couldn't do in guitar tuning. It is quite annoying having the top string a tone above the 2nd though, and makes runs more awkward
Hi Thank you for your video. Is there a mandolin which has a similar sound and register to this for a budget purchase? If not is a £250 Portuguese Fado Guitar OK ?
The mandola (5th lower than a mandolin, tuned like a viola) is more or less the same pitch but doesn't sound the same. A lot of the unique sound of the Portuguese guitar comes from the unusual technique with the false nails, even if you play it with a plectrum it sounds different. I presume you are in the UK? I bought a second guitarra last year that I saw in Hobgoblin in Southampton, it was also reduced so a decent price and well made instrument. They have branches in other cities and I would recommend that model, I am playing it in this video (not fado but you can hear the sound): ruclips.net/video/zl5iw6ShtD4/видео.html&start_radio=1
Well,the Portuguese Guitars are all artisan-ally produced. Due to import needs, some are made to a beginners "status", meaning a "interesting" quality/price relation to the "foreign" beginner. Obviously, you will find (rare) quality P. guitars outside Portugal, but be prepared to empty your wallet.
A new 250 £ P. guitar, in the UK will provide you with a solid top inst., giving you some discovery moments and desperate ones (tuning), do to the "lower" quality of the components.
Verdade!
What guitar brand do you use? I've noticed that your guitar's fingerboard is flat, which is unusual to most portuguese guitars. Loved the songs too
I bought this one in Lisbon in 2000, it isn't a great instrument but I knew very little about them then. After I made the video I bought another one which has the cambered fingerboard and plays better, it's a Carvalho. You can hear that one in the other videos I did like this one: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
@@Quatrapuntal Great song, I have a carvalho too, but I'm trying to get money for an artimusica. If you want to learn more about the history of the portuguese guitar, feel free to contact me
The Carvalho guitars play pretty well considering the cost, I don't play it often enough to justify an expensive one (lute is my main instrument) but would like to get back into playing it more, especially as no one else plays it around here. Trouble is that you need nails to take the fingerpicks and to play the lute you need none at all.
@@Quatrapuntal I see the trouble, I have friends that play electric guitar, and when they ask me if they can play the portuguese guitar, they always have short fingernails. Maybe there could be a new model of fingernails which you wouldn't have to grow your own to stick to it, who knows
What an amazing instrument! Is it possible to use obscure Robbie Basho tunings with this guitar?
I don't know what that is! The standard tuning is quite odd - b, a, e, B, A, D (Lisbon style) and the string tension is quite high so you don't have much leeway to tune it differently. Other than older tunings not used any more, I've never heard of anyone using custom tunings on it. As it's used primarily as a melodic instrument there wouldn't be much point though, you don't play many chords on it.
Check out this instrument by the way: ruclips.net/video/oBEoVbY2xrk/видео.html
@@Quatrapuntal I just received this guitar today. I’m having a hard time with the B A D low string tuning. Are they supposed to be unison tuned like the higher strings?
@@Majnun74 did it not come already strung? The 3 lowest strings should have octaves, but in reverse so the highest pitch first
@@Quatrapuntal Yes I finally figured out the tuning, thank you for this invaluable information. The tension on the strings is so tight that it’s beginning to warp the soundhole. Is there a way I can release some of the tension by just down tuning all the strings one step?
For way to long I thought these where a type of Portuguese mandolin and on holiday in Lisbon 2 years ago I thought "the Portuguese sure do like their mandolin and those funny tuning pegs on it!"
They do use flatback mandolins in Portugal that look like a small version of this, I have even seen them with a similar tuning system although they usually have normal machine pegs. The Portuguese guitar is quite a bit bigger though, with 6 double strings (mandolin has 4) and completely different tuning which is lower. The way it is played makes most difference though, with the false nails rather than a plectrum. I have a couple of mandolin videos on the channel, of Neapolitan music which has a lot of parallels with fado: ruclips.net/video/IG454T4n4hA/видео.html
@@Quatrapuntal in Portugal we also have the "bandolim" and the even smaller "cavaquinho", that was adopted in Hawaii as the Ukulele.
What is the title of the first song you played? Balada para... and that’s all I could catch
Balada para uma velhinha, originally sung by Carlos do Carmo.
Carlos Paredes for ever
where can me buy
What country are you in?
where can I find one?
Could you be a bit more specific?
you also have Carlos Paredes, the master.
Yes indeed. That's not traditional fado though, although it was obviously strongly influenced by it. His music is for the Coimbra guitarra which has a slightly different sound.
How did they come up with that strange tuning??
It was a development of the old English guittar tuning which was to a chord of C major (CEGceg) so that you could get a nice sound out of it very easily, that instrument was mainly for amateurs. When the Portuguese guitar became a separate instrument in the 19th century, it retained some features of the guittar and other types of earlier cittern. The most important things inherited from the guittar were the watch key tuning pegs and the tuning with 6 strings. The old guittar tuning was also used right into the 20th century, but the modern Portuguese guitar has for a long time now used an adaptation with the 2nd and 4th strings a note higher and the bottom string a note lower.
Is this the instrument Steve Howe of YES plays Your Move on?
I didn't know that song, but looking at the video he is playing a standard steel string guitar, just quite high up. The Portuguese guitar is a pretty specialised instrument and mainly used for fado music
Steve Howe played a Spanish Laud@@Quatrapuntal
@@FernandezMusic ah OK I didn't know the song at all and on a live video I saw he was playing a normal acoustic just high up. That would make sense as the laud is played with a plectrum I believe, so not such a specialised technique
As far as I know, the only non-portuguese musician that tried to use the portuguese guitar, was Jimmy Page. In the 70's, he spend vacations on Portugal, went to a fado house and fall in love with the guitar. Someone gave him a guitar, and he spend months trying to do something with it. But he never catch the hang of it, and never use it. He still have it, but he never was happy with his playing. So never do nothing with it.
It's really a wonderful guitar. And sometimes used in more than fado. It's even used in metal in Portugal lol
Looked for a band called Thragedium, they played metal with portuguese guitar.
Just one crucial note in fado there is no classical guitar, the correct instrument is a Viola de fado that has the shape of the Spanish guitar but uses metal or bronze strings
Thanks for that. You do see some players using standard classical guitars with nylon strings but you're right the viola is more traditional. Maybe it's a bit louder I don't know?
@@Quatrapuntal to be honest I don’t remember anymore. When I started to learn guitar back in 1980 my guitar teacher let me play his father’s viola but it was a professional instrument so it was 1000 times better than my humble Spanish guitar. My guess is that if it uses bronze strings it should be louder.
I think having Guitar style machine heads would make this even easier
This tuning mechanism was inherited from previous citterns like the "English guittar". It holds a high tension string at a very precise point, modern guitar machine heads would have to be quite stiff to have the same effect, plus these look a lot cooler!
@@Quatrapuntal Yes but they're Mechanical pegs either way. Guitar style machine heads do eliminate the need to twist a loop on one end of the string when restringing it plus you can use a Stringing Crank, but Guitar style Machine heads would have to be strong enough to handle the high tension.
Yes you're right it would make restringing it a lot easier, which is a real pain with these tuners. It's part of the tradition of the instrument now though and the thing that really makes it look visually different to a mandola or something similar.
@@Quatrapuntal I saw a Portuguese Guitar w/ Guitar style machine heads & it's an angled Headstock which puts the strings at a sharper angle towards the nut.
@@Quatrapuntal My friend Katlyn from Mandarin High School has one of these & she'll let me play it really soon because I've never played one before.
Where can I buy a good quality one in Canada?
Sorry I am in the UK and I've never been to Canada. I have 2, the first one I bought in Lisbon years ago, and the other I bought a couple of months ago here in a folk music shop, it's made in Portugal though. Perhaps see if there are specialist shops that sell folk instruments there, you can probably get it sent mail order although better to try it out. Mine is made by Carvalho, one of the biggest producers in Portugal and I'd recommend their instruments unless you want a really top level guitar
Shawn... I have one for sale. Contact me. I live in Toronto.
Lark In The Morning sell a few :)
There are 2 types of Portuguese guitar: Lisbon and Coimbra
Lisbon is yours and it has a more delicate sound
Coimbra has a teardrop instead of a roll in the ending of the arm and has a heavier sound and it's tuning is a tone down
Yes I think I forgot to mention that, it was done a couple of years ago. To confuse things, many professional players use a Coimbra guitar but in the Lisbon tuning. Maybe they prefer the slightly different tone by doing that 🤔
@@Quatrapuntal they probably use Lisbon strings too, which are thinner
@@danieldionisio6268 they must do, otherwise the string tension from tuning it a tone higher would be too much, it's already high tension tuned normally. I think the main difference in sound comes from the lower tuning, it would be interesting to hear a Coimbra guitar with Lisbon tuning then a normal Lisbon guitar next to each other.
How much?
For what?
What is exactly the tuning? For guitar is eadgbe
Hi the tuning is shown in the middle of the video.
Thanks for the answer but I couldn't find it... Could you write it down please?
It is at 2:30 in the video - baebad
Obrigado!
In Portugal there was already a Citara since the 1600's much before the English guitar arrived to Portugal. It's actually the other way around, the citara traveled to England while still being a Portuguese instrument that the brits than changed and claim their own and then brought it to Portugal. Some parts of the English guitar building where used but then abandoned in the process.
Historically the Brits like to steal the Portuguese and call their own invention or creation. It goes back to tall ships, they had to capture a big 600 tons Portuguese Nau to see how it was build, until then they have no clue how to build a decent ship.
Don't get me started on other people stealing the Portuguese instruments and call it their own... The Spanish guitar was actually based on a Portuguese viola, and the Ukulele is just a Braguinha with a different tuning.
I have answered this several times before in the comments. The intention with this video which was a few years ago now, was to describe the modern instrument in English. The history was only intended to be a quick summary, as it was done in one take I forgot to mention that there were indeed other types of cittern around in Portugal before the arrival of the "English" guittar. However, I have read much research on this and there is no conclusive evidence that the modern P. guitar developed from these other citterns. There is much nationalistic flag waving, but I am interested in facts, evidence and history. By the way the "English" guittar is not really an English instrument, it was never called that at the time (just called guitar or guittar) and originated in Germany. The name arose later as it was particularly popular in England, and to distinguish it from the Spanish type guitar. So the point about the English stealing Portuguese things is invalid anyway in this case, and no the instrument in England didn't originate from Portugal - show me any evidence of this.
The fact is that despite various researches, the precise origins of the P. guitar are not clear. It is most likely that several pre-existing instruments influenced the final form, including the older Portuguese citterns and the E. guittar. The influence of the E. guittar is clear, the overall shape and size, the use of 6 courses (earlier citterns had 4 and were smaller and different shape), the watch key tuning system, and clearest of all, the tuning. Until the late 19th century, an alternative tuning called the afinação natural was commonly used on Portuguese guitars, which is exactly the same as the E. guittar.
I don't care about nationalism, I'm not interested in saying everything is English I couldn't care less where things come from. Obviously the modern instrument is deeply associated with Portuguese culture, which I know well and love (why else would I have learnt the language and to play an instrument nobody else here plays). I can understand the instinct to defend it, but the reality of history is complicated and not black and white. This is as true of the history of Portugal as it is of England, both have had significant contact and influence from other countries and cultures, there is no point in denying that.
@@Quatrapuntalmate let this f*okface eat a knob🤙thanks for learning portuguese🤙and show casing portuguese culture✊you will always be welcome in portugal💪
That’s what we call conversion of an English brother 😊
Sim senhor, eu me converti anos atrás!
Looking like mix with Arabic guitar. Beautiful shape
The Portuguese culture and music has been historically hugely influenced by the moorish occupation of the territory that became Portugal after been conquered
@@miguelnunesdias6094 Portuguese culture has nothing Moorish in it. Maybe some architectural remains in the south and some words and that's about it.
I wanted to buy one, but what you said about the strings made me quit the idea of purchasing one.
Do you mean changing them? Yes it is quite a hassle, I don't know why they can't put a loop at both ends as most instruments are the same size. You don't need to change them that often though, I wouldn't let just that put you off.
@@Quatrapuntal yes… changing them.
Research would argue with the idea that the Guitarra is a “direct” descendent of the Cittern - much like arguing the violin is a Rebec.
In musical instruments we usually defer to structural elements rather than vague notions and similarity of looks
The internal bracing on modem and old Guitarras owe more to development in the Spanish guitar (violão in Portuguese).
A Guitarra simply never was a cittern. Though citterns may have influenced it- take a look at parallel’ development in the Portuguese mandolin (bandolim, which also influenced Brazil’s) and the various violãos in traditional Portuguese music - THAT is where the Guitarra came from.
You will see I Iberian solutions - not English.
The direct line to the cittern is spurious at best.
Just as a violin never was
a direct line to the rebec.
Btw- the cittern origin is no longer accepted by serious scholars of the instrument.
Like the modern Spanish guitar - it’s influences are many and some unknown as the reasons for a particular aspect of development died with the specific luthier that created it.
The best we can do in many cases is say we have evidence luthier “so and so” did this or that first” and it caught on - the reason for the change going to the grave with the luthier.
Up until very recently, Guitarras were made as one-offs, much like violins were before the advent of the industrialization of string instrument making in the late 19th century.
The instrument like the violin, and spanish guitar, underwent individual refinements in separate families of makers until we have what you are playing today.
This video was made a few years ago, and I know there has been research since then. I know that there were other influences other than the "English guittar" but when you have to talk off the cuff sometimes you forget things! The video was intended to explain the modern instrument, with only a brief mention of development, but to answer your points. I have read a number of research articles about this and there seems to be no absolute consensus about the origins of this instrument, largely because there is not clear enough evidence to be that definitive. One I read from last year was arguing that it descended from an earlier Portuguese cittern, so it is not black and white. I have also noticed a certain nationalistic desire to try and disassociate the instrument with foreign historical influences, which I can understand to an extent. Far to much emphasis is put on the name "English" guittar, which is ridiculous as it isn't particular to England and was found in many countries (including Portugal) and only referred to as English as it was particularly popular there.
Construction is not the only important factor when looking at influences. There are 2 very clear things inherited from the "English" guittar - the watch key tuning system (yes I know some earlier instruments didn't have these, but the modern instrument does and they definitely originated on the EG), and most importantly, the tuning. Up to the early 20th century one tuning used on the Portuguese guitar was the "afinação natural” - which is the EG tuning. Sometimes transposed down to E, but this comes directly from the EG. Even the modern Lisbon tuning could be seen as an adaptation of this.
I think the reality is there were numerous influences, history is rarely black and white and usually complex. As there is no definitive evidence to say a single source, it will remain argued about I'm sure.
Quite ironic that we needed an english person to clarify the origins of the instrument and its associated music. Oddly enough, throughout Portugal, spreads the myth that the it came from the arab world. Which is obviously non-sense. Anyways... Beautiful playing.
Obrigado! Este desenvolvimento da guitarra é conhecido também em Portugal, na Casa do Fado e da Guitarra Portuguesa em Lisboa diz isso e mostra instrumentos antigos, fui lá. Aqui está uma fonte portuguesa dizendo a mesma coisa:
web.fe.up.pt/~fado/por/guitarra2.html
Este vídeo foi feito há alguns anos, aqui está um com melhor execução:
ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
similar to the arabian guitar!!!!
Which kind of Arabian guitar do you mean? I know about the oud, but that is quite different and a type of lute
the portuguese say that the guitar "suffers" when its played, and "cries".
just like people
Portugal caralho
bo ho of woho
?
3:15 English guitars? Really?
That is a modern name to distinguish it from the Spanish type guitar, it originated in Germany and was used in many countries including Portugal. At the time it was just called guittar. 5 mins research would tell you that.
@@Quatrapuntal So, I am not modern, and I am unable to google? Thanks for shooting the messenger. Doesn't change the fact that the steel-stringed guitar has nothing to do with England what so ever. Just another attempt to rewrite history by ignorants who doesn't know any better. And while we are at it, the brits also did not invent the "English" alphabet, and the "English" numbers either.
Wow you have quite a chip on your shoulder! You are calling me ignorant yet your answer shows that you know nothing about the history of this instrument, as I said a 5 min search would show show you that the "English" guittar was one of the descendants of the modern instrument. I have already said that it was not really an English instrument so I don't know why you are getting all nationalistic and making irrelevant comments about the alphabet, which is even called the Roman alphabet sometimes here. I couldn't care less about nationalistic flag waving and what country things come from, it is just the history of it whether you like that or not. I don't know what you mean by "steel-stringed guitar" - 6 string acoustic or Portuguese guitar. If you mean P. guitar, show me a single piece of evidence to say that it "has nothing to do with England what so ever"?
It's not inglich, lie - are very portuguese - Portugal
Eu não acho que você entendeu totalmente o que diz no vídeo. Falo apenas das primeiras origens do instrumento, é claro que a guitarra portuguesa moderna desde o século XIX é muito particular de Portugal. A "English guittar" não se originou na Inglaterra de qualquer maneira e não era chamada de guitarra inglesa na época. Só é chamada assim hoje para se distinguir da guitarra espanhola, e porque era popular na Inglaterra no século XVIII.
É pura mentira , não teve origem de nada da Inglaterra é vem português.
Como sempre os ingleses usurpam o que é dos outros, e depois dizem que é inglês.
Sou culta e com conhecimento de história universal. Invejosos, até os pastéis de nata vocês quiseram se apropriar. @@Quatrapuntal
Posso perceber que você está mais interessada no nacionalismo e em hastear a bandeira do que em ver o que realmente aconteceu. Já disse que a guitarra inglesa não é particularmente inglesa, só tem esse nome agora. Não me importa de que país as coisas vêm, seja inglês ou não, não faz diferença. Não falo em nome da Inglaterra, apenas eu, não tenho interesse em nacionalismo, então por favor não se refira a mim como 'vocês'. Ser culta não significa que você conheça as origens obscuras de um instrumento específico. Onde estão as evidências do que você está dizendo?
@@Quatrapuntal não é nacionalismo, é porque você está mentir . não é verdade essa história. É pura mentira
Você continua dizendo isso, mas fornece nenhuma evidência. Veja isto - origens da guitarra portuguesa, escrita por um académico português: paginas.fe.up.pt/fado/por/guitarra2.html
You can play a Portuguese guitar well but the guitar only obey and cries played by Portuguese souls
É claro que os melhores guitarristas são portugueses isso não está em dúvida, embora há um tocador brasileiro muito bom. Os portugueses cresceram e aprenderam a tocar cercados pela tradição do fado, que não pode ser substituída. Eles também tocam a guitarra tempo todo, para mim não é o meu instrumento principal. Mas podemos aprender e tocar com expressão e emoção, tente isso: ruclips.net/video/sSRy6orRI98/видео.html
Dito por alguém que pratica uma arte marcial coreana é bastante ridículo. A expressão é portuguesa mas as emoções são universais. Se não fosse não haveria tantos estrangeiros a gostar de Fado. O Vídeo está excelente e rivaliza com muitos em português que não sabem explicar o instrument de forma simples. Não só o guitarrista tem boa capacidade sintática e pedagógica como toca muito bem o instrumento.
Too much talk. I mean, WAY too much talk, time you could've played more.
This video is intended to explain the origins, technique and construction etc. of the instrument, not to demonstrate playing it primarily. There are hundreds of videos showing the Portuguese guitar being played (I also have one of those: ruclips.net/video/zl5iw6ShtD4/видео.html ) but none that I could find explaining what it is and how it's played in English, which is the point of the video.