Accessories

Though a guitar may be played on its own, there are a variety of common accessories used for holding and playing the guitar.

Capotasto

Main article: Capo

A capo (short for capotasto) is used to change the pitch of open strings. Capos are clipped onto the fret board with the aid of spring tension, or in some models, elastic tension. To raise the guitar’s pitch by one semitone, the player would clip the capo onto the fret board just below the first fret. Its use allows players to play in different keys without having to change the chord formations they use. Because of the ease with which they allow guitar players to change keys, they are sometimes referred to as “cheaters” or the “hillbilly crutch.” Classical performers are known to use them to enable modern instruments to match the pitch of historical instruments such as the renaissance lute.

Slides

Main article: Slide Guitar

A slide, (neck of a bottle, knife blade or round metal bar) used in blues and rock to create a glissando or ‘Hawaiian‘ effect. The necks of bottles were often used in blues and country music. Modern slides are constructed of glass, plastic, ceramic, chrome, brass or steel, depending on the weight and tone desired. An instrument that is played exclusively in this manner, (using a metal bar) is called a steel guitar or pedal steel. Slide playing to this day is very popular in blues music and country music. Some slide players use a so called Dobro guitar.

Some performers that have become famous for playing slide are Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Ry Cooder, George Harrison, Bonnie Raitt, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Duane Allman, Muddy Waters, Rory Gallagher, and George Thorogood.

Plectrum

Main article: Guitar pick
Accessories
Accessories

A variety of guitar picks

A “guitar pick” or “plectrum” is a small piece of hard material generally held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand and is used to “pick” the strings. Though most classical players pick with a combination of fingernails and fleshy fingertips, the pick is most often used for electric and steel-string acoustic guitars. Though today they are mainly plastic, variations do exist, such as bone, wood, steel or tortoise shell. Tortoise shell was the most commonly used material in the early days of pick-making, but as tortoises and turtles became endangered, the practice of using their shells for picks or anything else was banned. Tortoise-shell picks made before the ban are often coveted for a supposedly superior tone and ease of use, and their scarcity has made them valuable.

Picks come in many shapes and sizes. Picks vary from the small jazz pick to the large bass pick. The thickness of the pick often determines its use. A thinner pick (between .2 and .5 mm) is usually used for strumming or rhythm playing, whereas thicker picks (between .7 and 1.5+ mm) are usually used for single-note lines or lead playing. The distinctive guitar sound of Billy Gibbons is attributed to using a quarter or peso as a pick. Similarly, Brian May is known to use a sixpence coin as a pick. David Persons is known for using old credit cards, cut to the correct size, as plectrums.

Thumb picks and finger picks that attach to the finger tips are sometimes employed in finger-picking styles on steel strings. These allow the fingers and thumb to operate independently, whereas a flat pick requires the thumb and one or two fingers to manipulate.

Notes

  1. ^ Kasha, Dr. Michael (August 1968). “A New Look at The History of the Classic Guitar”. Guitar Review 30,3-12
  2. ^ Wade, Graham A Concise History of the Classic Guitar Mel Publications, 2001
  3. ^ Dr. Michael Kasha, “A New Look at The History of the Classic Guitar”, Guitar Review 30, August 1968, pp.3-12.
  4. ^ Farmer, Henry George (1988), Historical facts for the Arabian Musical Influence, Ayer Publishing, p. 137, ISBN 040508496X
  5. ^ Kithara appears in the Bible four times (1 Cor. 14:7, Rev. 5:8, 14:2 and 15:2), and is usually translated into English as harp. Strong’s Concordance Number: 2788 BibleStudyTools.net
  6. ^ Summerfield, Maurice J. (2003). The Classical Guitar, Its Evolution, Players and Personalities Since 1800 (5th ed.) Blaydon on Tyne: Ashley Mark Publishing. ISBN 1-872639-46-1
  7. ^ TheJazzFestival.net, A Look At The History Of The Guitar.
  8. ^ Tom and Mary Anne Evans. Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock. Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p.16
  9. ^ “The first incontrovertible evidence of five-course instruments can be found in Miguel Fuenllana’s Orphenica Lyre of 1554, which contains music for a vihuela de cinco ordenes. In the following year Juan Bermudo wrote in his Declaracion de Instrumentos Musicales: “We have seen a guitar in Spain with five courses of strings.” Bermudo later mentions in the same book that “Guitars usually have four strings,” which implies that the five-course guitar was of comparatively recent origin, and still something of an oddity”. Tom and Mary Anne Evans Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock. Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p.24
  10. ^ “We know from literary sources that the five course guitar was immensely popular in Spain in the early seventeenth century and was also widely played in France and Italy…Yet almost all the surviving guitars were built in Italy…This apparent disparity between the documentary and instrumental evidence can be explained by the fact that, in general, only the more expensively made guitars have been kept as collectors’ pieces. During the early seventeenth century the guitar was an instrument of the people of Spain, but was widely played by the Italian aristocracy.” Tom and Mary Anne Evans. Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock. Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p.24
  11. ^ “OddMusic.com”. OddMusic.com. http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om23350.html. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  12. ^ “Peter Blanchette, Composer & Archguitarist”. Peter Blanchette. http://www.archguitar.com/. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
  13. ^ “The Official Steve Vai Website: The Machines”. Vai.com. 1993-08-03. http://vai.com/Machines/guitarpages/guitar040.html. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  14. ^ “Hybrid guitars”. Guitarnoize.com. http://www.guitarnoize.com/blog/category/hybrid-guitars/. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  15. ^ “Caparison Horus-HGS”. Caparison.jp. http://www.caparison.jp/caparison-eng/e-09product/e09horus-hgsmfef.html. Retrieved 2010-06-15.
  16. ^ Mottola, R.M.. “Lutherie Info—Calculating Fret Positions”. http://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/fret.htm.
  17. ^ “Gibson.com”. Gibson.com. 2008-06-24. http://www.gibson.com/Products/DarkFire.aspx. Retrieved 2010-06-15.

See also

External links

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D’Addario is a manufacturer of musical instrument strings, primarily guitar strings, currently headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. It is a family-owned and -operated business that is one of the largest string manufacturers in the world, not only producing several lines of strings under their own brand names, but also making OEM strings for other musical instrument companies. They also produce and distribute other musical accessories under the companies Planet Waves (guitar cables, tuners, straps, picks, humidification products, polish/cloths and other accessories), Evans Drumheads (drumheads), Puresound and HQ Percussion (Premium Snare wires / Practice Pads and Drum Mutes), and Rico Reeds (reeds for woodwind instruments.)

[edit] History

The D’Addario (phonetically pronounced Da-Dairy-O with the American schwa or Dahd-DAH-ree-oh if said in proper Italian) family of string-makers originated in the small Italian town of Salle in the province of Pescara. A baptismal form from 1680 names a Donato D’Addario as a cordaro (“string-maker” in Italian.) From other historical records it appears that the town’s primary occupations were farming and string-making. At the time strings were made of sheep or hog gut, and making them was a laborious process.

After an earthquake devastated the town in 1905, two brothers-in-law, Rocco and Carmine D’Addario emigrated to Astoria in Queens, New York in an attempt to expand their market, importing and selling the strings made by their family in Salle. By 1918 Rocco had returned to Salle, and Carmine (or Charles) began making his own strings in a small shop behind the family home. Still made from gut, the process of making strings involved all members of the family.

The guitar saw a major rise in popularity in the early part of the 20th century, and sometime in the 1930s the family began making strings for this instrument, producing strings made to order for individual musicians or for guitar manufacturers.

The development of nylon by DuPont during World War II produced a major change in the family business. Sent samples by Dupont in 1947, the D’Addarios immediately began experimenting with this new material, consulting with many of its regular customers in developing the strings.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s (especially after the birth of rock and roll) nylon-stringed “classical” guitars were being eclipsed in popularity by the steel-string guitar. Some of the younger members of the family wanted to expand into steel strings, but Charles was reluctant to risk the family business on what he considered an uncertain market. In 1956 a new company (the Archaic Musical String Mfg Co.) began to make steel strings, run by Charles’ son, John D’Addario Sr. The company made strings for several of the major guitar makers of the time, including Gretsch, D’Angelico, Martin, and Guild. In 1962 the two companies were merged together under the name Darco.

The guitar had become the most popular instrument in the U.S., and the Darco company came up with many innovations in the manufacture of guitar strings, including the first automated equipment to wind strings and the first roundwound bass guitar strings.

In the late 1960s Darco was approached by Martin Guitars regarding a merger in order to pool resources and development efforts. While the partnership was beneficial for both companies, by 1974 the D’Addario family decided it was time to market strings under their own name, and the J. D’addario & Company corporation was formed. Darco is still a brand name used by the Martin Guitar company.

Originally located in Lynbrook, New York, the business continued to expand and in 1994 moved to its current facility in Farmingdale, New York. The company is still owned and operated by the D’Addario family, with 13 family members among the 900 employees of the company.

[edit] External links

“Cordaro” does not mean instrument string maker. [1]

[2]

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