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The guitar's sound is produced by the plucking
of strings. Guitars are characterized by their flat back,
though instruments also exist with backs that curve gently
outward. Favored materials for the guitar include maple or
ash for the sides and back, ebony or beech for the fingerboard,
and fir or pine for the front. Older instruments are often
decorated with inlays of ivory, ebony, or mother-of-pearl.
While older instruments had as many as ten or 12 strings arranged
in pairs, modern concert guitars have six single strings--three
made of gut and three made of silk overspun with silver wire.
Standard modern guitars have three strings made of metal and
three made of plastic. The strings are tuned in ascending
intervals of three fourths, a major third, and another fourth.
Although guitars were found throughout Europe,
they became synonymous with Spain. The chief popularizer,
and possible inventor, of the instrument in its modern form
was the 16th-century Spanish novelist Vicente Espinel. Well-known
composers for the instrument include Fernando Sor and Mauro
Giuliani, who both wrote in the 19th century. The most distinguished
advocates of the instrument were Francisco Tarrega and Andres
Segovia. (See also Electronic Instruments.)
The banjo, whose strings are plucked like
the guitar's, is a long-necked instrument with a body shaped
like a tambourine and fitted like a drum with a covering of
plastic. Instruments were formerly fitted with calfskin. At
the back of the banjo is a resonator, which is a circular
piece of wood slightly larger than the body. Banjos in the
past had as many as nine strings, but the conventional instrument
today has five. The instrument can be played in two different
ways, with the strings strummed by the fingers or struck by
a plectrum.
As is true of the guitar, the banjo is thought
to have originated in an ancient civilization--possibly that
of the Egyptians--who transmitted the instrument to Africa.
From Africa the banjo is believed to have made its way to
America, where it has long been associated with the culture
of Southern blacks. In the late 18th century President Thomas
Jefferson remarked on the skill of blacks playing the instrument,
which he referred to as a "banjar," or "banger."
While composers at times have cited the banjo and written
in imitation of its distinctive, jaunty, and raucous sound--Frederick
Delius scored such a passage in his opera 'Koanga'--the instrument
has remained primarily a part of folk and country music.
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From Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia © 1999 The
Learning Company, Inc.
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