The Brahms guitar, or cello-guitar, is an

eight-string guitar An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings, or one more than the Russian guitar's seven. Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string guitars, but they are used by a few classical, jazz, and metal guitarists. The e ...

with a conventional resonating body, but also an external, box-shaped

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...

. Classical guitarist

Paul Galbraith Paul Galbraith (born 18 March 1964) is a Scottish classical guitarist known for his unique style of playing. Biography Paul Galbraith had his first guitar lessons with Graham Wade, continuing his studies with Gordon Crosskey at the Chethams Sch ...

, in collaboration with

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

David Rubio David Rubio (born David Joseph Spinks; 17 September 1934 – 21 October 2000) was an English maker of stringed musical instruments. Biography David Rubio was born on 17 September 1934 in London, England. He acquired his new surname in his t ...

, invented the instrument in 1994. David Rubio's protégé, luthie
Martin Woodhouse
innovated the design and continues to build Brahms guitars. Galbraith originally conceived it specifically to perform

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

' Theme and Variations, Op. 21. The instrument adds two strings to the standard six—a low A (a 5th below the standard low E), and a high A (a 4th above the standard high E), giving A E A D G B E A. The guitar's frets are fanned to allow for the different string lengths. The player holds the guitar like a

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, with a cello-like post from the bottom of the guitar to the box resonator. Other adopters includ
Joseph Ehrenpreis

Everton Gloeden Everton may refer to: Places Australia *Everton, Victoria *Electoral district of Everton, Queensland Canada * Everton, Ontario South Africa *Everton, part of Kloof, KwaZulu-Natal United Kingdom *Everton, Bedfordshire, England *Everton, ...

Luiz Mantovani Luiz is a Portuguese given name that is an alternative form of Luís. It's archaic in Portugal, but common in Brazil. Notable people referred to by this name include the following: People *Luiz Bonfá (1922-2001), Brazilian guitarist and composer ...

of the

Brazilian Guitar Quartet The Brazilian Guitar Quartet was formed in 1998 to interpret the repertoire for four guitars and make transcriptions of works from diverse periods and styles. The Brazilian Guitar Quartet is composed of: Clemer Andreotti, Luiz Mantovani, Everton ...

, and Galbraith's former students

Redmond O'Toole Redmond O'Toole is an Irish classical guitarist who performs on a Brahms guitar. His former teachers include Oscar Ghiglia, Paul Galbraith, Graham Devine and John Feeley. He studied at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Accademia Musi ...

and Matthew Korbanic. The

Dublin Guitar Quartet The Dublin Guitar Quartet is an Irish guitar quartet that specialises in the performance of contemporary classical music, particularly music associated with minimalist composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt and Kevin Volans. Th ...

uses the instrument in their arrangements of

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

Kevin Volans Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' (New Simplicity) mov ...

, and Arvo Part string quartets. In November of 2020, Joseph Ehrenpreis released "New Music with Brahms Guitar, Vol. 1" funded by an IAS grant from the

Illinois Arts Council The Illinois Arts Council is a government agency of the state of Illinois formed to encourage development of the arts throughout Illinois. Founded in 1965 by the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Arts Council provides financial and technica ...

. The project includes entirely new compositions from an international cast of composers, including

Dai Fujikura Dai Fujikura ( ja, 藤倉大 ''Fujikura Dai''; born 27 April 1977) is a Japanese-born composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Dai Fujikura was born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan. He moved to London when he was 15 to study at Dover Col ...

, written specifically for the 8-string Brahms Guitar.

References

Sources

Paul Galbraith's website
{{Classical guitar Guitars 1994 introductions

See also

References

Sources