The GuitarViol is an interpretation of the
Arpeggione
The arpeggione is a six-stringed musical instrument fretted and tuned like a guitar, but with a curved bridge so it can be bowed like a cello, and thus similar to the bass viola da gamba. The instrument is sometimes also called a guitar violonce ...
(bowed guitar) built by guitarist/luthier
Jonathan Eric Wilson. It has six strings, 24 frets (a.k.a. “stopping points”), and is tuned E2–A2–D3–G3–B3–E4 (standard guitar tuning), though some models are tuned to B1–E2–A2–D3–F#3–B3 (baritone guitar tuning). It is most often played in a semi-diagonal, guitar-like playing position and bowed with an underhand (palm up) “German”
bow grip manner similar to
Viola da Gamba
The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...
. GuitarViols exist in solid body electric, semi-acoustic, and acoustic configurations. Since the early 2000s, GuitarViols have been predominantly used by media composers in TV/Film/video game soundtrack industry. Notable examples of prominent GuitarViol use include movies such as
300
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Year 300 ( CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1053 ''Ab ...
and all seasons of
Game of Thrones (with the exception of the main theme introduction track). Wilson himself can be heard in
Borderlands (video game) and his solo film library album “GuitarViol” (Lakeshore Records 2012).
GuitarViols are built under the TogaMan brand by GuitarViols inc. (founded by Jonathan Eric Wilson) in Fillmore, CA. The “TogaMan” is a reference to a toga/tunic tenor viol player portrayed in Paolo Veronese’s “Noces de Cana” painting that depicts a similar bow grip and playing position seen in GuitarViols today.
Notable media composer GuitarViol players include
Tyler Bates
Tyler Bates (born June 5, 1965) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film, television, and video game scores. Much of his work is in the action and horror film genres, with films like '' Dawn of the Dead, 300, Sucker Punch, H ...
,
Loga Ramin Torkian,
Kevin Kiner
Kevin Kiner (born September 3, 1958) is an American film and television composer best known for scoring ''CSI: Miami'', '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', and '' Star Wars Rebels''. Kiner was nominated for multiple Primetime Emmy, Daytime Emmy and ...
,
Ramin Djawadi
Ramin Djawadi (, fa, رامین جوادی; born 19 July 1974) is an Iranian and German score composer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film ''Iron Man'' and the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'', for which he was nominated for Gramm ...
,
Heitor Pereira
Heitor Teixeira Pereira () (born November 29, 1960), or Heitor TP, is a Brazilian composer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and record producer. In his career, Pereira has recorded with the band Simply Red and several famous musicians, such as Elt ...
,
Charlie Clouser
Charles Alexander Clouser (born June 28, 1963) is an American keyboardist, composer, record producer, and remixer. He worked with Trent Reznor for Nine Inch Nails from 1994 to 2000, and is a composer for film and television; among his credits a ...
,
Gary Lionelli,
Brian Tyler
Brian Theodore Tyler (born May 8, 1972) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, and record producer, best known for his film, television, and video game scores. In his 24-year career, Tyler has scored '' Transformers: Prime'', ''Eagle ...
,
Jeff Cardoni
Jeffrey E. Cardoni (born January 10, 1972) is an American composer. He is a multi-instrumentalist who studied classical piano before playing drums and guitar in numerous bands, including a brief stint with the rock band Alien Crime Syndicate.
Bi ...
, and
Justin Melland,
among others.
References
External links
Official website
Viol family instruments
Guitar family instruments
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