Commonly referred to as the 'Cello-Guitar', the Brahms guitar was invented in 1994 by classical guitarist Paul Galbraith in conjunction with the recently deceased luthier David Rubio. Paul Galbraith (born March 1964 is a Scottish -born Classical guitarist known for his unique style of playing David Rubio, original name David Joseph Spinks (born London, 1934 - died Cambridge on 21 October 2000) was an English maker of musical It was originally conceived in order to perform Johannes Brahms' Theme and Variations Opus 21a. Johannes Brahms ( pronounced ˈbʁaːms (May 7 1833 &ndash April 3 1897 was a German Composer
The instrument has eight strings, adding both a high and a low string to the conventional six string guitar. The tuning continues in fourths and the frets are splayed to allow for the different string lengths. The Brahms guitar setup allows to increase the repertoire for the guitar.
Galbraith's method is to play the Brahms guitar in the cello position adding greater freedom to both hands and incorporating a resonating box. The violoncello (abbreviated to cello, or 'cello, plural cellos or celli —the c is tʃ
Other practitioners include Everton Gleoden of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet and Galbraith's former Student Redmond O'Toole. The Brazilian Guitar Quartet was formed in 1998 to interpret the repertoire for four guitars and make transcriptions of works form diverse periods and styles Redmond O'Toole is an Irish classical guitarist He is amongst a handful of musicians performing on a Brahms guitar.
Sources
- http://www.paul-galbraith.com/brahmsguitar.html
- http://www.redmondotoole.com/instrument.html
- http://www.luth.org/memoriam/rubio.htm
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_guitar_making
- http://erez-perelman.com/guitar/brahms.html