21st Century Guitar

Evolutions and Augmentations

Richard Perks, John McGrath, Richard Perks, John McGrath

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781501373336
• eBook ISBN: 9781501373305
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Guitar Music

In the 21st Century, the guitar, as both a material object and tool for artistic expression, continues to be reimagined and reinvented. From simple adaptations or modifications made by performers themselves, to custom-made instruments commissioned to fulfil specific functions, to the mass production of new lines of commercially available instruments, the extant and emergent forms of this much-loved musical instrument vary perhaps more than ever before. As guitars sporting multiple necks, a greater number of strings, and additional frets become increasingly common, so too do those with reduced registers, fewer strings, and fretless fingerboards. Furthermore, as we approach the mark of the first quarter-century, the role of technology in relation to the guitar's protean nature is proving key, from the use of external effects units to synergies with computers and AR headsets. Such wide-ranging evolutions and augmentations of the guitar reflect the advancing creative and expressive needs of the modern guitarist and offer myriad new affordances. 21st Century Guitar examines the diverse physical manifestations of the guitar across the modern performative landscape through a series of essays and interviews. Academics, performers and dual-practitioners provide significant insights into the rich array of guitar-based performance practices emerging and thriving in this century, inviting a reassessment of the guitar's identity, physicality and sound-creating possibilities.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 The well-tuned guitar
• 2 Transforming the microtonal fingerboard: ‘Small’ frets, LEGO and robots: Interview with Tolgahan Çoğulu
• 3 The expanding fretless guitarscape: Practice and progress
• 4 Touching the apple without gloves: Interview with Cenk Erdoğan
• 5 Extended range instruments: Towards a new organology of the guitar
• 6 I should have just learned how to play the organ: Interview with Charlie Hunter
• 7 The transformed space of the ‘Ligeti Guitar’
• 8 Grains, glitches and infinite space: Guitar effects pedals, digitization and textural guitar aesthetics
• 9 The sonic maelstrom: Interview with Nels Cline
• 10 ‘Something seems wrong, should that be happening?’: Avantfolk guitar and glitch aesthetics, a practice-based perspective
• 11 A field of reactivity: Moog guitar and experimental systems: Interview with Bill Thompson
• 12 The digital fretboard: Remapping and relearning the guitar’s pitch matrix with MIDI and Max/MSP
• 13 Augmented reality guitars: Extended instruments and notation for a 21st-century practice
• Index
• Copyright