Renaissance Guitar

Tootler

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The Renaissance guitar had, typically 7/8 strings in four courses and was tuned GCEA like a ukulele. This video from U-Tube is worth a listen. The presenter compares it to a concert ukulele. Some fabulous finger style work.
 
My searches round the net suggest that the most common tuning was Gg CC EE A and two of the tunings in your link were just that. The third one (The Neapolitan) was gDF#B. It almost looks like ADF#B but the fourth string is tuned down a tone. In the vid the presenter said that the fourth string was sometimes tuned down to F. Interesting
 
Thank you for this thread, as the renaissance guitar and its small but beautiful repertoire deserves a wider recognition. I strongly recommend to listen to Michael Craddock, Massimo Lonardi and Jocelyn Nelson. As for sheet music, all the volumes of Leroy, Morlaye, and Gorlier transcribed in modern notation and tab by Michael Walker are a must-have.

Regards,
Gilles
 
Thank you for this thread, as the renaissance guitar and its small but beautiful repertoire deserves a wider recognition. I strongly recommend to listen to Michael Craddock, Massimo Lonardi and Jocelyn Nelson. As for sheet music, all the volumes of Leroy, Morlaye, and Gorlier transcribed in modern notation and tab by Michael Walker are a must-have.

Regards,
Gilles
That link I provided above also had music... I kind of like

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b
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g
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d
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g
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More that the modern equivalent of

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2
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3
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2
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0
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It takes a little more thought but it's more clear what is happening.

-- Gary
 
Thank you for this thread, as the renaissance guitar and its small but beautiful repertoire deserves a wider recognition. I strongly recommend to listen to Michael Craddock, Massimo Lonardi and Jocelyn Nelson. As for sheet music, all the volumes of Leroy, Morlaye, and Gorlier transcribed in modern notation and tab by Michael Walker are a must-have.

Regards,
Gilles

And the ukulele is a perfect modern instrument to play it on. I used my six string tenor recently when I did a spot on 17th century broadsides.
 
I'm a big fan of the renaissance guitar and it's music. Someday, I hope to buy a high quality renaissance guitar, but for now just play the music on my ukes. IMHO, Massimo Lornardi's recordings are by far the best, a true master. But I also enjoy the recordings of Craddock and the many others, including UU's very own UkeVal!
 
I'm a big fan of the renaissance guitar and it's music. Someday, I hope to buy a high quality renaissance guitar, but for now just play the music on my ukes. IMHO, Massimo Lornardi's recordings are by far the best, a true master. But I also enjoy the recordings of Craddock and the many others, including UU's very own UkeVal!

Can you share your sources of the music? I play some renaissance tabs now (often posted one of the forums here) and really enjoy them...

-- Gary
 
Can you share your sources of the music? I play some renaissance tabs now (often posted one of the forums here) and really enjoy them...

-- Gary
I've used what's readily available for free on the web, such as the source mentioned above: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~lsa/aboutLute/RenaissanceGuitar.html
In addition, I ordered Volume 18 "108 pieces pour guitare renaissance" by Pascale Boquet as recommended by UkeVal. You can find that on the website: http://www.sf-luth.org/en/? Musical_Publications

Please don't let the old French lute tab intimidate you. Instead of numbers, they used letters for the frets. Practice it for a day or two and you'll get it.

This music is very beautiful, even on the uke. What I did first was to find recordings by Lonardi et al to get a good idea of what the "swing" or "mood" of a particular piece might be. Lonardi interprets these pieces in such lovely ways. Check out his amazing YouTube videos under the name "Ottaviano Petrucci", you won't be disappointed!
 
There's always Tony Mizen's book "From Lute to Uke" which is a set of transcriptions of Renaissance Lute music for GCEA tuned ukulele. I wouldn't be surprised if renaissance guitarists often did something similar back in their day.

My interest comes from using a ukulele to accompany 17th/18th century broadside ballads. I recently did a short 'gig' and used a 6 string tenor uke which I felt had the right sort of ring. Someone there suggested the uke was a good choice because of the similarity in the tunings. I'm currently thinking of getting a taropatch uke (8 string concert) but am not decided whether to order one from Rob Collins who lives not too far from me (6 month wait) or an Ohana CK 70-8 with a spruce top (would need to order but would come quicker). The Collins would also be more expensive but not excessively so and I would have scope for customisation (at a price, of course)
 
Wow, thanks. This was beautiful. Having a down day with a bug, so this was very enjoyable!
It was encouraging to hear that these can be played on a concert uke!
 
Wow, thanks. This was beautiful. Having a down day with a bug, so this was very enjoyable!
It was encouraging to hear that these can be played on a concert uke!

He suggested concert uke but should be OK on any GCEA tuned uke. An 8 string with G strings in octaves and the others in unison would be the closest to Typical Renaissance Guitar tuning.

I was looking at Renaissance guitars on the net and modern makers seem to go for about 50 cm scale length which is 20" so a little longer than a tenor. However the proportions are different. They seem to have a longer body than a ukulele and the neck looks about the same length as a soprano uke with only 10 - 12 frets. I reckon the dimensions are a best guess as it seems no Renaissance guitars have survived and they are having to work from pictures.
 
Hello,

Renaissance guitar proves to be even more versatile than I thought. I stumbled upon this amazing video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTQX5inpxhY

...And this man plays all movements of this challenging suite ! If any of our dear members feels like tabbing the prelude from the vid and share it with us, this would be strongly appreciated...
Regards,
Gilles
 
Hello,

Renaissance guitar proves to be even more versatile than I thought. I stumbled upon this amazing video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTQX5inpxhY

...And this man plays all movements of this challenging suite ! If any of our dear members feels like tabbing the prelude from the vid and share it with us, this would be strongly appreciated...
Regards,
Gilles

Good find. I enjoyed that.

I've heard Corey Fujimoto play this piece (the prelude of the solo violin partita no. 3) in at least one HMS sound sample clip; ask him. I once tried adapting this piece to (linear) uke, but had to make too many "cheats" for my taste: I'm too used to the violin and guitar versions, with their fuller range and wider arpeggios (the original piece spans two octaves and a sixth).

Bach later used this piece in orchestral form as the sinfonia to his Cantata #29. I first heard it in Wendy Carlos's synthesized version, which opened Switched-On Bach—quite mind-blowing at the time.

I reckon the guy in the You Tube video would have had to make much the same compromises as you were unhappy with.

I was in the Early Music shop in Bradford UK today and they had one in Definitely a longer body but no wider than a ukulele but only 10 frets to the body so an even smaller range than a soprano uke. The frets were actually gut and tied on like on a viol and as far as I could tell it was gut strung. Strumming my fingers across it, it was brighter sounding than regular uke - more like my six string so it was probably the effect of the doubled courses.

They also had a baroque guitar in stock. Similar construction and proportions but larger and with 10 strings in five courses.

Price wise way out of my reach - around 1700 GBP for the Renaissance Guitar. I also would not get enough use out of it.
 
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