Guitarrón

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Guitarron

The guitarrón (literally "large guitar" in Spanish, the suffix "-ón" denoting "large") is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass played in mariachi bands. Although obviously similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña. It achieves audibility by its great size, and does not require electric amplification for performances in small venues. The guitarrón is fretless, the strings are heavy gauge, and the action is high, so that quite a bit of left hand strength is required. The guitarrón is played by plucking always DOUBLE STRING (one octave between), which is facilitated by the unusual tuning A D G C E A with the high A lowered an octave putting it just one octave above the low A.

The guitarrón was the inspiration behind Ernie Ball's development of the first modern acoustic bass guitar, released on the market in 1972.[1]

1 Traditional uses
2 Non-traditional uses
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Traditional uses

The guitarrón is used in Mexican Mariachi groups, which usually consist of at least two violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, and a vihuela (a high-pitched, five-string guitar), in addition to the guitarrón. Some larger Mariachi groups have more than twenty musicians. The original Mariachi were Mexican street musicians or buskers, but now most Mariachi musicians work in the mainstream entertainment industry.

It should be noted that the Mexican Mariachi's influence has been growing in popularity especially in Argentina, Colombia, Spain and Germany. Argentina is adopting it as part of the music mainstream. An Argentinan based Mariachi group has been established in Buenos Aires, Argentina as known by Mariachi Sol Aztec.

In the United States there are as many as 500 Mariachi bands or more, Texas being the more populated followed by California, but even in states as remote a New York there are at least 5 bands. Mariachi Citlalli is one of the most prestigious in New York; [MariachiNewYork.com]

In other states where the Latin population is growing there are other bands that are very notorious. Mariachi music has expanded to an international level, braking the barrier of languages and traditions.

[edit] Non-traditional uses

The guitarrón is played by Roy Estrada on the 1966 Mothers of Invention album Freak Out!.
Randy Meisner of The Eagles also plays the guitarrón on the track "New Kid In Town" from the album Hotel California (1976).
Another American player using the guitarrón in a non-traditional context is Aaron Goldsmith of the New York-based multicultural acoustic ensemble Luminescent Orchestrii; he uses a modified guitarrón with an elongated neck that allows him to play more melodically.
The guitarrón was a defining element of the 1980s Scottish folk-pop band Fairground Attraction.