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enough Guitarron fans here for a club?
- Thread starter tim bucknall
- Start date
I've had a guitarron for about 10 years---I record with it quite a bit actually. Love that instrument.
Are you trying to approach it like an electric bass guitar? Even though you can get a cool sound by plucking it "like a bass guitar" single notes played with fingertips (or heck, a pick is kinda cool too) the instrument doesn't "speak" as it's intended unless you play the traditional technique like a mariachi player would. Essentially, you're plucking two-note octaves or other chords with your thumb and another finger pretty much all the time. Sometimes the mariachis will play a fast run in single notes, or it's a combination of octaves and single notes. Also, very important, you wrap your thumb around the neck to "fret" the low A string. You really have to grab that sucker, but sometimes that low string isn't getting pressed down all the way and the top octave is ringing out--that's part of the sound palette too--the thud you get from that happening sometimes. Of course, anything goes, but I found that learning the traditional technique REALLY helped. It's interesting to keep in mind that when it was designed it was intended to be more like a portable bass harp than a replacement for an upright.
Check this cat out:
I don't have one, but I am a fan. I do a lot of gigs with mariachis around here and the guitarron players are masters!! My nephew can jam that thang!!
Man, even after toying with it for as long as I have, I still cannot imagine how those guys pull off what they do. It is a bear to play!
From low to high: A D G C E A
So for example if your thumping on that low A string (fretting with your thumb as I described) typically you're also playing the octave on the high A string simultaneously. On the other strings it gets trickier, but the tuning actually really facilitates keeping those octaves going as you're playing walking basslines. It's kind of a crazy beast.
I have one modified with a custom 5 string bass guitar style neck, and a custom bridge of course. Does that count?
yes! i'm feeling broadminded today ;-)
i like how it responds well to a really agressive touch, i've always been hamfisted and you have to dig in with a Guitarron, it feels like a complete instrument you can get some lovely melodic chord partials on the 3 nylon strings at the same time as traditional basslines on the metal strings
I've had my guitarrón for years now, but I'm not sure I'd be welcome in your club because it's highly modified to play double bass lines: Extended fingerboard. Restrung with flat wounds E1-A1-D2-G2-C3-F3. Added a long endpin. I play sitting down behind it, much like a cellist, but pizz only (essentially, anyway). K&K pickup. Lotsa other modifications to make it sound as close to a double bass as I can get it. Not so good for traditional Mariachi music anymore, I'm afraid, especially since I can't move around while playing it.
