How the lute guitar makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the lute guitar belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Press play above and watch the spectrum: the evenly spaced peaks are harmonics, and their relative strength is what gives the instrument its character.
From Wikipedia
A lute guitar or German lute (German: Gitarrenlaute, Deutsche Laute or Wandervogellaute, less commonly a lutar (modern Turkish), gui-lute or gittar) is a stringed musical instrument, common in Germany from around 1850. The instrument has a regular six-stringed guitar setup on a lute bowl, however there are many theorboed variants with up to 11 strings. (see de:Deutsche Basslaute)
The instrument is associated with the Wandervogel countercultural movement in Germany in the first half of the 20th century.
Other lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a lute guitar sound like?
As one of the lutes, its sound comes from the way strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck.
What type of instrument is the lute guitar?
It is classified as lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.321).
Sources & credits
- Wikidata Q322050 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Lute guitar – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by No machine-readable author provided. Neitram assumed (based on copyright claims). – CC BY-SA 3.0