SFist: Finally, Someone's Invented a Guitar that Even Girls can Play

Generic

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:08:17 -0800

Can someone hazard a guess as to where lutes place on the x-y graph of the gender spectrum? I'm thinking lower than a ukulele, but higher than a mandolin, yes?

RobInSF

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:49:17 -0800

Does this explain the Indigo Girls AND Sleater Kinney in one neat little sound bite? I'm teaching my 12 yr old niece acoustic and all she wants to do is rock out with an electric. Screw learning scales or bar chords, she wants to make loud noise. I'm going to buy her a cheap ass electric and a crappy gorilla amp just to piss off my brother. Yeah!

mattymatt

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:04:31 -0800

I'm quite pleased by how scholarly the comments for this post have become.

mpantone

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:55:43 -0800

The instrument that we know as the Western European guitar doesn't have a singular lineage, so it's a stretch to say that it was "originally a girl's instrument." There are historical artifacts from early civilizations showing males playing guitar-like instruments, so likely, it was commonly played by both sexes, depending on the time and location. The concept of multiple string instrument over a resonating hollow body was probably discovered by many individuals (just like a sport that involved kicking a round sphere and not using your hands). However, by 17th century Western Europe, this type of instrument was commonly associated with female musicians. There's a portrait of a woman playing a lute, formerly attributed to Johannes Vermeer from about this time.

jnice

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:08:34 -0800

I'm sure the well-informed sfist reader already knows this, but back in the day, guitars were ONLY for girls to play - they were seen as effeminate. The equivalent masculine instrument was the fiddle. Put that in your corncob pipe and smoke it.

Belgand

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 14:52:17 -0800

Not to mention the entire line of Daisy Rock.

mpantone

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 12:22:03 -0800

Naaah, this is a girl guitar.