Or have you played something else in the past? What’s your favorite piece to play?

Edit: thanks for everyone that has replied. This has been so heartwarming to read :)

  • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    11 days ago

    I play early music, and what we call a viol de gamba is a different thing; the viola is fretless and held under the chin like a violin, while the viol de gamba is a renaissance/baroque-era fretted instrument that is held between the legs and comes in treble, tenor, and bass sizes.

    Savall plays the latter.

    To further confuse the matter, there’s a renaissance-era instrument called the vielle that is played more like a modern violin or viola.

    • Hadriscus@jlai.lu
      2·
      11 days ago

      Thanks for the disambiguation… I could have sworn that the viol de gamba was fretless ! but after looking it up I can confirm that it’s not.

      • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        11 days ago

        Yup, they use wrapped gut frets. They’re moveable so that the musicians could adjust intonation in the period before equal temperament was invented.

        • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
          2·
          11 days ago

          Can you imagine having to shift individual frets, untying and retying them to get the instrument in tune?

          What a pain in the ass. No wonder they went extinct.

          • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            11 days ago

            I play the renaissance lute, which also uses tied frets. I just play in equal temperament because its easier and my ear isn’t that good. I’m merely an ambitious amateur though, maybe I’ll get into it one of these days.

            • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
              2·
              11 days ago

              I play guitar, but I’ve never held a lute. I’d love to try one sometime. They are astonishingly beautiful works of art. I love everything about them.

              Goddammit, now I have to buy a lute.

              • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldEnglish
                2·
                11 days ago

                It’s so hard to get into it; I’d never played one before I picked it up either.

                This is a good entry-level lute. I had wanted one for a while before I got mine, but I was worried about spending so much and having it be unplayable.

                I fortunately talked to another musician who had one of these already and he sounded fantastic, so I decided to take the plunge. I’m glad I did! There’s nothing like playing period music on the actual instrument that would have been used (modern convenience like temperament aside) and reading from historical tabs.

                I ran into the guy again about a month ago, and he has an incredible luthier-made theorbo that sounds amazing. Maybe I’ll get one of those some day lol!

                • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
                  2·
                  11 days ago

                  Yikes! The price. This will have to wait until I trip over a good deal somewhere. It will be on my wish list.

                  And I would love to try a theorbo sometime. They are a seriously cool looking instrument.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
      2·
      11 days ago

      While they look similar, the violin and the gamba family are separate branches, sort of musical cousins.

      Of all the stringed instruments, the upright string bass is the closest in shape to the gamba family, and is technically evolved from that. The shoulders on a violin, viola, or cello, come straight out from the neck, while the shoulders on a string bass slope down. That’s a typical characteristic difference in shape between violins and gambas.