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