All about gitalela

Today, music stores offer a wide range of products for the most discerning tastes, and on the Internet you can get any exotic instrument at all. At the same time, guitars are traditionally in special demand, but in addition to all well-known models, unusual new items appear on sale, which are still not widely known. One of them is the gitalele, very similar to the ukulele, but not with four, but six strings. Let's see what it is interesting for, and how to play it.

Gitalele is a cross between a regular guitar and a miniature ukulele that came to us from Hawaii. The unusual instrument has the neat dimensions of a Hawaiian sister. It repeats its tenor or baritone meter, but this guitar has 6 strings. Accordingly, the guitar is played in the same way as a standard 6-string guitar. Sometimes you can hear another, less common version of the name of the instrument - the guitarlele, but in this article we will focus on the more familiar one.

The first three strings of the guitar are made of nylon, and the remaining bass strings are covered with a metal braid. The dimensions of the first 3 strings are special, they are verified in accordance with the size of the instrument, which means that they have a length less than the standard one. This mini-guitar has a wider neck than a regular guitar. There are only 18 frets on it, while usually there are 19 to 27 on guitars.

Some variations of the instrument are equipped with a built-in microphone, which can be connected to an amplifier, and then the sound will be louder. For those who know how to play the guitar, it is not difficult to master the guitar - familiar chords and techniques can be applied to it.Due to its miniature size, it is sometimes called a children's guitar, although its capabilities are not much inferior to those of ordinary ones, as well as the guitar of travelers. An interesting fact is that, in addition to the gitalele, there are other hybrid instruments - banjolele, baculele (hybrid with balalaika). It is not hard to understand that they, too, are descended from the Hawaiian ukulele.

It is difficult to say where this exotic novelty comes from, it is somewhat reminiscent of stringed instruments found in the study of traditional Anglo-Saxon music. Small guitars with a similar tuning have long been used by the inhabitants of Spain, as well as Colombia and other countries. The only thing we can say for sure is that the guitar appeared in its modern form thanks to Yamaha. This global brand started mass production of the guitar in 1995, and they are still produced today, like the well-known Yamaha GL-1 model. Perhaps this model of the guitar can be called the most famous instrument of its kind.

The instrument from the Japanese company has a standard tuning, 3 nylon and 3 metal strings. Its top is made of noble spruce, while the sides and back are made of sapele, a species of the Meliaceae family. It costs approximately 9 thousand rubles, and, according to fans of playing the guitar, this price is justified. Good materials and workmanship make this small Yamaha a pleasure to hold in your hand. It does not need any revision or replacement of parts, it sounds great, like other brainchilds of a well-known brand.

In addition to music giant Yamaha, there are other guitar manufacturers whose brands are not as popular, but also deserve attention. Among them are Cordoba Guilele, Koaloha's D-VI, Mele's, Luna.

The length of the guitar corresponds to the size 1/8 of the classic one. For example, the popular Yamaha GL1 is 433mm long. This is slightly less than the size of the ukulele, which reaches 55-67 cm. This unusual musical instrument will certainly appeal to those who wanted to master the ukulele, but could not switch to 4 strings. It can also appeal to ukulelers who dreamed of adding bass to it.

The guitar tuning of the guitar is remarkable and unusual. With the addition of two bass strings to the four strings that sound like a ukulele, the instrument offers a wide field for musical experimentation. The chords of a regular guitar are generally applicable to a guitar, but there are some distinctive points due to its construction. We will talk about this in more detail in the paragraph on tuning the guitar.

The tool is convenient to carry thanks to the high-quality dense case with adjustable shoulder straps. They are located like a backpack, that is, they are put on the shoulders, so it is convenient to take the gitalela with you on trips, on a visit or just to nature. The cover can be insulated to take the instrument on winter walks.

The strings for the guitar are shorter due to the shorter body length of the musical instrument. For example, from Aquila 96C - 17 inches or 42.3 cm.And for strings for a regular guitar, this figure is usually 105 cm.

Wooden tools like gentle care. You need to store it in a case, use a humidifier, wipe it with a cloth. There is a model made of HPL, a relatively inexpensive plastic that is considered an environmentally friendly material. It has recently begun to be used in industry, so it is difficult to talk about its characteristics. It is believed that tools from it are less in need of care.

After buying a guitar in a store or receiving it from a courier, the instrument will of course have to be adjusted. No matter how good a manufacturer it is, it is necessary to do this important manipulation with it after the factory.

The ADGCEA tuning is used to tune the strings of the guitar. This is somewhat unusual for a guitarist, because all the standard chords of this instrument sound 4 steps higher. The first string gives out not "Mi", but "A". The same would happen if the capo was put on the 5th fret on the guitar. For example, a familiar C chord on a guitar will sound like an F chord on a guitar.

Mobile applications are widely used today to tune musical instruments. For example, you can download the Guitartuna program to your smartphone with the "Ukulele soprano in C" preset. Don't be surprised if you have to select the ukulele mode, as the first strings of the two instruments are identical. First, tune the first 3 strings on it in accordance with the given tuning. The rest can be tuned by ear at the 5th fret, comparing to the previous string.

You need to play this unusual instrument just like the guitar. Chords for him differ little from ordinary guitar chords. The difficulty for guitarists accustomed to the regular version of the guitar is that the pitch of the guitar is too high. Plus, the fret spacing is shorter than on a guitar. At first, you may get the feeling that you won't be able to pinch the desired frets while playing. But, according to experienced musicians, you can quickly adapt to such an atypical position of the frets and the sound of strings - the main thing is desire.

An anchor built into the neck helps you play with tuning and a variety of string gauges. For example, Italian strings Aquila 145C or Aquila 153C allow you to tune standard guitar tuning.

And also the guitar may be liked by children who find it difficult to master the guitar due to its too large size. If even a ¼-sized children's model seems too heavy for a kid, but his desire to master stringed instruments is still great, you can try to start practicing this miniature guitar.

To make your trip even more joyful and memorable, but not to carry a rather oversized guitar with you, take a guitar on the road. Its sound will brighten up a hike, picnic, barbecue or even a vacation in another country. If you unscrew the handle of this mini-guitar, you can even put it in your carry-on luggage without worrying about the safety of the instrument in your luggage. You can play it even on the train, burying yourself in a pillow and quietly fingering the strings, if you want to fix a new melody and not disturb anyone.

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