Thanks M.B. for posting such an article about the classic guitar.
The question of “what is classical guitar†comes up in my daily activities of teaching, blogging, and also when I think of marketing myself or others as a ‘classical guitarist’. This is not something other instruments always have to deal with. The fact that the word “classical†is often used in the name of the instrument implies a certain allegiance to the composed music of Europe during the eighteenth and nineteen century.
However, as we all know (or possibly not) when referring to the classical guitar a person could be expressing a wide variety of stylistic diversity. Here’s a few typical types of guitar imagery that the ‘common people’ think of (at least in my experience):
Spanish music
Flamenco
Latin American music
Tango
Elevator music
Segovia
Spanish Romance!
Liona Boyd
A rare few might actually think of the lute, or early guitar variants (a small %)
The sweet calm sounds of albums with titles like “Romance of the guitarâ€
Antonio Banderas (no guitar, just guns)
They would rather think of electric guitar