Portuguese Guitar

Many years ago, there was a bit of interest in this instrument in irish traditional music. It is a 12 string, lute-shaped guitar, rather like a bazooki with a short neck. I have a venerable Gracio instrument myself, though I use it to play fadinhos, for which is was originally intended.

I am writing because someone here in Portugal is developing a variation of this instrument, which is similar but tuned an octave lower. This would put it in the same register as the tenor banjo. Could be interesting.

If ther is any interest, I will try to get more information

How are they tunes ?

sorry
How are they tuned ?

By twisting little knobs, probably.

*Very* little knobs.

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/112235-portuguese-guitar-tuning.html

@ Bob himself

HAHA that made my day! 😀

Friday is a silly day. Might as well go with it.

Bloke who plays with Leonard Cohen has one, sounds great, bit like a mandolin.

Not sure how it would sound for Irish music, though it’s a beautiful instrument in fado. If you’re at all into fado, check out Carlos Paredes, his recordings are amazing.

Firefly, I think your information needs to be checked out precisely;
What are the normal pitches/stringing/tuning associated with the Portuguese guitar ?
How do they compare to the mandolin and violin, for instance ?
Standard tunings on both of these instruments would normally be GDAE, E being the top string and pitched an octave and a third above middle C.
The tenor banjo was originally tuned the same as the mandola and viola, a 5th down from violin, CGDA. Later ITM musicians re-strung and tuned the tenor banjo with heavier strings, to be an octave below the violin, GDAE, where the E string is the same pitch as the top string of a guitar.
So which tenor banjo tuning are you talking about ?
I think it would be more useful if you gave us the actual notes tuned to, both traditionally for the Portuguese guitar, and your friends’ variation. Otherwise we’re all just speculating. String gauges commonly used, and on what scale length, might be a help in the discussion as well.
I’m certainly curious. Were I to visit Portugal with some free spending money I might well come away with one of their instruments, I do acknowledge their attractiveness. Not to mention my nostalgia for the early work of Planxty.

I bought one of these Guitarras recently from a guy who brought it back from Portugal. The workmanship and sound quality replicate my Fylde bouzouki for which I payed 7 times as much money. As far as tunings it is very flexible and because of the short scale you have to use very light guage guitar strings. It even came with a device for putting loop ends on the strings as you need loops on both ends. If you look at the early Planxty recordings (correct me if I’m wrong) I think Andy Irvine only uses the middle 4 courses of strings and foregoes the outer 2 effectively turning it into a mandolin. Lower priced bouzoukis and mandolins from Chinese factories are poor instruments indeed so a quality instrument from Portugal with a fair price tag attached would get my interest.

The tuning is, from top to bottom, B,A,E,B,A,D. It’s very odd, but is intended for playing fadinhos (vamped folk tunes in A or D), or accompanying fado corrido (simple folk songs). As as a melodic accompaniment for fados, one tends to use the E string a lot , as it is slack and juicy. Carlos Paredes uses a Coimbra tuning, which is one tone lower, but the same intervals. He has his own personal style and is something of an original musical genius.

I’m not sure the instrument is that good for trad, but the tenor version I spoke of might well be.

If you start looking on European instrument sites you can find these instruments, and I was under the impression that there were two distinct models, the basic difference being that one had a longer scale and was basically tuned a tone lower as a consequence. So then it would be tuned AGDAGC. Or rather CGADGA. I can see a use in that.
Or re-string completely and tune how you like.
I still think they look fascinating instruments; "Wife ! I know what I want for Christmas !".

I’ll be in Portugal in September for my work, and have been looking forward buying a guitarra. Where’s a good place to shop for one, firefly? The first time I ever saw a Portuguese guitarra, it was being played by Seán Mc Elwain of Téada, I believe. Sounded fantastic, but that could just be Seán’s playing!

Now you can try the Portuguese Guitar on Android. Look for Guitarra Portuguesa in Google Play.

I’ve recently acquired a Portuguese guitar, made for me by a luthier friend of mine (actually with some slightly adapted features, such as conventional machine heads rather than Preston tuners). I wanted one because I love the range and timbre, and think it could be well-suited to use as an accompanying instrument in the trio I play with. I’m trying to learn my way round it using the recommended tuning: D-A-B-E-A-B (low to high). This is tricky, as I’m used to E-A-D-G-B-E guitar tuning, and fifth tuning as on fiddle and mandolin - so it’s well outside my experience.

Is there a music historian out there who can explain how the Portuguese guitar came to adopt these unusual intervals between the strings? Presumably it was so the instrument was adapted to music in the national style, but so far the logic escapes me and I’ve been unable to discover a more specific reason for it. I’m sure that if I knew more of the background it would help in the learning process. Further information welcome from anyone who knows about these things!