Cuatro (instrument)
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The cuatro is any of several Latin American instruments of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish, although (MK3) current instruments may have more than four strings.
The cuatro is an instrument of the guitar family, found in South America, Trinidad & Tobago and other territories of the West Indies. Its 15th century predecessor was the Portuguese Cavaquinho, which, like the cuatro had four strings. The cuatro is widely used in ensembles in Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Surinam to accompany singing and dancing. In Trinidad & Tobago it accompanies Parang singers. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is used as an ensemble instrument for both secular and religious music.
The Venezuelan cuatro
The cuatro of Venezuela has four single nylon strings, tuned (A4,D5,F#5,B4) or (A3,D4,F#4,B3) depending on the strings you get. It is similar in shape and tuning to the ukulele, but their character and playing technique are vastly different. It is tuned in a similar fashion to the traditional D tuning of the ukulele, but the B is an octave lower. Consequently, the same fingering can be used to shape the chords, but it produces a different transposition of each chord. In other countries, known as the Five.
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Venezuelan Cuatro -
Venezuelan Concert Cuatro
The cuatros of Puerto Rico
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 You may watch a segment from "Nuestro Cuatro" about the "Cuatro" with Tomas "Maso" Rivera here |
The cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. It belongs to the lute family of chordophones (or string instruments). However, very little is known about the exact origin of the Puerto Rican cuatro. Most experts believe that the cuatro has existed on the island in one form or another for about 400 years.
The Spanish instrument that it is most closely related to is the vihuela poblana (also known as the Medieval/Renaissance guitar), which had 4 courses, 2 strings each for 8 strings in total as well as the Spanish Medieval/Renaissance 4 course and the Spanish Laúd, the last of which is still found in the Canary Islands.
The Puerto Rican cuatro has ten strings in five courses, tuned in fourths from low to high B-e-a-d'-g',54321, with B and E in octaves and A, D and G in unisons.
The cuatro is the most familiar of the three that make up the Puerto Rican orquesta jibara (i.e., the cuatro, the tiple and the bordonua).
Other cuatros
There is also a Cuatro Cubano from Cuba, which is a Tres with an extra course added.[1] The name 'cuatro' is also sometimes used for small Guitarros and Tiples in some parts of Spain.
See also
References
- "Instrumentos Musicales de Venezuela: Cuatro". Diccionario Multimedia de Historia de Venezuela. Fundación Polar.
- Fredy Reyna: Alfa Beta Cuatro - Monte Avila Editores 1994
- Alejandro Bruzual: Fredy Reyna - Ensayo biográfico - Alter Libris 1999
Chord and instructional guides
- Tobe A. Richards The Venezuelan Cuatro Chord Bible: ADF#B Standard Tuning 1,728 Chords - Cabot Books ISBN 978-1-906207-00-7. Published: 2007
- Tobe A. Richards The Puerto Rican Cuatro Chord Bible: BEADG Standard Tuning 1,728 Chords - Cabot Books ISBN 978-1-906207-06-9. Published: 2007