Keywords
guitar technique, tone production, rest stroke, instrument design, lutherie, Andrés Segovia, Francisco Tárrega, Hermann Hauser, José Romanillos, Manuel Ramírez, gut strings, nylon strings, nineteenth-century guitars, artistry and technology
Abstract
In this previously unpublished talk from 2004, delivered two years after his retirement from public performance, Julian Bream traces his own career in relation to the evolution of the modern guitar, recounting his early encounters with nineteenth-century guitars, the introduction of nylon strings to replace gut, innovations in guitar construction, and a transformative meeting with Andrés Segovia. But at the heart of the talk is his approach to sound. Bream discusses the essential elements of his tone production, including his right-hand position with its characteristic “three-quarter Tárrega bend” of the wrist, and his strong preference for the rest stroke. He goes on to explain how guitars in the style of Hauser’s late period actively encourage such a style of playing, from the strutting pattern of the top to the tuning relationship between the top and back plates. In conclusion, he voices skepticism toward certain technologies and concern that they may already be constraining individual artistry and creativity.
Recommended Citation
Bream, Julian. 2025. "Round the Tárrega Bend." Soundboard Scholar 10, (1). https://digitalcommons.du.edu/sbs/vol10/iss1/9