Russian guitar Oleg Timofeyev, who has unearthed and recorded works by the composer Matvei Pavlov-Azancheev (1888−1963). Russian guitar The Russian guitar (sometimes referred to as a "Gypsy guitar") is an acoustic seven-string guitar that was developed in Russia toward the end of the 18th century: it shares most of its organological features with the Spanish guitar, although some historians insist on English guitar ascendancy. It is known in Russian as the "semistrunnaya gitara" (семиструнная гитара), or affectionately as the "semistrunka" (семиструнка), which translates to "seven-stringer". These guitars are most commonly tuned to an open G chord as follows: . In classical literature,
Classical guitar technique would apply. The actual shape is subject to such individual biology and musical preference that only experience and guidance of other musicians will be seen to be the best form chosen by the student. While the right hand is responsible for the sound of the guitar, the left hand performs two functions: pressing on the strings (to shorten their effective length and change the pitch) and articulation, i.e. slurring (commonly known as 'hammer-ons' and 'pull-offs') and vibrato. In musical notation, the left hand fingers are referred to as 1, 2, 3, and 4 (starting with index). The basic position for