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 books of tablature by lutenist Albert de Rippe (who was very likely Guillaume's teacher). The written history of the classical guitar can be traced back to the early 16th century with the development of the "vihuela" in Spain. While the lute was then becoming popular in other parts of Europe, the Spaniards did not take to it well because of its association with the Moors. Instead, the lute-like vihuela appeared with two more strings that gave it more range and complexity. In its most developed form, the vihuela was a guitar-like instrument with six double strings made of gut, tuned