Classical guitar There are significant works by composers such as Hans Werner Henze of Germany, Gilbert Biberian of England and Roland Chadwick of Australia. The classical guitar also became widely used in popular music and rock & roll in the 1960s after guitarist Mason Williams popularized the instrument in his instrumental hit Classical Gas. Guitarist Christopher Parkening is quoted in the book "Classical Gas: The Music of Mason Williams" as saying that it is the most requested guitar piece besides Malagueña and perhaps the best known instrumental guitar piece today. In the field of New Flamenco, the works and performances of Spanish
Classical guitar composer and player Paco de Lucía are known worldwide. Not many classical guitar concertos were written through the guitar history. Nevertheless, some guitar concertos are nowadays wide known and popular, especially Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" (with the famous theme from 2nd movement) and "Fantasía para un gentilhombre". Composers, who also wrote famous guitar concertos are: Antonio Vivaldi (originally for mandolin or lute), Mauro Giuliani, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Manuel Ponce, Leo Brouwer, Lennox Berkeley... Nowadays, more and more contemporary composers decide to write a guitar concerto. The classical guitar is distinguished by a number of characteristics: The fretboard (also