Russian guitar 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, the lowest string (D) occasionally is tuned down to the C. Although in a
Classical guitar string guitar, on the other hand, usually has fourteen frets clear of the body (see Dreadnought) and is commonly played off the hip. The phrase "classical guitar" may refer to either of two concepts other than the instrument itself: The term "modern classical guitar" is sometimes used to distinguish the classical guitar from older forms of guitar, which are in their broadest sense also called "classical", or more specifically, "early guitars". Examples of early guitars include the six-string early romantic guitar (c. 1790–1880), and the earlier baroque guitars with five courses. The materials and the methods of classical guitar construction