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TheBrahms guitar, or cello-guitar, is aneight-string guitar with a conventional resonating body, but also an external, box-shapedresonator. Classical guitaristPaul Galbraith, in collaboration withluthierDavid Rubio, invented the instrument in 1994. David Rubio's protégé, luthierMartin Woodhouse, innovated the design and continues to build Brahms guitars. Galbraith originally conceived it specifically to performJohannes Brahms' Theme and Variations, Op. 21.
The instrument adds two strings to the standard six—a low B (a 4th below the standard low E), and a high A (a 4th above the standard high E), giving B E A D G B E A.[1] The guitar'sfrets are fanned to allow for the different string lengths. The Brahms Guitar was designed by David Rubio to be played in the traditional position and can be held like a classical guitar. Its pioneer, Paul Galbraith, at a young age, developed a unique technique while playing the standard 6-string guitar, allowing for greater freedom of the right arm. He held the guitar in a vertical position, initially sitting on the floor and later using an endpin like a cello. Paul adopted this technique with the Brahms Guitar as well, adding an external resonance box that enhances the instrument's resonance and provides a richer sound.
Other adopters includeGiacomo Copiello, Gustavo Silveira Costa, Lucas de Almeida,Joseph Ehrenpreis, Aleksey Dukhovich, Yoni Garmider, Alan Guerreiro, Vincenzo Giura,Everton Gloeden, Spyros Kaniaris,Matthew Korbanic, Stanley Levi, Mettew Linder, Alf Wilhelm Lundberg,Luiz Mantovani,Redmond O'Toole, Rafael Ohira, Kyle Throw, Alexander Vynograd; and the formations Dúo Masciolick,Dublin Guitar Quartet,Brazilian Guitar Quartet, Progetto Zenobia.
In November of 2020, Joseph Ehrenpreis released "New Music with Brahms Guitar, Vol. 1"[2] funded by an IAS grant from theIllinois Arts Council. The project includes entirely new compositions from an international cast of composers, includingDai Fujikura, written specifically for the 8-string Brahms Guitar.
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