How To Tune The Puerto Rican Cuatro (Cómo Afinar El Cuatro Puertorriqueño)
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- How to tune the Puerto Rican Cuatro (Cómo afinar el cuatro puertorriqueño)
The Puerto Rican cuatro is the national instrument of Puerto Rico. It belongs to the lute family of string instruments, and is guitar-like in function, but with a shape closer to that of the violin. The word cuatro means "four", which was the total of strings of the very first Puerto Rican cuatro.
The current cuatro has ten strings in five courses, tuned, in fourths, from low to high B3 B2♦E4 E3♦A3 A3♦D4 D4♦G4 G4 (note that the bottom two pairs are in octaves, while the top three pairs are tuned in unison), and a scale length of 500-520 millimetres.[1]
The cuatro is the most familiar of the three instruments which make up the Puerto Rican jíbaro orchestra (the cuatro, the tiple and the bordonúa).
A cuatro player is called a cuatrista. This instrument has had its prominent performers like Edwin Colón Zayas, Yomo Toro, Ernie Miranda, Pedro Guzmán y el maestro Maso Rivera.
Note that cuatro is a name also applied to a number of other somewhat differently-configured instruments, including the Venezuelan Cuatro, the Cuban cuatro and some small Spanish instruments.
I just got a cuatro myself. The chromatic tuner does make a huge difference. Thank you Brian. I will check all other videos you have😁
hi Caribbean Dragon, tuners can be kind of finicky. Be sure to pick the note in a steady rhythm about two times per second. Kind of hard to convey this by text. Thanks for visiting.
Thank you so much Brian! Just got a cuatro for Christmas and it's a giant leap frommy ukulele. I have no idea how to play this instrument and this video was very helpful in getting it tuned for the first time. I'm off to hunt for more of your videos, hopefully I'll find tutorials for ultra beginners. Very grateful!
I take my hat off to you, you play cuatro beautifully. When I took my cuatro course my instructor told me to use a korg chromatic tuner CA-30 but you can calibrate it at different frequencies and I think he said to use 440 which goes in tune with the way your cuatro is tuned. It's pretty cool how it picked up the sound from your video. I was unaware about the E and B chords are tuned slightly different, I can't see E3 or E4 on my tuner but I used the frequency that was picked up by my tuner when you were playing those strings. Thanks for making this video. I play a little but you are a master!
Thank you for the videos, Mr. Turner. I just bought a cuatro in PR. Always wanted one. Your videos are very great & your Spanish is not bad. From a Puertorican married to a gringa. :-)
Thanks for visiting Tali!
You are kind, but my Spanish is not good.
gracias por su visita. Eres amable pero mi español no es bueno.
Thanks for the video. I couldn't figure out how to tune it and listening to your video made it a breeze!
Neko-kun 1906 Thanks Neko! I am curious, Where are you? My wife is from Adjuntas, PR. We go there quite often. 😊
Thank you so much for this video! It never had ocurred to me that I could just download a chromatic tuner! Extremely helpful video!
+Piggyfryoverlord Thank you for the words of encouragement! I intend to post more cuatro videos. If you subscribe you will be notified automatically when I post new videos. Thanks!
Guitar Lessons By Brian .com
no problem, and I subscribed!
Extremely helpful thank you!
thanks for visiting Juan!
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement Honeyb162. The tuner i use is a free app on my iphone. It is called the ins tuner. Great to meet another cuatro lover. Let me know if you have questions.
Thank you for the videos, Mr. Turner. Puerto Rican Cuatro Music is breaking away from traditional Jibaro music and its a great moment in time for Puerto Rican Cuatro.You can find a lot of talented Cuatristas all over the internet. By any chance you have the full version of your rendition of "Stair Way to heaven" Puerto Rican Cuatro version on video? or Do you sell a CD with this song and along other non-Puerto Rican music. Thanks and keep inspiring young minds!
Great job , it’s sounds good hotel California sweet
Thanks for visiting Jimmy!
Some of them have 6 pairs of Strings like the Seis which adds on a Low F# & you can tune it like a Guitar
Brain, have a question? My wife gave me a Valdez Quarto. I need to replace the strings. What does it call for?
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Brian, I have a Valdez Quarto. In what order do you replace the strings.
Hi Hector, when changing the strings, I put the number one string on first, then the second. etc. I have heard people recommend not taking all of the strings off before replacing with new strings but I have always taken all the strings off so I can clean the cuatro better. I do that with guitars also. It has never caused a problem for me. If I were you, I would look at videos on UA-cam on how to change the strings on the guitar. It is very similar. Be careful when tuning your cuatro. It is easy to break strings. If you look on my video how to tune the cuatro it tells you which octave to use. I hope this helps. Thanks for subscribing and thanks for visiting!
Guitar Lessons By Brian. Hey Brian I started up maybe 4 or 5 months ago playing my acoustic guitar I played years ago sporadically then I just gave up on it.
Foolish I know anyhow as you could imagine Im not so muy bueno ! I've always wondered and wanted to own and play a Cuatro even a Tiple or a Bordonua and transition there use in to Classic Rock, maybe even if possible Blues rock. Anyways my question is would I be going in over my head purchasing one those instruments even though I'm still a novice on the guitar ? Do you think those instruments could be incorporated in to American music ?
hi anticliela, The cuatro sounds wonderful in anything in my opinion. it’s very similar to Guitar. More particularly, it’s just like a five string bass guitar. That 5th course of strings tends to confuse guitar players. They’re not used to having a B low course. Like any instrument it’ll take dedication and practice over time. But it’s worth it. The biggest problem with Cuatro, is finding a decent one at a decent price. It seems like you have very cheap ones which are not very good and the very expensive ones which are handmade but not very many moderate priced ones. You can find some on reverb.com sometimes. You might have to check there and get a used one. I use mine own folk music a lot. I think it sounds great in American folk music. Sounds like a cross between a mandolin and a 12 string. I hope this helps. Let me know if you buy one. I’m curious to know what’s available. Thanks for visiting.
Who made this cuatro? It sounds beautiful.
Galo Alicea. Unfortunately, I heard he is no longer alive. Thanks for visiting!
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