The 11-String Alto Guitar
My guitar is No. 493 built by Heikki Rousu in 2026 and it’s perfect.
Why? I have spent 35 years trying to learn as much as possible about making music in lots of different ways. I wanted a guitar with extended range and a shorter fretboard and the 11-string guitar was the ultimate solution. It gives me lots of bass, plenty of room to re-think chord making because it’s tuned really weird, and the melody of course sings brightly above it all. I also needed a challenge and I wanted to write some new music and I wanted to make lute music in a non-lute way. So here we go.
Resources
Learn to Play (in order of difficulty)
- Frère Jacques PDF ~ MP3
- House of the Rising Sun PDF ~ MP3
- Greensleeves PDF ~ MP3
- HaÌŠrgalaÌŠten (Swedish traditional) PDF ~ MP3
Alessandro Piccinini (1566 – 1638)
- Intavolatura di liuto et di chitarrone libro primo PDF
- Aria Di Saravanda PDF ~Â MP3
- Intavolatura di liuto libro secondo PDF
Sylvius Leopold Weiss (1687 – 1750)
- Tombeau sur la Mort de M. Comte de Logy PDF ~ MP3
