| Many people confuse tenor guitars with a regular | | | | these manufacturers stopped producing the tenors. |
| acoustic or electric guitar, because they do have a | | | | While a 6 string is the standard for rock, tenor |
| similar appearance. However, the former only have | | | | guitars are still used for other genres, including pop |
| four strings, while their counterparts have 6. They | | | | and western musical genres. In fact, one of the most |
| usually have a slightly smaller body as well than most | | | | famous uses for the tenors is a musical style known |
| standard guitars. These guitars are most commonly | | | | as "Texas fiddling", which has a rich history dating |
| used with jazz and blues style music. | | | | back to 1914. Today, there are annual fiddling |
| A tenor guitar is usually a few inches shorter than a | | | | contests that feature the tenors prominently. |
| 6 string guitar, and have a round shape, similar to a | | | | Still, the tenor isn't widely known, even by many long |
| banjo. They can be both electric and acoustic, and | | | | time guitarists and since they were mostly made in |
| can come in metal, hollow and solid body types. A | | | | the US, tenor guitars can be pretty hard to find. |
| true tenor will of course always have only four | | | | Which makes many of these guitars quite valuable, if |
| strings, however. | | | | they are still in good shape. |
| The roots of the tenor can be traced almost one | | | | Tenor guitars have started to receive more attention |
| hundred years ago, and were mainly produced by | | | | within the last few years by not only musicians, but |
| banjo manufacturers. By the mid 20's, with the rise | | | | private collectors as well. Hopefully more and more |
| of jazz, high profile companies such as Gibson and | | | | people can spread the words about these very |
| Martin were heavily producing these guitars. | | | | influential instruments and help show how versatile |
| However, as electrics grew more prominent, many of | | | | and valuable they are to the guitar family. |