Bowed guitar

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Jón Þór Birgisson of Sigur Rós playing Bowed Guitar at the Roskilde Festival in 2006

Bowed guitar is a method of playing a guitar, acoustic or electric, in which the guitarist uses a bow to play the instrument, similar to playing a cello or a viola da gamba. Unlike other bowed instruments, the guitar has a flat bridge, making it difficult to bow individual notes on the middle strings.

Bowed guitar players

One of the first 20th century guitarists to use a bow was Eddie Phillips. His bowed guitar can be heard on The Creation's "Making Time". The bowed guitar is most famously used by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and The Yardbirds. Examples of Page playing a bowed guitar can be found on "Dazed and Confused" and "How Many More Times" (both of which are from the album Led Zeppelin). Bowed guitar is also used extensively by Jón Þór Birgisson, the vocalist and guitarist for the Icelandic Post-Rock band Sigur Rós. Jonny Greenwood, the guitarist of Radiohead plays bowed guitar live on Pyramid Song to make the "whale" sounds (his brother Colin Greenwood used to make them on double bass). Jeff Martin of the Canadian rock band The Tea Party plays a bow guitar on some of his earlier songs such as "Save Me", from the album Splendor Solis. Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo plays bowed guitar on occasion, most notably in the intro to Hey Joni. The Besnard Lakes also make use of bowed guitar. Claudio Sanchez from the American rock band Coheed and Cambria often uses a bow during live performances.

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters used a bowed bass guitar on the songs "Lucifer Sam" and "The Scarecrow".

See also

• EBow
• Viola da gamba or Viol
• Arpeggione

External links

• Information and discussion for bowed guitar players

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