From the Dedillo to the Plectrodedo: How an Unusual Technique Became the Stepping Stone of a Modern Revolutionary Guitar School.

Abstract

In this short essay the history of a very little understood classical guitar performance technique is analyzed in an accessible but rigorous way. This essay explores various sources from the first books on the vihuela of the European Renaissance, where the technique was known as the dedillo, passing through the well-known classics of Romanticism such as Dionisio Aguado’s until reaching the revolutionary 20th century with the relevant case of William Foden, to the present day with the innovation of Carlos Reyes and his plectrodedo school.