L…
L’ (French) the
La…
Label Viewed through the sound hole, the Label generally identifies the maker, origin, model, serial number and the approximate date the guitar was built. See see see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Lacey She Oak An alternative wood for the back and sides of a classical guitar. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Lacewood Lacewood is from South America. It is dense wood with a loud, sustaining tap tone. Its color is a warm cinnamon brown. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Lächelnd (German) laughing
Lacquer Acrylic Originally used on cars, it is a guitar finish similar to nitrocellulose lacquer, but dries quicker and harder. With age, does not produce the vintage look. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Lacquer Nitrocellulose Used since the 1920’s, a quick-drying solvent-based lacquer that contains nitrocellulose. A very hard yet flexible, durable finish that can be polished to a high sheen on a guitar. It yellows with age, producing a desired vintage look. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Lacquer Water-Based With personal health and environmental concerns the long-term trend is moving away from solvent-based finishes on guitars. In response, many manufacturers set a goal to create a lacquer with all of the positive characteristics of current solvent-based lacquers but without the hazardous, toxic solvent base. Water-Based Lacquer is environmentally friendly and produces “acceptable” results. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Lacrimoso (Italian) mournful, sad, tearful
Lage (German) position (in string playing); the range of an instrument
Lagnevole (Italian) doleful
Lagnoso (Italian) doleful
Lagrimando (Italian) tearful
Lagrimoso (Italian) mournful, sad, tearful
Lahute eight-stringed instrument in the lute family, tuned in fifths, a folk instrument of the Kosovar Albanians
Laid back music played with the accent played slightly after the beat to convey a relaxed, casual feeling
Laisser (French) to allow, to leave
Lamentabile (Italian) lamenting, mourning
Lamentando (Italian) lamenting, mourning
Lamentazione (Italian) lamentation
Lamentevole (Italian) lamenting, mourning
Lamento (Italian) lament
Lamento bass term from the eighteenth-century to describe a bass line that falls successively by a half-step to denote grief or sadness
Lamentoso (Italian) lamenting, mourning
Lancio (Italian) gusto
Ländler Austrian rural dance or air, usually in 3/4 or 3/8 time, slow waltz
Lang (German) long
Langoureusement (French) languorously
Langoureux (French) languorous
Langsam (German) slow
Langsammer (German) slower
Languendo (Italian) languishing
Languemente (Italian) languishing
Languente (Italian) languishing
Langueur (French) languor
Languidamente (Italian) languidly
Languido (Italian) languid
Languissant (French) languishing
Languore (Italian) languor
Laos Rosewood An alternative wood for the back and sides of a classical guitar. see Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Alternative Wood Choices for Back & Sides see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Largamente (Italian) dignified and slowish
Large (French) dignified and slow
Largement (French) dignified and slowish
Larghetto not as slow as largo
Larghissimo an extremely slow tempo, slower than largo
Larguer (French) breadth
Largo (Italian) broad
Larynx the upper part of the trachea in the human throat
Lasciare (Italian) to allow to
Lasciate (Italian) allow, let
Lattice Bracing Generally made of spruce, braces add stiffness to the top of a classical guitar. The wood chosen is very straight grained running the length of the brace. The lattice describes the pattern in which the braces lay. see Anatomy of a Classical Guitar
Laúd Spanish lute with a flat back, 12 metal strings in 6 courses and a pear shaped body
Laut (German) loud
Laute (German) lute
Lavouto Greek lute
Lavta Turkish lute
Lay out direction indicating that a player should be silent, in jazz
Le…
Le (French) the; the lowered sixth degree of the major scale
Leading note the seventh degree of a major scale
Leading tone the seventh degree of a major scale
Leap a skip; the movement from one note to another
Leather plectrum a plectrum made of leather
Leben (German) life, vivacity
Lebendig (German) lively
Lebendiger (German) livelier
Lebhaft (German) lively
Lebhafter (German) livelier
Lebhaftigkeit (German) liveliness
Ledger line short lines drawn through, above or below the heads of notes that are written above or below the staff
Left hand fingerings In music, the assignment of fingers of the left hand. See Left hand fingerings in Elements of a Musical Score See Left hand fingerings in Left & Right Hand Fingerings see Elements of Standard Notation for Classical Guitar see Elements of Tablature for Classical Guitar
Legabile (Italian) smooth playing style in which the notes seem bound together
Legando (Italian) smooth playing style in which the notes seem bound together
Legatissimo exceedingly smooth
Legato (Italian) smooth playing style in which the notes seem bound together. see legato in Note Symbols
Legatura (Italian) bind, slur, syncopation, tie
Legende (French) a legend
Léger (French) light
Légère (French) light
Leggere (Italian) light
Légèrement (French) lightly
Légereté (French) lightness
Leggeramente (Italian) lightly
Leggeranza (Italian) lightness
Leggerezza (Italian) lightness
Leggerissimo (Italian) as light as possible
Leggermente (Italian) lightly
Leggero (Italian) light
Leggiadramente (Italian) gracefully
Leggiadretto (Italian) graceful
Leggiadro (Italian) graceful
Leggieramente (Italian) lightly
Leggieranza (Italian) lightness
Leggiere (Italian) light
Leggierezza (Italian) lightness
Leggierissimo (Italian) as light as possible
Leggiero (Italian) light
Leggiermente (Italian) lightly
Leggio (Italian) music stand
Legnani, Luigi (1790-1877) see Classical Guitarists and Composers
Leichen-musik (German) funeral music
Leicht (German) easy, light style
Leichtfertig (German) frivolous, giddy
Leichtigkeit (German) lightness, easiness
Leid (German) sorrow
Leidenschaft (German) passion
Leidenschaftlich (German) passionately
Leise (German) soft, gentle
Leiser (German) softer
Leisten (German) to perform
Leistung (German) performance
Lene (Italian) gentle
Leno (Italian) gentle
Lent (French) slow
Lentamente (Italian) slowly
Lentando (Italian) slowing
Lentato (Italian) slowed
Lentement (French) slowly
Lenteur (French) slowness
Lentezza (Italian) slowness
Lentissimo (Italian) very slow
Lento (Italian) slow
Les (French) the
Lesson a short keyboard piece or pieces from the seventeenth- or eighteenth-centuries
Lestamente (Italian) quickly
Lestissimo (Italian) very quickly
Lesto (Italian) quick
Letzt (German) last
Levare (Italian) to lift, to take off
Levate (Italian) lift off
Levet a piece to be played under a bedroom window in the morning
Levezza (Italian) lightness
Li…
Li the raised sixth degree of the major scale
Liaison (Italian) legato, slur, tie or bind
Liberamente (Italian) freely
Libero (Italian) free, unrestrained
Libertà (Italian) freedom, liberty
Libre (French) free
Librement (French) freely
Lick a spontaneous musical phrase, melody or passage often drawn from a stock of scales, arpeggios…….
Lié (French) slurred, tied
Liebe (German) love
Lieblich (German) charming, lovely
Lied (German) song
Lieder (German) songs
Liedersammlung (German) song collection
Lietissimo (Italian) very joyous
Lietezza (Italian) joy
Lieto (Italian) joyous
Lieve (Italian) light
Lievemente (Italian) lightly
Lievezza (Italian) lightness
Lift a rising glissando attached to the end of a note; to transcribe a musical score from a recording
Ligature slur, tie
Line used graphically to denote ends of bars, the pitches of notes, articulation , used to describe aspects of melody
Linea (Latin) a stave line
Linear chords chord that results from linear motion
Liner notes textual data that convey information about a music recording, for example
Lining out call and response singing
Link material that appears between the end of one phrase and the beginning of the next, but belongs to neither
Linke hand (German) left hand
Lip synching moving one’s lips to music that has been pre-recorded
Lira (Italian) instrument
Liscia (Italian) smooth
Liscio (Italian) smooth
L’istesso (Italian) the same
L’istesso tempo (Italian) beat remains constant when the meter changes
Liturgical music reverent music
Liu qin treble version of the Chinese lute, had originally 2 or 3 strings and 7 frets, but today may have up to 4 steel strings, and up to 24 frets, sounds like a mandolin and is played with a small bamboo tube placed over the forefinger used as a plectrum
Liuto (Italian) lute
Liuto attiorbato (Italian) lute
Liuto cantabile a five-course plucked string instrument
Livre (French) book
Ll…
Llobet, Miguel (1878-1938) see Classical Guitarists and Composers
Lo…
Locanda (Italian) tavern
Loco (Italian) read the notes as written
Loin (French) distant
Lointain (French) faint
Lo kantak Basque lullaby
Lontananza (Italian) distance
Lontano (Italian) distant
Loop a piece of material that plays over and over
Loose Fret A fret that is no longer properly seated in its fingerboard slot. See Dressing the Frets on a Classical Guitar see How to Change Classical Guitar Strings
Los (German) free in style, loose
Lotar Moroccan pear-shaped lute
Loudness human impression of the strength of a sound
Lourd (France) heavy
Lourde (France) heavy
Lourdement (French) heavily
Lourdeur (French) heaviness, weight
Low E String The sixth string of the guitar. See How to Change Classical Guitar Strings
Lu…
Luftig (German) airy
Lugubre (Italian) lugubrious, mournful, sad
Luigi Legnani (1790-1877) see Classical Guitarists and Composers
Lullaby a cradle song
Lumineux (French) luminous
Lunga (Italian) long
Luogo (Italian) loco
Lungo (Italian) long
Lusingando (Italian) to play in an intimate manner
Lusinghiero (Italian) to play in an intimate manner
Lustig (German) cheerful
Lustigkeit (German) cheerfulness
Lustspiel (German) comedy
Luta (Swedish) lute
Lute a plucked stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and fretted fingerboard
Luth (French) a plucked stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and fretted fingerboard
Luthier a maker of stringed instruments
Lutto (Italian) mourning
Luttosamente (Italian) mournfully
Luttoso (Italian) mournful
Luttuoso (Italian) mournful
Ly…
Lyre guitar six-string lyre-guitars were popular on the Continent early in the 19th century
Lyricism an intense personal quality, expressive of feeling or emotion, expressed in poetry or music