Zing went the strings of their hearts

It is perhaps the defining instrument of the modern era: affordable, portable and versatile. As the first chords are played in Dublin Guitar Week, some top guitar slingers talk to Peter Crawley

Denis Costello

Classical guitar player and Lyric FM presenter

I think it's impossible to understand the classical guitar without having a notion of Spain, where it came from. The sound of the classical guitar is very sad, very melancholic. That's steeped in the Spanish psyche; there's a tinge of grief. It can also be a tremendously angry, passionate, rhythmic instrument, as well. Very few instruments can express fragility and passion in such a small, enclosed space.

Looking at the symbolism of the guitar, on one hand it's a ticket to freedom. The guitar has this allure of stardom about it. Musicians who play the guitar are set in the spotlight. Among musicians there are always characteristics. What are guitarists? Very often they can be compulsive attention-seekers. It can attract lost souls as well. Because of its versatility, it's the ideal drifter's instrument.

There's a sort of snobbery in the musical world that still doesn't take the classical guitar as a serious musical instrument. Classical music is too wrapped up in playing solo. Spontaneity, danger and excitement come best for me with other musicians. It's the sort of instrument that can attract revolutionaries. Because it's a new instrument, it can be symbolic of a changing tide.

Paco Javier Jimeno

Flamenco guitarist

Since childhood, my family surrounded me with a tremendous fondness for flamenco. Although it wasn't artistic or professional, this passion had spanned four generations. Flamenco song was the greatest of these passions, but my poor ability as a singer inclined me towards the world of the flamenco guitar.

Initially I began my artistic journey as a guitarist accompanying song and dance. Later, when I presented myself for national and international competitions, I decided to opt for the concert guitar.

I have rubbed shoulders with Latin jazz musicians and have participated in Cuban flamenco meetings for performances in which we were drawn from all of Europe. Without doubt, these styles also caught my attention.

The life of a musician is very difficult. You have to dedicate yourself to the instrument, to sacrifice all the things you like and also to travel far from your loved ones. The loneliness is very hard.

Julian Bream

Guitarist and lutenist

I was never a child prodigy. The guitar was never easy and it still isn't. If you're going to do anything worthwhile with music, a lot of it has to do with discipline and intelligent practice. I didn't study the guitar at the Royal College of Music. There was really nobody teaching the instrument in the mid-1940s. It was my proficiency in the guitar, however, which earned me a scholarship to the college. They recognised my talent on it. I always knew that my instrument was the guitar and that's what I had to play. The guitar wasn't taken seriously as an instrument in classical music, and to introduce it in the UK I had to persevere and be dogged. Music is my life and the guitar is my instrument. I'm always trying to improve. It's very difficult to know as a performer when you've reached your peak. Your best friend or your worst enemy might tell you.

The Edge

Guitarist, U2

As a guitar player, there are so many clichés you keep having to avoid. It's a case of continually trying to find new things to do and say with the guitar. For me that's the real challenge.

I suppose most people think of the lead- guitar player as the gunslinger of musicians. Particularly in the 1970s, that approach reached its zenith. Coming after that rock 'n'roll guitar virtuosity, I felt the only thing to do was try the opposite approach.

It suited our band and suits my personality, so I developed a much more minimalist approach. I'd be busy trying to find the least number of notes that could convey the maximum effect. I didn't want to sound like anyone else.

I'm not reverential about guitars. To me it was not really about the guitar, it was about finding something interesting with whatever equipment I happened to have. You hear a lot of guitar players talking about their guitars as if they are people. I could never quite go there. I never felt the actual instrument was all that crucial.

My guitar only comes out on formal occasions. I write, but I don't play much for fun. I don't goof around at home. I play U2 songs - I don't really play guitar.

Mike Nielsen

Jazz guitarist and teacher

When I started playing classical music, I just went bald-headed for it. I started studying it and playing it from about 18 onwards. Then I realised that I'd like to go back and study jazz. I wasn't going to be a classical player as such - I liked the improvisation of jazz.

Classical is like reading off a page. There's more freedom in jazz. You're improvising and creating something on the spot. It's being in the moment, as opposed to reading something all the time.

The masters of the music aren't generally guitarists. Charlie Christian was the first guy to play with an amplifier. Before that, guitarists were in the background, chugging away playing chords. Once the amplifier was involved, the guitar could go up front and play a line, like horns.

Jazz is branching out into various different styles anyway - it's very hard to determine what jazz is.

Mark Kelly

Guitarist, Altan

When we're arranging music for Altan, everybody brings to the table what they have. I listen to a lot of contemporary music, and I'm sure I pick up little inflections - it might be a pattern from a Robbie Williams tune or a groove from Massive Attack. Somehow, that can translate into the kind of thing we do.

The more you learn about traditional music, the more you discover the depths there are to it. It's like jazz. I don't look on traditional music as something that is led by one particular instrument. The solo instruments will always be a fiddle or flute or uilleann pipes, but when you get involved with ensemble playing, what makes the music is the sum of the whole. The guitar has a massive contribution to make in an ensemble situation. When you understand how it fits into music, that's when you can develop your own style.

Ken Papenfus

Singer-guitarist, Relish

I was  always drawn to the guitar. I'm left-handed, so when I was a child the guitar was always upside down - I didn't think at the time I could turn the strings around. Sometimes I could spend a whole afternoon playing without even touching the frets - it was just the way it resonated and felt against the body.

I found £20 one weekend on the street, when I was 11 years old. The following weekend, I went into a local shop and there was a second-hand guitar going for £20. I bought it, got the strings turned round and that was it.

People should practise on the acoustic more. It's important to create a tone and not to rely on your equipment to do that for you. It's guitar players' tone that separates them from each other. It's not technical ability.

Tony McManus

Traditional guitarist and teacher

I WAS much more obsessed with the music than the instrument. I was drawn and obsessed by traditional music. I respond to music all over the world. Wherever I go, my ears are always searching for new things.

Teaching is something I never expected to do, because I'm completely self-taught. It's an aspect of my career that is a very pleasant surprise for me. If I get so busy that I'm away from the basis of it, which is sitting quietly and informally jamming with musicians, I find I get into patterns and grooves that I need to get kicked out of from time to time.

Guitar music keeps reinventing itself. Every time you hear someone do something new, you're scratching your head, thinking: How does that sit with what I do? So it's always evolving. I'm unlikely to ever tire. Or retire.

Kathryn Williams

Singer-guitarist

What  I liked about the guitar was that people would show me a few chords and then I'd work my way around it without knowing anything musically. I'd play a chord and think, God, I've invented a really good new chord, and it would be a G. I liked the way you could hold it against your body. When I began singing, I was so nervous and shy that it felt like an extra thing between me and the audience, a barrier.

I've never claimed to be a good guitarist - I sort of taught myself. But when you play and sing, it's from the one body, so they fuse. If a song is good on guitar and voice, then it's generally going to be strong enough to withstand any interpretation.

Dublin Guitar Week continues tonight with a concert of Latin American music performed by José Fernandez Bardesio; tomorrow night, Spanish guitar performed by Denis Costello with Deirdre Moynihan, soprano; Wednesday, Mike Nielsen, jazz guitar; Thursday, Lorenzo Micheli, Spanish guitar; Friday, Christoph Jäggin, Spanish guitar; also Pierre Leinau, Spanish guitar; Saturday, Paco Javier Jimeno, flamenco guitar; Sunday, José Luis de Puerto, Spanish guitar. More information from 01-6682024/01-6682936