prepared guitar
An extended technique where objects are placed on or between the strings of a guitar to alter its timbre, inspired by John Cage's prepared piano concept.
In Depth
Prepared guitar involves modifying the instrument's sound by inserting objects — screws, bolts, alligator clips, rubber bands, aluminum foil, or eBows — between or on the strings. The technique transforms the guitar into a percussion-and-texture machine, producing sounds ranging from metallic pings to muffled thuds to shimmering drones. Fred Frith and Keith Rowe pioneered the approach in the 1970s experimental rock scene.
The method descends directly from John Cage's prepared piano, which placed screws and bolts between piano strings. In the guitar world, Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo used preparations alongside extreme alternate tunings to create their signature sound. More recently, artists like Nels Cline and Mary Halvorson have incorporated preparations into jazz and improvised music. Prepared guitar is now a standard technique in experimental music, sound art, and film scoring, valued for its ability to generate entirely novel timbres from a familiar instrument.
Fred Frith once performed an entire concert using a guitar laid flat on a table, manipulated with household objects including an electric fan — the resulting album, Guitar Solos, became a touchstone of experimental music.