The guitarrón (literally "large guitar" in Spanish, the suffix "-ón" denoting "large") is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass guitar played in mariachi bands. Although obviously similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña. It achieves audibility by its great size, and does not require electric amplification for performances in small venues. The guitarrón is fretless, the strings are heavy gauge, and the action is high, so that quite a bit of left hand strength is required. The strings are plucked strongly, often in octaves, which is facilitated by the unusual tuning A D G c e A.

The guitarrón was the inspiration behind Ernie Ball's development of the first modern acoustic bass guitar, released on the market in 1972.^*

Traditional uses

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The guitarrón is used in Mexican Mariachi groups, which usually consist of at least two violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, and a vihuela (a high-pitched, five-string guitar), in addition to the guitarrón. Some larger Mariachi groups have more than twenty musicians. The original Mariachi were Mexican street musicians or buskers, but now most Mariachi musicians work in the mainstream entertainment industry.

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