The instruments of Fado
A Fado set is built on two stringed instruments — the Portuguese guitar and the classical viola. Here is what they are, how they sound, and who still builds them today.
The guitarra portuguesa
The guitarra portuguesa is the instrument that gives Fado its sound. It is pear-shaped, smaller than a classical guitar, and instantly recognisable by the fan-shaped tuning mechanism at the head — a metal device with twelve screws that adjust the tension of 12 steel strings arranged in 6 paired courses. The two strings of each course are tuned in unison (the lower three) or in octaves (the upper three), depending on tradition, and they are played together to produce a single, ringing note.
The result is a tone that is bright, metallic, and clear — almost bell-like — with a long sustain that lets the player answer the singer's phrases. The guitarra does not strum chords the way a guitar does; it plays melodic lines and ornaments, weaving around and behind the voice. A good fado guitarrista is judged by how well that conversation works.
The instrument descends from older European cittern-family instruments that arrived in Portugal in the 18th and 19th centuries and were adapted by local makers. By the late 19th century, two distinct shapes had emerged.
Lisbon tuning vs Coimbra tuning
There are two main models. The Lisbon guitarra has a slightly smaller body, a more rounded soundhole decoration, and is tuned higher — its standard tuning is often described as D-A-B-E-A-B (low to high). The sound is bright and forward, well suited to accompanying a singer in a small room.
The Coimbra guitarra is slightly larger, with a different head decoration (sometimes a teardrop shape), and is tuned a tone lower — C-G-A-D-G-A. The resulting sound is darker, with more low-mid weight, which suits the more declamatory, outdoor style of Coimbra Fado. A trained ear can tell them apart within a few seconds of listening.
The viola — the rhythm and chords
The second instrument in a Fado set is the viola, which in Portuguese guitar terminology means a standard classical guitar — six nylon strings, played fingerstyle. Its role is to carry the harmonic ground: chords, bass lines, the steady pulse against which the guitarra and the voice move. Without the viola, Fado would sound thin; with it, the music has somewhere to stand.
Some larger sets add a viola baixo, an acoustic bass guitar that deepens the low end. This is more common in concert formats than in tavern settings, where the trio of voice, guitarra, and viola is the standard.
How the two instruments talk to each other
In a Fado set, the relationship between the guitarra and the viola is not equal — and that is deliberate. The viola holds the form: it sets the tempo, lays down the harmony, and gives the singer something stable to lean on. The guitarra is freer. It plays the introduction, answers the singer between phrases, and improvises ornaments over the basic harmonic ground.
A practised listener follows the conversation between the two instruments as much as the words. The guitarra often quotes the melody back at the singer in a higher register; the viola tightens or relaxes the chord voicings depending on the emotional weight of the verse. When this works, the trio sounds like a single coordinated voice. When it doesn't, the music collapses into accompaniment.
Who builds them today
Portuguese guitars are made by a small number of luthiers in Lisbon, Porto, and elsewhere. The craft is taught informally, workshop by workshop, and instruments are typically commissioned rather than bought off a shelf. A good guitarra costs several thousand euros and is expected to last a lifetime.
In Porto, the workshop of Casa da Guitarra is one of the most visible: it builds instruments, repairs them, and runs short Fado concerts in the same building so visitors can hear the guitars made there being played. In Lisbon, several luthiers work in or near the historic Fado neighbourhoods. Whichever city you visit, the instruments you hear on stage will, with high probability, have been built within a few kilometres of the room you are sitting in.
Visiting a luthier's workshop is one of the more underrated experiences for travellers who care about the music. The smell of wood, the rows of guitarras at different stages of construction, and the chance to hear an instrument played by the person who built it give the genre a depth that no concert by itself can offer. Both cities welcome such visits during workshop hours; Porto's combined workshop-and-concert format makes the connection especially direct.
Hear the guitars in a small room
The Portuguese guitar is meant to be heard live, unamplified, a few metres from the player. Pick a city and find a venue.