The guitar workshop on Cuesta de Gomérez
An A1 Spanish reading: a day with a guitar maker's apprentice on a guitar street in Granada, a city with guitar workshops since the 19th century.
El taller de guitarras de la Cuesta de Gomérez
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Rubén is an apprentice in a guitar workshop on Cuesta de Gomérez, the street that climbs from the centre of Granada towards the Alhambra. Granada has had guitar workshops since the 19th century. At nine he opens up and sweeps; at ten the maker Amparo arrives and picks a spruce soundboard. They cut, measure and sand together, and in the afternoon thin strips are glued inside the top in the shape of a fan. Flamenco guitars in this workshop use cypress, many classical ones rosewood. New wood waits years before it becomes a guitar.
A las nueve de la mañana abro la puerta y enciendo la luz. Barro el suelo y ordeno las herramientas. El olor de la madera llena la sala.
A las diez llega Amparo, la maestra. Ella trabaja con guitarras desde hace treinta años. Primero mira las tapas de abeto y elige una para el trabajo del día.
Antes de comer preparamos la madera. Cortamos, medimos y lijamos. La tapa de una guitarra es muy fina: mide solo unos milímetros.
Por la tarde Amparo pega unas varillas finas dentro de la tapa. Las varillas forman un abanico. Ese abanico sostiene la madera fina y ayuda al sonido.
Los martes y los jueves vienen clientes. Un guitarrista prueba tres guitarras y escucha con los ojos cerrados. Nosotros esperamos en silencio.
Las guitarras flamencas del taller llevan ciprés, una madera clara y ligera. Muchas guitarras clásicas llevan palosanto, una madera más pesada y oscura. En las guitarras flamencas ponemos un golpeador encima de la tapa: esa lámina transparente protege la madera de los dedos.
Al final del día apago las máquinas y cierro la ventana. La madera nueva descansa en el almacén y espera años antes de ser una guitarra.
Cada guitarra lleva seis cuerdas y muchas horas de trabajo. Yo todavía hago solo las tareas pequeñas: lijo, limpio y miro.
¿Y tú? ¿A qué hora empiezas tu día? ¿Tocas algún instrumento? ¿Qué cosas aprendes tú mirando a otra persona?
About this article
What you'll learn
Present tense in a daily routine with time markers: a las nueve de la mañana, los martes, antes de comer, al final del día, present + desde hace. The nosotros endings -amos, -emos, -imos, and the irregular hago. Workshop vocabulary: tapa, varilla, abanico, lijar, golpeador.
Rubén is an apprentice in a guitar workshop on Cuesta de Gomérez, the street that climbs from the centre of Granada towards the Alhambra. Granada has had guitar workshops since the 19th century. At nine he opens up and sweeps; at ten the maker Amparo arrives and picks a spruce soundboard. They cut, measure and sand together, and in the afternoon thin strips are glued inside the top in the shape of a fan. Flamenco guitars in this workshop use cypress, many classical ones rosewood. New wood waits years before it becomes a guitar.
After reading
Article learning block
Phrases, words, grammar, and quick practice from this text.
Phrases for training
Add useful phrases to SRS or mark them as already known.
Al final del día
newat the end of the day
Al is the contraction of a + el, so Spanish says al final, never a el final. In the same phrase de + el gives del día.
These two contractions turn up in every text, and this phrase contains both.
con los ojos cerrados
newwith his eyes closed
Spanish uses the definite article with parts of the body: con los ojos cerrados, not con sus ojos cerrados.
The same happens in me lavo las manos or abre la boca. A possessive there sounds wrong.
en silencio
newin silence, quietly
A fixed phrase with no article: en silencio. It describes the manner of an action.
Same pattern in en voz alta, en broma, en serio.
Key words
Vocabulary that carries the school-day topic.
la tapa
La tapa
soundboard; lid, cover
La tapa is the front board of a guitar, the one with the sound hole. The same word names the lid of a pot or a jar.
In Spain una tapa is also the small dish served with a drink. One word, three everyday senses.
la varilla
unas varillas finas
thin strip, small rod
A varilla is a slender strip or rod. It comes from vara, a pole, plus the diminutive suffix -illo, -illa.
The same suffix gives mesilla from mesa, ventanilla from ventana, bolsillo from bolso.
el abanico
un abanico
hand fan
An abanico is a folding fan. The word also names any shape that spreads out like one, as the strips under the soundboard do here.
Figuratively, un abanico de posibilidades is a wide range of options.
lijar (lijo)
lijo
to sand, to smooth with sandpaper
Lijar means to work a surface with sandpaper. The noun la lija is the sandpaper itself.
A plain -ar verb: lijo, lijas, lija, lijamos, lijáis, lijan. The text uses lijo and lijamos.
barrer (barro)
Barro el suelo
to sweep
Here barro is the yo form of barrer, to sweep: barro, barres, barre. Do not mix it up with the noun el barro, clay or mud, spelled exactly the same.
Context decides: barro el suelo is an action, el barro del taller is a substance.
el golpeador
un golpeador
tap plate on a flamenco guitar
The word is built on the verb golpear, to tap or strike, plus the suffix -dor. That suffix can name the person, the tool or the place of the action. Here it names the place where the fingers strike.
Compare trabajador from trabajar, a person; secador from secar, a tool; comedor from comer, a place.
Grammar in context
Patterns from the text worth noticing after reading.
a las + hour
A las nueve de la mañana abro la puerta
at nine in the morning
Clock times take a las with a plural article: a las nueve, a las diez. The part of the day is added with de: de la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche.
One form breaks the pattern: a la una, because one o'clock is singular.
los martes
Los martes y los jueves vienen clientes
on Tuesdays, every Tuesday
The article los before a weekday makes it habitual: los martes means every Tuesday. A single day is el martes.
Lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves and viernes do not change in the plural; sábado and domingo add -s: los sábados. Weekday names are written in lower case.
antes de + infinitive
Antes de comer preparamos la madera
before eating
After antes de Spanish uses an infinitive, not a conjugated verb: antes de comer, antes de ser una guitarra. Both appear in the text.
English uses an -ing form or a clause here, so the infinitive is easy to forget. Después de works the same way.
present + desde hace
trabaja con guitarras desde hace treinta años
she has worked for thirty years
The action began in the past and is still going, yet Spanish keeps the present tense: trabaja desde hace treinta años.
The same idea can be said as hace treinta años que trabaja. Both are correct.
-amos, -emos, -imos
Cortamos, medimos y lijamos
we cut, we measure and we sand
The nosotros ending follows the conjugation: cortar gives cortamos, poner gives ponemos, medir gives medimos. All three appear in the text.
The pronoun nosotros is normally dropped, as in the list Cortamos, medimos y lijamos.
hago
Yo todavía hago solo las tareas pequeñas
I do, I make
The yo form of hacer is hago, with an unexpected g. The other forms are regular: haces, hace, hacemos, hacen.
A small group of very common verbs does the same: poner gives pongo, salir gives salgo, tener gives tengo, venir gives vengo, decir gives digo.
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