Classical guitarist James Edwards has been a performer, teacher, and recording artist for over 25 years. James plays contemporary guitars, as well as historical instruments of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, such as the five-course guitar and ten course lute. The five course guitar has 9 strings, as 4 of the "courses" are pairs of the same string, with the highest string being the only string that is not a doubled pair. The repertoire for the 5 course baroque guitar is quite different from the contemporary guitar repertoire, and has a closer parentage to 6 course lute and vihuela music. James Edwards' has released ten CDs in his career, as well as several guitar music books published by Mel Bay Publishing. From Gaspar Sanz' "MUSICAL INSTRUCTION ON THE SPANISH GUITAR" published in 1674 : The Italians, French, and people of other nations classify the guitar as Spanish. The reason is that in ancient times it used to have no more than four strings, and then in Madrid, Maestro Espinel, a Spaniard, added a fifth to it, and thereby its perfection was attained. The French, Italians, and people of other nations, in imitation of us, also added the fifth course to their guitar, and therefore they call it the "Spanish guitar". Others have discussed the perfection of this instrument, some saying that the guitar is a perfect instrument, and others that it is not. I take the middle way, and declare that it is neither perfect, nor imperfect, but what you make it, since the fault or

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