On a mission to promote social interaction through live music and dance, David Mills looks for inexpensive, easy-to-play instruments. When he does not find what he needs for his students, he looks back through history and across cultures for ideas he can use to create new instruments.

A couple of years ago I came to the conclusion that the 6-string guitar, a descendant of the lute, is severely limited as a rhythm instrument. I researched all the various 4-string, guitar-like instruments, and working with luthier Tony Pasqualoni, we came up with the design of the M 4-String Guitar.

The M4 is usually tuned like a “Chicago style” tenor guitar (DGBE), and therefore, it can be played immediately by anyone who plays a regular guitar. Like the 4-string Venezuelan cuatro, the African cavaquinho or the ukulele, the M4 allows the guitarist to strum with wild abandon.

The M4 at the National Guitar Museum
Patent D612,414 S