Tomás Damas (1825–1890) was a Spanish guitarist and composer, as well as the author of several guitar methods, including the Nuevo método de guitarra por cifra compaseada (Madrid, 1868), the Nuevo método de bandurria por cifra (Madrid, 1868), and the Método completo y progresivo de guitarra (Madrid, 1869). His works are heavily influenced by the Spanish dances of his time (waltzes, habaeras, etc.).
Damas was a student of Francisco Tárrega and a friend of Julian Arcas, to whom he dedicated several of his compositions. He composed over 100 pieces and arrangements of popular Spanish melodies. Damas is credited with inventing the „Bartók pizzicato.“ He discovered this effect before Béla Bartók, as Damas (1825–1890) was born long before Bartók (1881–1945). Damas used this effect in his compositions „A mi morena“ and „La Macarena“.
Bartók-Pizzicato
A pizzicato played so forcefully that the string, upon rebounding, strikes the fingerboard with a loud buzzing sound, was first called for by Claudio Monteverdi in Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, later by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber in his „Battalia,“ and then again by Gustav Mahler in the Scherzo of his 7th Symphony: there, for a note marked fivefold (!) forte for cellos and double basses, the note reads: „Pluck so hard that the strings strike the wood“ (measure 401). This noisy form of pizzicato became particularly well-known through its frequent use by Béla Bartók, who also introduced the now-common symbol of a small circle with a line through it.