In this article, I will give a short history lesson on where the guitar comes from and how it evolved to what it is today.
The evolution of this instrument dates back centuries. And with years of influence, experimentation, and customisation, we have guitars of all kinds today.
There are guitars built for different applications in music and music education.
Being a guitarist, I have owned about 13 guitars over the years. All different from each other.
I have even customised two of them myself. One of which happens to be my main axe now (you can see that on my website photo).
So let us learn a bit more about the journey of this instrument, shall we?
The Supposed Origin Of This Instrument
Today, you will find youtube artists experimenting with innovative, mind-blowing riffs and licks that have created a new era in music. The guitar is one of the most widely played instruments in such content that has existed for decades.
The origins of the guitar remain a mystery. The word guitar possibly comes from an ancient Greek word, 'kithara'. It was an instrument made of a wooden soundboard and a "boxy" body, referred to as a resonator with two arms connected by a crossbar. The instrument had three strings but later had as many as 12.
During early times, players used a plectrum, the ancient origin of a modern pick. Holding a kithara is similar to a guitar. Standing musicians would use an over-the-head shoulder band, the original strap.
Evolution Of Guitar Shapes
The guitar goes back to two instruments, an oud, and a lute. These instruments are so old that they predate recorded history. Crazy right?
The lute was available in many shapes and sizes but, usually had a curved back. An ancient picture of a lute-like stringed instrument can be traced to a city in Iraq, which is now known as Nasiriyah City.
Both long and short-neck varieties of lutes kept appearing on pictorial records in Mesopotamian and Egyptian history. Museums in America and Britain display a variety of these pictorial records.
The evolution of the Lute was significant towards the end of the Renaissance period. Lutes in this timeline had up to 20-30 strings, but the shape of the instrument was becoming less popular. Towards the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish musicians drifted towards instruments having the familiar curved shape associated with modern-day guitars.
These guitars are known as Baroque guitars, and they replaced the lute. Later refinements, like five courses of gut strings and frets that were movable, increased the playability of these instruments.
The "Spanish guitar" as some call them, settled on the standard body type with six strings around the 1790s. These resemble the modern guitar but are smaller.
Spanish musician and guitar maker Antonio de Torres Jurado changed it all during the mid-1800s. He created THE style of guitar that inspired all later guitar designs. He is often considered the single most important inventor in guitar history.
His design featured a broader body, a thinner belly, and an increase in the curve of the waist. Wooden tuning keys were replaced with machined keys. This innovative approach to body design and bracing is what gave his creations their distinctive voice.
Around the same time, the Europeans created a steel-string version of this design when they moved to America. This is where the modern guitar evolved to a new shape featuring the invention of flat tops, archtops, and the modern electric guitar.
The Guitars Of Today
The flat-top design remains the most popular type of acoustic guitar today. And that is almost two centuries after its invention. The German-born American guitar builder, Christian Frederick Martin, is credited with creating the flat-top design.
Martin replaced the historical fan bracing with an X-bracing. This helps the guitar body take the extra tension coming out of modern steel strings. This was a problem on the old Torres-style guitars, now fixed.
Due to the tighter tension of steel strings, guitarists modified their playing style and used picks. This significantly changed the musical capabilities and use of these instruments. Classical guitars have a precise and delicate touch. Steel strings on the other hand are a lot brighter with more sustain.
Orville Gibson is often credited with the creation of the archtop design. These guitars feature F-holes, an arched top and back, and an adjustable bridge.
This design increases the tone and volume of the instrument. Gibson designed guitars with bodies like cellos. This helped the instruments be louder. Jazz and country musicians were quick to adopt these guitars.
George Beauchamp and his partner Adolph Rickenbacker won the first patent for the electric guitar in 1931.
But many guitar makers were also working on electric versions of these instruments around the same period. Guitarist Les Paul pioneered the solid-body guitar made by Gibson Guitars, for instance, and on the other hand, Leo Fender invented the Fender Telecaster in 1951.
All in all, the Telecaster, Les Paul, and the SGs helped in the evolution of today's solid-body electric guitars.
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Here are some of the things I talk about in class:
Music fundamentals and theory
Ear-training
Composition
Improvisation
The guitar as a solo instrument
Musical, compositional, and improvisational philosophies
Artistry
Expression
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