History of the Guitar
History of the Guitar
In this essay I will research:
- The history of the Guitar, from the origins of the instrument, up until the present day - The technological advances of the instrument - The main practitioners of the instrument and how they changed the way the guitar was used or thought of.
The guitar is possibly the most well known and widely played instrument in modern times. There have been instruments similar to the guitar for at least 5,000 years. The oldest known depiction of a guitar-like instrument is a stone carving of a member of a people known as the Hittites. The beginnings of the design of the modern guitar stemmed from a people called the Moors, who brought an instrument called an Oud into Spain in the 8th century. The oud was a small, four stringed instrument with a small neck and had no frets.
By the 13th century, there were two types of four stringed instruments that were known as guitars; the guitarra morisca, which means “Moorish guitar”, and the guitarra Latina, which means “Latin guitar”. These two guitars have very different features. The guitarra morisca had a wide fretboard and several soundholes, whereas the guitarra Latina had one soundhole and a narrower neck, which was more like the modern guitar. The Spanish Vihuela which was invented in the 15th century and was popular, albeit for a short time, was a big step towards the development of the modern guitar. It usually had 12 strings, tuned in major fourths, like the modern guitar, although the 3rd string was tuned a semitone lower, and also looked similar to a modern acoustic guitar.
It wasn’t until the late 18th century that guitars started to resemble the modern guitar we know today. One of the main reasons for this is that guitar makers added a sixth string to the guitars they made. In the 19th century, a guitar luthier called Antonio Torres Jurado radically changed the design of the instrument, increasing the size of the body to produce more
In this essay I will research:
- The history of the Guitar, from the origins of the instrument, up until the present day - The technological advances of the instrument - The main practitioners of the instrument and how they changed the way the guitar was used or thought of.
The guitar is possibly the most well known and widely played instrument in modern times. There have been instruments similar to the guitar for at least 5,000 years. The oldest known depiction of a guitar-like instrument is a stone carving of a member of a people known as the Hittites. The beginnings of the design of the modern guitar stemmed from a people called the Moors, who brought an instrument called an Oud into Spain in the 8th century. The oud was a small, four stringed instrument with a small neck and had no frets.
By the 13th century, there were two types of four stringed instruments that were known as guitars; the guitarra morisca, which means “Moorish guitar”, and the guitarra Latina, which means “Latin guitar”. These two guitars have very different features. The guitarra morisca had a wide fretboard and several soundholes, whereas the guitarra Latina had one soundhole and a narrower neck, which was more like the modern guitar. The Spanish Vihuela which was invented in the 15th century and was popular, albeit for a short time, was a big step towards the development of the modern guitar. It usually had 12 strings, tuned in major fourths, like the modern guitar, although the 3rd string was tuned a semitone lower, and also looked similar to a modern acoustic guitar.
It wasn’t until the late 18th century that guitars started to resemble the modern guitar we know today. One of the main reasons for this is that guitar makers added a sixth string to the guitars they made. In the 19th century, a guitar luthier called Antonio Torres Jurado radically changed the design of the instrument, increasing the size of the body to produce more