The history of stringed instruments is a long and fascinating journey, stretching back millennia. While pinpointing the exact moment the “guitar” was invented is complex, we can explore the evolution of guitar-like instruments and their ancestors to understand the guitar’s deep roots.
Ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt: The Lute’s Forebears
Long before the instrument we recognize today as the guitar, instruments with strings plucked to create music existed in ancient civilizations. Archeological evidence points to early lute-like instruments in Mesopotamia. A cylinder seal from the Uruk period (circa 3000 BCE) depicts a woman playing a stringed instrument on a boat. This visual record, housed in the British Museum, demonstrates that instruments ancestral to the guitar were present in Southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) thousands of years ago. Similar instruments, in both long and short-neck forms, appeared throughout ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, as evidenced by artifacts in museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum. These early stringed instruments were integral to the music of Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and other ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures.
An ancient Egyptian mural from around 1069-945 BC showing a harpist performing for the god Ra Harakhte, illustrating early stringed instrument traditions.
The Oud and its Journey to Europe
The oud, an instrument with origins in the Middle East, plays a crucial role in the guitar’s lineage. Legend attributes the oud’s invention to Lamech, a figure from the Bible, although historical evidence places its development much later. By 711 AD, the oud had likely been introduced to Western Europe by the Moors, who established a significant presence in the Iberian Peninsula. While instruments resembling ouds, like the ancient Greek Pandoura and Roman Pandura, might have arrived in Spain earlier, the Moorish influence significantly boosted the oud’s popularity and development. Zyriab, a renowned oud player in Al-Andalus (Moorish Iberia), is credited with establishing a music conservatory and adding a fifth course of strings to the instrument. The European lute evolved from the oud, becoming known by different names across Europe (luth, laute, liuto, luit, alaud). Notably, the European lute incorporated frets, distinguishing it from the fretless oud. The construction techniques of the oud, with its staved back and spruce top, are also significant in understanding later stringed instrument development.
Medieval Europe: Guitars Emerge
During the Medieval period (500 – 1400 AD), instruments that more closely resemble the guitar began to appear in Europe. Guitars with 3, 4, and 5 strings were in use. Two notable types emerged in Spain: the Guitarra Latina and the Guitarra Morisca. The Guitarra Latina, believed to have originated elsewhere in Europe, featured curved sides. The Guitarra Morisca, brought to Spain by the Moors, had an oval soundbox and multiple sound holes. Records from 1349 AD mention musicians employed by the Duke of Normandy playing “Guiterre Morische” and “Guitarra Latina,” indicating these instruments were established and recognized types. It is from the Guitarra Latina that the modern guitar is believed to have evolved, while the Guiterre Morische is considered an ancestor of both the European lute and the modern Arabic oud.
Visual representation of a Guitarra Latina and Guitarra Morisca from Castile, Spain, around 1320, illustrating early guitar forms.
The Guitar’s Gradual Evolution
While 1265 AD marks the first recorded mention of the term “guitar,” the instruments of this era were still quite different from the guitars we know today. The path to the modern guitar was a gradual process of evolution, spanning centuries and involving contributions from various cultures and instrument makers. The medieval Guitarra Latina is a key ancestor, undergoing further development in later periods to eventually become the six-string guitar that dominates music today. Therefore, answering “When Was The Guitar Invented?” requires understanding that the guitar wasn’t invented at a single point in time, but rather emerged through a long process of instrument development, starting with ancient lutes and evolving through medieval European instruments like the Guitarra Latina. The instruments played in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt are the distant ancestors, and the medieval period in Europe is where we see forms that are clearly recognizable as early guitars taking shape.
