Today’s guitar virtuosos on platforms like YouTube dazzle audiences with breathtaking and innovative riffs, constantly pushing the boundaries of music. However, many are unaware that the guitar, or its ancestral forms, has been a constant companion to humanity since ancient times.
Unraveling the precise origins of the guitar remains an intriguing quest. Linguistic clues point to the ancient Greek word “κιθάρα” (kithara). Greek mythology credits Hermes with the kithara’s invention, crafting it from a tortoise shell, though depictions of Apollo frequently feature him with this instrument.
The kithara was characterized by a wooden soundboard and a box-shaped body serving as a resonator. Two hollow arms extended from this resonator, connected by a crossbar. Initially strung with three strings stretching from the crossbar to the lower end, passing over a bridge on the soundboard, later versions expanded to as many as twelve strings.
Ancient musicians typically employed a plectrum, a precursor to the modern guitar pick, to pluck the strings. The left hand served to dampen unwanted string vibrations and, at times, fret notes or create harmonies. Solo performances sometimes involved plucking strings with fingers of both hands. The playing posture of the kithara mirrored that of a guitar, and musicians often utilized an early form of guitar strap, a band slung over the shoulder.
Ancient Greek Kithara, a stringed instrument and ancestor to the guitar.
The Guitar Instrument’s Shape: A Historical Journey
From Prehistoric Echoes to Medieval Forms
The narrative of The Guitar Instrument is deeply rooted in the history of two instruments that predate written records: the oud and the lute.
Legend attributes the Arab ancestor of the guitar, the oud, to Lamech, Noah’s grandfather and a descendant of Adam and Eve. The inspiration for the oud’s shape is said to have arisen from Lamech’s observation of his deceased son’s body hanging from a tree. The oud journeyed to Spain with the Moors during their invasion in 711 AD.
Shaping Modernity: 15th Century to Today
The lute, exhibiting diverse shapes and sizes, generally featured a rounded back. Its lineage traces from Egypt to Greece and then to Rome, from where it spread across Europe.
The earliest known visual representation of a lute-like stringed instrument dates back to 3500 to 3200 BCE in Southern Mesopotamia – present-day Nasiriyah City, Iraq. This ancient image portrays a woman on a boat, her hands positioned on the instrument in a manner indicative of playing.
Ancient Greek Kithara, a stringed instrument and ancestor to the guitar.
Throughout Mesopotamian and Egyptian history, pictorial records continued to feature both long-necked and short-necked lutes. Museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the British Museum house numerous examples of these depictions on clay tablets and papyrus.
By the close of the Renaissance, the lute had undergone significant evolution, with some instruments boasting up to 20 or 30 strings. However, the lute-like form was gradually losing favor. By the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish musicians increasingly preferred instruments with the curved shape that we now readily associate with guitars.
These instruments, known as Baroque guitars, effectively succeeded the lute as the preferred stringed instrument for musicians from approximately 1600 to 1750. Further enhancements, including five courses of gut strings and movable frets, enhanced playability.
The vihuela, distinguished by its incurving sides creating an hourglass-shaped body, gained popularity in Spain, Portugal, and Italy during this era. A variant of the vihuela remains in use by Mariachi ensembles today.
The evolution of Spanish guitars largely stabilized by the 1790s. These instruments featured a standard body shape and six courses of strings, resembling the modern guitar instrument but in a smaller form. Spanish musician and guitar maker Antonio de Torres Jurado revolutionized guitar design in the mid-1800s. His creations established the template for all subsequent guitars and he is widely regarded as a pivotal figure in guitar history.
Torres Jurado’s guitars featured a broadened body, a thinner soundboard, and a more pronounced curve at the waist. He also replaced traditional wooden tuning pegs with machined heads. His innovative approach to body design and fan bracing, the internal system of wooden struts, endowed his classical guitars with their distinctive, rich tonal character.
Influential Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia championed Torres’ classical guitar as a concert instrument. Segovia also composed intricate musical pieces that are now recognized as quintessential “classical guitar” music.
Around this same time, European immigrants introduced a steel-stringed version of the Spanish instrument to America. Here, the modern guitar instrument underwent further transformations, giving rise to the flat top, archtop, and modern electric guitar.
The Rise of Modern Guitar Instruments
The flat top acoustic guitar remains the most prevalent type of acoustic guitar, nearly two centuries after its inception. Christian Frederick Martin, a German-born American guitar maker, pioneered the flat top design. Martin replaced the traditional fan bracing with X-bracing, enabling the guitar body to withstand the increased tension of modern steel strings, which had posed challenges for older Torres-style guitars.
The taut steel strings of the flat top also necessitated alterations in playing techniques, with guitarists increasingly employing picks. This shift fundamentally altered the musical styles associated with these instruments. Classical guitar melodies, for instance, are typically precise and delicate, while steel strings and picks facilitated brighter, chord-driven music. The widespread adoption of picks also spurred the development of the pickguard, now a standard feature below the soundhole on most flat top guitars.
Orville Gibson is widely credited with creating the archtop guitar. This design incorporates F-holes, an arched top and back, and an adjustable bridge, which collectively enhance the instrument’s tone and volume. Gibson crafted guitar bodies reminiscent of cellos, which contributed to a louder sound projection. Jazz and country musicians readily embraced these guitars, and big bands and swing bands also incorporated flat tops.
George Beauchamp and his partner Adolph Rickenbacker secured the first patent for the electric guitar in 1931. Numerous other inventors and guitar makers were concurrently exploring electric versions of these instruments. Les Paul, for example, pioneered the solid body guitar manufactured by Gibson Guitars, while Leo Fender invented the Fender Telecaster in 1951. Collectively, the Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, and Gibson SGs represent key milestones in the evolution of guitars from their historical predecessors to the solid-body electric guitars that continue to dominate contemporary music.
Sources
https://www.ancient.eu/Kithara/
http://www.guitarhistoryfacts.com/guitar-inventor/antonio-torres-jurado/
