Today’s guitar heroes captivate audiences worldwide with breathtaking riffs and groundbreaking techniques, constantly pushing the boundaries of music. Yet, many are unaware that the guitar, in various forms, boasts a history stretching back to the earliest days of civilization. Delving into the History Of The Guitar reveals a captivating journey of evolution and innovation.
The precise origins of the guitar remain shrouded in mystery, but linguistic clues point to ancient Greece. The word “guitar” likely derives from the Greek term “kithara” (κιθάρα). Greek mythology credits Hermes with the invention of the kithara, crafting it from a tortoise shell. However, depictions of Apollo, the god of music, frequently feature him playing this instrument, highlighting its cultural significance.
Ancient Roots: The Kithara and Early Stringed Instruments
The kithara was more than just a mythical instrument; it was a tangible part of ancient Greek musical life. It featured a wooden soundboard and a box-shaped body acting as a resonator. Extending from this resonator were two hollow arms connected by a crossbar. Initially strung with three strings, running from the crossbar down to the lower end and over a bridge on the soundboard, the kithara evolved to incorporate as many as twelve strings.
Musicians in antiquity typically played the kithara using a plectrum, a precursor to the modern guitar pick. The left hand was employed to dampen unwanted strings and, at times, to stop strings or create harmonies. Solo performers occasionally plucked strings with the fingers of both hands, demonstrating a versatility in playing techniques. The way a kithara was held closely resembled holding a modern guitar, and musicians often utilized a strap, similar to a guitar strap, worn over the shoulder for support.
From Oud and Lute to the Guitar’s Formative Years
Tracing the history of the guitar, we encounter two significant predecessors: the oud and the lute, both predating written history. Legend attributes the design of the oud, an ancestor of the guitar prevalent in Arab cultures, to Lamech, a figure from biblical genealogy. The story suggests Lamech conceived the oud’s shape, inspired by the form of his deceased son’s body hanging from a tree. The oud journeyed westward with the Moors, arriving in Southern Spain in 711 AD and leaving a lasting musical imprint.
The lute, another crucial instrument in the history of the guitar, exhibited diverse shapes and sizes but generally featured a rounded back. Its influence spread from Egypt to Greece and subsequently to Rome, from where it disseminated throughout Europe. Archaeological evidence places lute-like instruments even further back in time. An ancient pictorial representation of a stringed instrument resembling a lute has been dated to 3500 to 3200 BCE in Southern Mesopotamia – present-day Nasiriyah City, Iraq. This image, depicting a female figure on a boat with hands positioned as if playing an instrument, stands as one of the earliest visual records of such instruments.
Throughout Mesopotamian and Egyptian history, pictorial records continued to feature both long-necked and short-necked lutes. Museums like 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 illustrations on clay tablets and papyrus, offering tangible connections to this ancient musical heritage.
The Baroque Guitar and the Emergence of a Familiar Shape
By the close of the Renaissance, the lute had undergone significant development, with some instruments boasting up to 20 or 30 strings. However, the lute-like shape began to wane in popularity. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Spanish musicians increasingly favored instruments with the curved shape that resonates with modern guitar forms.
These instruments, known as Baroque guitars, effectively supplanted 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, contributed to the playability and accessibility of these instruments, solidifying their appeal.
The vihuela, another instrument of this era, gained traction in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Characterized by incurving sides that created an hourglass-shaped body, a version of the vihuela remains in use today within Mariachi ensembles, demonstrating the enduring legacy of these historical instruments.
Antonio de Torres Jurado: Crafting the Blueprint for the Modern Guitar
The evolution of Spanish guitars reached a pivotal point by the 1790s. While they possessed a body shape and six courses of strings reminiscent of the modern guitar, they were notably smaller. Spanish musician and luthier Antonio de Torres Jurado revolutionized guitar making in the mid-1800s, establishing the guitar design that would shape all subsequent guitars. He is widely regarded as “one of the most important inventors in the history of guitar.”
Torres Jurado’s innovations included a broadened body, a thinned belly, and an accentuated curve at the waist. He also replaced traditional wooden tuning pegs with machined heads, enhancing tuning stability and precision. His groundbreaking approach to body design and fan bracing – the internal system of wooden struts – endowed his classical guitars with their distinctive, resonant voice, setting a new standard for guitar construction.
Influential Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia played a crucial role in elevating Torres’ classical guitar to concert instrument status. Segovia’s masterful performances and complex compositions, now recognized as “classical guitar” music, further cemented the Torres guitar’s place in musical history and repertoire.
Around the same period, European immigrants introduced a steel-stringed variant of the Spanish guitar to America. This transatlantic migration marked a new chapter in the history of the guitar, leading to the development of the flat top, archtop, and modern electric guitar, each contributing to the instrument’s continued evolution.
The Dawn of Modern Guitars: Flat Top, Archtop, and Electric Revolution
The flat top acoustic guitar has become the most ubiquitous form of acoustic guitar, maintaining its popularity nearly two centuries after its inception. Christian Frederick Martin, a German-born American luthier, is credited with creating the flat top guitar. Martin ingeniously replaced the traditional fan bracing with X-bracing, a structural innovation that enabled the guitar body to withstand the increased tension of modern steel strings, a challenge for earlier Torres-style guitars.
The advent of steel strings on flat tops also necessitated changes in playing style. The tighter steel strings encouraged the increased use of guitar picks, fundamentally altering the musical landscape for these instruments. While classical guitars emphasized delicate and precise melodies, steel strings and picks facilitated brighter, chord-driven music. The widespread use of picks also spurred the development of the pickguard, now a standard feature below the soundhole on most flat top guitars, protecting the guitar’s finish from pick scratches.
Orville Gibson is widely recognized for pioneering the archtop guitar. Characterized by F-holes, an arched top and back, and an adjustable bridge, the archtop guitar produced enhanced tone and volume. Gibson crafted guitars with bodies resembling cellos, contributing to their amplified sound projection. Jazz and country musicians readily embraced archtop guitars, and they became integral to the sound of big bands and swing bands, alongside flat tops.
George Beauchamp and his partner Adolph Rickenbacker secured the first patent for the electric guitar in 1931, marking a watershed moment in the history of the guitar. Simultaneously, numerous inventors and guitar makers were exploring electric amplification for these instruments. Les Paul spearheaded the solid body guitar manufactured by Gibson Guitars, while Leo Fender revolutionized guitar design with the Fender Telecaster in 1951. The Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, and Gibson SG models collectively represent a pivotal evolution, transforming the guitars of yesteryear into 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/
