The guitar, a ubiquitous instrument in modern music, captivates millions with its diverse sounds and forms, from electrifying riffs to delicate acoustic melodies. While today’s guitar heroes shred on instruments constantly evolving with innovative technology, the fundamental concept of the guitar stretches back through millennia. But pinpointing the exact moment and location of the guitar’s invention is a journey through ancient history, shrouded in some mystery.
The very word “guitar” offers a clue, hinting at its ancient past. Linguistically, it’s believed to trace back to the ancient Greek term “kithara” (κιθάρα). Greek mythology itself adds a layer of intrigue, crediting Hermes, the messenger of the gods, with crafting the first kithara from a tortoise shell. Images of Apollo, the god of music and light, frequently depict him with this very instrument, highlighting its cultural significance in ancient Greece.
The kithara was more than just a myth; it was a tangible instrument. Imagine a soundboard and resonator crafted from wood, forming a box-like body. Extending from this resonator were two hollow arms connected by a crossbar. Initially strung with three strings made of gut, stretching from the crossbar down to a bridge on the soundboard, the kithara evolved to possess as many as twelve strings in later iterations.
Musicians of the time played the kithara using a plectrum, a precursor to the modern guitar pick. The left hand served to dampen unwanted strings and create harmonies, similar to techniques still used today. Solo performers sometimes even plucked strings with both hands. The way a musician held the kithara closely resembled holding a modern guitar, and evidence suggests the use of straps, similar to guitar straps, for comfortable playing.
Ancient Greek Kithara Player
Tracing the Guitar’s Ancestry: From Antiquity to Spain
Delving deeper into the guitar’s lineage, we find its roots intertwined with two prominent ancient instruments: the oud and the lute. These instruments predate recorded history, reaching back into the mists of time.
Some accounts even attribute the oud’s design to Lamech, a figure from biblical genealogy, believed to be Noah’s grandfather. Legend suggests Lamech conceived the oud’s shape after observing his deceased son’s body hanging from a tree. Regardless of the veracity of this tale, the oud journeyed westward with the Moors when they crossed into Southern Spain in 711 AD, marking a significant step in the guitar’s geographical evolution.
The lute, another ancestor, existed in diverse forms and sizes but generally featured a rounded back. Its journey spanned continents, traveling from Egypt to Greece and then to Rome, eventually spreading throughout Europe with Roman expansion.
Archaeological evidence provides further clues. The earliest known pictorial representation of a lute-like instrument dates back to 3500-3200 BCE in Southern Mesopotamia – present-day Iraq, specifically Nasiriyah City. This ancient image, etched in time, depicts a woman on a boat, her hands positioned as if playing a stringed instrument, offering a glimpse into the instrument’s presence in early civilizations.
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 visual records preserved on clay tablets and papyrus.
By the Renaissance, the lute had undergone considerable development, with some boasting up to 20 or 30 strings. However, the lute’s characteristic shape began to wane in popularity. During the 15th and 16th centuries, a shift occurred in Spain as musicians increasingly favored instruments exhibiting a curved shape, foreshadowing the guitar silhouette we recognize today.
These emerging instruments, known as Baroque guitars, gained prominence from approximately 1600 to 1750, effectively succeeding the lute as the preferred stringed instrument among musicians. Innovations like five courses of gut strings and movable frets enhanced playability, further solidifying their appeal.
The vihuela, another instrument with incurved sides creating an hourglass-like body, also flourished in Spain, Portugal, and Italy during this era. A descendant of the vihuela continues to resonate in modern music as part of Mariachi ensembles.
The Dawn of the Modern Guitar: Spain and Beyond
The evolution of Spanish guitars reached a crucial point by the 1790s. Instruments of this period possessed a standard body shape and six courses of strings, bearing a resemblance to the modern guitar, albeit smaller in size. However, it was Spanish musician and guitar maker Antonio de Torres Jurado in the mid-1800s who revolutionized guitar design, establishing the template for all subsequent guitars. He is widely regarded as one of the most pivotal figures in guitar history.
Torres Jurado’s groundbreaking innovations included a broadened body, a thinner soundboard, and a more pronounced curve at the waist of the guitar. He also replaced traditional wooden tuning pegs with machine heads, enhancing tuning stability. His innovative body design and fan bracing system, the internal network of wooden struts, endowed his classical guitars with their distinctive and rich tonal qualities.
Andres Segovia, an influential Spanish guitarist, championed Torres’ classical guitar, elevating it to the status of a concert instrument. Segovia’s masterful performances and complex compositions, which we now recognize as “classical guitar” music, further cemented the instrument’s legacy.
Around the same time, as Europeans migrated to America, they brought with them steel-string versions of the Spanish guitar. In America, the guitar underwent further transformation, giving rise to the flat-top, archtop, and ultimately, the modern electric guitar, marking a new chapter in its ongoing evolution.
From Flat Tops to Electrics: The Guitar in the Modern Age
The flat-top acoustic guitar endures as the most popular acoustic guitar form nearly two centuries after its emergence. Christian Frederick Martin, a German-born American luthier, is credited with its creation. Martin replaced the older fan bracing with X-bracing, a stronger structure that could withstand the increased tension of modern steel strings, a challenge for earlier Torres-style guitars.
The tighter steel strings of the flat-top guitar also influenced playing styles, encouraging the use of picks and fundamentally altering the music created on these instruments. While classical guitars produced delicate and precise melodies, steel strings and picks facilitated brighter, chord-driven music. The increased use of picks also led to the development of the pickguard, now a standard feature below the soundhole on most flat-top guitars.
Orville Gibson is widely recognized for pioneering the archtop guitar. Featuring f-holes, an arched top and back, and an adjustable bridge, the archtop offered increased volume and tonal projection. Gibson crafted guitars with bodies reminiscent of cellos, contributing to their louder sound. Jazz and country musicians quickly adopted archtops, and they also found their place in big bands and swing ensembles alongside flat-tops.
The electric guitar era began with George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker, who secured the first patent for an electric guitar in 1931. Simultaneously, numerous inventors and guitar makers were exploring electric amplification for these instruments. Les Paul spearheaded the solid-body guitar at Gibson Guitars, while Leo Fender introduced the Fender Telecaster in 1951. The Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, and Gibson SG models collectively represent a pivotal evolution, transforming guitars of the past into the solid-body electric guitars that continue to dominate modern music.
Sources
https://www.ancient.eu/Kithara/
http://www.guitarhistoryfacts.com/guitar-inventor/antonio-torres-jurado/
