The guitar is one of the the most popular musical instruments. The guitar, together with the drums and the piano make up a typical modern music scene equipment set.
The creation of the guitar cannot be traced to some single person, because it came about through the evolution of its predecessors.
Guitar Predecessors
There have been many guitar-like musical instruments in the ancient times, up to at least 5,000 years ago. The very first documented mention of the instrument goes back to the fourteenth century – the guitar-ancestor had three pairs of strings and a single string with the highest tone. The word “guitar” came from the word “qitara” which is an Arabic name for the different kinds of lutes during the early times.
Guitar Evolution
The guitar, as we know it, is said to originate in Spain. It is believed that the people of Malaga invented the instrument. At that time the guitar evolved from having three pairs of strings to four pairs of strings and then – eventually six single strings.
In the 16th century guitar was played by the lower and middle classes – this gave a nice spread and fame to the instrument with many people.
The guitar took serious evolution during the 18th century - the double strings where replaced by single strings and a sixth string was added.
In the 1800s, Antonio Torres de Jurado gave birth to the classical guitar. He increased the size of the body of the guitar.
Electric Guitar
Electric guitar was born in 1931. It uses electronic “pick-ups” to be able to produce sound; pick-ups convert the vibrations from the strings into electric signals. The body of the electric guitar is semi-solid or solid, depending on the design.
Since its creation the electric guitar took a great leap: no longer its sound depends on the structure and construction of the body, this is more a question of the quality of the pick-ups and soundboard.
As you can see the guitar proved to be a very dynamic musical instrument. Through its evolution, the guitar got its deserved placed on the modern music scene.
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