The guitar you hold in your hands represents over 4,500 years of stringed instrument evolution. The guitar is and has been for a long time, the single most popular stringed instrument in the world. The exact origin of the guitar is still being researched and debated. Artifacts dating back to 1900 BC show stringed “guitar like” instruments being used for ceremonies and entertainment. Ancient paintings of guitar like stringed instruments Egyptian Stringed have been found in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Picture at right, Ancient Egyptian playing a stringed instrument 1900 BC.
Stone carvings of Hittite Bards dating over 3,300 years old, show them playing long stringed “guitar like” instruments. Around 1200 A.D, two types of guitars existed: The Moorish guitar and the Latin guitar. The Moorish guitar or ” guitarra morisca ” had multiple sound-holes and a wide fingerboard with the back of the neck rounded. The Latin guitar or ” guitarra Latina “had only one sound hole with a thin neck. The Latin guitar from 1200 AD is the closest relative to the modern classical guitar. The picture on the left shows an Ancient Hittite playing a stringed instrument.
A Luthier is someone who builds, repairs and designs guitars and other stringed instruments. Around 1890, Guitarist and Luthier Antonio Torres Jurado created two new guitar designs. Antonio’s new guitars had greater bass response and volume due to his new designs. These new designs Ancient Egyptians used Stringed paved the way for the guitar to become what it is today, a solo instrument and a band instrument that is used for more genres of music than any other instrument.
The picture to the right shows Ancient Egyptians playing several different stringed instruments (Approx. 1900 – 1600 BC).
40 years after Antonio’s new guitar designs, the guitar became the most popular stringed instrument in the world. Out of that popularity came innovation that led to the 3 basic types of guitar: Acoustic, Classical, and Electric. Throughout history, humankind used music as a means of entertainment, teaching, preparing for battle, religious ceremonies, hunting, gathering and other important cultural and Human experiences. Our own National Anthem is used to give people a sense of Country, National and Civil Pride.
Native Americans used music in all of their cultural ceremonial traditions. Music was also used by these early Americans to provoke much needed rain, bring good luck and fear to their enemies. If you study Ethno-Musicology (the study of music and cultures), you will discover that music is the reflection of our cultures, and historically has been an inherent part of the Human Experience.
Pictured on the right, Antonia Torres Jurado
What does this mean to you, the student of guitar?
You may never become a rock-star or professional musician, but you have the opportunity to learn the skill of music; a skill that has been around since the beginning of civilization itself. Scientific studies have proved that playing a musical instrument can raise a persons IQ, as well as stimulate parts of the brain relating to mathematics, logic and reason. Practicing a musical instrument can teach discipline, relieve stress and ultimately be very enjoyable. The guitar is now a world-wide popular instrument, played by people from many cultural backgrounds. A fast growing community of guitar players online now share information and techniques with each other using forums, blogs and other guitar related websites. As a student of guitar, you should take advantage of all the resources available for guitarists online. You will discover that the world of guitar is vast, welcome to it!
