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A Journey To The Guitar's Past
- By: James Brown
Way before the most contemporary electric guitar came into being
and way before synthetic materials were utilized, a guitar was
defined most of the time as simply "with a fretted, long neck,
wooden and flat soundboard, a flat back, with incurved sides."
Historians note that at least 5,000 years ago, the guitar was
derived from instruments found in Central Asia and ancient
India, called the Sitara. The oldest iconographic depiction of
an instrument embodying the guitar's essential features is a
Hittite bard carving in stone that, according to historians'
estimate, is said to be at least 3,300 years old.
The modern English term "guitar" is derived from Spanish word
"guitarra", which is adopted from the cithara, a Latin word.
Cithara, in turn, comes from the Greek word kithara, which is
deemed to come from the Persian sihtar, an instrument related to
the Indian musical tool sitar.
The guitar in its modern form descended from the cithara brought
by the Romans to Hispania in or around 40 AD. This was further
developed in the advent of the four-string oud that the Moors
brought during the 8th century. Meanwhile in Europe, the
Scandinavian lut or lute, a native and original six-string
instrument, gained popularity in the Viking areas across the
European continent.
In the16th century, what appeared to be a deviation guitar
instrument from the renaissance to the modern era was seen
played by Johannes Vermeer. The instrument was called the "viola
da mano" or Spanish vihuela. On the other hand, the Spanish
vihuela was a guitar-like musical instrument of a lute-style
tuning with its body strikingly similar to a guitar. The vihuela
took pleasure in its popularity for only a short period of time,
with its last musical publication appearing in the year 1576.
The mandolin was developed by the "Vinaccia family of luthiers."
The Vinaccia family is known to have built the most primitive
six-string guitar. In 1779, Gaetano Vinaccia's signature
appeared on a guitar built Naples, Italy. Upon examination, the
signed guitar is found with no modification or indications of
any similarity with guitar that is double-course. The
authenticity of the antique guitar, though, has not been
confirmed, as fake guitars were known to exist abundantly during
the period.
A more modern scope of the classical guitar was created by a
certain Antonio Torres who worked in Seville during the 1850s.
Along with Louis Panormo, Torres demonstrated the supremacy of
fan strutting, as compared with table bracing in the transverse
mode. Panormo became more prominent in London.
Fast track to the 1900's, George Beauchamp patented the electric
guitar in 1936. Rickenbacher, which used the pickup of a
horseshoe-magnet, was co-founded by Beauchamp. The production of
the electric guitars for the general public, though, was
initiated by Danelectro.
Since then, the guitar has not ceased transforming to serve the
needs of the musicians of the modern world. With modern
technology, observers expect and foresee the development guitars
to move forward significantly. Everywhere in the world where
music exists, the guitar is sure to be found from its simplest
to its most outrageous form.
Way before the most contemporary electric guitar came into being
and way before synthetic materials were utilized, a guitar was
defined most of the time as simply "with a fretted, long neck,
wooden and flat soundboard, a flat back, with incurved sides."
James Brown writes about
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