A History of a Musical Instrument - Guitar

Today's mainstream music is unimaginable without a guitar. Although there are many more instruments that are more respected than, the popularity and magic of this one instrument cannot be denied. While other instruments require many preliminary preparations and necessities, to play a guitar you just need to have a guitar. Take the piano for instance; you will need music sheet stands, piano lamps and a bench to start with. Playing under a piano lamp sounds very artistic but you should consider the convenience of taking your instrument anywhere you want.

The guitars are said to be originated from many European instruments of the 12th Century. These instruments also have long fret and flat soundboards that are almost similar to the modern guitar. Yet even before these, similar instruments were also used in Asia and India. Many of those instruments such as the 'sitar' and 'tambur' are still used in these regions, but are said to have evolved a lot with time.

The word 'Guitar' itself is believed to have travelled across the centuries and continents. The fact most believed to be true is that it comes from an Old Persian word 'Sihtar' which means string. The word travelled to Rome where it became 'cithara' in Latin. Later it became, 'qitara' for Arabs and evolved 'guittara' in Spanish. Finally, English, French and German made it a 'guitar' with only a minor difference in spelling and pronunciations.

However, the major influence on modern guitar was from the 15th century instrument used in Spain and Italy called the 'Vihuela'. The same instrument is also said to be the major influence in the development of a viol. The Vihuela also evolved through time and took the shape of a 'Baroque Guitar' which is still a popular instrument with the Spaniards.

The Baroque was later enhanced by adding single strings and making it six strings instead of five. It was during the classical period that guitars began to capture some respect. Many famous composers added the instruments to their pieces. The design of the instrument, however, remained somewhat different than the modern guitar.

The first genre of music that actually used the guitar as an essential instrument in its composition was the Blues. This made many violin manufacturers step into the guitar making business. The design of the guitar as we see now is very much the work of Antonio de Torres. He was the first man to use Fan bracings. He did many enhancements along with increasing the size of the guitar. Therefore, we know him as the father of modern guitar.

The rest of the story is not much of a history. Nothing flared the popularity of this instrument more than Rock n Roll era. The advent of electronic guitar started an unending era of Rock music. From cool blues to soft country to rock and roll and now heavy metal, the guitar has dominated every genre of modern music. We have seen legends such as Elvis, Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Slash, and we know that there are still many to come.

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