THEHISTORYOFTHEGUITAR!

Hey there! Have you ever wondered how the guitar became how it is? Without the guitar you couldn’t listen to songs like While My Guitar Gently Weeps (1968) by the Beatles, Hotel California (1976) by the Eagles, Blackbird (1968) by the Beatles and Wonderwall (1995) by Oasis

The Beginning Of The Guitar

The guitar has roots stretching back to ancient Mesopotamia, more than four or five thousand years ago Other, similar variations like single-stringed lutes and harps began to make an appearance in the Middle East and Persia and then spread throughout the entire globe, influencing musical culture.

Storytellers and singers would often use these stringed musical instruments throughout ancient societies. The oldest guitar-like device has been spotted more than 3,500 years ago, in ancient carvings and statues from Egyptian civilizations.

It is believed by some that the modern guitar evolved directly from either this type of lute or the ancient Greek kithara. However, Dr Michael Kasha did extensive research in the 1960s that proved that these theories did not paint the full picture. He was able to confirm that the lute had common ancestors with the guitar, but that they later evolved separately. However, the guitar was influenced by the lute, as the early guitars looked very similar to the fretted lute. As for the Greek kithara, it is noteworthy that the Greek word “kithara” and the Spanish word “Guitarra” are very similar. However, a kithara is a square-framed lap harp and is not overly similar to the early guitar

Written by Oliver Year 3

The Guitar Ancestors

Another guitar-like instrument, which is also still alive and well today, is the tanbur family. A tanbur is a longnecked string instrument that has a small pear or eggshaped body. This instrument will have either an arched or round back, and often has a soundboard made of wood or hide, and a long straight neck. Tomb paintings and stone carvings show the tanbur and harps being played together more than 3,500 – 4,500 years ago.

The modern guitar is both related to – and different from – all of these ancient instruments. All of them has strings and a neck, but a guitar is distinguished by a flat wooden soundboard, a long, fretted neck, with ribs and a flat back, which some of these instruments lack.

WHERE DID THE GUITAR GET ITS NAME?

The guitar may have originally gotten its name from the ancient Sanskrit word “tar,” which means string. Many of the stringed folk instruments that are used in Central Asia have names that contain “tar” and a prefix that shows the number of strings in the instrument. Therefore, because the early guitar had four strings, it came from the Sanskrit word “chatur ” When the fourstringed Persian “chartar” came to Spain, it evolved and became known as the Guitarra or Chitarra