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Guitar: the story on HearLore | HearLore
Guitar
A 3,300-year-old stone carving of a Hittite bard playing a stringed instrument stands as the oldest known iconographic representation of a chordophone, yet the true lineage of the modern guitar remains shrouded in the mists of medieval Spain. Before the development of the electric guitar and synthetic materials, the instrument was defined by a long fretted neck, a flat wooden soundboard, and incurved sides, evolving from a complex interplay of cultural influences. The earliest ancestors include the four-string oud, brought to Iberia by the Moors in the 8th century, and the European lute, though many scholars now argue the lute was a separate line of development that did not significantly influence the guitar's evolution. By the year 1200, at least two distinct instruments called guitars were in use in Spain: the guitarra morisca, which featured a rounded back and wide fingerboard, and the guitarra latina, characterized by a single sound hole and narrower neck. These early forms, along with the gittern and vihuela, laid the groundwork for an instrument that would eventually dominate global music, yet the specific moment of its invention is lost to history, leaving only a patchwork of literary and archaeological evidence to guide us.
The Five Course Revolution
The five-course baroque guitar, documented in Spain from the middle of the 16th century, enjoyed immense popularity in Spain, Italy, and France from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century, yet almost all surviving examples were built in Italy. This apparent disparity between documentary evidence and surviving instruments is explained by the fact that only the more expensively made guitars were kept as collector's pieces, while the instrument was originally an instrument of the people of Spain. Literary sources like Lope de Vega's Dorotea credit the poet and musician Vicente Espinel with creating the five-course guitar, a claim repeated by Nicolas Doizi de Velasco in 1640, though Espinel's birth year of 1550 makes this claim impossible for some historians. The strings were tuned in unison, a whole octave apart from one another, creating a major controversy over its origin and tuning method. By the 16th century, the vihuela, a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries, was widely considered the single most important influence in the development of the baroque guitar, featuring six courses and a guitar-like body with a sharply cut waist. The five-course guitar was not a straightforward process, with two types differing in the location of the major third and the interval pattern, establishing a foundation that would eventually lead to the modern six-string instrument.
When was the earliest known representation of a guitar-like instrument created?
The earliest known iconographic representation of a chordophone is a 3,300-year-old stone carving of a Hittite bard playing a stringed instrument. This carving stands as the oldest known evidence of such an instrument, though the true lineage of the modern guitar remains shrouded in the mists of medieval Spain.
Who invented the five-course guitar and when was it documented in Spain?
Literary sources credit the poet and musician Vicente Espinel with creating the five-course guitar, though his birth year of 1550 makes this claim impossible for some historians. The five-course baroque guitar was documented in Spain from the middle of the 16th century and enjoyed immense popularity in Spain, Italy, and France from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century.
What did Antonio Torres Jurado change about the guitar design?
Antonio Torres Jurado, a Spanish maker active between 1817 and 1892, increased the size of the guitar body, altered its proportions, and invented the breakthrough fan-braced pattern. This design greatly improved the volume, tone, and projection of the guitar and remains essentially unchanged since his time.
When were steel guitar strings introduced and when did they become mainstream?
Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the 19th century in the United States, but nylon and steel strings became mainstream only following World War II. This shift marked a seismic change in the instrument's sonic capabilities and led to the development of the steel-string revolution.
What is the standard tuning for a modern guitar and when was it adopted?
By the 16th century, the guitar tuning of ADGBE had already been adopted in Western culture, and a lower E was later added on the bottom as a sixth string. This results in the standard tuning known today as EADGBE, which is a series of ascending fourths and a single major third from low to high.
Who invented the first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar and when?
George Beauchamp invented the first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar and incorporated it into the 1931 Ro-Pat-In, later known as Rickenbacker, Frying Pan lap steel. Electric guitars were first patented in 1937, using a pickup and amplifier that made the instrument loud enough to be heard in a band setting.
Antonio Torres Jurado, a Spanish maker active between 1817 and 1892, is perhaps the most important of all guitar makers, having increased the size of the guitar body, altered its proportions, and invented the breakthrough fan-braced pattern that remains essentially unchanged since his time. Bracing, the internal pattern of wood reinforcements used to secure the guitar's top and back, is a critical factor in how the instrument sounds, and Torres' design greatly improved the volume, tone, and projection of the guitar. Before this innovation, 19th-century guitars known as salon guitars were smaller than modern instruments, and the internal bracing patterns used by luthiers like Hauser, Ramirez, and Fleta were less effective at managing the tension of steel strings. The soundboard, typically made of spruce or cedar, is a finely crafted element only 2 or 3 mm thick, strengthened by differing types of internal bracing that affect the resonance characteristics of the top. The body of an acoustic guitar has a sound hole through which sound projects, and the air inside the body vibrates as the guitar top and body is vibrated by the strings, responding to the air cavity at different frequencies. This structural evolution transformed the guitar from a delicate instrument of the aristocracy into a robust tool capable of filling concert halls, setting the stage for the steel-string revolution that would follow.
The Steel String And The Electric Spark
Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the 19th century in the United States, but nylon and steel strings became mainstream only following World War II, marking a seismic shift in the instrument's sonic capabilities. The first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar was invented by George Beauchamp and incorporated into the 1931 Ro-Pat-In, later known as Rickenbacker, Frying Pan lap steel, allowing the instrument to be heard over other instruments in a band setting. Electric guitars, first patented in 1937, use a pickup and amplifier that made the instrument loud enough to be heard, but also enabled manufacturing guitars with a solid block of wood, without needing a resonant chamber. Solid-body guitars began to dominate the guitar market during the 1960s and 1970s, less prone to unwanted acoustic feedback, and the lower fretboard action and lighter strings lent the electric guitar to techniques less frequently used on acoustic guitars. The loud, amplified sound and sonic power of the electric guitar played through a guitar amp have played a key role in the development of blues and rock music, both as an accompaniment instrument and performing guitar solos, influencing genres from heavy metal to punk rock. The electric guitar has had a major influence on popular culture, becoming a symbol of rebellion and innovation that transcended its origins as a simple stringed instrument.
The Architecture Of Sound And String
The physical properties of the guitar are determined by a complex interplay of materials, from the rosewood and ebony fretboards to the spruce and cedar soundboards, each chosen for their strength and ability to transfer mechanical energy from the strings to the air. The neck of the guitar is a critical component, with the bending stress on the neck being considerable, particularly when heavier gauge strings are used, and the ability of the neck to resist bending is important to the guitar's ability to hold a constant pitch during tuning. The truss rod, a thin strong metal rod that runs along the inside of the neck, is used to correct changes to the neck's curvature caused by aging of the neck timbers, changes in humidity, or to compensate for changes in the tension of strings. Frets, which are metal strips embedded along the fretboard, are laid out to accomplish an equal tempered division of the octave, with the twelfth fret dividing the scale length exactly into two halves. The bridge holds the strings in place on the body, transferring the vibration from the strings to the soundboard, which vibrates the air inside of the guitar, thereby amplifying the sound produced by the strings. The saddle, the part of the bridge that physically supports the strings, is typically made of plastic or bone for acoustic guitars, though synthetics and some exotic animal tooth variations have become popular with some players.
The Tuning Of The Six Strings
By the 16th century, the guitar tuning of ADGBE had already been adopted in Western culture, and a lower E was later added on the bottom as a sixth string, resulting in the standard tuning known today as EADGBE. This tuning is a series of ascending fourths and a single major third from low to high, a configuration that is musically convenient and physically comfortable, easing the transition between fingering chords and playing scales. The irregularity of the major third between the second and third strings means that chords cannot be shifted around the fretboard in the standard tuning, requiring four chord-shapes for the major chords, whereas regular tunings have equal intervals between the strings and symmetrical scales all along the fretboard. Alternative tunings, such as open D, open G, and open A, are popular in blues music and folk music, and are used in the playing of slide and bottleneck guitars. The standard tuning has evolved to provide a good compromise between simple fingering for many chords and the ability to play common scales with reasonable left-hand movement, yet jazz guitarists and new guitarists often prefer regular tunings that simplify improvisation and chord movement. The pitches of the strings are precisely defined, with the first string tuned to E4 at 329.63 Hz and the sixth string tuned to E2 at 82.41 Hz, traversing a two-octave range that allows for a vast array of musical expression.
The Accessories And The Player's Hand
A capo, short for capotasto, is used to change the pitch of open strings, allowing players to play in different keys without having to change the chord formations they use, though they are sometimes referred to with pejorative names such as cheaters or the hillbilly crutch. Slides, hard smooth objects like steel bars or glass cylinders, are commonly used in country music or blues music to create a glissando effect made popular in Hawaiian music at the beginning of the 20th century. The guitar pick, or plectrum, is a small piece of hard material generally held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand, used to pick the strings, with variations existing in bone, wood, steel, or tortoise shell, though the practice of using tortoise shells for picks was banned as turtles became endangered. Straps, strips of material with an attachment mechanism on each end, are made to hold a guitar via the shoulders at an adjustable length, allowing for greater mobility and stage presence. The choice of accessories, from the thickness of the pick to the material of the slide, can dramatically alter the sound of the instrument, with a thinner pick used for strumming or rhythm playing and thicker picks used for single-note lines or lead playing. The distinctive guitar sound of Billy Gibbons is attributed to using a quarter or peso as a pick, while Brian May is known to use a sixpence coin as a pick, demonstrating how the player's choices can become part of the instrument's legacy.