The Guitar History. Speaking of ancient history.....

Guitar history goes back 5000 years.
For an easy overview go to guitar history timeline.

Did you know the guitar truly has ancient roots?
Little sculptures playing guitar like instruments have been found in Iran and were dated to 2000 B.C. But archaeologists believe similar instruments have been “in style” for at least 5000 years. Although they are still debating on this one for there are no facts to confirm this idea.

It started in Asia.
The mother of all guitars comes from ancient India and central Asia. It was called Sitara. They still have a stringed instrument called sitar.

Around 1400 BC a similar shaped instrument like ours was played by the Hittites. Although the shape was comparable it only had four strings. The Greeks also had such an instrument which was modified by the Romans and became known as the cithara.

By 1200 AD there were two types of guitars. As it were violent times for musicians they had to be able to defend them selfs so his guitar was either made out of solid rock or stainless steel. They were called guisword or guitarclub. And abruptly the guitar history ended.

And now seriously! One type was known as the Moorish guitar and the other as the Latin guitar. They were very different. The Moorish guitar had several soundholes and a rounded back. The Latin guitar looked more like our current guitar.

In the late 1400's a new guitar evolved. We know it as the vihuela. It sounds more like a prehistoric fish to me but it actually was a very large instrument with a lot of strings. This vihuela and another guitar like instrument called the lute were very popular until the late 1600's. Although they produced great sounds, their size made them simply to hard to play and tune.

Smaller sized guitars became hot again and guitar evolution was back on route to our modern guitar.

By the beginning of the 1800's more and more adaptations appear that makes it a true guitar. Tuning pegs, fan struts,…..The classical guitar was born. By the late 1800's even more improvements were add by a guy named Antonio Torres Jurado.

The guitar this guy made, we call the modern guitar.

History of the electric guitar.
Some types of guitar have a more recent history. After some experiments with microphones, the first manufactured electric guitar appeared in 1931. The earliest documented use of the electric guitar on stage was during 1932. Please join me on the electric guitar history page to learn more about this subject.

Books on guitar history
Although you can read a lot on the Internet about the guitar's history nothing can compete with a real book. You can sit back in your lazy chair with your favorite soda and read about the guitar.

I've made a special - books on guitar history - page to put all my related links in. I'll meet you there.