A Brief History of the Guitar

Getting yourself to know and appreciate theancient period when people used bowl harps and
history of the guitar maynot be essential in ordertanburs. In fact,several museums across the
to learn and master guitar. Although it is inno wayworld have these instruments on their displaythat
going to promote you into a flawless guitarist, butwere obtained from the ruins of ancient
yet, manypeople feel it is important to learn &Sumerian, Babylonian,
master guitar because it gives youa more distinctEgyptian, Persian and Mesopotamian civilizations
and an all-encompassing perspective aboutindicating that stringedinstruments were widely
theinstrument, its evolution, and its musicians, etcpopular in that period too. Guitar seems to
all of which together explainthe meaning of beinghaveoriginated during this period only. In fact, the
a true musician. So, when you play the guitarnextoldest guitar thatwas identified belonged to the
time, you do it from your soul and notEgyptian singer Har-Mose who lived duringthe reign
mechanically, devoid of allpassion.of Queen Hatshepsut.
Experts consider guitar as one of the mostHistorians believe that the ancestors of guitar
ancient musical instrumentsin this world thatcame from Egypt and
seems to have originated some 4000 years ago.Mesopotamia to Europe. Earliest guitar-like
Infact, there are innumerable and interestinginstruments present during themedieval period
theories regarding theevolution of this instrument.used to have a four-course arrangement.
While some consider guitar to have originatedfromTheseinstruments became very much popular
the lute, there are others who believe that guitarduring the later medieval or the earlyrenaissance
is a modern formof the ancient Greek Kithara.period. It was during the 16th century when the
Also, the word "guitar" is believed as anadaptationfive-coursestring guitars or guitarra battente
of the Greek word "Kithara" and the Spanishcame into existence, primarily in
wordItaly and surrounding regions. A sixth course was
"Guitarra". However, the fact is that none of thethen added to thefive-string guitarra battente in
theories hold any substance, asper Dr. Michaelthe 17th century. This trend was thenfollowed all
Kasha. According to him, evolution of guitarover the Europe. Six-course arrangement then
doesn'thave any influence of lute and kithara.graduallytransformed into a six-string guitar during
Guitar belongs to stringed group of instruments.the 18th century. Steel string andelectric guitars
As per availablearchaeological evidences, stringedwere introduced by the end of 19th and starting
group of instruments were in existencesinceof 20thcentury.