Guitar Instrument: The Journey From Origin To Innovations

By Author: micheljordan4
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Perhaps, you have been a guitar player for quite some time. Or, you are planning to learn this iconic string instrument. And before that, you are looking for some interesting facts about it like the origin of the guitar, innovations around it, world records, and similar details. Right? Great! You have come to the right page. In this blog, we have covered some must-know facts about the guitar. Hopefully, it will satiate your quest for knowledge. Let's get started!

Where did guitars come from?

Guitar-based music first came into being in the latter part of the 1800s. Spain was the place where these stringed instruments were first seen. In Spains, guitars replace vihuela, a lute-type musical instrument. Still (back then), guitars were deemed amateurish by heavy-weight performers. At that time, as they called it, Real Performers or Professional Musicians played the violin, flute, or piano.

When and how did the scene change?

However, this scenario changed in the early 1900s, or you can say in the late 19th century. It happened when maestros like Andrés Segovia and Franciso Tárrega fetched guitars from ...
... the down and out category and carried them into the band or orchestra. Segovia and Tárrega made these strings worthy by adapting them into the works of influential composers in the history of music like Mozart and Bach.

Soon, guitars broke all the boundaries of confinement of Classical and Baroque music and never saw back.

Were guitars rhythm instruments earlier?

Initially, guitars were regarded as rhythm musical instruments (to be precise). At that time, this musical instrument had to follow the singer (the key they were in). Not the vice-versa.

The virtuoso classical guitarist from Spain, Andrés Segovia, also motivated the musicians of the new generation, including Heitor to use guitar in their compositions.

Did you know the facts?

Did you know what added to the popularity of the guitar during that time? The cost and size of this guitar. This string instrument was more portable and less expensive than pianos. These were indeed some added advantages.

Also, do you know how many musicians play the guitar worldwide? There are a whopping 50 million guitarists across the globe. This figure includes bass, acoustic, and electric guitarists. A 2018 study says that as many as 50% of the budding guitar players are women.

Wow! Guitars were and are truly loved by all. Therefore, if you own this musical gear, make sure to protect it by getting a comprehensive Guitar Insurance plan.

The origin of guitars

Our lovely relationship with this string musical instrument is not very old. It was just 150 years back. Want to know more about its history? Here you go!

The word guitar finds its roots in the world's old language, 'Sanskrit'. The 'guitar' is an 'English' word, derived from a 'Spanish' word, 'Guitarra' (medieval lute). And, Guitarra dates even before that. There are many chordophones from places like central, south, or west Asia that come with a suffix, 'Tar'. In Sanskrit, the meaning of Tar is String. So, it is all related in that way.

Did you know the facts?

The oldest musical instrument resembling a guitar came from Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Around 3500 years ago, Har-Mose, a singer, was buried with a chordophone that had three strings.

This ancient guitar can be found in Cairo's Egyptian Museum.

And the innovations began!

There are a lot of innovations made around guitars that constantly led the hardware, designs, and tones of these string instruments to evolve. Did you know when the world saw its first electric guitar? It was in the year 1931.

George Beauchamp, a musical instrument inventor from America, and Adolph Rickenbacker, a Swiss-American electrical engineer, joined hands to design a new model of guitar that the players can amplify electrically. And, the Rickenbacker Electro A-22 (Frying Pan) was created.

Although George Beauchamp made an application for a patent in the year 1932, he did not get it for five years (until 1937). In the meantime, Gibson had released their ES-150 already. It was a hollow body guitar.

In 1951, Broadcaster or Fender Telecaster mass-produced their solid-body guitar.

And, then the series of innovations began.

These are some of the facts about the guitar that every music enthusiast should know. Most importantly, with such an interesting and rich history, every guitar deserves an all-encompassing Guitar Insurance plan.