Guitar History

The history of the guitar dates back several thousand years and is often very hazy in the facts.

Who invented the guitar?

The earliest six-string guitar dates back to 1779 and was built by Gaetano Vinaccia in Italy.

Although there are other records of guitar-like musical instruments that date right back to the year 1265, No one can say for sure who invented the guitar and what year as there are so many theories and most instruments of these times only slightly resembled the modern guitar.

The modern guitar is thought to have descended from the Roman Cithara brought by the Romans to Hispania around 40AD.

To the right, we have a drawing from a Carolingian Psalter from the 9th Century, showing a guitar-like plucked instrument. This shows just how the shape and playing angles have evolved over time.

Here is a timeline of the recorded breakthroughs in guitar invention.

- 1265
Juan Gil of Zamora mentions the early guitar in “Ars Musica”

- 1306
A “gitarer” was played at the Feast of Westminister in England.

- 1546
“Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela” by Alonso Mudarra is the first publication to include music for guitar.

- 1770-1800
A sixth string was added to the guitar and the courses were replaced by single strings.

- 1850-1892
Guitar maker Antonio de Torres develops the larger more resonant instrument we know today.

- 1946
Nylon replaces gut as a string material

The guitar has ancient roots, and is used in a variety of musical styles. The common guitar will have 6 strings, however, 4,7,8,10,11,12,13 and even 18 string guitars, have existed.

Originally, guitars were constructed with a variety of woods and animal guts were used as the strings. Today, however, nylon or steel strings are used.

The spanish Vihuela, a guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries is often considered an important influence on the development of the modern guitar.

The Vinaccia family of luthiers (those who make and repair guitars) were known for inventing the Mandolin and may very well have built one of the oldest surviving six string guitar. Gaetano Vinaccia has his signature on the back of a guitar built in Naples, Italy, with the date being 1779. Just goes to show how far back guitars really went.  Or does it? The following timeline shows some earlier dates of the guitar and how it grew.
Ok, so we now we know some history of the Guitar, lets have a quick look at it’s construction and components.

Guitars are made to meet the needs of both right and left handed players. Originally, the dominant hand is assigned to plucking or strumming the strings. For the majority of people, this entails using the right hand. Why? Because musical expression is largely determined by the strumming hand, while the fretting hand has the task of the depressing and gripping the strings.

The headstock is located at the very end of the guitars neck, furthest from the body. Fitted with machine heads, they adjust the tension in the strings, which affects the pitch.

The nut has been produced from bone, plastic, brass, corian, graphite, stainless steel or other medium to hard materials. The nut is at the joint where the headstock meets the fretboard. Its grooves guide the strings onto the fretboard.

Also called the fingerboard, the fretboard is a piece of wood embedded with metal frets that comprises the top of the neck. It is completely flat on classical guitars, and very slightly curved on acoustic and electric guitars.

Frets are metal strips embedded along the fretboard, and found at exact points that divide the slace length in accordance with a a specific mathematical formula. Pressing a string against a fret will determine the length of vibration, and it’s resultant pitch.

Over time, it became apparent during the Big Band Era, that they were in need of an amplified guitar. So here is a brief overview of how the electric guitar came about.

They were originally designed by a mix of luthiers, guitar makers, electronic enthusiasts and instrument manufacturers. Les Paul, a famous guitar innovator first experimented with microphones attached the the actual guitar. One of the earliest electric guitars adpated hollow bodied acoustic instruments and used tungsten pickups. This particular type of guitar was first manufactured in 1932 by Electro String Instrument Corporation in Los Santos under the direction of Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp.

The earliest documented performance with an electrically amplified guitar was in 1932, by guitarist and bandleader, Gage Brewer.

The version of electric guitar that is best known today is the solid bodied electric guitar made of solid wood, with no resonating airspaces within itself. Rickenbacker offered a cast aluminum electric steel guitar nicknamed the frying pan (pictured left)

Another early solid bodied guitar, which is one of the most famous electric guitars today, was invented by Les Paul in the 1940’s after staying back and working overtime in the Epiphone Guitar Factory.

The classical guitar was made famous by John Williams, who still regularly plays in concert.

However, the person to make the electric guitar truly famous, was none other then Jimmi Hendrix. His recordings are still popular and are available to buy today.

So you know you know the basic concepts of the guitar, how it came about, how it is made, and who made it famous, explore the website further to find out even more. If you’re here to learn or here to just have a look, there will be something here to satisfy your needs.

If you wish to know more, see the history of the acoustic guitar or the history of the electric guitar page.