The Guitar Story: From Ancient to Modern Times

By Bob Fetherolf

The Guitar Story is an in depth look at the evolution of the guitar from it's humble and ancient beginnings, through the formative years, and into the twenty first century. From the legends and biographies of the guitars old world heroes and modern guitar heroes, to guitar makers like Stradivarius, C.F. Martin and Leo Fender, it's all here! This book will also delve into the inner workings of the guitar, both acoustic and electric, exploring the "hows and whys" of the guitar's construction and popular sound. Then, as an added bonus, the book will investigate the guitars "tone-woods", the art of the flamenco guitar, the tremendous effect the guitar has had on the world, and some other fun facts and figures of guitar lore. Author Robert Fetherolf has earned a B.A in classical guitar, a Masters degree in music, and an advanced teaching credential in music as well. He has taught in public and private schools throughout southern California and abroad.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jan 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483516837

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Introduction

This Guitar Story is a detailed and fascinating look at the evolution of what has become arguably the most popular instrument in the world. The information contained here has been collected from the best and latest sources available to date, as well as a lifetime relationship with the guitar that often left little room for anything else. This book is the short story version of the evolution of the guitar which includes all of it’s important historical developments. Also, as a bonus, are articles included in part two and three with biographies of legendary and historic guitarists, how the guitar works, what types of guitars are available today (including their similarities and differences), some interesting information on the woods guitars are built from (tone-woods), and how the guitar has changed the world. Finally concluding with some stories of infamous guitar lore, modern era guitar legends, and other fun facts and figures.

As a child, I fell in love with the guitar the first time I heard one. My grandmother bought me a steel string acoustic guitar on my eleventh birthday, and it was a day I will always remember. There were, during those times, powerful new forces and sounds that were being closely listened to on the radio and watched on the latest electronic invention called the color television. With eyes and ears wide open, it was beyond captivating. The time was the mid nineteen sixties and guitar slinging troubadours like Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and a host of other were not only changing my world with their six string magic, but the rest of the world as well. These new guitar heroes were writing and singing songs that strongly influenced social and political changes from civil rights issues to anti war attitudes, fashion and more!

As time marched on ever so quickly, I found myself drawn into a wondrous and exciting musical universe and left my childhood behind. Over the many years, I have spent a lifetime playing, performing, and studying the guitar as did many of my friends and colleagues. As a professional guitarist, I traveled much of the world and those memories have made made me a wealthy soul. I am eternally grateful for that. Eventually, I entered the academic world of music, achieved college degrees and taught music and guitar, and became fascinated with the guitar’s place in music history. I hope I can share and impart to you some of my enthusiasm and fascination of guitar history. In closing, I ask could you imagine the world without guitars? As if to say, that they never existed? Hard to imagine, right? Think about that for a moment and then proceed with this read. So now, without further adieu, lets begin this important investigation. We will start more or less at the beginning.

The Guitar Story: The Origin of the Guitar

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in many lands both near and far, the ancestors of the modern guitar were being invented, developed and performed. And as the world turned, through the centuries, a love affair with early ancient and primitive stringed instruments evolved eventually into a world-wide passion with what we now recognize as the modern guitar. How the final design of the guitar arrived to us, from the ancient world, to the Spanish guitar of the early renaissance, and on through to the flashy electric guitar of the latter twentieth century, is what this story (part one) is all about. Now, everybody loves a mystery right? Well there is still some mystery permeating the details of the guitars exact origin, but there is a lot we do know about it. For instance it is widely known that, in one form or another, stringed instruments remotely resembling the guitar were popular in ancient times in Persia, Egypt, Central Asia, India, Scandinavia, Rome and elsewhere. And it is generally accepted that the modern guitar of today evolved from an instrument called a Lute whose predecessor, the Oud, had been brought to Spain during the Moorish invasion of the year 711 A.D. But whether the guitars’ predecessor was introduced by the Moors or the Romans, it eventually became the prominent feature of musical life in Spain.

When the Moors were driven from Spain in 1492, they left behind an inspired legacy of music and architecture. In the Moors absence, popularity moved from the Oud to the Lute not only in Spain, but in the courts of medieval Europe. Apparently people were getting as excited about their Lutes as I did about my twentieth century guitar. During those times the music of the Lute had been magnificently described as a bridge between the material and celestial worlds. Yet there were problems with it’s expense, it’s maintenance, and it’s constant tuning difficulties. There were at least two other varieties of guitar type instruments in the Spanish communities since the thirteenth century as well. They were the Guitarra Latino and the Vihuela. So we see at this point the modern guitar was not invented on any particular date, but was a continuing work in progress throughout the course of some time.

Now, not so surprisingly, there were guitar heroes long before our twentieth century. The serenade runs deep in the guitar story. In Spain, roving bands of musicians called Tunas, playing stringed instruments, were 12th century traveling minstrels that were in the business of seduction. Modern day serenaders are plentiful and almost always with a guitar. By the nineteenth century, most of the early known guitar heroes were Spanish and Italian. Aside from their home countries, they were also very popular in other European countries as well where they often toured, popularized, and vitalized local interest in the guitar. One such guitar hero, Fernando Sor, (born in Barcelona, 1778, died in Paris, 1839) was one of the most extraordinary performers and composers of the guitar. He was an excellent example of a touring guitarist who prolonged the influence and popularity of the classical guitar. Now fast forward to the twentieth century and we have another guitar hero, Andre Segovia, the twentieth century maestro. He is considered the father of modern classical guitar. There will be more discussion of him to come.

All of this guitar evolution and expansion exploded into a new era in the mid twentieth century with the advent of the electric guitar. Blues, country, folk, jazz and rock and roll music as well evolved around and because of the guitar, and those musical traditions still exists today. And as the first guitars arrived in the Americas (north and south), by conquering Spanish missionaries and soldiers, it has flourished here in the west like nowhere else in world. It has truly become the voice of the people.

Growing Popularity in the Twentieth Century

Growing adulation of the guitar in early twentieth century America, fueled by the growing popularity of folk music and country western music, led to a demand for louder and more percussive guitars. And electronic amplification was one of the most successful innovations for building a louder guitar. But hold on, rock and roll hadn’t arrived just yet! Some of the earliest electronic experiments from the 1920s and 1930s involved simply attaching a pickup to an acoustic guitar. These electric-acoustic guitars were called hollow-body electric guitars. Early electric guitarists found themselves taking over rhythm section positions in popular and dixieland jazz groups (or just creating a new instrumental addition in these early groups). Such was the case of a young jazz guitarist named Charlie Christian (credited as the first well known electric guitarist) who became a spotlighted soloist in a well known jazz group led by Benny Goodman in the 1940s.

Yet there were still problems that needed to be worked out. There was a lot of unwanted noise and amplification problems with these guitars. The development of the modern electric solid-body guitar in the nineteen thirties and forties began to take shape and found it’s place in popular music in the United States. The new design had a solid, non-resonant body which removed much of the unwanted feedback of the hollow-body electrics. The sound of its strings were both amplified and manipulated electronically by the performer. American musician, inventor, entertainer and recording genius Les Paul developed prototypes for the solid-bodied electric guitar (he also developed multi-track studio recording) and played a large part in the popularization of the new electric guitar.

Also in the early 1940s, a California inventor, Leo Fender, made some custom guitars and amplifiers in his radio shop. The total electric guitar package he promoted was an amplifier (no controls) and a matching lap steel guitar (with tone and volume controls). More on this too follow ! Now, if you want to see a mix things up, ask a few guitarists in the same room who invented the electric guitar and see what they have to say! With Leo Fenders’ knowledge of existing technologies, in 1948 he developed the legendary Telecaster (originally named the Broadcaster) that was named with another new invention in mind; the television!. Eventually the Telecaster became the first solid body electric Spanish-style guitar to ever to go into commercial production. And the rest is guitar history. Now, lets go back to the beginning.

The Development of Early Stringed Instruments

The above picture might actually be a recreation of the very first conga line! But one thing is certain; they are all strumming acoustic instruments (non electric), and all of these acoustic stringed instruments shared certain attributes. The earliest of them had one or more strings stretched and secured at two points, usually mounted on a single body, utilizing a hollow chamber resonator to amplify the sound of vibrating strings. Babylonian clay plaques depicting nude figures playing instruments have been discovered that bear a general resemblance to the guitar. Of course, this is far too early for us to expect it to look exactly like the guitars of today, but they did have strings and a look resembling a guitar with a similar body and neck.

Many of the early examples appearing around 2500 B.C. on were known to have been used in India and Central Asia, and were more or less related to the harp. The instruments with more guitar type features appeared about five hundred years later in Egypt, with strings stretched across a straight neck allowing, which allowed compression of strings along the neck’s length to create different notes. It had carefully marked frets possibly made of gut, wound around the neck. An instrument was also found in an Egyptian tomb dating back to around 30 B.C.- 400 A.D. The sides had deeper curves than the older instruments, the back had become completely flat (instead of curving upward to meet the soundboard) and the two surfaces, back and front, were attached to each other with strips of wood that form the sides of the sound box, much like today’s guitars.

Meanwhile, in Rome, the instrument had been thriving and developing more and more into the basic guitar shape. They began to construct the entire instrument, including the soundboards, out of wood ( previously made out of rawhide). This made the instrument firmer because the materials were stronger. Sometime around 40 AD, the Romans made their entrance into Spain. With the Romans came with a musical instrument known as a Cithara. The Cithara (notice similar pronunciation to guitarra - guitar) was a type of Lyre, but it was typically played by professional musicians. It had a wooden sounding box made of two tables connected by ribs. Above the box was a tuning bar, and the strings were stretched from the tuning bar to a tail piece on the box. Notes were played by strumming strings with one hand, while using the other hand to deaden the unwanted strings.

The Naming of the Guitar

Now, the naming of the guitar was a puzzle not nearly as hard to put together as other historical facts about the guitar. As to how the naming of the modern "guitar" was adopted, the fact is the word has been applied to a wide variety of chordophones since ancient times. A chordophone is any musical instrument that makes sound by way of a vibrating string or strings stretched between two points. The English word guitar, the German gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted from the Spanish word guitarra, which comes from the Andalusian Arabic qitara, itself derived from the Latin cithara. Cithara had, in turn come from the ancient Greek kithara, and is thought to ultimately trace back to the Old Persian language Tar, which means string in Persian.

The first known European stringed instrument dates back to the third century. It had a round sound box that tapers into a wide neck, similar to the lute. A second instrument had also been invented called the Carolingian instrument, getting its name from the era in which it was conceived. It was a rectangular shaped instrument with strings. Finally another instrument develops side by side with the Carolingian and its straight sides were starting to give way to slight curves. With no standard to follow in ancient times, stringed instrument designs took a number of routes. While the harp remained autonomous in its own development, stringed instruments using necks appeared in myriad forms in most every country.

Kithara

African Single Neck

Chinese Lute

Oud

The Guitars Arrival to Spain

Perhaps the most direct ancestor of the guitar was the Oud, which was brought to Spain by the Moors in medieval times. Similar to a modern mandolin, the Oud featured a fretless neck and a number of doubled string sets. Eventually the instrument was enhanced and refined, frets were added to the neck, and the Lute was born. The Lute and Oud were important stepping-stones, as the design was a recognized platform on which other stringed instruments would be created. The pear-shaped body of the Oud was flat on the front, and bowl-shaped on the back, and it usually had more than one sounding hole. At that time, the most common Oud had only four strings, and the neck was not fretted. Tuning was done by turning the pegboard keys. Both the Oud and the Cithara were played with a pick, although the Oud could also be played with slide and vibrato. Eventually, the Cithara and the Oud were combined into two instruments: the Moorish guitar and the Latin guitar. The Moorish guitar retained the rounded back, multiple sound holes and wide fingerboard of the Oud. The Latin guitar, on the other hand, had a more narrow neck, a flat back and one sound hole.

The Renaissance Era

The Renaissance Era spanned the period roughly from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. It found it’s beginning in Italy in the late middle ages and eventually spread to the rest of Europe. As in the other arts, the music of the period was significantly influenced by the developments of it’s time. These include the rise of humanistic thought; the recovery of the literary and artistic heritage of ancient Greece and Rome; increased innovation and discovery; and the Protestant Reformation just to name a few. As well, the development of printing made the distribution of music possible on a wide scale. During this era guitar-like instruments were being produced with attributes and styling very similar to today’s instruments. Although still based on the Lute, instruments with larger bodies and longer necks began to appear. The familiar rounded body shape with central sound hole also began to take form. As the design took hold, more frets and strings were added. Instruments of this period had four or five courses or sets of strings. A sixth course was added in the seventeenth century, and the modern guitar design was essentially born with the Italian Guitarra Battente and the Spanish Chittara.

Still, during the Renaissance, the guitar never had the respect the lute enjoyed and it was not considered a serious instrument. Eventually, the guitar began to entice players, and guitar oriented publications and printed music began to appear. Luis de Milán was a Spanish Renaissance Composer and Vihuelist that was the first in history to publish music for the Vihuela de Mano, an instrument used primarily in the Iberian peninsula and some of the Italian states during the 15th and 16th centuries. He was also one of the first musicians to specify tempo indications in his music. On the use of these guitar like instruments, I personally find it fascinating that royals (kings, queens and their royal court members) often had guitar and lute music playing by the local court musician when they addressed and spoke about important issues, political and otherwise, as the background music often lended an atmosphere of the metaphysical, or at the very least, gave a feeling of importance to their messages.

The Baroque and Pre-Classic Eras

The Baroque Era was a period of artistic style that used exaggerated motion and detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, architecture, literature, dance and music. The style began around 1600 in Rome, Italy and spread to most of Europe. Baroque music is a style of art music composed from approximately 1600-1750. This era follows the Renaissance, and was followed in turn by the Classical Era. Interest in the guitar varied from country to country during the Baroque and Pre-Classic eras. The guitar was popular in France at the time of Louis XIV and the King was an enthusiastic player, as was Charles II of England, yet during the high Baroque era there was still a preference for the temperamental Lute. This was a preference shared by the Baroque master composer Johann Sebastian Bach as well. Yet the delicate tonal properties of the Lute made tuning difficulties a constant, which probably added to the late Classic eras redesigned guitar’s popularity.

Changes in the guitar’s construction and stringing would continue to evolve in the later eighteenth century, but Baroque guitars usually consisted of five double courses (ten strings, two for each pitch). England’s guitar in the early part of the eighteenth century, with its five double strings suffered a decline in popular interest, being supplanted by a revival of the ancient Cittern: a small wire string instrument sounding somewhat like a mandolin. The Cittern became known as the English guitar, which has served to confuse some historians. There is a