Who invented the guitar? The history of a great instrument

In today’s article, we want to talk about one of the best-known instruments and also one of the most used in the composition of music around the world. Specifically, we are talking about the guitar as it has become one of the most popular instruments and is essential for any type of music. Although it is one of the best-known instruments, do you know who invented the guitar and how it has evolved over time? In today’s post, we will tell you everything!

Who invented the guitar? When and where was it invented?

To talk about the beginnings and the history of the guitar, we have to go back many years and although it is believed that there were many similar instruments, it is considered that the guitar appeared for the first time in ancient times. It is important to note that its origins are not exact since the specific origin is not known. Besides, it is necessary to take into account that over the years, the string instruments have evolved a lot and numerous variations have been created.

It is believed that the guitar comes from an even older instrument, known as the lyre, this guitar-like instrument began to be used in classical antiquity and it is estimated that it was created around 1500 BC and that it was the Greek poets who began to use it for accompanying their verses. As a consequence of this, specialized researchers affirmed that the guitar had been invited by the Hittites, a State of Antiquity.

It was not until years later, that the first signs of an instrument similar to the guitar appeared in Asia Minor and the Middle East since it was a musical instrument with strings and made up of a wooden box despite the fact that it did not have a neck.

Later, during the fourteenth century, relevant musicians of French origin began to create musical works where the term guitar appears, that is, guitar. And it was already in the 16th century that a large number of works and compositions on guitar began to be made, specifically, it began to be used in Spain.

Despite all that has been said, the creation of the current guitar is really associated with Gaetano Vinaccia around the 1770s. Later, Antonio Torres Jurado in 1850 made a change in the design of the mandolin, which was created by Gaetano Vinaccia in 1779 since this became the basis for later creating the modern classical guitar that we know today.

What Antonio Torres wanted with this change was to create the modern guitar which in the mid-nineteenth century became a very popular instrument thanks to the Spanish Francisco Tárrega. He created the modern school and adapted works by classical composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Haendel so that they could be played on guitar.

Who invented the electric guitar?

As we have mentioned, the guitar has evolved a lot since its creation and one of its great evolution is towards the electric guitar. If you think about it, today, there are just a few songs that do not have the sounds of an electric guitar among their melodies.

It is considered that the electric guitar arose as a necessity of the jazz bands of the United States, during the 1920s since the sound of acoustic guitars was not relevant in the compositions and it was only used as an accompaniment instrument.

Lloyd Loar, one of Gibson’s most important engineers, is believed to have been one of the first to experiment and test with the new sounds and thus began to work on pickups that were attached to the normal guitar. In 1922, the Gibson L-5 was released, one of the first amplified guitars, although at the moment, it was not considered an electric guitar.

From that moment, they worked to create the first electric guitar in all of history and this was not achieved until 1950. Leo Fender created the one known as the Fender Broadcaster, which was very successful and translated into great sales. Years later, and as a result of the great success, the second model was manufactured in 1954 and it probably became one of the most famous in history.

More fun facts about guitar history!

After all the information that we have discussed, we believe that it is important to highlight that each musical instrument in addition to having a history, has many curiosities around it. For this reason, we will comment on the most curious data on the origin of the guitar.

As mentioned, Francisco Tárrega made adaptations of songs already composed and Isaac Albéniz was surprised to hear his adaptations since they considered it to be even better.

In manufacturing, the type of wood used was key to achieving the expected result. Over the years, among the guitar makers, there were many investigations into which wood was the best and it was concluded that different types were necessary for each part of the guitar.