Justin Arbaugh
English 9
Mr. Hindt
October 31, 2018
Guitars and Guitarists
“Finding ways to use the same guitar people have been using for 50 years to make sounds that no one has heard before is truly what [excites] me,” said Jeff Beck while talking about how he creates music. The history of early and modern guitars, how they were played and favored, also different guitarists and guitar manufacturers.
With an unknown date the first guitar like instrument is the bow harp. Like the name implies, it is a bow with three strings that was plucked to make the sound ( Alves, Júlio Ribeiro. The History of the Guitar: Its Origins and Evolution. Huntington, 2015. ). Then many years later an instrument that majorly inspired the creation of the acoustic guitars of today was made in the renaissance and it was the vihuela , the four course guitar, and finally the lute ( Alves, Júlio Ribeiro. The History of the Guitar: Its Origins and Evolution. Huntington, 2015.
) . 1520’s was the era that the first modern like acoustic guitars it had six strings made out of the guts from a cow and was played by picking or plucking the strings ( Alves, Júlio Ribeiro. The History of the Guitar: Its Origins and Evolution. Huntington, 2015.
) . Unlike the earlier guitars that used a bow to create the sounding of the strings( Alves, Júlio Ribeiro. The History of the Guitar: Its Origins and Evolution. Huntington, 2015.
) .In the year 1600, the guitar in this time period was becoming popular and started to rival the lute and the five string guitar which replaced the six string guitar, and the four string guitar which was guitar was popular with lower class( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/).
Because of the invention of the piano, there was very little work put into improving the guitar. 1750 – 1780 Popularity for the single stringed guitars rose over the course stringed guitars also composers who played the guitar were performing and were instructing students to play the guitars which then increased the guitar in popularity once again ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). The earliest existing six stringed guitar was made in 1779 by Gaetano Vinaccia (https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ) . In 1825 was getting close to the invention of the modern acoustic guitar( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). This guitar was the foundation for the modern acoustic guitar and was made by François René Lacote in France. This version was a smaller version of the present day guitar ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ).
In 1837 the model was enlarged and improved. One improvement was the pattern of fan bracing. This was made by Luthier Antonio Torres Jurado. His works created the standard classical guitar(https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ) . In 1842, C.F Martin, Sr created a bracing called the X bracing which gave support to the guitar top ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). Manuel Torres begin improving the acoustic guitar in 1850 ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). Finally, in 1854 Martin created the 0 model ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). In 1922 Lloyd Loar works on the electrostatic pickups to make the vibrations of the guitar louder ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). In 1925 Loar helped redesign the carved archtop guitar by creating the F series mandolin and L series of guitars( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). The resonator guitar was made in 1927 by John Dopyera. In the same year, Gibson created the first signature series guitar for Nick Lucas ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ).
The OM sized and scaled flat top guitar was created by Martin as well as the fourteen fret neck body intersection in 1929 ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). By Adolph Rickenbacker in 1931 creates the first working electric guitar and in the next year the first amp was introduced ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). As well the electric pickups became popular in 1933 and in 1946 nylon strings replaces strings made out of guts and les Paul tries to sell the semi-solid guitars ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ) . Les Paul asked by Paul Adelburt Bigsby to build a solid body guitar this was a spark for the evolution of the design of the modern electric guitar ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ).
Fender created a prototype for their electric guitar and named it the broadcaster in 1949 also in 1950 the fender telecaster was introduced ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). 1954 the Stratocaster was designed and is introduced made by fender this guitar helped build rock and roll and boomed to popularity for the electric guitar as this guitar is still produced and used today ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ). In 1957 the first humbucker named the PAF was invented by Seth lover ( https://acousticmusic.org/research/history/timeline-of-musical-styles-guitar-history/ ).
As a result got to explain about the different guitars used today and what they are designed also made from , how they are played , and what it is made for and played for. Guitars can be modified to they can have different components , bigger or smaller, and different design and guitars has many things that are different from each other so I’ll go over the most common and standard design of each guitar. In addition I’ll go over the acoustic guitar, the electric guitar, the bass guitar, the 12 string guitar, arch top guitars, and resonator guitars.
First the acoustic guitar they are usually made from mahogany wood and spruce wood the body from mahogany and the tops and neck is made from spruce in the body. The body is shaped like a oval in the middle bit to the top a it curves in with a hole between the neck and the bridge and neck usually 24 to 25.5 inches long and the head is rectangular also It has six strings . Most commonly played with chords with fingers or a pick played for classical ,country, pop, blues, bluegrass, and folk and was made for classical music.
The arch top guitars also known as the jazz guitars the body is made with mahogany or maple and the neck and top is made of spruce. Like the acoustic guitar the body is shaped like a oval and it has the curve in the middle and has the f holes on each side from the bridge 24 to 25.5 inch long neck and has six strings played with fingers or picks . Played for Jazz and blues originally made for a guitar to have a design like a cello or a violin .
The 12 stringed guitar just like the acoustic guitar but it as 12 strings and six courses meaning 2 strings for every course . What makes a course there would 2 strings or more close together is is played by picking the 2 strings or more at the same time and creates harmony. Has a neck length of 25.5 inches and is popularly played for blues ,rock, and folk and made to play with more of a harmonic sounds you play it using your fingers or a pick.
The resonator guitar body is an oval with the curve in the middle with f holes on each side of the bottom of the fretboard . To the bottom of the face side of the body there’s a disc with a hole in the middle of it and other holes around the other hole which it is under the string also the body is made from mahogany. The neck is 25.5 inches long played for live performance as the guitar amplify the sound to play use fingers and pick.
The bass guitar’s body is shaped like an oval with the curve in the middle and a steep curve into the top has a pick gard underneath the strings and has pickups under the strings with a volume and tone knob and a input. The bass guitar is played for a lot of genres of music here’s a list of some I know rock,blues,bluegrass,metal,jazz,pop,funk,and country played with fingers but there are many other ways to play them.
The electric guitar’s body is shaped like a oval with a curve in the middle and a steep curve into the top has a pick guard underneath the strings and has pickups under the strings with the volume and tone knob and a input and is played for rock,metal,jazz,pop,funk,country,blues,bluegrass and was made to amplify the guitar played with fingers or a pick.
The guitarists and guitar manufacturers that help inspire the popularity of the guitar and the evolution.