A Brief History Of The Guitar

The origins of the instrument go as far back as 5,000 years. The guitar evolved from its ancestor, the Sitar, an instrument still in use today, whose origins are widely and correctly associated with India, but the Sitar was also in use in Asia many years ago. Some of the cultures that "got their groove on" were the Hittites, the Romans and the Moors.


The modern guitar started its long, structural journey with the Roman's Cithara, which was brought to Hispania around 40 AD. It was from here developed into the 4 string Oud by the Moors, some time during the 8th century. We must assume that there was a Samash-like store that existed, because the instrument really caught on.

The 6 string Scandinavian Lute became quite popular in areas of Viking conquest. The Norse Hero Gunther has made appearances in carvings, playing this instrument with his toes.


The Scandinavian Lute.

By this point, the Moors had developed an instrument called the guitarra morisca, which had a very wide neck and several sound holes. This was from here, refined into an instrument known as the guitarra latina, which had a narrower neck and one sound hole. The guitarra latina is the closest instrument to the modern day guitar.

The guitar was from this point, refined even more by a man named Antonio Torres Jurado, in Seville during the 1850's.

Finally, the journey of the modern guitar was concluded with an electric form, developed by a man named George Beauchamp in 1936. Beauchamp founded Rickenbacher.

It was Danelectro that made the electric guitar widely public and made possible, the instrument that most of us play on today.