Facts about the Guitar.

• The ancestors of the modern guitar can be traced back to the stringed instruments played across Central Asia and India, in ancient times.
• The oldest iconographic representation of the strumming instrument is a 3,000-year-old carving of a Hittite or ancient Anatolian bard playing the instrument.
• The instrument is believed to have descended from the cithara brought to Hispania by the Romans, in 40 CE.
• The various references to the guitar in ancient times included guitarra, gitarre, guitare, qitara, cithara, kithara, and sihtar.
• Traditionally, they were constructed with combinations of various woods. The strings were made of animal gut.
• The musical instrument has a mention in records maintained by the Moors, Viking incursions, and in traditional Norse carvings.
• Dimension standards of the modern stringed instrument were established by Antonio Torres Jurado, between 1817 and 1892.

• The various brands of guitars comprise PRS, Dean, Gretsch, Gibson, Ibanez, Jackson, Schecter, and Fender and Martin.
• Classical guitars are typically strung with nylon strings. They have a wide, flat neck for least string interference with scales and arpeggios.
• The Yepes 10-string guitar flaunts four resonators that work in unison with all 12 chromatic notes, to enhance and balance sonority.
• Archtop guitars are carved in a curve rather than the traditional flat shape. They are equipped with magnetic pickups and flat-wound strings.
• Electric guitars are fitted with electromagnetic pickups to convert string vibrations into electrical signals. These are then fed into an amplifier and modified via vacuum tubes.
• Guitars can be constructed for left- and right-handed players. The features are modified accordingly, to enhance the dynamics and tonal expressions.
• Renaissance and Baroque guitars are usually used as rhythm instruments.
• Guitars are designed, constructed, and repaired by luthiers.
• An acoustic guitar emits sound via a soundboard, typically a wooden mount on the front of the design. The subcategories of acoustic guitars include classical and flamenco versions.
• Flat-top or steel-string guitars have reinforced necks that are narrower with a strong structural design. They are an integral part of Folk, Jazz, Country, Bluegrass, Blues, and Pop music.

The basic guitar design typically comprises:

• Headstock, at the end of the guitar neck.
• Neck, comprising frets, tuners, fretboard, headstock, and truss rod.
• Nut, a small strip of any hard material at the headstock-fretboard juncture.
• Fretboard or fingerboard.
• Frets, metal strips embedded on the fretboard.
• Truss rod, a metal rod along the inside of the neck.
• Strings made from metal or polymer materials.
• Inlays, visual elements along the exterior surface.

Guitar accessories comprise:

• Capotasto, to open up string pitch.
• Slides, to generate the glissando effect.
• Plectrum, to ‘pick’ the strings.

The guitar is a versatile musical instrument. It enables the composition of complex harmonies and precise intonation. It is a popular choice of musicians dedicated to different music genres for the musical embellishments it promotes, such as slides, bends, and harmonics

Also published on Medium.