A Brief History of Guitars
The Early Years
When I began my research into the history of the guitar, I figured that
guitars had been around for at least a thousand years. I was surprised to discover
that in fact, although instruments similar to the guitar had been around since
ancient times, the guitar really didn't rise into popularity until really the
17th century, although different sources report this differently.
The guitar is believed to have originated in Spain. In its early times, the guitar
was not respected as a musical instrument. It was often referred to as a "tavern"
instrument, and it was often played by the less-wealthy people. The guitar rose to some
slight popularity in this time, but it was really celebrated after the work of
Francisco Tarrega in the late 1800s, who created new compositions and methods for teaching guitar.
He influenced many other guitarists including Segovia. Segovia is credited as bringing
world renown to the guitar by travelling and performing.i
The Electric Years
The guitar's body style changed much over the early years, with gradual changes in the
size and style of guitars. Soon, though, the concern of sound became important. Acoustic
guitars were not very loud. In the 1920's, pickups were invented by Gibson to "pick up"
and amplify the sound of the guitar. Some complained that this was not a good enough
solution to the sound problem, and that the sound quality after using pick-ups was reduced.
In 1935, the first electric guitar was produced by Gibson. It was called the ES-150,
which stood for Electro Spanish, 150 dollars (the price). This electric guitar became extremely
popular with jazz musicians like Charlie Christian.
Althought the ES-150 was very popular, it still had some problems with sound due to its hollow body.
Guitarist Les Paul thought that the answer to this problem may be to create a
solid-body electric guitar, which is what most people think of today when they
think of an electric guitar. Les Paul tried to sell his idea to Gibson, THE name in guitars,
but they did not see the merit of the idea and thought that a solid-body electric guitar would
just be too different from the guitars of that day.
Around this same time, Leo Fender created his own prototype of a solid body electric guitar.
In 1949, he released this guitar which brought much fame to the Fender name. This first guitar,
the "Esquire" is the predecessor of today's Telecaster model. Of course, after this success Gibson
tried with its own solid-body guitar, called the Les Paul which was released in the early 1950's.
That huge development in guitars was followed up in later years with the creation of better pick-ups
and humbuckers eliminated (bucked) the hum from the vibrations of the guitar. As rock and roll music
became more popular in the 1960s, new models such as the Fender Stratocaster emerged.
Since the 1960s, not much has changed in the world of guitars. Electric guitars remain popular, probably more so
than their acoustic counterparts. "Rock" music continues to thrive, as does jazz, both of which rely
on guitars.
In my research on this topic, I found it very interesting how guitars seemed to develop so much in the
mid-1900s but how now they have stabilized in design and features for the most part. I happen to prefer electric guitars
to acoustic, which is thus why I concentrated on electric history. This was also due to the fact that a lot of
the early history is not really known for sure.
Here are some of the sites where I found information:
History of the Electric Guitar
A history of the Guitar
Jeff Maguire's History of the Electric Guitar
The History of Guitar - Best Music article
The History of the Electric Guitar
And this is a very good book I own about both the history of guitars and famous guitarists as well as guitar methods.
The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer & Andy Summers
Back to the guitar page.