Today we’ll be introducing a new series that will explore the history of music, fundamental music theory, and the impact and significance of different musical instruments. To kick off this series of articles, we’ll be starting with perhaps one of the most popular musical instruments around the world. The guitar.
It’s true that music today would not be the same without the guitar. From western and country, to the traditional Spanish folk Flamenco, classical, blues, and more. Suffice it to say that rock and roll would sound very different without the presence of the guitar.
Unclear Origins
Many experts have different ideas about when exactly the guitar was first conceived. The Metropolitan Museum of Art states that, “It is impossible to establish the history of the guitar before the Renaissance, but there are some much earlier plucked-string instruments that are related to later guitars either in physical form or playing technique”. One of the earlier of these was the lute, either Roman or Byzantine, from Egypt.
During the medieval and Renaissance periods, a number of different plucked stringed instruments were used. Some of these include the cittern, vihuela, mandore, and the lute with its variants.
Regardless of the earlier variants of the guitar, many experts agree that it was at some point brought to Spain, possibly from Persia. There, the guitar continued to develop until around the seventeen hundreds, where it became the instrument we know today.
More-Clear Developments
Fast forward about two hundred years, and you’ll find Lester William Polsfuss. Better known as “Les Paul”, he began experimenting with ways to make an electric guitar in the 1930’s. According to Les Paul’s official website, when Les was a teenager he played open mics with his guitar, but found that it wasn’t loud enough.
“After that Les decided to amplify his guitar by taking the tone arm off his father’s phonograph, jamming the needle into the guitar bridge, taping the arm in place and wiring it to his father’s radio.” This was the technically the first electric guitar. A hastily-improvised invention so that one kid’s music could be heard better.
After further experimentation, Les Paul eventually came across a new invention that he dubbed, “The Log”. “Les took a 4 x 4 piece of pine and strung it like a guitar, added his homemade pickups, a bridge, a Virola tailpiece, strings and the neck of an Epiphone Broadway guitar.”
Unfortunately, it would be another ten years before Gibson accepted the idea of a solid body electric guitar. They called the earlier versions of “the Log” a “broomstick with pickups”. Still, eventually Les Paul’s perseverance won out. By 1951 he was working closely with Gibson. And the next year, the famous Gibson Les Paul models were being sold. Today, it remains one of the top selling guitars in the world.
