History of the guitar | guitarprofy

Guitar and its history

“Tutorial” Guitar Lesson No. 1 More than 4000 years ago, musical instruments already existed. Artifacts presented by archeology make it possible to judge that all stringed instruments in Europe are of Middle Eastern origin. The most ancient is considered to be a bas-relief depicting a Hittite playing an instrument that looks like a guitar. Recognizable forms of neck and soundboard with curved sides. This bas-relief, dating back to 1400 – 1300 BC, was discovered on the territory of present-day Turkey in the town of Aladzha Heyuk, where the Hittite Kingdom was once located. The Hittites were an Indo-European people. In ancient Eastern languages ​​and Sanskrit, the word “tar” is translated as “string”, so there is an assumption that the same name of the instrument – “guitar” came to us from the East.

The first mention of the guitar appeared in the literature of the XIII century. The Iberian Peninsula was the place where the guitar received its final form and enriched with a variety of playing techniques. There is a hypothesis that two instruments of similar design were brought to Spain, one of which was a Latin guitar of Roman origin, the other instrument that had Arabic roots and was brought to Spain was a Moorish guitar. Following the same hypothesis, in the future, two instruments of similar shape were combined into one. Thus, in the XNUMXth century, a five-string guitar appeared, which had double strings.

Only by the end of the XNUMXth century did the guitar acquire the sixth string, and in the middle of the XNUMXth century, the Spanish master Antonio Torres completed the formation of the instrument, giving it a modern size and appearance.

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