One can hardly find a musical instrument as widespread in the world as a guitar. It is used almost all over the world. The guitar sounds in solo concerts of Spanish masters, and as an accompaniment to other instruments and melodies. Since the last century, the guitar has acquired a new sound, becoming an electric instrument.
From the history of the guitar
A traditional guitar is a stringed plucked instrument. It is used in a variety of musical styles and directions, from blues and country, to flamenco, rock music and jazz. For several centuries, the guitar is considered one of those instruments that have had a special impact on world music culture.
The earliest evidence of a string instrument having a neck and a resonating body dates back to antiquity. The first predecessors of the guitar appeared about four thousand years ago. String instruments related to the guitar and arranged on the same principle were used in Babylon. There are references to them in biblical texts. There were similar construction tools in Egypt and India.
According to legends, the hero of Greek myths Hercules was able to play the string cipher.
The word "guitar" itself, as some historians believe, goes back to the Sanskrit word "sangita", meaning "music", and the Persian "tar", which meant "string". Having spread across Central Asia and having come to Europe, the word "guitar" was modified several times. In its current linguistic form, the name of the instrument appeared in European literature around the 13th century.
Distant relatives of the guitar had a rounded elongated body and an elongated neck along which strings were stretched. The body, as a rule, was made from a single piece of wood, less often from dried pumpkin or tortoise shell. Subsequently, the case became composite: it was made from the lower and upper decks, connecting them with a side wall - a shell. Such tools were already created in China in the 3rd century of a new era. Only two centuries later, a similar composite instrument appeared in Europe, received the name of the Latin guitar, the appearance of which has survived mainly until now.
