The design of the modern guitar began with the Roman cithara. The cithara was brought by the Romans to Hispania (Spain) around 40 AD. In the 8th century the Moors brought the four-stringed oud into Spain. The introduction to the oud caused changes to the design of the cithara. In other parts of Europe, the six-string Scandinavian "lut" (lute) became popular wherever the Vikings had been. By 1200 AD, there were two types of the four string "guitar": the "guitarra morisca" (Moorish guitar) from Spain which had a rounded back, wide fingerboard and several soundholes, and the "guitarra latina" (Latin guitar) which was more like the modern guitar with one sound hole and a narrower neck.
The Spanish "vihuela", of the 16th century, was another instrument similar to the guitar. It had lute-style tuning and a body that was like a guitar. The vihuela was only popular for a short amount of time. It is not known whether it was simply a design that combined features of the oud and lute or a transition from the Renaissance instrument to the modern guitar.
The Vinaccia family from Naples, Italy were famous mandolin makers. It is thought that they also made the oldest six-string guitar that still exists. There is a guitar built that was signed and dated 1779 on the label by Gaetano Vinaccia (1759 - after 1831) Although there are many fakes that have dates on them from that time, this guitar is believed by experts to be genuine (real).
The guitar's design was improved (made better) by the famous Spanish luthier, Antonio Torres Jurado (1817-1892) and by Louis Panormo of London.
The electric guitar was made by George Beauchamp in 1936. Beauchamp co-founded a company called Rickenbacher to make guitars. However, Danelectro was the first to produce electric guitars for the public to use.
A guitar was described by Dr. Michael Kasha as an instrument that had "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides".
Modern guitars come in four main types. The classical guitar is used for classical music. The term acoustic guitar is generally used for a guitar used for popular music, even though a classical guitar is also an acoustic instrument. There are many other different types of acoustic guitars from different parts of the world.
A electric guitar can be flat, hollow, or semi-hollow (solid with hollow pockets on the sides), and produces sound through its pickups, which are wire-wound magnets that are screwed onto the guitar. Some guitars combine the hollow acoustic body with amplified sound. Bass guitars are designed to make a low bass rhythm.
A special electric folding travel guitar called the Foldaxe (briefly manufactured by Hoyer in 1977) was invented for Chet Atkins (in Atkins' book "Me and My Guitars") by inventor and guitarist Roger Field, featuring a built-in way to keep the string tension and tuning the same even when folded, and ready to play when unfolded. Atkins demonstrated his several times on US television, and also on The Today Show with Les Paul, who was with him as a guest.
Guitars are used in many different genres of music, such as traditional, regional, and folk to modern punk, rock, metal or pop. Guitars are used as rhythm instruments, lead instruments, and sometimes both.
A capo is a device which can be placed on any of the guitar's frets which don't lie on the body itself. This enables the user to change key without changing the tuning of the guitar strings. There are multiple types of capos, some latch around the whole guitar neck and some just clamp onto the back and fret board.
List of guitarists
A guitarist is a person who plays the guitar. A guitar is a type of musical instrument.
British Sea Power
British Sea Power is an indie rock band from England. They formed in 2000. Many band members come from Cumbria, but they are based in Brighton. They have released six albums and six EPs. They released their sixth album "Machineries of Joy" in April 2013.
Jimmy Eat World
Jimmy Eat World is an alternative rock band. They formed in Mesa, Arizona in 1994. To date, they have released six studio albums. They may record one more album on their label for a 2009 release, but after that will consider self-releasing. They have released many singles, including "Sweetness", "The Middle", "Bleed American", "Rockstar", and "Let It Happen".
They used to be part of the emo scene and many would still call them that. However, the band has never liked that term and do not even understand that. While their albums do have considerable emo influences, the album "Future" brought on a change of sound and a different fanbase.
Phish
Phish is an American rock band. They formed in Vermont in 1983, broke up in 2004, and reformed in 2009. Their lead singer is Trey Anastasio. Phish was often compared to the Grateful Dead, and had a similar following of "Phish Heads" following the band on tour. They went on a 5-year-long hiatus from 2004 to 2009. Their hiatus ended when they played shows on March 6, 7 and 8 at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, VA. The band surprised the audience with longer sets than usual.
Their music has a lot of improvisation, so when they play live, their songs are sometimes a lot longer. They use elements from many genres, including rock, jazz, funk, progressive rock, bluegrass, country, reggae, blues, Latin, and psychedelic rock.
Green Day
Green Day is an American rock band that formed in 1986. The members of the band are Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion), Jason White (guitar/vocals) and Jason Freese (keyboard). Jason Freese only participates in concert tours. Green Day is often celebrated as one of the best punk rock bands currently performing.
At first, Green Day was part of the punk rock culture at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California. Its album "Dookie" (1994) became a success. Soon, it sold more than ten million copies in the United States alone, and 20 million copies worldwide. The album was well reviewed and the band were praised for its music and sales. Green Day had three more albums after that, "Insomniac", "Nimrod" and "Warning". They were still successful albums, reaching double platinum, double platinum, and gold status respectively. However none of these albums sold as well as their third album, "Dookie". Green Day's 2004 rock opera "American Idiot" sold six million copies in the United States.
Green Day has sold over 85 million records worldwide, 32 million of them in the United States alone. They also have won four Grammy Awards, Best Alternative Album for "Dookie", Best Rock Album for "American Idiot", Record of the Year for the song "Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Best Rock Album for 21st Century Breakdown and have also been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.
In 1987, Lookout! released Green Day's first album "39/Smooth". Green Day recorded two EPs: "Slappy" and "Sweet Children". Lookout! Records released "1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours," an album that had the "39/Smooth," "Slappy," and "1,000 Hours" EPs in it. In late 1990, shortly after the band's first worldwide tour, Sobrante left the band. The Lookouts drummer Tré Cool became a replacement, and then became a permanent replacement because Sobrante did not want to come back. Green Day was on tour for most of 1992 and 1993, and played a lot of shows overseas in Europe. Its second album, "Kerplunk", sold about 50,000 copies in the U.S., which was a lot for the punk band in 1992.
"Kerplunk's" success made major record labels interested in Green Day, and they soon left Lookout! and signed with Reprise Records after getting the attention of producer Rob Cavallo. Signing to Reprise made many punk rock fans think Green Day as sellouts. After signing with Reprise, the band went to work on making its major label debut, "Dookie."