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guitar, musical instrument related to the lute, modern guitars normally having six strings that are plucked with the fingers or strummed with a pick. Earlier versions had pairs of strings like the lute. The guitar usually has a flat back, sides that curve inward to form a waist, and a fretted neck. Other forms of the guitar include the 12-stringed guitar; the steel guitar, played with a metal bar to produce a sliding tone; the electric guitar; and the 4-stringed bass guitar, which, like the electric guitar, is a fixture of rock music and is electronically amplified. The traditional classical, as opposed to electric guitar, appeared as early as the 12th cent. in Spain, the country with which it is particularly associated. It was very popular there in the 16th cent., when much music was written for it. The composer Fernando Sor (1778-1839) was a brilliant guitarist who wrote many important works for that instrument. In the late 19th cent. there was revived interest in the guitar, aroused largely by the playing of Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909), one of the greatest guitar players of all time. Andrés Segovia was one of the foremost contemporary classical guitarists; he did much to stimulate interest in the instrument and its repertory, especially in 16th-century music.
See H. Turnbull, The Guitar from the Renaissance to the Present (1974); J. Tyler, The Early Guitar (1980); T. Wheeler, American Guitars (1982).
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In its modern form, a musical instrument with a wooden, ‘waisted’ body, flat back, fretted neck, and six strings which are plucked (usually by fingers or fingernails) or strummed. Before the late 18th-c, most guitars had four or five courses (a ‘course’ being one or more strings tuned to a single pitch). Since its earliest days the guitar has been associated with folk and popular music, especially Spanish flamenco, but the 19th-c six-course instrument also attracted an extensive printed repertory from guitarist-composers such as Mauro Giuliani (1781–1829) and Fernando Sor (1778–1839). The elevation of the classical guitar to the status of a recital and concerto instrument owes much to the example and influence of Andrés Segovia.
The electric guitar, the sound of which is amplified and fed through a loudspeaker, exists in two types: the semi-acoustic, with a hollow body, and the more common type with a solid body acting not as a resonator but as an anchor for the strings, and a panel to which the electronic pickups and tone and volume controls are attached. The standard instrument has six strings, played with plectrum or fingers; the bass guitar has four strings, tuned one octave below the four lowest strings of the standard instrument. Both sizes are widely used in all types of modern popular music.
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The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots, used in a wide variety of musical styles, and it is also a solo classical instrument. It is most recognized as the primary instrument in blues, country, flamenco, rock music and many forms of pop. The guitar usually has six strings, but four-, seven-, eight-, ten-, and Twelve string guitars also exist. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers. Guitars may be played acoustically or they may rely on an amplifier that usually allows for electronic manipulation of tone. The electric guitar was introduced in the 20th century, and had a profound influence on popular culture. |
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