ad throughout Europe, and it was adoped as an instrument by the Europeans. Frets were added and eventually the strings were doubled. It later became known as the lute. A long necked lute type instrument shown on a terre-cotta plaque from Babylon dates to 1250 B.C. and is now in the British Museum. The earliest occurance of the guitar shape in a short-necked lute was in central Asia shortly after the beginning of the Christian ear. At this time central Asian lutes were of many kinds, the guitar shape is found in examples dating from the 1st to 4th century. By 1200, you can see paintings and sculptures of Europeans playing the lute, and by 1400 the players had adopted a standard tuning. The Lute is built with only wood and glue, there are no nails or screws used in construction. It is the first instrument for which we find a large quantity of written music. It was a very respected musical instrument of it’s time, and probably the most popular stringed instrument of the renaissance. There was more music written for the lute than any other instrument in the renaissance. In the 14th century a stable tuning and design appear. It had 4 sets of strings, and was played with a plectrum. As the music became more complex, the lute was played with the fingers. The construction and the strings are very light, much lighter than the guitar.Tablature was the early music notation used by the lute and many other instruments of the renaissance. There were many different types: English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German. The French used letters to show the player where to put the fingers on the instrument, while the Italian used numbers.The 16th and 17th centuries was the golden age of the lute. A tremendous amount of music was composed and published. Professional lutenists were in demand by those that could afford it and musicians were well paid. During the Renaissance the lute occupied a special place that was only superseded ...
