Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Music The Guitar The Guitar HEre's the final version, last one was just a ruff copy About five hundred years ago the guitar was invented. Since then, the guitar has played a crucial role in music. It serves as the heart for song, from Jazz, to Blues, to Heavy Metal. The guitar is perhaps the most important instrument in modern music. The two types of guitar most popular today, are the acoustic and electric guitar. The first guitar like instruments looked nothing like the guitars of today. These instruments were called lutes. Lutes later became vihuelas, which then evolved into the guitar in the fifteenth century. The first guitar was named the four-coarse. It was named the four-course guitar because it had four strings. It also had a strange tuning, rather than the usual D-G-B-E tuning of today it was tuned to C-F-A-D which is a eight lower, which gives the guitar a deeper, and richer sound. Later, in the sixteenth century the five-course guitar was invented. It was the same as the four-course except for the extra low E string. This low E note provides a strong foundation in today’s music and style of playing. The five-course also introduced Frets. Frets are metal strips placed on the neck of the guitar. When the string is held down along side a fret a note is sounded. The five-course is believed to be invented in Spain. Later, in the eighteenth century the five-course guitar evolved into the most popular guitar model, the six-string guitar. Although it’s not certain were exactly the six-string originated from, some think it came from France, Italy, or Germany. The first classical six-strings were considered to be very beautiful. This new design helped introduce new ways that a guitar could be played. The new guitars gave birth to the “Floating arm” technique, which allowed the guitarists right arm to pivot freely at the elbow, while it was floating above the body of the guitar. The strings were plucked using the thumb, index, and middle fingers. The practice of using the ring finger along with others was later introduced in the nineteenth century. The golden age of the guitar is considered to be in the eighteen hundreds when England embraced the guitar after a visit from Fernando Sor. Sor was one of the great early guitarists, along with Matteo Carcassi, and Dionysio Aquado. They were all European guitarists who had a vast effect on the technique used to play guitar today. The father of modern guitar is considered to be Antonio de Torres Jurado, a classical guitarist who developed new methods of playing. He also modernized the guitar by improving its tone, and increasing the amount of sound that could be produced on it. These new improvements enabled the guitar to be heard in large music halls. The twentieth-century came with the arrival of new guitars, and new guitar manufacturers. These new guitars were mostly coming from Germany, England, and America. The new innovative design used better woods in the body, and neck. With a new kind of soundboard, the guitar now sounded superior. The wood, which is the most important material out of all, had to be allowed to “settle”, or loose its natural moisture. Many varieties of woods were used and still are, to make guitars, from cedar to rosewood. Each provides a different tone. These new acoustic guitars, along with there great sound, also had a sleeker design. This new sleeker design allowed for greater playability. New guitar manufacturers began to emerge in the early nineteen hundreds. These new manufacturers perfected the construction of acoustic guitars. Gibson, Martin, and National are some examples. The acoustic guitar then became the main instrument in country, and folk music. One famous guitar player that used acoustic guitars was Roy Rogers, a southern country singer. Later, in the late 1940’s to early 1950’s the most revolutionary variation of guitar appeared. The electric guitar, which is a solid-body guitar with tone, volume control, and pick-ups, soon brought on a musical revolution. Gibson and Fender made some of the first electric guitars. One of Fenders first solid-body models was the Telecaster. The Telecaster had all the features that a solid-body guitar should have with a sleek design. A short while after the Telecaster made its debut, the Gibson Les Paul model was introduced. With a fixed tailpiece, raised pick-guard, and two single coil pick-ups, it became very popular among rock and blues musicians. Another Gibson model that made a huge impact on guitars was the Gibson double-neck that reached its peak of popularity in the seventies. The double-neck was one six-string guitar on the bottom, and one twelve-string guitar on the top. Guitarists like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used this guitar. These guitars added another dimension of sound to the musicians work. Hardware is also very important in a guitars sound. You could have the best guitar there is, but if your amplification is bad, your sound will be too. Companies such as Marshall and Mesa Boogie make top of the line amplifiers. The early amps used tubes, like the ones in radios at that time. Later effects came along, such as reverberation and distortion. With out these effects modern rock music would be very different. The distortion pedal was invented by Gary Hurst, and made famous by Jeff beck, and Eric Clapton. Distortion allowed for a fuzzy, heavy sound that if used right could add depth to a guitars sound. The wah-wah pedal, made famous by Jimi Hendrix, allowed for a sound that almost sounded like a cry or a “wah”, hence the name. By the 1950’s the electric guitar was becoming very popular. With many guitar companies making electric and acoustic guitars, a few guitars became more popular than others did. Some of these guitars were the Fender Telecaster, the Fender Stratocaster, and the Gibson Les Paul. The Stratocaster came after the Telecaster but had an even greater effect. With what we now call a “popular” body design the Stratocaster is the most popular guitar today. Another popular guitar was, and still is, the Gibson Les Paul. Used by guitarists like Neil Young, and Slash of Guns n’ Roses. An old Gibson Les Paul today can sell for over fifty thousand dollars. The guitar is a very important part in music today. Without it, music as we know it would be completely different. From B.B. King, to Eric Clapton to Jimi Hendrix, the electric guitar was the basis of their fame. The guitar is now one of the most popular instruments in the world, and will probably remain one of the most popular. It is a billion-dollar industry that is always changing, and bringing new advancements. It is difficult to imagine the world of music without the guitar. Bibliography: B I B L I O G R A P H Y “30 Players that Changed the Way we Sound.” Guitar One. December 1997 Burrows, Terry. “The Complete Encyclopedia of the Guitar.” Schirmer Books, 1998. New York The Electric Guitar. Lemelson Center for the study of Invention and Innovation. 12-21-99. http://www.si.edu/organiza/museums/nmah/lemel/guitars/ Gore, Joe “Elements of Cheese: a Crash course in 6-String Tackiness.” Encarta 1996 “Guitar Player Greats.” Guitar Player. March 1997 “Guitar Player Scrapbook.” Guitar Player. January 1997 Word Count: 1127
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