Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The History of the Guitar

Episode Date: April 7, 2025

One of the most popular instruments in the world is the guitar.  The guitar is the primary instrument in many popular forms of music today.  Yet, this wasn’t always the case. The guitar is related to multiple stringed instruments and has a lineage that goes back thousands of years.  However, the guitar that you are familiar with is a rather recent invention.  Learn more about the history of the guitar and how it evolved into the modern instrument we know today on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Mint Mobile Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/eed Quince Go to quince.com/daily for 365-day returns, plus free shipping on your order! Stitch Fix Go to stitchfix.com/everywhere to have a stylist help you look your best Tourist Office of Spain Plan your next adventure at Spain.info  Stash Go to get.stash.com/EVERYTHING to see how you can receive $25 towards your first stock purchase and to view important disclosures. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Austin Oetken & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most popular instruments in the world is the guitar. The guitar is the primary instrument in many popular forms of music today. Yet, this wasn't always the case. The guitar is related to multiple stringed instruments and has a lineage that goes back thousands of years. However, the guitar that you are familiar with is a rather recent invention. Learn more about the history of the guitar and how it evolved into the modern instrument we know today on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Before I get into the history of the guitar, I should probably first go over what a guitar is. What makes a guitar a guitar? And what is it that makes a guitar different than a banjo, a lute, a mandolin, or a satar? Well, there's no hard and fast definition. However, there are several properties that a guitar has that, when taken together, make it into the instrument that you would recognize as a guitar.

First, the guitar has a rather long neck in relation to its body. This is a property it shares with a banjo and a satar, but that a mandolin or a lute, lack. Second, almost all guitars have frets on their neck. A fret is a thin strip embedded along the neck that divides the fingerboard into fixed intervals. When pressed, it allows players to change the pitch of a string by shortening its vibrating length. There are frontless guitars, but they're pretty rare compared to guitars with frets. A guitar also has a flat back and a wasted body. Other instruments may have a rounded back and or a circular body. Most guitars have six strings, although some have 12 with six sets of two strings. A banjo usually has five strings.

A guitar will also have a standardized tuning mechanism on the top of the neck. So despite the occasional instrument that might deviate from these forms, most guitars will have all of these features and all of them will have most of these features. The origin of the guitar stretches deep into history, with evidence of stringed instruments appearing across multiple early civilizations. Archaeologists have discovered depictions and remains of stringed instruments dating back to 3,000 to 2000 BC across Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other regions of the ancient near east. Among the earliest ancestors was the Tanbor, a long-necked stringed instrument found throughout

Mesopotamia in Egypt. These instruments featured a small resonating body with a long neck where strings were attached. Musicians would pluck or strum these strings to create sound, establishing the fundamental concept that would eventually evolve into the modern guitar. In ancient India, instruments like the Vina developed as part of a rich musical tradition. These early-stringed instruments contributed to the global evolution of similar designs, with ideas and innovations spreading throughout trade networks and cultural exchanges. The ancient Greeks created an instrument called the Kithara,

which has particular significance in guitar history, as it likely contributed to the etymology of the word guitar itself. The keythera was a more sophisticated stringed instrument played with a plectrum or an early form of a pick, featuring a wooden body and strings stretched across it. While structurally different from modern guitars, it established important foundations for the instrument. These ancient stringed instruments shared fundamental properties that would persist through thousands of years of development. Strings stretched at tension over a resonating, chamber capable of producing different pitches depending on the length and tension of the string.

The period from about 500 to 1400 witnessed crucial developments in the guitar's evolution, with key instruments emerging that directly contributed to the modern guitar's development. The out played a pivotal role in this evolution. This Middle Eastern instrument featured a rounded back, short neck, and typically had 11 or 13 strings arranged in courses or pairs, kind of similar to how a 12-string guitar works today. When the Moors conquered the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th century, they brought the Aoud to Spain, creating a cultural crossroads where European and Middle Eastern music traditions merged. The Aoud's influence spread throughout Europe, where it gradually was modified to suit

Western musical preferences. From the Aoud emerged the European lute, which became extraordinary. popular throughout medieval Europe. The lute maintained the rounded back of the out, but developed a distinctly European character with modifications to its tuning, playing techniques, and construction. Court musicians and troubadours favored this instrument for its rich, warm tone, versatility. The lute's popularity lasted for centuries, and many early guitar techniques were derived from lute playing. During this medieval period, the Gitturne emerged as another significant precursor. small roundback instrument typically had four courses of strings and was carved from a single block of

wood. The Gitturn was more portable than the loot and became popular amongst traveling musicians. Its neck featured frets made out of gut tied around the neck, allowing for more precise pitch control. And gut strings are strings traditionally made from dried and stretched intestines of animals, usually sheep. Illustration from medieval manuscripts shows the Gitturn being played in a position similar to modern guitars. In Spain, where much of the guitar's evolution occurred, the Vuella developed as a distinctive instrument. The Vuella featured a figure-eight body shape much closer to modern guitars and typically had six courses of gutstrings. It became particularly popular amongst the Spanish aristocracy during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Vuelas' body shape, with its distinct waist, established the iconic figure-eight silhouette that remains characteristic of acoustic guitars today. Another important instrument from this period was the Moorish Guitara, which existed alongside the European instruments. This instrument had a more slender neck than the out and fewer strings, making it more accessible for accompaniment. The term guitar itself likely derived from the Greek Kithra, showing the complex lineage of all these instruments.

Throughout this period, construction techniques for stringed instruments became increasingly sophisticated. Luthiers experimented with different woods, body shapes, and string configurations to improve sound projection and tonal qualities. They began to understand how the shape and size of the resonating chamber affected the instrument sound. In the early Renaissance, the four-course guitar emerged as a popular instrument, particularly in Spain. This guitar featured four pairs or courses of gut strings, creating a bright resonant sound well suited to accompaniment. It was significantly smaller than modern guitars with a narrow body in shallow depth. Musicians primarily use this instrument to accompany songs and dances,

employing strumming techniques that would become characteristic of Spanish guitar playing. By the late 16th century, the five-course guitar appeared in Spain and Italy, adding another pair of strings to extend the instrument's range in musical possibilities. This innovation is often attributed to the Spanish guitarist and composer Vicente Espinell, although historical evidence suggests that the fifth course was appearing in various locations simultaneously. The additional bass string significantly expanded the guitar's harmonic capabilities, allowing for more complex compositions. The Baroque guitar, which flourished from roughly 1600 to 1750, standardized the five-course configuration. The body remained relatively small compared to modern guitars, but construction techniques improved, enhancing projection and tonal quality.

notable Baroque guitar makers included Antonio Stradivari, who was better known for his violins, but did make guitars, and Joaquin Telke, whose instruments were renowned for their craftsmanship. The 19th century witnessed the birth of the modern classical guitar, primarily through innovations in Spain. The most significant figure in this transformation was Antonio de Torres Huredo, a Spanish luthier whose designs fundamentally redefined the instrument. Torres established the standard dimensions and proportions that guitarists recognized today. He significantly increased the body size, creating greater volume and richer bass response. His most crucial innovation was the fan bracing system under the soundboard, with wooden struts arranged in a fan pattern that allowed for a lighter yet stronger top.

This construction permitted the soundboard to vibrate more freely, dramatically improving projection and tonal quality. Taurus also standardized the 650-millimeter string length that remains the benchmark for classical guitars. His instruments featured a wider neck than previous guitars, accommodating more complex fingerwork, and he redefined the distinctive eight-figure body shape with proportions that balanced aesthetics with acoustic efficiency. The musical environment of 19th century Spain provided fertile ground for the classical guitars' development. Francisco Teraga emerged as the instrument's great virtuoso, and teacher, establishing modern playing techniques, including proper hand positioning, finger approaches, and extended techniques like tremolo.

Terraga's compositions remain staples of the classical guitar repertoire to this day. This period also saw the standardization of six single strings rather than paired courses and the adoption of raised fingerboards that extended over the soundboard. The guitar's tuning stabilized to the now-familiar E-A-D-G-B-E arrangement. As you're probably all aware, the 20th century saw yet another major innovation, the electric guitar. The electric guitar's origin begins in the 1920s and 1930s, with a practical problem. Guitarists need more volume to compete with louder brass and percussion instruments in dance bands. Early innovators attach telephone transmitters to their acoustic guitars as makeshift pickups.

Companies like National and Drobo develop metal-bodied resonator guitars as one across. acoustic solution, but the true breakthrough would come through electrical amplification. Lloyd Lour at the Gibson Guitar Company conducted early experiments with electromagnetic pickups in the 1920s. By the 1930s, George Beauchamp and Adolf Rickenbocker produced the frying pan, a lap steel guitar with an electromagnetic pickup that converted string vibrations into electrical signals. Around the same time, guitarist Alvino Ray worked with engineers at Gibson to develop their first electric model. These early electric instruments suffered from feedback problems when amplified at higher volumes

due to their hollow bodies. The logical solution emerged in the 1940s, solid body construction. Les Paul, the guitarists, not the company, created a prototype called The Log, essentially a four-by-four wind post with strings, pickup, and minimal body wings. Meanwhile, inventor Paul Bigsby built a solid-body electrical guitar for a country musician Merle Travis. The commercial breakthrough in electric guitars came in 1950 when Leo Fender introduced the broadcaster, later renamed the telecaster due to trademark issues.

This simple slab-bodied instrument features two pickups and a bolt-on maple neck, practical, affordable, and resistant to feedback. Its bright-cutting tone became foundational to country, rock, and blues music. In 1952, Gibson partnered with guitarist Les Paul to create the Gibson Les Paul model, featuring a carved maple top on a mahogany body with two humbucker pickups, which were introduced in 1957 that cancelled electronic hum. Its warm, rich tone provided a distinctive alternative to Fender's brighter sound. Fender revolutionized design again in 1954 with the stratocaster,

featuring body contours for player comfort, a vibrato system, and three pickups for tonal versatility. The Stratocaster became perhaps the most influential electric guitar ever designed. The majority of electric guitars sold today are based on models developed in the mid-20th century. These models have sounds and styles that have become classics in the music industry. However, that doesn't mean the guitar innovation stopped. Extended range guitars with seven, eight, and even nine strings have gained in popularity, particularly in progressive metal and other genres.

On the electronics front, modeling technology has revolutionized the guitar landscape, allowing a single instrument to accurately simulate countless vintage and modern guitar tones. Material science has contributed significantly with carbon fiber, carbon reinforced necks, and sustainable wood alternatives addressing both environmental concerns and stability issues. The guitar is the centerpiece of many music genres today, including pop, rock, metal, country, and blues. It's played by professionals, and it is also one of the most popular instruments for amateurs.

This instrument, which defined the 20th century, and was mastered by the likes of Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Hendrix, owes a debt to the stringed instruments played over 2,000 years ago in the ancient world. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Oaken and Cameron Kiefer. Today's review comes from listener Spoonigan over on Spotify. They write, I did it.

As of yesterday on my commute home from work, I am now a completionist club member. I have enjoyed my binge listening and look forward to all the new episodes to come. Five stars. Well, thanks, Spoonigan. Let me formally welcome you to the Completionist Club. From previous episodes, you probably know what amenities are available, but I would like to remind you that we are open 24 hours a day with locations around the world. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you two can have it read on the show.