GUITAR

Interesting Facts about the Guitar:

• The ancestors of the modern guitar can be traced back to the stringed instruments played across Central Asia and India, in ancient times.
• The oldest iconographic representation of the guitar is a 3,000 year old carving of a Hittite or ancient Anatolian bard playing the instrument.
• The modern guitar is believed to have descended from the cithara brought to Hispania by the Romans, in 40 AD.
• The various references to the guitar in ancient times included guitarra, gitarre, guitare, qitara, cithara, kithara and sihtar.
• Traditionally, guitars were constructed with combinations of various woods. The strings were made of animal gut.
• The musical instrument has a mention in records maintained by the Moors, Viking incursions and in traditional Norse carvings.
• Dimension standards of the modern guitar were established by Antonio Torres Jurado, between 1817 and 1892.

The basic guitar design typically comprises:

• Headstock, at the end of the guitar neck.
• Neck, comprising frets, tuners, fretboard, headstock and truss rod.
• Nut, a small strip of any hard material at the headstock-fretboard juncture.
• Fretboard or fingerboard.
• Frets, metal strips embedded on the fretboard.
• Truss rod, a metal rod along the inside of the neck.
• Strings made from metal or polymer materials.
• Inlays, visual elements along the exterior surface.

Guitar accessories comprise:

• Capotasto, to open up string pitch.
• Slides, to generate the glissando effect.
• Plectrum, to 'pick' the strings.

The guitar is a very versatile musical instrument. It enables the composition of complex harmonies and precise intonation. It is a popular choice of musicians dedicated to different music genres for the musical embellishments it promotes, such as slides, bends and harmonics