A Brief History of the Guitar

The guitar has an ancient beginning in instruments such as the harp. Not too many primary resources on ancient harps exist so we will begin with a distant cousin of the guitar, the medieval lute. Both a beautiful and complex instrument, the lute was the most popular chordophone of its time.

The lute probably has more similarities than differences. To mark a few, most lutes have a headstock that bends at a ninety degree angle from the fretboard. They traditionally use gut strings, but also use more modern nylon strings. Lutes vary from just 4 or 5 strings to as many as 30 strings or more! Some of these strings are used for sympathetic vibration. In other words, they are there just to create extra resonance while the main strings play.

As the guitar is used today by street musicians (aka buskers), the lute was used by traveling musicians known as minstrels or troubadours, who usually sang to a lady of the court. There is a vast solo repertoire for the instrument, with lots of music predominantly from the Renaissance and Baroque Eras. In addition, the lute could be part of an orchestra, and fulfilled many accompanying roles. A typical early Renaissance six stringed lute could be tuned to the notes G-C-F-D-A-G (from lowest to highest). With more strings come multiple ways of tuning, making the instrument more complex. The lute was originally plucked with a quill, but musicians later did away with this method in favor of playing with their fingers. Here are two recordings of the lute, one solo and one with an orchestra:

In addition to the lute, another instrument, that was developed around the same time, but in the Middle East, is known as the oud. Literally stemming from the Arabic word for "wood", the oud has a similar sound and look to the lute, but the style of music played is vastly different. Hear for yourself: