Guitar: history, video, interesting facts, listen

Musical instrument: Guitar

Guitar ... What associations arise when you hear this word? Passionate Spaniard dancing incendiary dance, playing along with himself on castanets. Noisy gypsies singing their funny songs. Or maybe a quiet summer evening, the river bank, where a heart-warming song sounds under the gleam of a bonfire. Everywhere we hear the captivating timbre of the guitar - an instrument that has conquered the peoples of the whole world. They entrust her spiritual experiences and share their joy, the poets devote poems to her. Many celebrities loved to listen to guitar, I. Goethe, J. Byron, A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, L.N. Tolstoy devoted quite a few lines to her in his great works.

Read the history of the guitar and many interesting facts about this musical instrument on our page.

Sound

"... The guitar has a delicate sound, like a hand touch. The guitar has a quiet sound, like a friend whispers! ... " - This is what the wonderful Spanish virtuoso guitarist F. Tarrega wrote about his favorite instrument. Velvet and soft guitar timbre perfectly harmonizes with the sound of various instruments, such as mandolin, balalaika, violin.

The sound on the instrument is the result of the oscillations of the strained strings, pressing them with the fingers of his left hand in the frets, the performer gets the desired pitch.

Guitar Range makes almost four octaves (from "mi" of the big octave to "si" of the second octave).
Story: 6 string - "mi" of the big octave; 5 - “la” big octave; 4 - “D” of the small octave; 3 - "salt" of a small octave; 2 - "si" of the second octave; 1 - "mi" of the first octave. The instrument sounds an octave below the actual musical notation.

The basic methods for extracting sound on a guitar are tweaking and hitting the strings. A pinch is of two types: apojando (based on the lower adjacent string) and tirando (without stops). Beat and tweak performed with the fingers of the right hand, as well as using a mediator (plectrum).

Guitar performers enjoy additional interesting methods of sound extraction, widely used in various styles of music: barre, arpeggios, arpeggios, legato, tremolo, ascending and descending legato, bend (pull-up), vibrato, glissando, staccato, tambourine, golpe, flageo.

A photo:

Interesting Facts:

• The National Archaeological Museum of Athens houses a sculpture dating from the fourth century BC, depicting a girl playing the guitar.
• Antonio Torres, who was called the guitar "Stradivarius", is still considered the best master of making these instruments.
• In the Museum of Musical Instruments, located in the Conservatory of Paris, there is a guitar belonging to the work of the Venetian master K. Coco. The sample, on which the date stands - 1602, is the first tool of the 17th century that has come down to us.
• Niccolo Paganini, an outstanding Italian violinist, virtuously played both the violin and the guitar. He transferred many technical guitar techniques to the violin, and according to the contemporaries' statements, Paganini owes his incredible skill to the guitar. Maestro liked to say: "I am the king of the violin, and the guitar is my queen." The guitar of the famous violinist is an exhibit of the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire.

• Such famous composers as KM were keen on playing the guitar. Weber, D. Verdi, A. Diabelli.
• The outstanding German composer F. Schubert was very sensitive to the guitar. The instrument, on which the musician played and did not part with him all his life, is now an exhibit of the museum - the apartment of Franz Schubert in Vienna.
• The famous Spanish composer and guitarist Fernand Sor, referred to by his contemporaries as "Mendelssohn Guitars", lived in Moscow for five years with his wife, who served as a choreographer in the Imperial Theater. Gullen Sor staged mostly ballet performances, the music for which was written by her husband.
• The largest guitar in the world was made at the Academy of Science and Technology in Hustin (USA). It has a length of more than 13 meters, which is 6-7 times the human height. Since all the proportions of the instrument are observed and the thick strings made of aviation cable have an appropriate length, the sound is the same as on an ordinary guitar.

• The largest guitarist ensemble performed in Poland on May 1, 2009 and consisted of 6346 participants.
• The American musical instrument company Fender produces about 90,000 strings per day. It is more than 30 000 km. per year, which is equal to the distance around the world travel.
• The smallest guitar was made at Carnell University in New York in 1997. The instrument, which was 10 micrometers long, was made of silicon. The strings of the guitar vibrated at a purity 1000 times greater than the susceptibility of the human ear.
• The longest continuous guitar performance lasted 114 hours 6 minutes and 30 seconds, it took place in June 2011. This record was set by David Brown in Dublin (Ireland) in the Temple Bar pub.
• The electrically amplified guitar was invented by George Bichemp in 1931, and in 1936 the world famous American company Gibson created its first electric guitar.
• One of the most popular guitar manufacturers are Gibson, Dean, PRS, Ibanez, Jackson, Fender, Martin, Gretsch, Hohner, Takamine, Strunal , "Furch", "Almansa", "Amistar", "Godin" and others.

• The guitar of B. Dylan, a famous American actor, author and performer, was sold for exactly 965 thousand dollars in December 2013 through the Christie's auction house. Prior to this, the most expensive guitar was considered to be Eric Clapton's Stratocaster Blackie, sold in 2004 for $ 959,500.
• BB King - American blues-guitarist, singer, called the fans of the "king of blues", is the first musician to use electric guitar in rock music.
• Monuments of the guitar are installed in Naberezhnye Chelny (Russia), in Paracio (Mexico), in Beirut (Lebanon), on the Katun River (Russia), in Aberdeen, Washington (USA), in the village of Morskoe (Russia) , in Cleveland (USA), in Kitchener (Canada), in Chelyabinsk (Russia), in Potosi (Bolivia), in Miami (USA).

Design

The principle of construction of stringed instruments is almost always the same and includes the body (body) of the instrument and the neck with the head.

• The lower and upper decks that make up the body of the guitar are connected to each other by shells, curved in the shape of a figure eight. Depending on the type of guitar, the top deck is equipped with one or more resonator holes, as well as a stand for fastening the strings and a lower threshold. The widest (lower) part of the body of the guitar is 36 cm, and the top is 28 cm. The body of a concert guitar is usually made of resonator spruce or white maple.
• The neck, carved out of solid wood, on the one hand has a so-called heel attached to the shell. On the other hand, the neck ends with a head with kolkova mechanics, which serves to tension the strings. The fingerboard is attached to the fingerboard with built-in metal powders that separate the frets, which are arranged in a chromatic order. Between the neck of the neck and the head is the upper threshold, which affects the level of the height of the strings.

On a modern guitar, synthetic or metal strings are usually installed.

The total length of the tool is 100 cm.

Varieties

Currently, all guitars are divided into two types: acoustic and electric.

Acoustic guitar It has a hollow body with a resonant hole in it. She is the queen on the concert stage and the participant of simple domestic gatherings.

Acoustic guitar is very diverse, as it has different options, here are some of them:

• Classical - is a direct descendant of the Spanish guitar. It features a wide neck and the obligatory presence of nylon strings, which sound soft and quiet. This type of guitar is used on the academic concert stage, as well as in classrooms.
• Dreadnought - has the name Country and Western. Due to the presence of metal strings, it sounds loud and loud. On such an instrument, sound is extracted using a mediator. This type of tool is used for performance in different styles.
• Jumbo - guitar with a larger body and a loud sound, most in demand in rock, pop, blues, country music. Due to metal strings, picking is performed using a mediator.
• Ukulele is the second name of the ukulele. A miniature instrument with four nylon strings and a performance technique like an ordinary guitar. Extraction takes place with your fingertips or a special pick made from felt.
• Seven-string - (Gypsy or Russian). It has seven strings tuned for thirds. Vladimir Vysotsky, Bulat Okudzhava and Sergey Nikitin preferred this type of guitar.
• 12 string - a very large and massive instrument. The main difference is the presence of 12 paired strings.
• Electro-acoustic is a type of hybrid instrument in which the presence of a built-in piezo pickup allows connection to an amplifier.
• Semi-acoustic - a transitional instrument from acoustic to electric guitar. The presence of a hollow body makes it related to an acoustic guitar, and the presence of a sound pickup and tone controls brings it closer to an electric guitar. The instrument has the second name of jazz guitar, as it is mainly used in jazz. The semi-acoustic guitar is shaped like a violin. It has two resonator holes like a violin - in the form of the letter "f".
• Bass- one of the varieties of acoustic guitars. The instrument has 4 strings and is designed for low-range parts.

The second type of guitar is an electric guitar.which is today an independent type of musical instrument that has the ability to process sound, which allows musicians to achieve various desired sound effects.

Application and Repertoire

The scope of the guitar is very wide, it is subject to much. In the most diverse forms of popular music, as well as in styles such as jazz, blues, rock, funk, soul, metal, country, rock music folk, flamenco, mariachi, the main instrument is guitar. She can accompany, and can act as a solo instrument.

The repertoire library for the instrument is huge, there are even concert works with a symphony orchestra. Talented performing composers, among them: F. Tarrega, D. Aguado, M. Giuliani, F. Sor, F. Karulli, A. Segovia, M. Carcassi left a great creative legacy for posterity. They loved the guitar very much, were fond of playing it, and such great masters as L. Shpor, G. Berlioz, F. Schubert, KM Weber, A. Diabelli, R. Kreuzer, I. Gummel did not bypass their composer attention. Composers C. Monteverdi, G. Donizetti, D. Rossini, D. Verdi, J. Massne used the sound of the guitar in their operas.

I especially want to mention the merit in enriching the guitar repertoire of the legend of violin performance by N. Paganini. His legacy is about two hundred different compositions - these are solo pieces, as well as various ensembles for guitar and violin instruments.

Popular works

I. Albeniz - Leyenda (listen)

Flor De Luna (listen)

Performers

Each period of development of the instrument revealed great performing musicians. They not only conquered the audience with their brilliant and virtuoso playing, but writing compositions for the guitar, made an invaluable contribution to the expansion of the repertoire for the instrument,

The first known virtuoso guitarists were musicians who shone at the courts of kings and nobles, among them: H. Palencia, A. Penfiel, A. Toledo, M. Toledo, R. Guitarra, F. Cabezon, L. Milan, L. Narvaes, H. Bermudo, A. Moudarra, E. Valderrabano, D. Pisador, M. Fuenyama, L. Inestres, E. Dasa, H. Amat, P. Serone, F. Corbetta, N. Velasco, G. Granatta, D. Foscarini, G. Sanz, L. Ribayas, R. Viseo and F. Gerau, F. Aspasi, L. Roncalli, D. Kellner, S. Weiss, F. Corbetta, R. Wiese, F. Campion, G. Sanz. All the heritage left by these musicians is very much appreciated and in demand at the present time.

The next stage in the history of the instrument, called the "golden age of the guitar", is inseparable from the work of outstanding musicians who have achieved world recognition and have proven that the guitar on the concert stage can adequately compete with other instruments. D. Aguado, F. Sor, F. Karulli, D. Regondi, M. Giuliani, H. Arcas, M. Carcassi, A. Nava, Z. Feranti, L. Legnani, L. Moretti - the professional mastery of these concert artists raised art guitar performance to a very high level.

The development of performing art in the 19th century is closely connected with the name of the outstanding guitarist F. Tarregi, in whose hands the guitar could sound like a chamber orchestra. Having laid the foundation in the classical technique of performing the instrument, he educated a constellation of talents, among which are: D. Prat, I. Lelyup, E. Puchol, M. Llobet, D. Fortea.

The 20th century gave the world wonderful guitar performers, innovators in various styles and musical genres. A. Segovia BB King, D. Page, D. Gilmore, S. Vaughn, D. Hendrix, P. Nelson E. Sheeran, R. Johnson, I. Malmsteen, D. Satriani, R. Blackmore left an indelible mark on the improvement of technical capabilities in the guitar art.

Among Russian contemporary performers, I especially want to single out the names of such virtuosos as N. Koshkin, L. Karpov, M. Yablokov, V. Kozlov, I. Rekhin, V. Chebanov, N. Komolyatov, D. Illarionov, V. Shirokov, V. Tervo.

Story

The history of the guitar has its roots in ancient times, when the hunter, pulling the bow string, heard a sound he liked. He realized that this can not only get food, but also to delight the soul, using it as a musical instrument. The ancestors of the guitar were known as early as the 15th century BC. Archaeologists have found drawings dating from this period, depicting people with musical instruments, which very much resembled a guitar. Art historians believe that its cradle is located in the countries of the Middle East. The peoples of the most ancient civilizations: Egypt, Sumer, Mesopatamia, India and China had instruments with various names that could be the ancestor of the guitar. Kinnor, cithara, nefer, sitar, nabla, sumerer, samblek, samblus, sambuit, pandura, kutur, gazur, waving - many names, but the design principle is identical: the convex body, which is usually made from dried gourd or turtle shell and neck with frets . And in the third or fourth century, as a result of evolution, a yuan instrument appeared in China, having structural elements in common with a guitar — this is a resonator body consisting of two decks interconnected by shells.

So who exactly was the ancestor of the guitar, and when it came to Europe is not known for certain. Historians and art historians still do not know the exact answer, perhaps it was an Arab lute, an Asian chitara or an ancient kithara.

The beginning of the formation of the guitar, such as we used to see it, dates back to about the 12th century.. It, displacing other musical instruments, is becoming one of the most popular in European countries. The tool is used dynamically in France, England, Germany, but it gains special recognition in Italy and Spain.

In the middle of the 13th century information about the guitar becomes more reliable. She gets her real name and we get more accurate information about her participation in the musical life of various countries. In Spain, an instrument that is actively used as a soloist and accompaniment becomes truly popular.

Renaissancewhich is characterized by rapid flourishing of culture, very fruitfully affected the development of the guitar. In Spain, where the instrument received a special love of the people, its development proceeded most intensively. To the four strings that previously existed on the instrument, a fifth was added, with four strings doubled and one left single. Changed the system, which subsequently receives the name of the Spanish (E, H, G, D, A). The improved guitar enters into successful competition with the well-known vihuela and lute, gradually ousting them from the musical life.

The instrument penetrates deeper and deeper into the masses; it sounds in the palaces of noble grandees and in the homes of ordinary people. In cities, various "salons" are organized - associations, circles, and meetings, where guitar concerts are constantly held. For a tool in its development, a wonderful period begins, the fashion for it spreads throughout Europe. Extensive literature is created by composers for guitar, the first editions of compositions for the instrument and tutorials appear. Performers - virtuosos show expressive and technical capabilities of the guitar.

In the 17th century Spanish guitar is actively distributed in European countries, where it becomes one of the most fashionable instruments. The impetus for this was the passion for playing guitar on the guitar of the French king Louis XIV. In the same period, she crossed the Atlantic Ocean and firmly settled on the American continent.

In Europe, the instrument continued its transformation, for example, fixed scales were established on it. And in Italy, in order to achieve greater sonority, the strings from the cores on the guitar were tried to be replaced with metal ones.

In the 18th century The tool enters a new stage of its development. The emergence of new composers who compose for the guitar, as well as virtuoso musicians, was a sign of the growing popularity of the instrument. At this time, the guitar underwent a number of design changes that gave it a more perfect look. Инструменту немного поменяли форму корпуса, заменили двойные струны на одинарные и добавили шестую струну, тем самым, расширив его технические возможности. The guitar, having formed in a new way and, having acquired truly nation-wide love, entered an era that is called the "golden age of guitar".

In the 19th century guitar improvement continues. Created at the time by the Spanish guitar master Antonio Torres instrument, today we call the classic guitar. This period was also marked by the nomination of wonderful composers and virtuoso musicians who made an invaluable contribution to the development of the instrument. However, not everything went so smoothly in the history of the guitar.

In the second half of the 19th century, the demand for the instrument is reduced, and it goes into the background, as the piano, new for that time, is becoming increasingly popular. From European countries only Spain and England remained true to the guitar.

Oblivion was not long. In 20th century the guitar regains popularity and flourishes with a new force. The newly gifted virtuoso performers, mostly of Spanish origin, appear to change the attitude of the general public to it as an old instrument and bring the guitar to the academic stage, putting it on par with such instruments as violin and piano.

In the 30s of the last century, a new version appeared - electric guitar, the use of which radically changed the idea of ​​the instrument and its application.

The guitar is a self-sufficient democratic instrument that is very popular and has won great love. In all its varieties, the guitar is very versatile. She feels great on the big concert scenes, in recording studios, at home at the festive table and hiking around the campfire. Becoming an integral part of the life of different nations, the instrument took a firm place in the feelings of many people.