The guitar became very popular with people because it was a very easy instrument to learn at least a few basic chords and songs. However, the guitar was not accepted well with the ‘serious’ musical community, hence the reason there is very few concertos written for the instrument – and is still dismissed by many classically trained musicians today. In the early 19th century, Fernando Sor became one of the most prolific composers for, and promoters of, the guitar as a ‘concert’ instrument. It was him, and others like him, which paved the way for Andrés Segovia to emerge and help bring the guitar to the immense popularity it enjoys today.
The guitar became very popular with people because it was a very easy instrument to learn at least a few basic chords and songs. However, the guitar was not accepted well with the ‘serious’ musical community, hence the reason there is very few concertos written for the instrument – and is still dismissed by many classically trained musicians today. In the early 19th century, Fernando Sor became one of the most prolific composers for, and promoters of, the guitar as a ‘concert’ instrument. It was him, and others like him, which paved the way for Andrés Segovia to emerge and help bring the guitar to the immense popularity it enjoys today.
The 20th century has seen the majority of the instrument’s improvements. Firstly the strings used, which were cat gut until that time, were replaced by metal and nylon ones. The classical guitar was then modified to make the steel string acoustic guitar we know today. This required additional bracing to strengthen the body, and the introduction of the truss rod to give support to the neck. Again this resulted in an even louder instrument.
Many tried to amplify the sound further by electrifying the guitar. Many of the first attempts were made by the Martin Company in the 1930’s. It was here the invention of the magnetic pick-up occurred. The first amplifiers came about around the same time and were pioneered by Leo Fender.
The first ‘electric’ guitars were nothing more then existing acoustic guitars that had been modified to include a magnetic pick-up. This caused many problems due to the fact that they had hollow bodies, which would resonate the sound produced by the amp as well as the strings of the guitar – which creates ‘feedback’.
It was Les Paul that developed the first ‘solid’ bodied guitar which he named ‘The Log’ – due to it being little more then a plank of wood with a neck and two double coil pick-ups attached. To make his invention more appealing he stuck two halves of an acoustic guitar on either side, giving it a more traditional look. He went on to sell the idea to Gibson who still produce the ‘Les Paul’ model that you see today.
It was Leo Fender however, that really brought the electric guitar into mass production and made it available at far less a cost then all previous attempts. The first mass production guitar was the Broadcaster, which we now know as the Telecaster, which was released in 1948. He later went on to design and produce the Stratocaster, in 1954, probably the most well known electric guitar to date. Leo Fender was also the innovator of the electric bass guitar which he invented for live use along side the guitar, as a normal contrabass could not compete in terms of volume - The first model being the Fender Precision Bass.
Since then various forms of the guitar have come and gone but the main form of the instrument has rarely differed far from what we have seen from the 1950’s onwards. The main differences have been in the choice of materials used in the manufacture of the guitar. This has mainly been in the attempt of producing increased sustain or simply due to the scarcity of certain woods. Nowadays a complete range of guitars are available, from the lower priced entry level models to the premium custom shop models for all of us to enjoy, what ever our level of ability.
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