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The guitar is a widely used   stringed  instrument almost all over the world today . It is generally claimed to come from the Oud or the ancient Greek instrument, the Kithara. However , in 1960 , Dr. As a result of the research conducted by Michael Kasha, these claims were found to be false. Because Dr. According to Michael Kasha's research, yes, Oud and Guitar share common ancestors, but they developed separately from each other and Oud did not have a serious contribution to the evolution of today's Guitar. The Kithara theory is completely unfounded, and the only evidence shown for this claim is the word similarity between Greek Kithara and Spanish   Guitarra  . Whereas, the Guitar is a different type of instrument from the Kithara and they have no similarity apart from the name.

 

The guitar is an instrument with a long fretted neck, a flat wood soundboard, and a straight back, often with curved sides. With these features, the Guitar is distinguished from other tanburs such as the Oud and the Lavta, which have a short neck, a large pear-shaped body, a high inclination on the back, a sharp angled and detailed pin head, which are fretless in the east and used in Europe by adding a fret . The oldest instrument, showing all the basic features of the guitar, dates back to BC. Although it belongs to a 3300 year old Hittite Guitar, it is found in Alaca Höyük ruins. In addition, it is a common finding that  Guitar first went to the Arab world through Iran and to Europe with the Arab conquest of Spain.

 

Maghreb and Latin  Guitar types began to appear in the 12th century. In the 15th century , it developed towards the Lute and took the name Mandola  or Mandora  . In the 15th century, when the main lines of today's guitar were formed, the Latin guitar is known as Vihuela with plectrum  .  This instrument, which continued to develop until the end of the 1500s, was the first note in the birth of today's Guitar. gives.

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From the 16th to the 18th centuries , guitar melodies were written in the form of Tabulatur (a system of notation that indicates finger positions instead of pitches) or an alphabetic system of chord symbols. In 1586 , the first Guitar method was for a 5 double stringed instrument known as the Spanish Guitar   . Instruments ( Chartar ) with similar characteristics to the previous Guitar have 4 strings and Vihuela has 6 double strings . Baroque after Vihuela Guitar 5 double strings; Recently used Classic   Guitars are 6 single strings .

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In the 19th century , changes were made to the Guitar that increased the sound. Its body was enlarged, its depth was reduced, the chest cover became thin.​ In the 1850s , Spanish master Antonio Torres enlarged the dimensions of the body and rearranged its proportions, and the modern Classical Guitar took its current form. This new model seriously improved the sound, tone and reflection of the instrument  and was soon accepted as the construction standard. To this day, this design has remained unchanged. At the same time as the Spanish master Torres, among them Christan Fredrich German immigrants who immigrated to America, including Martin  started making guitars with X-balcony. In the 1900s , steel wire became widely available. Even though the steel strings provided loud sound  their tension was too high for Torres style.  Reinforced X-balcony_cc781905-5cde-3194-bb358-1365 proved to work equally and badly It soon became the production standard for the Steel String Guitar .
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In the late 1900's Orville Gibson made the Archtop  Guitar with oval sound holes . Like the combination of Steel String Guitar and Cello , it did not apply any force on the bridge, it applied pressure directly down. This allowed the highs to vibrate more freely and therefore produce a louder sound. In the early 1920s, designer Lloyd Loar joined Gibson and brought the Archtop Jazz Guitar into its familiar f-hole form today .

 

Towards the end of the 1920s, the Electric Guitar was born with the addition of pickups to the Jazz Guitar.

 

You can learn to play the guitar or improve your current level by taking Private Guitar Lessons, One-to-One Group Guitar Lessons or Online Private Guitar Lessons from our valuable teachers and instructors in our staff at Söyler Sanat Academy.

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