Tag Archives: ancient guitar

Ancient Guitar

#DidYouKnow that the Guitar – acoustic, naturally – is far more ancient in it’s origins than many of us give it credit for?
Most people date the guitar to the 16th Century, with some acknowledging its form to 12th-16th, but it’s far more ancient than that.

There is a stone carving, dated to around the 13th Century BC, of a Hittite bard playing a stringed instrument which is believed to be the oldest iconographic representation of a chordophone (ancient guitar form).

What’s more there is one, thought to be around 3,500 years old, currently in the Cairo Museum. This one is believed to have belonged to singer Har-Mose.

It’s amazing that Europe only caught on to this instrument in the 12th Century AD.

Baroque Guitars

We often talk about ancient instruments as part of our #ThrowbackThursday posts.

We’ve also talked about the predecessors to the modern Classical guitar.

The direct antecedent is generally accepted as being the Baroque guitar. This was smaller bodied, lighter and more ornate than a classical, and still had 5 pairs of gut strings.

What we find really interesting, though, is the fact that the gut frets were moveable… 😱

Guitar Trivia

Recently we shared a picture of the oldest known surviving guitar but #DidYouKnow that the first instruments to bear the name ‘Guitar’ appeared in the 13th century? 😮

The name ‘guitar’ has its origins in the Latin word Cithara. It wasn’t until the 1200s that an instrument began to use the name. Back then there were two; the Guitarra Moresca (Moorish Guitar) and the Guitarra Latina (Latin Guitar); a reproduction of which is pictured below. However, the Spanish Vialo do Mano was perhaps the modern guitar’s closest ancestor; appearing in the 15th century, it usually had 6 strings, and a familiar body shape – resembling a modern acoustic.