The birth of the world’s first guitar
For decades, the guitar has remained the cornerstone of rock and roll. Regardless of which generation embraces the instrument, there’s something about raking across those strings that lights a fire in people that very few non-sexual activities can do. Though there has always been an allure to the guitar, its origins started in a vastly different place from where it ended up.
When first sculpting the instrument, the guitar was missing some of its initial strings and was first used only for classical music. First appearing in Spain, the proto-guitar was initially called a ‘vihuela’, consisting of four strings much like that of a 12-string guitar. Though this iteration of the instrument rose to prominence in the 15th century, it wasn’t until the 1800s that the guitar looked a little more familiar, going from the eight-stringed monster to the six-string that most people would identify with.
Around this era, another proto-guitar known as ‘the Torres’ was born. Named after the inventor Antonio Torres, this version sported a bigger body, which made for better resonance when the instrument was strummed or plucked. Since there was more body to the guitar, this also meant that the instrument’s volume would be much louder, as opposed to the more reserved sound of the earlier guitars. Then again, the next few years were all about the guitar getting louder.
When its acoustic foundation wasn’t enough, inventors started to expand the idea of a guitar that could be plugged into an amplifier for sound. As the instrument made its way into the 20th century, George Beauchamp came up with the idea of the first lap steel aluminium guitar, after which he partnered with Adolph Rickenbacher to make the first-ever pickups for a guitar to be used. This allowed the guitar strings to reverberate for longer and let the chords be heard at ear-splitting volumes if plugged into an amplifier.
Half a world away in America, inventors like Leo Fender and Les Paul were also expanding the horizons of what an electric guitar could do, putting in different pickups and designs that would make the instrument easier to play in a performance setting. As they started to make new innovations to the instrument, artists like Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly were becoming some of the biggest names in music, brandishing guitars around their waists and singing some of the early rock and roll tunes.
By the time that music reached Liverpool, The Beatles reacted to it like a bolt of lightning, with John Lennon and Paul McCartney picking up guitars based on what they were hearing on the radio. Lennon would eventually become the proud owner of many Rickenbackers, making for a more percussive sound whenever he smacked the strings on songs like ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’.
From there, the scene got even louder, with Pete Townshend commissioning Marshall to create one of the first stacks of amplifiers. Instead of just being loud, the sheer force of the sound was enough to knock anyone back if they weren’t careful. The instrument has never gone out of style since, with virtuosos, inventors, and enthusiasts having their unique approaches to their instruments, like Ritchie Blackmore, Eddie Van Halen and Tom Morello. The guitar may make for a pummeling sound whenever it’s played, but it all was born out of one tiny classical instrument in Spain.
