Acoustic Guitar History

For many centuries now, people have been playing guitars in all kinds of shapes and sizes and acoustic guitars were the first ones to be played.  However, over time, the shape of this type of guitar has changed greatly and below we take a brief look at the acoustic guitar history.  

As you will soon discover the acoustic guitar is in fact a descendent of the classical guitar that has been around for over 100 years in the form that we know today.  However, the main difference one will immediately see between these two types of guitars is that one is strung using nylon strings whilst the other uses steel ones.  It is the acoustic guitar that in fact is strung using steel strings and it is these, which provide a much brighter and louder sound than the classical one.  This is probably the reason why so many people who play folk or blues music on a guitar prefer to use this type.  

Yet although the version of the acoustic guitar we see being played today has been around for some hundred years.  The first known versions of both the acoustic and classical guitars date back to medieval times.  At this time musicians were playing an instrument known as a Gittern which by the 1400's had started to change shape and looked more like a smaller version of the classical guitar of today.  This new shaped instrument first begun to appear in Spain and Italy before making it's way around the globe to other countries.  

As then, today's acoustic guitar is lightweight and does not need electrics in order to amplify the sound it makes.  Today such guitars are often used for playing Spanish folk music especially those guitarists who play Flamenco.  

Although acoustic guitars now have steel strings on them these were not actually introduced until the 19th Century.  Prior to this, other materials will have been used in order to produce the strings required in some cases catgut was often the ideal choice for such instruments.  Also, it is believed that with the introduction of steel strings on such guitars it made them more widely popular especially in the USA.  

Today when it comes to the acoustic guitar no longer are we restricted to playing the more traditional types of ones.  Instead, as you will soon discover when reading about acoustic guitar history there have been many new designs and developments made.  In fact, you can now purchase either a resonator version that allows you to play the guitar without any amplifier required, or there is the twelve-string version of the acoustic guitar now available as well.