Article by Varun
"Papa kehte hain bada naam karega, beta hamara aisa kaam karega," remember this wonderful college song from Qayamat se Qayamat Tak. Or a more recent electrifying one Pichle Sath Dino Mein from the fantabulous movie Rock On. Or looking internationally: Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams which never fails to make us tap our feet with joy or was it Hotel California by Eagles? All these songs and many more wouldn't have been complete without one instrument very dominant in these songs, which makes the entire music sound almost heavenly, yes my dear friends I'm talking about none other than the beautiful stringed instrument called the Guitar.
Looking into history, the oldest known iconographic representation of an instrument displaying the essential features of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard. The English word guitar, the German gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted from the Spanish guitarra, which comes from the Andalusian Arabic قيثارةر qitara, itself derived from the Latin cithara, which in turn came from the Ancient Greek κιθάρα kithara, which ultimately (directly or indirectly) traces back to the Old Persian سی تار sihtar "three-stringed." Wow! That's a lot of connections, isn't it? This explains the similarity which many stringed instruments in different cultures worldwide share, including the guitar. A guitar in generic sense has six strings (number varies with the different types) attached to it, and is played by either hand or by a small triangular piece called pluck. There's a large body with a rigid neck where the strings fit in. The neck is subdivided into smaller sections by metal plates called frets, pressing on which produces different sounds of music. Though there may be different types of guitars worldwide the broad categories are:*Acoustic guitars Generally made from wooden or polycarbonate network.*Baroque guitars These are the ancestors of the modern day guitar.
*Flamenco guitars The flamenco guitar is similar to the classical guitar, but is of lighter construction.
*Twelve-string guitars Rather than having only six strings, the 12-string guitar has six courses made up of two strings each, like a mandolin or lute.*GuitarrónThe guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass played in mariachi (mexican) bands.*Harp guitarsHarp Guitars are difficult to classify as there are many variations within this type of guitar. They are typically rare and uncommon in the popular music scene. Most consist of a regular guitar, plus additional 'harp' strings strung above the six normal strings.*Electric guitarsLastly the most famous and widely used variant of the 21st century: the electric guitar. It is a guitar that uses the principle of electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric signals. Since the generated signal is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker.
That's it, all the information about guitar at a single place. But to describe about the music which this stringed instrument is capable of producing is beyond words, it is something which has to be felt and be in love with.
About the Author
Musichttp://www.kgsepg.com/project-id/7547-music-india "> has always been "a worldwide influence.