History of the Guitar

Going back through the history of the guitar, there have been guitar like instruments that did exist during ancient times; however, we find the first written account of a guitar in the 14th century. When it was first mentioned, it had three pairs of strings as well as a single string. Most historians believe that the guitar came from Spain, since by the 16th century in Spain, an instrument that was almost the same was found in lower classes, and it had six pairs of strings.

If you take a close look, you'll find that the English word, "guitar," was actually adapted from the word "guitarra," which is Spanish and was taken from the Greek word, "kithara." The first part of the word "guit" means music, and the second part "tar" means string or chord. So, you can easily see how the instrument got its name.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, the guitar would then go on to become popular all throughout Europe. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that the guitar finally reached the modern form that we know of today. The pairs of strings, known as double courses, were then made single and there was a sixth string added as well. During the 19th century, guitar makers began to broaden the body of the guitar; they thinned out the belly, increase the waist curve, and also totally made a change with the internal bracing. They also replaced the wooden tuning pegs with a modern machine head as well.

While the guitar was around during the Renaissance, the lute was the instrument of choice during this time. In fact, the guitar was not even considered a serious instrument during this time. However, it was in this time period that the first music for the guitar was thought to have been written. It was called the "Tres Libros de Musica en Cifras para Vihuela" and was written by Alonso Mudarra. After this, the guitar began to attract more people and more music was written for the guitar as well.

During the Classical period the guitar became more poplar as a variety of people wrote music and performed in live concerts, such as Mauro Guilliani, Fernando Carulli, and Fernando Sor. Sor even played his guitar as a soloist with the London Philharmonic back in 1817, and during this period Stradivarius was making guitars as well as making violins.

By the end of the 19th century, once again the guitar had lost popularity; however, Francisco Tarrega, who composed, did public performances, and even wrote his own method for teaching people how to play guitar, would soon revive it again. Tarrega also transcribed a variety of different musical pieces so they could be played by the guitar and he had a huge influence, including influencing the famous Segovia. It was Segovia who would help to bring the guitar to the popularity that it now has today. In fact, Segovia was the one who actually brought world recognition to the guitar by performing on the guitar all across the world.

The father of the modern guitar is considered to be Antonio de Torres, since until his time the guitar was quite small and very narrow. He worked on the design of the guitar and made it bigger, also working on making it louder and on improving the sound of the guitar as well.

Of course it was not until the early part of the 20th century that the first electric guitar was developed. It was George Beauchamp that got the first patent in 1936 for an electric guitar. Beauchamp later went on to help found the Rickenbacker Company that produced electric guitars. This company became well known during the 60's when John Lennon used one of their guitars for their debut performance in 1964 on the Ed Sullivan show. Paul McCartney also would use a Rickenbacker bass guitar when he was recording, and throughout their careers, the Beatles were known for using this brand of guitars.

The other two pioneer companies that dealt in electric guitars included Gibson Guitar Corporation and Fender Musical Instruments Company. Today, most of the electric guitars that are made are still based on the designs of some of the best companies in the history of the guitar... Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker.

The 4 Best Guitar Solos Of All Time

The following is a list of the 4 best guitar solos ever to be played... well, at least in my opinion anyways.

I had the hardest time writing this because with all of the amazing music in the world, how the heck do you pick the top 4? What was even harder for me was to put them in order!

I have been working on this for days now and even though I have whittled the list down to 4, I still couldn't decide on the order to place each song in. So instead of numbering them from 1 to 4, I decided just to tell you my favorite and leave the rest of them un-numbered. I know, I know... I wussed out! But sit down and try it yourself someday and then see how hard it is.

You probably wont agree with my choices and that's ok because we all have different tastes. In fact, if everyone agreed with my picks, I would be worried. That's the beauty of music... we love what we think sounds good, what makes us feel good and what makes us jump out of our chair and play some air guitar.

Could you imagine if we all felt the same, liked the same music and had the same opinions? How boring would that be?

So here are my choices, the songs and guitar solos that send shivers up and down my spine every time I hear them. If you don't agree, that's ok. These are my picks... go make your own ;-).

Most favorite guitar solo of all time:

Eruption by Van Halen:

Written and performed by Eddie Van Halen on the Van Halen album. I picked this as my favorite of all because it's the one that I always, no matter where and when I hear it, have this urge to play some serious air guitar. I remember being blown away the first time that I heard this because a sound like that was never heard before. That one song inspired myself and many other young kids to pick up the guitar.

The strangest part of this track was that it wasn't even supposed to be on the album. Eddie was in the studio practicing one of the solos that he liked to do live because he had a gig on the weekend. His producer walked in and heard him playing and told him that he wanted to put it on the album. They recorded one take of the solo and that's what you hear on the album.

Honorable mentions:

Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd:

Starting off as a ballad, Freebird then turns into an up-tempo guitar boogie. My favorite parts of the song are the slide guitar solo at the beginning and the 3 guitars that solo for nearly a full 5 minutes at the end of the song.

Another cool fact about this song is the lyrics at the start of the song. "If I leave here tomorrow would you still remember me?" was a question that a girlfriend of Skynrd guitarist Allen Collins asked him when she realized that music would always come before her in his life. Allen wrote those lyrics down and then were used in Freebird and recorded on their Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd album.

All Along The Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix Experience:

Jimi took a tape of the Bob Dylan song into the studio one day and immediately started recording a bunch of takes. Becoming more dissatisfied as the song went on, Jimi kept overdubbing more and more guitar parts. When you sit down and listen to the finished version, which is on the Electric Ladyland album, it's hard to imagine that this song started out as an acoustic ballad.

Stairway To Heaven by Led Zeppelin:

From the famous Led Zeppelin IV album, this is the song that you usually see at the top of all of the "best guitar solos" lists. When you see videos of this song being played, you will see Jimmy Page playing a double neck Gibson guitar during the song. When recording the song for the album, Jimmy actually used a 1958 Fender Telecaster, Harmony acoustic guitar and Fender Electric 12-string.

Another interesting fact about "Stairway" was that it never was released as a single, which turned out to be a great marketing move. Just to get their own copy of "Stairway", fans were more than willing to shell out the cash for the whole album. It was a great investment anyways because the entire album is amazing.

There you have it, in my humble opinion, the 4 best guitar solos of all time. I have a much bigger list that I could have revealed here but because this is an article and not a book, I have kept it down to 4. Plus it really doesn't matter what my choices are, anything that I would have picked wouldn't be able to do justice to all of the great guitar players in the history of modern music. I'm just grateful that I've had the chance to experience all of their music.

Tips To Buy Used Piano From A Piano Store

The piano is probably one of the biggest and oldest musical instruments. With its immense versatility and beautiful sound, a piano has the capability to blend extremely well with other musical instruments. It can also prove to be an ideal solo instrument too. However, buying a piano can be quite tricky. There are a wide variety of pianos with various brands that could be chosen from. The sound, looks, effectiveness and features often vary to a large extent. Moreover, their price range varies too. It becomes very difficult to buy a piano unless one is sure about what he is looking for.

It is often suggested that the bigger a piano is, the better would its sound quality be. Also buying the more expensive one, even for a starter, would result in a rich sound experience. But these suggestions do not always hold true. This is the space saving age and it becomes extremely difficult to make space for a huge piano. Moreover, people with limited budget cannot always afford a high level brand new piano. But that does not mean they cannot ever own the musical instrument of their dreams. A lot of piano stores sell used piano. There are certain advantages of buying a used piano from these piano stores. Firstly, one can get the instrument of his choice at a much cheaper price than a brand new one. Since the depreciation of a piano is very less and one instrument is generally expected to last for almost forty to fifty years, a piano which is ten years old would still be in a good condition, enough to get along well for another thirty years at least.

Used piano does not generally come with a warranty. This makes it important for a buyer to carefully choose the instrument. Certain things must be kept in mind while buying a used piano. It is always better to buy used piano from a piano store rather than buying it from an online shop. Piano is an instrument that needs to be touched, heard and felt before buying. It becomes all the more necessary for used ones in order to carefully check the condition the piano is in. Plenty of piano stores sell used piano these days and it is better to check them out before actually buying one.

It is very important to do a history check of the used piano the buyer intends to buy. This should ideally include details about the previous owner if it's available, how long the piano was with its past owner and how long it has been on the store. If possible it is also wise to find out why the previous owner sold the piano. If the buyer is new to the instrument it is always better to take along someone who has played a piano for some time and has a considerable experience and understanding of the instrument while buying. They can help assess whether the instrument is in good condition by playing it, listening to how it sounds and how it feels while they're playing it. A price comparison between the used one and other used pianos as well as the same model in brand new condition is also suggested. This would ensure that price to be paid for the used piano is worth.

If these factors can be kept in mind and followed carefully while visiting a piano store, a buyer can surely get the best deal when it comes to buying a used piano.

The History of Yamaha Guitar

The Yamaha guitar has been around for over 60 years and the company itself for over 100 years. In 1887, Torakusu Yamaha made his first reed organ and began taking orders to make more. In 1897, the Nippon Gakki Co. Ltd. was founded with Torakusu as president of the company.

For the next 40+ years, Yamaha's company made organs, pianos, harmonicas, furniture, phonographs and finally their first acoustic guitar in 1942. In 1965, a year after The Beatles made their legendary Ed Sullivan Show appearance, Yamaha began production of solid body guitars. In 1966, they started to make the electric bass as well.

By the 1970's, Yamaha started to grab the attention of major artists such as Carlos Santana and Bob Marley because of the instruments great quality and design. The Yamaha guitars were being built to produce a powerful warm tone with amazing sustain. Also, the "Broad Bass" was introduced in 1977 and quickly caught the attention of famous bass players throughout the world including Paul McCartney.

By the end of the 80's, Yamaha opened up a factory in North Hollywood, California. Here they started making guitars where they called on some professional guitar players to help them out and advise them on what they would like to see in their guitars.

One of the reasons behind the success of the Yamaha guitar is the targets that they shoot for in their design. Every guitar must have a balanced tone and response and the bass and treble must complement each other.

A very important move for Yamaha was the introduction of the dovetail neck joint to their design in the 1970's, which provides the best neck to body contact. The neck joint is made with timber, which helps to resonate vibrations easily from the neck to the body producing the balanced tone and response.

Yamaha also strongly believe that the blending of different kinds of quality wood is extremely important to produce a great sound. The outcome of blending these quality woods, are the highs last longer and the guitar player is able to control the note texture at all times.

Another important part of construction of the Yamaha guitars is the types of lacquer that they use. They work closely with the lacquer producers to make sure that they get the best type of lacquer that is right for their guitars. Yamaha want to make sure that their guitars both look great and have every chance to breathe.

Because of all these great design features, many artists have used and still prefer to strap on a Yamaha guitar on tour and in the recording studio. Some of the great artists that have played Yamaha guitars over the years are Michael Anthony, John Denver, John Lennon, Bob Marley, Brian May, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, Bob Seger, Billy Sheehan, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and James Taylor.