Unit+3

Unit Question: What knowledge do you have about your instrument?

1. History/Origin/Usage/Development of your instrument.

2. Major Artists and Recordings.

3. Instrument care and maintenance.

4. Quality, types, mouthpiece choice, reeds, strings and additional features.

( The guitar player, 1672, by Johannes Vermeer)  1. The first drawings of an instrument with the main features of a guitar can be traced all the way back to a 3,300 years ago, with a stone carving. Precursors of the guitar can be traced all the way back to 4,000 years ago. The guitar's roots are in Spain. The guitar is a descendant of the Roman cithara. The term guitar was first used in the 14th century and the Spanish vihuela which was used during the 15th and 16th century was a lot like the guitar and became more so like the modern guitar as time progressed. The baroque guitar was documented during the middle of the 16th century in Spain and was popular, especially in Spain, France, and Italy. The guitar became popular throughout parts of Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. During the late 17th century, an additional string was added to the guitar below the other 4, so now there were 5 strings total. In the mid 18th century, the guitar developed a more modern look with 6 strings (another string was added below the other 5). In the 19th century, the guitar became even more modern with changes to its shape, body, and more. The first acoustic guitars developed from other guitar-like instruments over time and was thought to have been invented by the people of Malaga. The first electric guitar was invented in 1931 by George Beauchamp. It became more popular in the 1940's because of people such as Les Paul and Leo Fender, who were making and changing guitars.

2. Artists : Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughen, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia, Jeff Beck, Carlos Santana, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and Joe Walsh Recordings: Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix, Pride and Joy by Stevie Ray Vaughen, Black Magic Woman by Santana, and You Really Got Me by Van Halen

3. Some things to help take care of your guitar are to wipe it down after you play it (to wipe away and hand oils), put it in its case when you are done playing (to protect it from environmental effects), use a real hard shell case, when tuning or stringing make sure all screws and tuning knobs are tight and all strap pins are properly fixed. In addition, you should tune your guitar properly, string your guitar properly, clean all metal features on your guitar, avoid things that could scratch, ding, or mark up your instrument, take your guitar to a local guitar technician for a complete look over at least once a year (to adjust the truss rod, adjust the intonation screws on your pickup, etc), and don't expose your guitar to any excessive hot or cold temperatures for long periods of time. Last but not least, play your guitar! This is the best way to take care o your guitar because you are keeping it in use which helps it maintain its tip-top shape. Also, you will not know if you need to tune or change the strings on your guitar if you don't play it often.

4. Types of guitars: Acoustic, Electric, Steel, 12-string (acoustic or electric), Resonator, Bass, Archtop (acoustic or electric), and Double-neck (acoustic or electric)

Types of Strings: Nylon (used in classical, sometimes jazz and folk) Steel (used in rock, country, folk, and blues)

Famous guitar companies: Gibson, Fender, Epiphone, Squire, Paul Reed Smith, Taylor, Martin, Ibanez, B.C. Rich, Dean, Jackson, Gretsch, Washburn, Yamaha, Rickenbacker, Schecter, Peavy, Carvin, and Takamine

Quality: When you are looking for quality in a guitar, you should be looking for many different factors. The guitar should probably be made by a common manufacturer that has a good reputation in the guitar business. It should probably be expensive because that shows you it has high quality materials. Some good quality pickup manufacturers are DeMarzio and Seymour Duncan. It should have switches and knobs that give you a lot of control over the tone and pickup selection. A good, high quality tremolo is a Floyd Rose. A good guitar body is made with high quality woods such as Alder, Mahogany, and Koa. A high quality fretboard, body top, and neck is made with good woods too like maple or rosewood.

Famous guitar models: Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, Gibson Flying V, Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster, and Martin Dreadnought

Good accessories to have: Tuner, capo, picks, cleaning materials, extra strings, amplifier with power chord (for electric or acoustic-electric), guitar cable (for electric or acoustic-electric), music stand, and a metronome