The abovementioned quotation was from the legendary guitarist Andres Segovia. It is by far the most appropriate description given to everyone’s favorite musical instrument – the guitar.

Guitars are arguably the most popular and widely used among the musical instruments. It is the major instrument used in most contemporary music genres such as blues, country, rock and other forms of pop. Guitars are also played as solo classical which is usually done acoustically. Acoustic guitars rely on the vibrations the string produced and the hollow body that modulates the sound. Contemporary musicians, on the other hand, use mostly electric guitars that amplify and manipulate the sound produced by the strings using electricity and other gadgets.

The history and evolution of guitars is still a mystery to most musicians. Up to now, no one knows where guitars originated. Others think that the ancient Greeks are the ones who first use the instrument. Some others would say that it cam from North Africa, the Middle East or India. Guitars seem to be widely used everywhere most probably for that reason.

As strange as its origin, classic guitars are mysterious and solitary. Obviously, only one person is needed to make music with a guitar but as Segovia mentioned, the strings vibrating together seems to produce varying emotions to the audience’s ears. This is specially the case with classic guitars which are usually played in solo concertos and rarely as an accompaniment.

Blues guitars are the complete opposite of the more demure classic guitars. Although blues started as more of a vocal exhibition while guitars were only used as rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment, there is no denying that blues has evolved to what it is now because of the guitar. The rhythm produced by the guitars best emphasize the lyrics of blues songs. And because blues musicians are usually self-taught, the guitar evolved as a very flexible instrument which musicians enjoyed to take advantage by exerting their own version of guitar playing that reflects their personalities. Using the guitar, blues musicians were able to develop its style making it hard to categorize it to a single genre.

Also very influential in today’s music scene are electric guitars which are now considered as an artifact of popular culture. Electric guitars are predominantly used in rock, pop and jazz. May it be a Strat or Les Paul, electric guitars define our generation with its postmodern definition of music as an art form.