History of the guitar: where the heck did this thing come from?
There’s a pretty comprehensive article on the history of the guitar: https://www.mi.edu/education/guitar-history-how-the-guitar-has-evolved/
The history of the guitar can be traced back over 4000 years. The first signs of a guitar-like instrument appeared in Asia Minor and the Middle East around 3400 years ago. The oldest known representation of an instrument with the essential features of a guitar is a 3300 year old stone carving of a Hittite guitar found in Turkey.
The first guitars are thought to have originated in Spain during the 15th Century. These early guitars had four “courses” of strings, or sets of two strings tuned to the same note to give the guitar resonance. The instrument was actually called a vihuela, and consisted of four double-strings (paired courses). The world’s oldest guitar is a vihuela, which was created by Belchior Diaz around 1590. It has ten strings and is widely regarded as the predecessor to modern guitars.
The exact origin of the word “guitar” is a mystery, but the the name may come from the ancient Sanskrit word “tar”, which means string or from the ancient Greek word “kithara”, which was a sort of guitar-ish instrument (if you squint your eyes and use a great deal of imagination).
Legend has it that the god Hermes gets a nod for creating the first kithara from a tortoise shell and his buddy Apollo was apparently an ax-man as well. The story goes like this: “when Apollo swept his hand across the strings, even the little waves on the blue sea stopped chasing one another to listen; then they too sang the same song, and they sing it to this day”. Party on, Hermes! Party on, Apollo!
The kithara had a wooden soundboard, box-shaped body and two hollow arms extending from the body. The instrument originally had three strings running from the crossbar to its lower end, passing over a bridge on the soundboard. Here’s a video on the subject from Peter Pringle, a modern-day kithara player. Check it out- it even has a whammy bar, more or less. And even though Mr. Pringle pronounces “whammy” with the “h” in front of the “w”, it’s still pretty cool.
Back in the day though, the kithara player typically struck the strings with an early version of the modern pick. The player would use his or her left-hand fingers to dampen unwanted strings and, at times, stop the strings or produce harmony with their left hand. Solo musicians would sometimes pluck the strings with the fingers of both hands. Holding a kithara is similar to holding a guitar, and musicians would often use the early equivalent of a guitar strap with an over-the-shoulder band. Rock on, ancient music dudes!