Ever since I was just a tyke I knew I'd be a rock and roll star. I never made it number one on the charts, instead I became a session player in Music City and let me tell you, the greatest rockin' guitar pickers, the best there's ever been. Sounds like I'm quoting from the Charlie Daniel's song 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia' which hit the charts in 1979 and was originally written by Vasser Clements. that tells the story of Johnny and the Devil and we're and we're going to spin some history about guitars and how it's possible they metamorphed into today's electric guitar.

When you think of guitars, do you see a company logo on the guitar? There's only one for me, it's the Gibson guitar and numero uno (maybe I'll check eBay to see if it's available) was made way back in 1936 and was named the ES-150. Still you hear about it and, there are people who'll swear,... 'that was pure heaven.

Of this I am certain; the guitar in its many shapes and forms, whether acoustic or the electric guitar has seen a lot of evolution through the ages, and its past is a murky. Documents say (though not definitive) that purports that the guitar from Spain comes from the Romans and dates to 400 AD. It would only resemble today's guitar in a broad sense, being called a Tanbur a lute like instrument from the Middle East, usually possessing three strings; or it seems more likely our present day electric guitar may have orginated with the Cithara. The cithara, which has from three to twelve strings, was lovingly hand made with a soundboard, box shaped body (resonator) and that doesn't sound too distant from the acoustic or electric guitar of today.

What may have transpired is that some talented craftsman of long ago took the best from each, and adding his own talents into the musical instrumentwhat would become the guitar|. Without a doubt the world was different then and the way ideas, concepts and crafts were communicated, spread slowly and probably would have taken a long period of time to spread from one region to another. Today they would answer to the term street musicians, long ago they hailed to the name troubadours.

The ancestor of the guitar, however it may have looked continued to change and refine itself and in 1200 AD had evolved into a guitar with a rounded back and broad fingerboard (probably Moorish) and a different version which is probably the distant relation of the modern day acoustic guitar (probably Spanish or Latin).

The guitar was always home at celebrations, however it was overshadowed for many years by the vihuela and lute, which eventually became too complicated for everyday performing, and those musical minds of yesteryear looked to the four and five string guitar, which again garnered its rightful place in history. The fifth string giving the guitar its rock solid (excuse the reference) reputation, versatility and long life.

Looking back into the long ago past, we can realize the many twists and turns, and certainly no one back then (hey electricity hadn't even been invented) could envision the current instrument it has evolved into. Yet those master craftsmen constructed something of beauty, integrity and a bit of magic, since (basically) the design of today's guitar very much resembles those made one hundred and fifty years ago.