DO YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT A GUITAR IS?

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The guitar is an ancient musical instrument which is used in many types of music like rock, punk, blues, flamenco, country. It is usually based on six strings, headstock, neck, nut and fingerboard.
 
It is generally believed that in 1.400 B.C, the village of the hittites created an instrument similar to the guitar, which was the ancestor of this instrument. In the “Peninsula Iberica” it was already used by the seventeenth century. Before that, the guitar had nine strings. Even if the guitar arrived late in Spain, some Spanish musicians won renown thanks to playing it well (Paco de Lucía). Later on the electric guitar appeared and nowadays is very used in rock, pop and other musical styles.

Not everybody knows that the guitar is left-handed people instrument. Just because the left hand force more than the right. There are some interesting cases, like Jimi Hendrix, who plays the guitar just turning it round and changing the strings in order to the right position. Other left-handed people play the instrument just turning it round while the string starts in the treble and finishes in the low tone.

Though a guitar may be played on its own, there are a variety of common accessories used for holding and playing the guitar: capodastra (cejilla in Spanish) is used to change the pitch of open strings; slide is used in blues and rock to create a glissando or 'hawaiian' effect. And finally a guitar pick that is used instead of using the fingers.