Ever since I was just a tyke I knew I'd be a rock and roll star. I didn't make it to the pinnacle, instead I became a sound engineer in Nashville and you can bet, some of the most awesome rockin' guitar masters, the best there's ever been. All due respect to Charlie Daniels and 'The Devil Went Down To Georgia' which he and his band recorded in 1979 penned by Vasser Clements. Of course that features the dueling fiddles and we're taking about guitars and and the strange way they evolved into today's electric guitar.

When you have an image of a guitar in your head, do you have a brand name in mind? For me it's the Gibson guitar the orginal (maybe I'll check eBay to see if it's available) was designed in 1936 and was named the ES-150. Still you hear about it and, there are people who'll swear,... 'That's the best sound you'll ever get from a guitar.

Of this I am certain; the guitar in all its incarnations, whether acoustic or the electric guitar has changed a lot through the years, and its history is a twisted journey to follow. History records (though not definitive) that purports that the Latin guitar is descended from the Romans and dates to about 400 AD. It would only resemble today's guitar in a broad sense, called a Tanbur which is lute like instrument from the Middle East, most often having three strings; however it seems more likely our present day electric guitar may have orginated with the Cithara. The cithara, possessing from three to twelve strings, was constructed with a wooden soundboard, box shaped body (resonator) and that doesn't sound too removed from our acoustic or electric guitar of today.

What's likely is that some talented person of long ago combined the two, weaving his own ideas into the musical instrumentwhat would become the guitar|. Of course the world was different then and the way changes happened, moved slowly and probably would have taken years to cross from one area of the world to another. And while today they would be called street musicians, in those days they hailed to the name of traveling troubadours.

What would become the guitar, however it may have looked continued to change and refine itself and in 1200 AD gradually became the instrument with a curved back and wide fingerboard (probably Moorish) and a different version which is probably the distant cousin of today's acoustic guitar (probably Spanish or Latin).

While the guitar was always home at celebrations, however it played second fiddle (sorry, couldn't resist) for nearly a generation by the vihuela and lute, which would become too complicated for everyday performing, and those musical minds of yesteryear looked to the four and five string guitar, which claimed its rightful place in history. The fifth string giving the guitar its rock solid (excuse the joke) reputation, versatility and long life.

Looking back into time, we can see the many twists and turns, and certainly no one back then (hey electricity hadn't even been invented) could envision the modern day instrument it has evolved into. Yet those men of old designed 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.