Guitar

Musical Theory and Technique

This Side of Sanity

    The guitar is a string instrument invented in Spain.

    The guitar is a musical instrument similar to the lute, having a large flat-backed sound box generally in the shape of a violin, a long fretted neck, and usually six strings, played by strumming or plucking.

    Range: The 22-fret guitar has a range of E2 to D6 (approximately 82 Hz to 1,174 Hz (with overtones up to 5 KHz or 6 KHz).

    General MIDI Level 1 Sound Set Program Channel Number:        Acoustic Guitar (nylon): decimal 25 or hexadecimal 0x18.
        Acoustic Guitar (steel): decimal 26 or hexadecimal 0x19.
        Electric Guitar (jazz): decimal 27 or hexadecimal 0x1A.
        Electric Guitar (clean): decimal 28 or hexadecimal 0x1B.
        Electric Guitar (muted): decimal 29 or hexadecimal 0x1C.
        Overdriven Guitar: decimal 30 or hexadecimal 0x1D.
        Distortion Guitar: decimal 31 or hexadecimal 0x1E.
        Guitar Harmonics: decimal 32 or hexadecimal 0x1F.
        Guitar Fret Noise: decimal 121 or hexadecimal 0x78.
            (See General MIDI Level 1 Sound Set.)

    The word “guitar” comes from the French word “guitare” coming from the old French word “guitare” coming from the Spanish word “guitarra” coming from the Arabic word “qitar” coming from the Greek word “kithara” meaning lyre.