1. Country Music Instruments
Instruments used in Country Music

2. A Guitar

3. The Guitar
Early guitars were first used in the 12th century in Europe, descendant from instruments in China and India
The oldest representation of a guitar is a 3,000 year old carving
Inspiration for the guitar could have come from a four stringed instrument called an oud brought to Europe by invading Moors in the 8th century, or the Scandinavian six stringed lute (800AD)
Two types of guitars were common by 1200AD (Moorish and Latin)

4. Latin Guitars
A picture of Latin medieval guitars

5. The Guitar
The Spanish vihuela was created in the 15th century and was the main influence for our modern style of guitar
It had a body much like a modern guitar, larger than its contemporaries, with six strings and a system for tuning
In the late 15th century, some vihuelas were played with bows leading to the violin/viola.
The vihuela died out by the end of the 16th century
The five stringed Baroque guitar took over in popularity until modern guitars

6. Vihuela
Painting depicting a viheula player from 1520

7. The Guitar
There are many, many different types of guitar in use today.
Types of guitars most commonly used today fall generally into three categories:
Acoustic
Electric
Classical

8. Classical Guitar Also known as Spanish guitars
Nylon strings played with fingers
Wide, flat neck allows for ease of playing scales and arpeggios
Comes in different sizes (Flamenco guitars, requinto, guitarron)

9. Classical guitar

10. Electric Guitar Invented in 1931, used first by jazz musicians
Can have hollow, semi-hollow, or solid bodies
Steel strings played with picks
Produce very little sound without amplification
Electromagnetic pickups transfer the vibrations of the strings into signals that are then fed through the amp via a cable
Sound can be modified through other electronic means
Usually have seven strings, though can have as few as one and as many as fourteen

11. Electric Guitar

12. Acoustic Guitar
A group of guitars that create sound without amplification
Uses an acoustic soundboard to project the sound
Strings vibrate against the soundboard, the soundboard resonates at the same frequency, creates a different timbre without changing pitch
Has a hollow body to increase resonance
Sound travels from string to soundboard to body cavity to outside air

13. Acoustic Guitar

14. Videos
Classical Guitar
Acoustic Folk
Electric Guitar

15. A Fiddle

16. The Fiddle
The Fiddle and the violin are technically the same instrument
Fiddle or fiddling refers to the style of playing, NOT the instrument itself
Fiddling is done on stringed instruments that are played with bows
Emerged in Europe in the 10th century
Two different lira (stringed instruments) developed in this time- one played sitting up and one played while being held up

17. The Fiddle
The instrument held sitting up was called the lira di gamba and was held by the legs. It died out in the Renaissance, due to its inferior sound
The instrument held up by the arm was called the lira di braccio. It became the violin.
Fiddling was normally done as solo work, because it was done in small dance settings where a group of instruments would be too loud
By the 20th century, groups of instrumentalists were more common

18. The Fiddle
Fiddlers could push their instruments harder than classical violinists
Violin playing is generally smoother and more classical in nature
Fiddling usually keeps a stronger beat, and is a harsher sound from pushing the bow harder onto the strings.

19. Video
Fiddling
Classical Violin

20. The Banjo

21. The Banjo
A four, five or six stringed instrument with a piece of animal skin or plastic stretched over a circular frame
 Simpler forms of the instrument were fashioned by Africans in Colonial America, adapted from several African instruments of similar design.
Occupied a central place in African American traditional music, then became popular in the minstrel shows of the 19th century.
Slaves influenced early development of country and bluegrass, through the introduction of the banjo

22. The Banjo
Original African instruments did not have tuning or frets; those notions came from the Caribbean in the 17th century
Instruments in many other countries throughout the 15th and 16th centuries were very similar to the banjo, but were derived from the lute
In the 1830s, Joel Sweeney was the first white man to play the banjo on stage

23. The Banjo
Banjos usually have a wooden rim with a tightened animal skin or synthetic head, like a drum
Some banjos have resonator plates on the back, to give the instrument more volume
Two techniques are used to play the Banjo- drones and rolls
Drones play quick single melody notes
Rolls play accompaniment chord patterns

24. Banjo Videos
Banjo
Asian Big Band