edHelper.com
Inventors and Inventions

Inventors of the Guitar

Inventors of the Guitar
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.12

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    electro-magnetic, guitarist, luthier, mass-produced, songwriter, tablature, vihuela, volume, fans, nylon, lute, bass, amplify, renamed, frets, classic
     content words:    Acoustic Guitar, Ancient Egypt, In Europe, Francisco Tarrega, Antonio Torres, Electric Guitar, Frying Pan, Leo Fender, Fender Telecaster, Les Paul

Print Inventors of the Guitar
edHelper.com subscriber options:
     Print Inventors of the Guitar  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)
     Quickly print reading comprehension
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Inventors of the Guitar
     Leave your feedback on Inventors of the Guitar  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Inventors of the Guitar
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     First, the guitar was invented. That occurred a long time ago, maybe in the 1500's. Then the electric guitar was invented. That occurred much more recently, in the 1930's. Both inventions probably came about in the same way. Musicians wanted to make some new sounds, so they revised instruments that they already had to create new ones.
 
2     
Invention of the Acoustic Guitar

 
3     Stringed instruments go back at least as far as Ancient Egypt and Rome. We know this from clay tablets, and other forms of pictures, that show people playing stringed instruments. In Europe, a stringed instrument called the lute was more popular, but guitars were also around. During the 16th century, guitars had double strings instead of the single strings that they have today. Strings were made of gut, not nylon or metal. There was not one standard type of guitar as there is today, either. Some guitars had three strings, some had four, and some had five.
 
4     The 17th century was probably when the six-string guitar arrived. A Spanish instrument called the vihuela had six strings. A vihuela had six double strings made of gut. It was longer than today's guitar, but it was played using frets on the neck of the guitar, and the music was written down in tablature as it is now. Like the other stringed instruments, a vihuela had a hollow body that gave the sound its volume. Many people consider the guitar a Spanish invention.

Paragraphs 5 to 12:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2008 edHelper