The History of the Guitar (Part IID): The Lute

The History of the Guitar (Part IID): The Lute

Source

The lute also came very popular during the renaissance period as it was one of the most important instruments. It was mostly more prominent from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras.

With its design, the body of the lute is oval and the back is round. For the performance, it is not one of the strongly sounding instruments.

Looking at the history of the instrument, there are indications that it began in the present day Afghanistan even though there were instruments in India that had the looks of the lute.

History of the Lute

---

Source

The argument on the history of the guitar still continued with the lute and its role just the way it was with other instruments before it.
The instrument was said to have gotten its name from the Arabs who had an instrument known as al ‘Ud, which literally meant wood. What later happened was that the Arab lute and the European lute took different paths.
The lute was characterized by a pear-shaped body, a rounded back and a bent-back pegbox.

The Lute and the Guitar

---

In the earlier times it was claimed that the lute played a major influence in the development of the guitar. Nevertheless, following a research in the 1960s, Dr. Michael Kasha pointed out that these claims are with no basis.
He indicated that although it is true that the lute and what will develop to becoming the guitar share ancestry, the two have a parallel development story and the lute has not influenced the guitar. Instead, it was the forefathers in the invention of the guitar that had influence in the evolution of the lute.

This claim may not have much weight because the guitar has been established to be in the family of the lute. Which is made of the bowed and plucked instruments.

Just as the early guitars, the lute came seldom with necks that had over 8 frets free of the body. As the guitar evolved, that was the time it moved up to 10, then later 12 frets to the body.

Between the lute and the guitar, there are some things missing such as the treble strings in the lute. Another thing is that there are differences in the design which is only normal.

These have not been substantial enough as the question still remain whether the lute and the guitar are from the same bloodline or not. This is mostly because it is not sure whether the lute was brought to Spain by the Arabs.
What remains therefore, is the fact that both Asia and Greece have played significantly in the development of the lute as an instrument.