8th April: National Guitar Week

This week is National Guitar Week. Here are some things you may not know about guitars.

1. Guitars have been around a very long time. The first archaeological evidence of a guitar-like instrument dates back to 3,000 – 4,000 years ago. The oldest picture of stringed guitars comes from 3300 Hittite ruins. Similar instruments were used in Persia and Ancient Rome. The first guitar music was published in 1546.
2. The earliest guitars were difficult and expensive to make, so only very rich people owned them. They were made from wood with strings made from animal intestines. Now they are made from wood or plastic and the strings are nylon. Today, the Fender factory makes around 90,000 nylon strings per day, over 20,000 miles a year, enough to circle the world.
3. There are two basic types of guitar – acoustic and electric, but these encompass many different sub-categories like classical and flamenco.
4. The word comes from a Spanish word “guitarra”, a similar instrument used in Spain. People who make or repair Guitars are called “Luthiers”.
5. The guitar is the second most played instrument, after the Piano, and "Guitar Hero“ is the third most successful video game of all time, after "Mario" and "Madden NFL“.
6. The largest guitar ever made was built at the Academy of Science & Technology in Texas. It is 40 feet (13 meters) long, as long as a Bus. It is played by teams of people jumping onto the frets. The smallest guitar ever made is 10 micrometres long with strings 50 nanometres (100 atoms) wide. Scientists at Cornell University were responsible for that one. It can even be played, with specially made microscopic tools. However, the sound it makes is so high in frequency that the human ear can't hear it.
7. The most expensive guitar ever is called the 'Eden of Coronet' created by Aaron Shum in Hong Kong, China, and is worth $2 million. It is covered in White Gold and diamonds. More standard guitars can become very expensive if they were owned by someone famous. For example, Eric Clapton's "Blackie" Stratocaster sold for $959,500 in 2004; and the Jamaican government classified Bob Marley's custom-made Washburn 22 series Hawk guitar as a national asset - its worth is estimated at $2 Million.
8. Jimi Hendrix is thought to be the most influential guitar player ever. He used to string his guitars backwards in order to play left handed, although he could play right handed as well. Most professional guitarists own lots of guitars, but Bob Marley only had seven. I don't know how many Ed Sheeran has in total but he has given at least some of them names - Felix, Nigel, Lloyd and Cyril.
9. The longest Guitar playing marathon by an individual was 114 hours 6 minutes 30 seconds by David Browne of Dublin, Ireland, in June 2011.
10. There is a guitar pick on Mars. A guitar pick used by "Nirvana“-Hero Kurt Cobain was carried to Mars aboard NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit“.

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