Guitar has a special significance all over the world. In Spain, there is the proud tradition of Flamenco music. Brazilian Bossa Nova is ruled by the guitar. Folk musicians everywhere choose guitar to support their songs, to deliver their message. Rock and Roll is defined by the guitar. Why the guitar?
There are practical reasons.
1. Guitars are not expensive. You can get a beater-upper for next to nothing. I bought my first guitar for thirty dollars with money I made mowing lawns. This makes guitar a democratic instrument, an instrument of the people.
2. You can take a guitar with you anywhere.
3. Guitars can accompany, there is a natural relationship between the guitar and the human voice.
4. Guitar sounds beautiful by itself, it is an orchestra that sits in your lap.
5. Guitar is easy to start. It takes a lifetime to master, but you can almost immediately learn a few simple chords that allow access to a world of songs.
6. Many guitars are designed to amplified. There is an unnatural amount of power if you need it.
There are aesthetic reasons.
1. The guitar is shaped like a human body. There is a head and a neck, and a curvy body. You hold a guitar close when you play it. When you pluck a note, you actually feel the resonance of the wood in your body. The wood was once a living thing, and it still retains some qualities of life; the wood changes with the weather, it breathes. The guitar is alive.
2. Symatry. The twelfth fret is an octave away from the open string. This is the halfway point of the string. If you pluck the string just touching the twelfth fret, you will hear the pure sound of a harmonic. The guitar is mathematically beautiful, in a Pascalian way it is perfect.
3. Guitars are works of art. Luthiers express themselves through their designs. There are uncountable sizes, shapes, and finishes in the guitar world. Guitar players express themselves through their choice of instrument before they even play a note.
4.There are also altogether different kinds of guitars; archtops, classical, steel string acoustic, steel guitars, solid body electric etc. There have been so many different techniques developed to play these different guitars, I wouldn't know where to start. This wide diversity makes there something for everyone to love.
5. Overtones. I guess this is true of any instrument, but it is particular pronounced with string instruments. Anytime you play a note, there are overtones and sympathetic vibrations. It is often difficult to hear the actual pitches, but it creates a sonic aura, something magical that you can't touch.
6. Guitar is a percussive instrument, that can sustain notes. You can bend notes or put vibrato on a note like a wind instrument, but play a chord like a piano. You can hit the instrument like a drum.
There are symbolic reasons.
1. Guitar has become a symbol of romance all over. I think this has to do with the qualities mentioned above. I've never heard of someone serenading a woman with a hand drum. It could be hip, I just haven't heard of it.
2. Guitar is THE symbol of rock and roll, of youth rebellion, of the angry folk singer. When I used to be more active as a guitar teacher for beginners, I noticed a searching energy to many of my students. Guitar can be a way for a young person to define themselves.
Guitar, Guitar, Guitar.