Way back before the 50’s and 60’s, when “Rock and Roll” became the music phenomenon, the archetypical image of the guitar evolved to into an image of an acoustically enhanced and amplified “weapon of choice” for swivel-hipped, gyrating singers like Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
Guitars have been around since medieval times at least. The Moors who once occupied what is now most of Spain had “guitar-like” instruments – but smaller- with only two or three strings. The Spaniards adopted and refined that instrument into what we know now as the Acoustic Guitar.
Even today, despite the popularity of the Electric Guitar, its ancestor the Acoustic Guitar is still “the “weapon of choice” for folk singers, ballad crooners and romantically inclined swains wooing their ladies fair – “Killing Them Softly” with their loves songs – so to speak .
Today, even aspiring rock stars generally start out learning on the Acoustic Guitar, a more “forgiving” instrument for novices. Acoustic Guitars are a relatively inexpensive way to teach a child. or adult the fundamentals of music, and mastering the guitar can come in easy stages, from more basic strummed chords to eventually the intricate fingering styles of the great classical guitarist, like Andres Segovia or John Williams.
While piano is still the top instrument for music lessons, the guitar has obvious advantages. First, even the most expensive guitars cost far less than buying a piano, and even the smallest home has room for a guitar. Also, the guitar’s versatility allows one to play anything from rock, folk, country, classical, flamenco; and play it anytime and anywhere. Even beginner’s can play a song relatively soon.
So if you, or if your children want to learn to play an instrument “hands on”, a guitar may be the best and easiest choice.