The piano’s unique schtick is that it can play a super wide range of notes at the same time. A player can hit deep bass notes on one side and super-high treble on the other. Combine this with the ability to play both melody and chords at the same time plus it frees the lungs up for singing.
The guitar’s biggest claim to fame has been it’s size, the chord/melody ability, and that it frees up the mouth for singing. Unlike the piano the guitar’s history has been repeatedly based on *travel*. It originated in the Mediterranean and spread with early sea-farers before ultimately being picked up the Muslims. While Europe favored other instruments the Muslims kept the guitar alive and it eventually resurfaced in Spain with the re-conquest, this is why the word “guitar’ is actually an Arabic word, by way of Spanish.
It gets complicated but the guitar faced stiff competition in Europe but got saved as a ‘rich peoples’ parlor instrument to impress guests. It’s fair to say the guitar’s saving grace was a single man – C.F. Martin who brought his version to the US and popularized a number of technical advances that made it bigger and LOUDER. The guitar was repeatedly almost killed off by louder instruments but Martin did 3 things that solidified it’s place in history –
1. Got it into the hands of American migrants out West with the expansion. Again, it’s a portable sing-along instrument and few people were wanting to lug pianos to California.
2. Got it into early forms of mass production and mail-order catalogs, getting *his version* recognized as **THE** acoustic guitar.
3. Whether or not he *invented* the technologies, he was the first who combined a metal truss rod, metal guitar strings, and innovations in the wooden framing of the guitar to make them BIG and LOUD. Again, it’s **HIS** acoustic guitar that we all recognize today as “the guitar” for this reason.
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