COLEGIO COOPERATIVO ANTONIO VILLAVICENCIO

READING COMPREHENSION

LENGUA EXTRANJERA – INGLÉS 10º

Name: ________________________________________________________ Date: ___________________

THE HISTORY OF THE GUITAR

The history of the guitar starts more than 3,000 years ago. In the year 1503 BC, Queen
Hatshepsut ruled in Egypt. When archaeologists excavated the tomb of Sen-Mut, the queen's
architect, they found a beautiful three-stringed instrument called a tanbur that had belonged
to the singer Har-Mose. The tanbur was made of expensive cedar wood and animal skin.
Visitors to the Archaeological Museum in Cairo can still see the instrument today.

Travelers, merchants, soldiers, and sailors carried instruments like the tanbur around the
ancient world. There were many different versions. A clay statue from Greece around 300 BC
shows Eros, the Greek god of love, playing a three-stringed instrument called a bandore. The
Romans had a similar instrument. Later, when Arabs invaded Spain in AD 711, they brought a
slightly different version of the stringed instrument with them. Their version was called an oud.

In Spain, musicians invented a new instrument called a

chitarra. It had four pairs of strings and combined some of the characteristics of the
traditional bandore and the oud. The first music written for the chitarra appeared in
Spain in the sixteenth century, and the instrument soon became popular in other
countries. In Italy, the chitarra changed, first to five pairs of strings, then to six.
Chitarras with six individual strings (the same number as modern guitars), appeared in
the seventeenth century.

A Spanish guitar maker, Antonio de Torres, invented the modern classical guitar
around 1850. He made the body of the guitar bigger and stronger. This gave a louder,
richer sound. De Torres's design was very successful and classical guitar makers still
use it today.

Steel strings first appeared in the US at the end of the nineteenth century. They gave a brighter, louder sound than
traditional strings, but they had higher tension and classical guitars broke when people tried to use the new strings. An
American guitar maker called Orville Gibson built a new style of reinforced steel string guitar and it became very popular
with jazz musicians. Then, in the late 1920s, some musicians started to use electric pickups that connected their guitars
to amplifiers and loudspeakers. This gave a high-volume electric sound that was very popular in dance halls in the 1930s
and 40s.

Because electric guitars use amplifiers and speakers to produce

sound, they do not need to have a hollow body. Modern solid-body
electric guitars became popular after the Second World War. In the
1950s, Les Paul, an American guitarist, helped design a popular line of
electric guitars made by the Gibson Company. American inventor Leo
Fender also created many well-known electric guitar designs in the
1940s and 50s. Fender’s designs include the Stratocaster and the
Telecaster. Many famous bands still use Les Paul and Fender guitars
today.
1. Match the dates with the events.
a. AD 711. ___E__ Queen Hatshepsut ruled in Egypt.
b. Sixteenth century. ___A__ The Arabs invaded Spain.
c. After the Second World War. ___F__ Antonio de Torres invented the modern classical guitar.
d. Late 1920s ___C__ Solid-body electric guitars became popular.
e. 1503 BC. ___B__ The first music written for the chitarra appeared.
f. Around 1850. ___G__ Steel strings first appeared.
g. Late nineteenth century. ___D__ Musicians started to use electric pickups.

2. Match the concepts with their corresponding definitions.

Rule – String – Skin – Sailor – Clay – Steel – Pickup – Hollow

a. A hard metal made of iron and carbon. _________STEEL___________

b. The largest organ of the human body. _________SKIN___________
c. To have control over a country. __________RULE__________
d. Not solid. _________HOLLOW___________
e. Material from the earth. _________CLAY___________
f. A person who works on a boat. ________SAILOR____________
g. A device on a musical instrument that changes sound into electrical signals.
___PICKUP_________________
h. A long, thin piece of natural material, nylon or metal that is used to produce sound on some musical
instruments. _____STRING_______________

3. Mark T for True or F for False.

a. Archaeologists found an animal in Har-Mose’s tomb. __F___
b. A bandore was similar to a tanbur. __T___
c. People started writing music for the chitarra between 1500 and 1600. ___T__
d. De Torres’s guitar was louder because it had more strings. ___F__
e. Orville Gibson built a special guitar for steel strings. ___T__
f. Electric guitars need to have a hollow body. ____F_

4. Select the correct option.

 Nowadays, Har – Mose’s tanbur is…

a. In a museum in Egypt.
b. In his tomb.
c. In a museum in Greece.  Steel strings were not suitable for classical
guitars because…
 The oud arrived in Spain with… a. They had higher tension than traditional
a. The Greeks. strings.
b. The Romans. b. They appeared at the end of the
c. The Arabs. nineteenth century.
c. Only jazz musicians used them.
 In the seventeenth century, chitarras…
a. Became bigger.  Electric guitars became popular…
b. Became louder. a. At the end of the nineteenth century.
c. Started to have six individual strings. b. In the early 1920s.
c. In the 1930s and 40s.
 Les Paul and Leo Fender…
a. Still play their guitars today.
b. Were jazz musicians.
c. Designed electric guitars.