The National Guitar Museum (NGM) was founded to promote and preserve the legacy of the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, and is dedicated to its history, evolution, and cultural impact. The NGM addresses the history of the guitar as it has evolved from ancient stringed instruments to the wide variety of instruments created over the past 200 years. It focuses on the guitar's inventors, innovators, and influential players, along with the science and technology behind the guitar's construction, shape, and sound. GUITAR_Exhibit

History

The museum was founded by

HP Newquist HP Newquist is an American author whose books cover a wide range of topics, from medicine and music to technology and terror. He is also a museum curator and musician, and has worked in a variety of fields as a columnist, publisher, industry ana ...

, who serves as executive director. The NGM's board of advisors includes guitarists

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi () (born 19 February 1948) is a British musician. He co-founded the pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader and primary composer and sole continuous member for nearly five decades. I ...

Steve Howe Stephen James Howe (born 8 April 1947) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to le ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar ...

Liona Boyd Liona Maria Carolynne Boyd, (born 11 July 1949) is a classical guitarist often referred to as the First Lady of the Guitar. Music career Early years Boyd was born in London and grew up in Toronto. Her father grew up in Bilbao, Spain, and her ...

Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

, and

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

Johnny Winter John Dawson Winter III (February 23, 1944 – July 16, 2014) was an American singer and guitarist. Winter was known for his high-energy blues rock albums and live performances in the late 1960s and 1970s. He also produced three Grammy Award-win ...

served on the board prior to his death. Curators include guitar industry veterans Rich Maloof and

Pete Prown Pete Prown (born 1963) is an American writer and magazine editor, painter, guitarist, and music journalist. He has worked as the editor-in-chief of ''Guitar Shop'' magazine and contributing editor for ''Vintage Guitar''. His writing has also appear ...

. It is the first museum to focus solely on all aspects of the guitar and to include instruments from most of the world's stringed instrument manufacturers. The NGM's collection focuses on representative instruments from a vast array of historical makers and modern luthiers.

Touring exhibitions

The NGM collection has been touring the United States in a variety of exhibitions over the past decade. In February 2011, the NGM launched its first touring

exhibit Exhibit may refer to: *Exhibit (legal), evidence in physical form brought before the court **Demonstrative evidence, exhibits and other physical forms of evidence used in court to demonstrate, show, depict, inform or teach relevant information to ...

, entitled "GUITAR: The Instrument That Rocked The World," which began with previews outside

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The national rollout was in

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, on June 11, 2011. The exhibit traveled to sites across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

from 2011 to 2022. The hosts for the GUITAR Exhibit: *Connecticut Discovery Museum: February 15 – May 15, 2011 (Previews) *Orlando Science Center / Orlando, FL: June 11, 2011 – January 4, 2012 (National Launch) *Louisville Science Center / Louisville, KY: January 21 – April 22, 2012 *Carnegie Science Center / Pittsburgh, PA: June 16 – September 30, 2012 *Science Museum of Virginia / Richmond, VA: October 13 – January 6, 2013 *The Springfield Museum / Springfield, MA: January 18 – April 21, 2013 *The Museum Of Idaho / Idaho Falls, ID – Yellowstone: June 10 – November 30, 2013 *The Reuben H. Fleet Science Center / San Diego, CA: December 20, 2013 – April 6, 2014 *The Bishop Museum / Honolulu, Hawai’i: May 2014 – September 1, 2014 *Liberty Science Center / Liberty State Park, NJ: October 2014 – January 2015 *Imagination Station / Toledo, OH: February 2015 – May 2015 *Discovery Place / Charlotte, NC: May 31, 2015 – September 2015 *Oregon Museum of Science & Industry / Portland, OR: October 2015 – January 2016 *Exploration Place / Wichita, KS: January 2016 – April 2016 *Whitaker Center / Harrisburg, CA: May 2016 – September 2016 *Gulf Coast Exploreum / Mobile, AL: September 2016 – January 2017 *Buffalo Museum of Science / Buffalo, NY: January 2017 – May 2017 *The Berkshire Museum / Pittsfield, MA: May 2017 – September 2017 *Kalamazoo Valley Museum / Kalamazoo, MI: September 2017 – January 2018 *Fort Worth Museum Of Science & History / Fort Worth, TX: January 2018 – May 2018 *Museum of the Rockies / Bozeman, MT: May 2018 – September 2018 *Cincinnati Museum Center / Cincinnati, OH: September 2018 – January 2019 *St. Louis Science Center / St. Louis, MO: January 19 – April 14, 2019 *The History Museum at the Castle / Appleton, WI: May 2019 – January 2020 *McWane Science Center / Birmingham, AL: January 2020 – September 2020 *Riverfront Museum / Peoria, IL: October 2020 - January 2021 *The Durham / Omaha, NE: February 2021 - April 2021 *The Bullock Texas State Museum / Austin, TX: May 2021 - July 2021 *Denver Museum Of Nature And Science / Denver, CO: October 2021 – April 2022 *Carnegie Science Center / Pittsburgh, PA: May 2022 – October 2022 The NGM curates a touring art exhibition
"Medieval To Metal: The Art & Evolution Of The GUITAR."
It debuted at the

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum is located in Wausau, Wisconsin. It is best known for its annual "Birds in Art" exhibition, which exhibits contemporary artistic representations of birds. The annual exhibition has been held beginning the week af ...

in Wisconsin in February 2015. It has since been presented at more than a dozen art museums in the United States, including: *Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum: February 28, 2015 - May 31, 2016 *New Mexico Museum of Art: February 6, 2016 - May 1, 2016 *Sonoma County Museum: May 27, 2016 – September 5, 2016 *The Haggin Museum: October 6, 2016 – January 8, 2017 *Butler Institute Of American Art: January 20, 2017 – April 30, 2017 *Saginaw Art Museum: September 29 – January 6, 2017 *Vero Beach Museum Of Art: January 27 – May 6, 2018 *The Appleton Museum of Ocala: May 14 – September 3, 2018 *Fort Wayne Museum of Art: September 29, 2018 – January 6, 2019 *Stamford Museum: February 22 – May 26, 2019 *Currier Museum Of Art: June 29 – September 22, 2019 *National Czech & Slovak Museum: October 5, 2019 – January 26, 2020 *The Museum at Texas Tech: February 9 – May 9, 2020 *Carlsbad Museum: June 22 – September 4, 2020 *Museum Of Art & Science Daytona Beach: September 19 – January 10, 2021 *Buffalo Museum Of Science: February 13, 2021 – September 6, 2021 *Reading Public Museum: October 2021 – January 2022 *Lauren Rogers Museum Of Art: January 2022 – April 2022 *The Powerhouse Museum: April 2022 – September 2022 "America At The Crossroads: The GUITAR And A Changing Nation" is an NGM exhibition focused on U.S. history. It uses the guitar as emblematic, and representative, of pivotal national events. Its debut is January 2023 at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum in Grand Rapids, MI. At the completion of its exhibition tours, one U.S. city is expected to be chosen to be the permanent home of the National Guitar Museum.

Lifetime achievement award

The NGM presents an annual "Lifetime Achievement Award" to a guitarist who has been instrumental to the legacy of the guitar. The recipients to date have been: *2010:

David Honeyboy Edwards David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

. *2011:

Roger McGuinn James Roger McGuinn (born James Joseph McGuinn III; July 13, 1942) is an American musician. He is best known for being the frontman and leader of the Byrds. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with the Byrds. As a ...

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

. *2012:

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

, "King of the Blues" *2013:

Vic Flick Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense) ...

, the session guitarist who played on thousands of early

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on b ...

songs, known for performing the original

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

theme song. *2014:

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray V ...

, pioneering Chicago electric blues guitarist. *2015:

, guitarist and founder of

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

, acknowledged as the creator of heavy metal. *2016:

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

, singer-performer and notable session guitarist, his TV show helped popularize the acoustic-electric guitar. *2017:

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

, blues guitarist and singer, one of the electric guitar's foremost slide players. *2018:

José Feliciano José Montserrate Feliciano García (born September 10, 1945) () is a Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer. He recorded many international hits, including his rendition of the Doors' "Light My Fire" and his self-penned Christmas song " ...

, multi-genre guitarist and internationally renowned performer. *2019:

, classical guitarist. *2020:

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

, In Memoriam. *2021:

Al di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his works in jazz fusion and world music, he began his career as a guitarist of the group Return to Forever in 1974. Between the 1970s and 1980s, albums such as ' ...

, noted jazz, fusion, and world music guitarist.

References

External links

National Guitar Museum website

“GUITARS: The Sound And Science.” Community Idea Stations

“Touring Exhibit Explores The History and Science Of The Guitar.” WAMC Public Radio
{{authority control 2011 establishments in the United States Museums established in 2011 Music museums in the United States Guitars

History

Touring exhibitions

Lifetime achievement award

See also

References

External links