The instrument has the same shape and the same six strings as the traditional guitar, but it sounds very different.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

On an acoustic guitar, the strings vibrate and the hollow part of the instrument, or the sound box,also vibrates.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

He wanted to make an instrument that could play a note longer than notes played on a traditional acoustic guitar.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

Basically,it's like lip synching with a guitar." Lance "The Shred" Kasten from Washington,D.C.,made it to the final round of competition.

VOA: special.2009.08.14

A pickup is a device that captures the vibration of the metal guitar strings and changes them into electronic sound signals.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

He played his guitar and sang songs he wrote that described the conditions at the camp he was visiting.

VOA: special.2010.06.20

The famous Italian violinist Niccolo Paganinni played and wrote music for the guitar in the early eighteen hundreds.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

He decided to have his arm set at an angle so that he could keep playing the guitar.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

It was a very strange- looking instrument, so he hid it inside the body of a traditional guitar.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

Some other experts say that the ancestor of the modern guitar was brought to Spain from Persia sometime in the twelfth century.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

Jim Tedder explains. "It Might Get Loud" is a film about three generations of guitar superstars: Jimmy Page,the Edge and Jack White.

VOA: special.2009.08.07

His name is Jose Feliciano. Here he plays a song that is based on traditional Spanish guitar music.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

The sound of American blues music would not be the same without the sad cry of the guitar.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

To play "air guitar" you move to the music as if you are playing an imaginary guitar, maybe like a famous rock musician.

VOA: special.2009.08.14

She uses both hands to finger-tap on the flat narrow part of the guitar called the fretboard.

VOA: special.2011.01.28

We attended this year's United States Air Guitar Championships in Washington,D.C.to learn more about this unusual activity.

VOA: special.2009.08.14

In one boxcar, a short man with long, curly brown hair is playing a guitar and singing.

VOA: special.2010.06.13

Event organizers define "airness" as the ability of a performer to go beyond playing an imaginary guitar to create a new art form.

VOA: special.2009.08.14

Yet,music experts say all blues guitar players are measured against one man and his famous guitar.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

To make his guitar, Les Paul attached guitar strings and two electronic pickup devices onto a flat piece of wood from a railroad track.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

One kind of music for the guitar developed in the southern area of Spain called Adalusia.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

That man is B.B.King. Every blues fan knows that years ago B.B.King named his guitar Lucille.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

Berry's method of playing the guitar very fast was extremely popular when rock music began.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

To make this song, Les Paul layered eight recordings of himself playing the electric guitar.

VOA: special.2009.09.27

Most agree it is ancient. Some experts say an instrument very much like a guitar was played in Egypt more than one thousand years ago.

VOA: special.2010.05.12

So we leave you with one guitar player who often mixes several kinds of music.

VOA: special.2010.05.12