Episode 11

New! Ur U Experienced?

In this episode we uncover the oldest existing examples of the kinds of string instruments that led to the guitar. They're called The Lyres of Ur, they're over 4,000 years old, and they were discovered in the 1930s by someone with the best name ever for a British archaeologist, alongside his extremely interesting wife. Filled with a couple of distractingly curious side-stories, this episode also speculates about how those ancient instruments might have introduced distortion to the sonic palette of string instruments. Trust me, you'll find it to be a fun and interesting way to spend 25 minutes of your life.

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About the Podcast

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A People's History of the Guitar

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About your host

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Grant Samuelsen

Grant Samuelsen has led a multimodal professional and personal life in the worlds of contemporary art and music, business, and academia, and he has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Carnegie Mellon University. He has published essays, articles and criticism, and he's been a guitar player since he was 13. He's interested in everything, which is a problem, but the history of the guitar has held his attention for the longest period of time, so he's doing this podcast. He's originally from the Chicago area and lives in Madison, Wisconsin with his family, guitars, and a female Staffy named after one of the male members of Black Flag.

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I started with episode 9 on the movie "Sinners" and then went back to episode 1. This is a fascinating podcast for any music lover. Thank you!
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