ギター
ギター
gitaa
= guitar
ギター (gitaa) is the Japanese word for guitar, borrowed from English (which took it from Spanish ‘guitarra’). The guitar arrived in Japan in the Meiji era and became one of the defining sounds of Japanese popular music — from 1960s Group Sounds to city pop, J-rock, and the anime music that has made Japanese guitarists like Takeshi Terauchi and Miyavi globally known.
Gitaa (ギター) covers all types of guitar: アコースティックギター (akousutikku gitaa — acoustic guitar), エレキギター (ereki gitaa — electric guitar), クラシックギター (kurashikku gitaa — classical guitar). Common phrases: ギターを弾く (gitaa wo hiku — to play guitar), ギターを習う (gitaa wo narau — to learn guitar), ギタリスト (gitarisuto — guitarist). In music culture: ボーカル (bookar — vocalist), ギター (gitaa), ベース (beesu — bass), ドラム (doramu — drums) form the standard band lineup.
In Japan, guitar culture is massive — guitar tutorial channels on YouTube in Japanese are among the most-watched music content. The term エレキ (ereki, from ‘electric’) is used colloquially to mean electric guitar: エレキを弾く (ereki wo hiku). ギターヒーロー (Gitaa Hiiroo — Guitar Hero) brought Western guitar gaming culture to Japan. Air guitar (エアギター, ea gitaa) even has its own world championship, in which Japanese competitors have excelled.
ギター is written in katakana as a foreign loanword. The ‘aa’ (アー) represents the long ‘a’ sound in ‘guitar.’ Japanese katakana often extends vowels with ー to approximate English long vowels.
Everyday use
中学生の頃からギターを弾いている。
Chuugakusei no koro kara gitaa wo hiite iru.
I’ve been playing guitar since I was in middle school.
Casual / Social Media
この曲のギターソロ完コピできた！！練習した甲斐があった
Kono kyoku no gitaa soro kankopu dekita!! Renshuu shita kai ga atta
I finally nailed the full copy of the guitar solo in this song!! All that practice paid off
Formal / Cultural context
ギターは1960年代の「グループサウンズ」ブームを経て日本の大衆音楽に深く定着し、現代のJ-POPやアニメソングにおいても中心的な楽器として不可欠な存在となっている。
Gitaa wa 1960-nendai no ‘Guruupu Saunzu’ buumu wo hete Nihon no taishuu ongaku ni fukaku teichaku shi, gendai no J-POP ya anime songu ni oite mo chuushinteki na gakki toshite fukaketsu na sonzai to natte iru.
The guitar became deeply embedded in Japanese popular music through the 1960s ‘Group Sounds’ boom, and remains an indispensable instrument at the center of modern J-POP and anime songs.
Japan’s relationship with the guitar has its own distinct history. The ‘Group Sounds’ (グループサウンズ) movement of the late 1960s brought electric guitar to Japanese popular music, influenced by The Beatles and The Ventures. Bands like the Tigers (ザ・タイガース) and the Spiders (ザ・スパイダース) made the guitar the defining instrument of Japanese youth culture. This era established guitar as the aspirational instrument for Japanese teenagers — a tradition that continues with millions of guitar learners today.
Japanese guitar manufacturing became world-class through the ‘lawsuit era’ of the 1970s, when Japanese companies like Tokai, Greco, and Ibanez produced Gibson and Fender copies of such high quality that the American originals sued to protect their market share. This forced Japanese makers to develop their own original designs, leading to brands like ESP and Ibanez becoming globally respected in their own right. Today Japan is one of the world’s premier guitar-manufacturing countries, with Japanese-made instruments prized by professionals worldwide.
Disclosure: This site may contain affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.