Some, however-such as electric guitar and other instruments that rely on electronic amplification-may have a solid wood body. The body of most string instruments is hollow. The vibration of the body of the instrument and the enclosed hollow or chamber make the vibration of the string more audible to the performer and audience. The body of the instrument also vibrates, along with the air inside it. In most string instruments, the vibrations are transmitted to the body of the instrument, which often incorporates some sort of hollow or enclosed area. The confusing plentitude of stringed instruments can be reduced to four fundamental type: zithers, lutes, lyres, and harps.

The strings may be struck with sticks, plucked with the bare fingers or a plectrum, bowed or (in the Aeolian harp, for instance} sounded by wind. Other examples include the sitar, rebab, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and bouzouki.Ĭhordophones are instruments with strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, string instruments are called chordophones. Some string instruments are mainly plucked, such as the harp and the electric bass. A wide variety of techniques are used to sound notes on the electric guitar, including plucking with the fingernails or a plectrum, strumming and even ' tapping' on the fingerboard and using feedback from a loud, distorted guitar amplifier to produce a sustained sound. All of the bowed string instruments can also be plucked with the fingers, a technique called ' pizzicato'. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician cranks a wheel whose rosined edge touches the strings.īowed instruments include the string section instruments of the orchestra in Western classical music ( violin, viola, cello and double bass) and a number of other instruments (e.g., viols and gambas used in early music from the Baroque music era and fiddles used in many types of folk music). With bowed instruments, the player pulls a rosined horsehair bow across the strings, causing them to vibrate. Other musical instruments generate sound by striking the string. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum-and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.

Numerous stringed instruments of Chinese make on display in a shop in Hong Kong

Types of stringed instruments