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Plucked String Instrument

 
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Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instrument
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
s that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger
Finger

A finger is a type of digit , an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates.Normally humans have five digits, termed phalanges, on each hand ....
 or a plectrum
Plectrum

A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a string instrument. For guitars and similar instruments, the plectrum is a separate tool held in the player's hand....
.

Most plucked string instruments belong to the lute
Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
 family (such as guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
, bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
, mandolin
Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the Mandora, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille lik...
, banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
, balalaika
Balalaika

The balalaika - is a stringed instrument of Russian origin, with a characteristic triangle body and 3 strings .The Balalaika family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, sekunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika....
, sitar
Sitar

The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a long hollow neck and a gourd resonance chamber to produce a very rich sound with complex harmonic resonance....
, pipa
Pipa

The pipa is a plucked China string instrument. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body. It has been played for nearly two thousand years in China, and belongs to the plucked category of instruments ....
, etc.), which generally consist of a resonating body, and a neck
Neck (music)

The neck is the part of certain string instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings at different pitches....
; the strings run along the neck and can be stopped at different pitches.






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Guitar and Lute
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instrument
String instrument

A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones....
s that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such as way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger
Finger

A finger is a type of digit , an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates.Normally humans have five digits, termed phalanges, on each hand ....
 or a plectrum
Plectrum

A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a string instrument. For guitars and similar instruments, the plectrum is a separate tool held in the player's hand....
.

Most plucked string instruments belong to the lute
Lute

Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
 family (such as guitar
Guitar

The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
, bass guitar
Bass guitar

The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
, mandolin
Mandolin

A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the Mandora, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille lik...
, banjo
Banjo

The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
, balalaika
Balalaika

The balalaika - is a stringed instrument of Russian origin, with a characteristic triangle body and 3 strings .The Balalaika family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, sekunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika....
, sitar
Sitar

The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a long hollow neck and a gourd resonance chamber to produce a very rich sound with complex harmonic resonance....
, pipa
Pipa

The pipa is a plucked China string instrument. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body. It has been played for nearly two thousand years in China, and belongs to the plucked category of instruments ....
, etc.), which generally consist of a resonating body, and a neck
Neck (music)

The neck is the part of certain string instruments that projects from the main body and is the base of the fingerboard, where the fingers are placed to stop the strings at different pitches....
; the strings run along the neck and can be stopped at different pitches. The zither
Zither

The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures....
 family (including the autoharp
Autoharp

The Autoharp is a registered trademark for a musical stringed instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord ....
, kantele
Kantele

Kantele is a Finland traditional plucked string instrument. It is related to the Ethnic Russian music gusli, the Latvian kokle, the Lithuanian kankles and the Estonian kannel....
, gusli
Gusli

Gusli }} is the oldest Russian multi-string plucked Psaltery instrument of the Zither family. Its exact history is unknown, but it may have derived from a Byzantium form of the Cithara, which in turn derived from the ancient lyre....
, kannel
Kannel

Kannel may refer to:*Kannel , an open source Wireless Application Protocol and Short Message Service gateway for UNIX operating systems.*other name for the kantele, a traditional Finnish plucked string instrument....
, kankles
Kankles

The Kankles is a Lithuanian plucked string musical instrument , related to the zither. It is roughly in the shape of a trapezium or trapezoid ....
, kokle, koto
Koto

Koto may refer to:*Koto , a Japanese musical instrument*Koto , a traditional dress made by Creole women in Suriname*Koto , Italian synth pop group...
, gu zheng and many others) does not have a neck, and the strings are stretched across the soundboard. In the harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
 family (including the lyre
Lyre

The lyre is a string instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greece were accompanied by lyre playing....
), the strings are perpendicular to the soundboard and do not run across it. The harpsichord
Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
 does not fit any of these categories but is also a plucked string instrument, as its strings are struck with a plectrum when the keys are depressed.

Bowed string instruments, such as the violin
Violin

The violin is a Bow string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
, can also be plucked in the technique known as pizzicato
Pizzicato

Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
; however, as they are usually played with a bow
Bow (music)

In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
, they are not included in this category. Struck string instruments (such as the piano
Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard instrument. Widely used in Western music for solo performance, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to musical composition and rehearsal....
) can be similarly plucked as an extended technique
Extended technique

Extended techniques are performance techniques used in music to describe unconventional, unorthodox or "improper" wiktionary:techniques of singing, or of playing musical instruments....
.

Plucked string instruments are not a category in the Sachs-Hornbostel classification, as some of them are simple chordophones and others are composite (depending on whether the resonator is a removable part of the instrument).

List of plucked string instruments

  • 3rd bridge guitar
    3rd Bridge

    The 3rd bridge is an extended technique used on mainly electric guitars such as the Fender Jazzmaster that has the Strings continue through to the tremolo piece....
  • Appalachian dulcimer
    Appalachian dulcimer

    The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States....
     (United States)
  • Autoharp
    Autoharp

    The Autoharp is a registered trademark for a musical stringed instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers which, when depressed, mute all the strings other than those that form the desired chord ....
  • Baglama
    Baglama

    The baglama is a string instrument musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern List of islands in the Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia....
     (Turkey
    Turkey

    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
    )
  • Bajo sexto
    Bajo sexto

    A bajo sexto is an instrument with 12 strings in 6 double courses, used in Music of Mexico music. It is used primarily in Norte?o music of northeastern Mexico and across the border in the music of south Texas known as "Tejano music," "conjunto," or "m?sica mexicana-tejana"....
     (Mexico)
  • Balalaika
    Balalaika

    The balalaika - is a stringed instrument of Russian origin, with a characteristic triangle body and 3 strings .The Balalaika family of instruments includes, from the highest-pitched to the lowest, the prima balalaika, sekunda balalaika, alto balalaika, bass balalaika and contrabass balalaika....
     (Russia)
  • Bandura
    Bandura

    Bandura refers to a Ukrainians plucked string instrument. It combines elements of a box zither and lute, as well as to its lute-like Baroque predecessor, the kobza....
     (Ukraine
    Ukraine

    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
    )
  • Bandurria
    Bandurria

    The bandurria is a plectrum plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the cittern and the mandolin, primarily used in Music of Spain.The original bandurrias of the Medieval period had three strings....
     (Spain
    Spain

    Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
    )
  • Banjo
    Banjo

    The banjo is a stringed instrument developed by Slavery in the United States Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments....
     (America
    United States

    The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
    n)
  • Banjolele
    Banjolele

    The banjolele is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. "Banjolele," sometimes also spelled "banjelele" or "banjulele" is a generic nickname given to the instrument, which was derived from the 'banjulele-banjo,' introduced by Alvin D....
     (United Kingdom
    United Kingdom

    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
    )
  • Barbat
    Barbat (lute)

    The barbat is a lute of ancient Persian people origin. The Arabic Oud is derived from an ancient Persian barbat. Today's barbat, however, is essentially the same thing as today's oud: the instrument is often called the barbat when played in a Persian tradition, while called the oud when played in an Arabic tradition....
     (Iran)
  • Begena
    Begena

    The begena is an Ethiopian string instrument that resembles a large lyre. According to Ethiopian tradition, Menelik I brought the instrument to Ethiopia from Israel, where David had used the begena to soothe Saul the King's nerves and heal him of insomnia....
     (Ethiopia
    Ethiopia

    Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
    )
  • Bordonua
    Bordonua

    The Bordonua is a large, deep body bass guitar which is native to Puerto Rico. They are made using several different shapes and sizes.The original Bordonua is said to have evolved from the old 16th century Spain Acoustic bass guitar called the Bajo de la Una....
  • Bouzouki
    Bouzouki

    The bouzouki is the mainstay of modern Greek music. It is a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and a very long neck. The bouzouki is a member of the 'long neck lute' family and is similar to a mandolin....
     (Greece
    Greece

    Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
    )
  • Bugarija (Croatia)
  • Cavaquinho
    Cavaquinho

    The cavaquinho is a small string instrument of the European guitar family with four wire or gut strings. It is also called machimbo, machim, machete , manchete or marchete, braguinha or braguinho, or cavaco....
     (Portugal and Brazil)
  • Çeng
    Çeng

    The ?eng is a Turkish harp. Descended from ancient Near Eastern instruments, it was a popular Ottoman Empire instrument until the last quarter of the 17th century....
     (Turkey)
  • Charango
    Charango

    The charango is a small South American stringed instrument of the lute family, about 66 Metre#SI multiples long, traditionally made with the shell of the back of an armadillo....
     (South America)
  • Chitarra battente
    Chitarra battente

    The chitarre battente is a musical instrument, a chordophone of the lute family. At a casual glance, it is similar to the everyday classical guitar, but larger and typically strung with four steel strings....
     (Italy)
  • Chitarrone (Mexico
    Mexico

    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
    )
  • Cittern
    Cittern

    The cittern or cither is a stringed instrument of the guitar family dating from the Renaissance. With its flat back, it was much simpler, and therefore cheaper, to construct than the lute, in addition to which it was easier to play and, being smaller and less delicate, far more portable....
  • Cuatro
    Cuatro (instrument)

    The cuatro is any of several Latin American Musical instrument of the guitar or lute family. The cuatro is smaller in size than a guitar. Cuatro means four in Spanish language, although the current instruments may have more than four strings ....
  • Cümbüs
    Cümbüs

    The c?mb?s is a Turkey stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. Developed in the early 20th century by Zeynel Abidin C?mb?s as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble....
     (Turkey)
  • Ðàn b?u
    Ðàn b?u

    The d?n b?u is a Vietnamese monochord. While the earliest written records of the Dan Bau date its origin to 1770, many scholars estimate its age to be up to one thousand years older than that....
     (Vietnam
    Vietnam

    Vietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east....
    )
  • Ðàn nguy?t
    Ðàn nguy?t

    The d?n nguy?t is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument. It is used in both folk and classical music, and remains popular throughout Vietnam ....
     (Vietnam)
  • Ðàn tranh
    Ðàn tranh

    File:Dantranh top02.jpgThe d?n tranh is a plucked zither of Vietnam. It has a wooden body and steel strings, each of which is supported by a bridge in the shape of an inverted "V."...
     (Vietnam)
  • Ðàn t? bà
    Ðàn t? bà

    The d?n t? b? is a Vietnamese traditional plucked string instrument. It is made of wood, with a distinctive pear shape and four strings made of nylon ....
     (Vietnam)
  • Daruan (China)
  • Diddley bow
    Diddley bow

    The diddley bow is an United States string instrument of African origin. It is typically homemade, consisting usually of a wooden board and a single wire string stretched between two screws, and played by plucking while varying the pitch with a metal or glass slide held in the other hand....
     (United States)
  • Dombra
    Dombra

    The dombura are long-necked lutes popular in the Central Asian nations. The name arises from the originally Persian tanbur and the instrument shares some of its characteristics, varying from region to region, with the Turkic komuz....
     (East Europe and Middle Asia)
  • Domra
    Domra

    The domra is a long-necked Ukrainian string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three or four metal strings....
     (Russia)
  • Doshpuluur
    Doshpuluur

    The doshpuluur is a long-necked Tuva lute made from wood, usually pine or larch.There are two different versions of the doshpuluur. One version has a trapezoidal soundbox, which is covered on both sides by goat skin and is fretless....
     (Tuva
    Tuva

    Tyva Republic , or Tuva , is a federal subjects of Russia of Russia ....
    )
  • Dutar
    Dutar

    The dutar is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian language word for "two strings", dotar , although the Herati dutar of Afghanistan has 14 strings....
  • Duxianqin
    Duxianqin

    The duxianqin is a Chinese plucked string instrument with only one string. It is played using harmonics, with the string's tension varied by the use of a flexible rod manipulated with the left hand....
     (China)
  • Ektara
    Ektara

    Ektara is a one string instrument used in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It literally means single-stringed .In origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger....
     (India)
  • Electric bass
    Bass guitar

    The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
    • Electric upright bass
      Electric upright bass

      The electric upright bass is an electronically amplified version of the double bass that has a minimal or 'skeleton' body, which greatly reduces the size and weight of the instrument....
  • Gayageum
    Gayageum

    The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument, with 12 strings , although more recently variants have been constructed with 21 or other numbers of strings ....
     (Korea)
  • Geomungo
    Geomungo

    The geomungo or hyeongeum is a traditional Korean stringed musical instrument of zither family instrument with both bridges and frets....
     (Korea
    Korea

    Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
    )
  • Gottuvadhyam
    Gottuvadhyam

    The gottuvadhyam is a Carnatic music string instrument played mainly in South India. It is usually used as a solo instrument in Carnatic music....
     (India)
  • Guitar
    Guitar

    The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six Strings , but Tenor guitar, Seven-string guitar, Eight-string guitar, Ten-string guitar, Eleven-string guitar, Twelve-string guitar, Thirteen-string guitar and doubleneck guitar string guitars also exist....
    • Classical guitar
      Classical guitar

      The classical guitar, also known as the "Spanish guitar", and in more recent times as the "nylon string guitar" ? is a plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones....
    • Bass guitar
      Bass guitar

      The electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum.The bass guitar is similar in appearance and construction to an electric guitar, but with a larger body, a longer neck and Scale length, and usually four strings tuned to the same pitches as those of the double bass, whic...
    • Acoustic bass guitar
      Acoustic bass guitar

      The acoustic bass guitar is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually somewhat larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar....
    • Chapman Stick
      Chapman Stick

      The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. He set out to create an instrument designed for the "Free Hands" tapping method of both hands parallel to the frets that he invented in 1969....
    • Cigar box guitar
      Cigar box guitar

      The cigar box guitar is a primitive chordophone whose resonator is a discarded cigar box. Because the instrument is homemade, there is no standard for dimensions, string types or construction techniques....
    • Electric guitar
      Electric guitar

      An electric guitar is a type of guitar that uses pickup to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current, which is made louder with an instrument amplifier and a speaker....
    • Harp guitar
      Harp guitar

      The harp guitar is a stringed instrument with a history of well over two centuries. While there are several unrelated historical stringed instruments that have appropriated the name ?harp-guitar? over the centuries, the term today is understood as the accepted vernacular to refer to a particular family of instruments defined as "A guitar,...
    • Overtone guitar
      3rd Bridge

      The 3rd bridge is an extended technique used on mainly electric guitars such as the Fender Jazzmaster that has the Strings continue through to the tremolo piece....
    • Resonator guitar
      Resonator guitar

      A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an Steel-string guitar whose sound is produced by one or more metal cones instead of the wooden Sounding board ....
       (a.k.a. dobro
      Dobro

      Dobro is a trade name now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar....
      )
  • Guitarrón
    Guitarrón

    The guitarr?n is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string acoustic bass played in mariachi bands. Although obviously similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de u?a....
     (Mexico)
  • Gusli
    Gusli

    Gusli }} is the oldest Russian multi-string plucked Psaltery instrument of the Zither family. Its exact history is unknown, but it may have derived from a Byzantium form of the Cithara, which in turn derived from the ancient lyre....
     (Russia)
  • Guqin
    Guqin

    The is the modern name for a plucked seven-string List of traditional Chinese musical instruments of the zither family. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favored by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted by the quote "a gentleman does not part with his qin'...
     (China)
  • Guzheng
    Guzheng

    The guzheng, also spelled gu zheng or gu-zheng or zheng is a traditional China musical instrument. It belongs to the zither family of string instruments....
     (China)
  • Harp
    Harp

    The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
    • Electric harp
      Electric harp

      Like electric guitars, electric harps are based on their harp, and there are both solid body and electro-acoustic models available.A solid body electric harp has no resonator, and thus makes very little noise when not amplified....
  • Harpsichord
    Harpsichord

    A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when each Key is pressed....
     (Europe, keyboard instrument
    Keyboard instrument

    A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organ s as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic musical instrument....
    )
  • Irish bouzouki
    Irish bouzouki

    The Irish bouzouki is a derivative of the Greece bouzouki.The bouzouki, in the newer tetraxordo Greek version, was introduced into Irish Traditional Music in the late 1960s, by Johnny Moynihan, of the popular folk group Sweeney's Men, and popularised by Andy Irvine and D?nal Lunny in the group Planxty....
  • Jarana
    Jarana

    The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fret stringed instrument, from the southern region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. Typically strung with 8 strings in 5 courses, usually arranged in two single outer strings with three courses between....
     (Mexico)
  • Jumbush
    Cümbüs

    The c?mb?s is a Turkey stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. Developed in the early 20th century by Zeynel Abidin C?mb?s as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble....
     (Turkey)
  • Kacapi
    Kacapi

    Kacapi is a zither-like Sundanese musical instrument played as the main accompanying instrument in the Tembang Sunda or Mamaos Cianjuran, kacapi suling genre , Pantun Sunda stories recitation or an additional instrument in Gamelan Degung performance....
  • Kankles
    Kankles

    The Kankles is a Lithuanian plucked string musical instrument , related to the zither. It is roughly in the shape of a trapezium or trapezoid ....
     (Lithuania
    Lithuania

    Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
    )
  • Kantele
    Kantele

    Kantele is a Finland traditional plucked string instrument. It is related to the Ethnic Russian music gusli, the Latvian kokle, the Lithuanian kankles and the Estonian kannel....
     (Finland
    Finland

    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland , is a Nordic countries situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland....
    )
  • Kanun
    Qanun

    Qanun refers to laws promulgated by Muslim sovereigns, in particular the Ottoman Sultans, in contrast to shari'a, the body of law elaborated by Muslim jurists....
     (Middle East, Persia)
  • Kithara
    Kithara

    The kithara or cithara was an ancient Greek musical instrument in the lyre family. In modern Greek the word kithara has come to mean "guitar" ....
     (Ancient Greece
    Ancient Greece

    The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
    )
  • Kobza
    Kobza

    Kobza is the name of several musical instruments, mostly of the lute type , in eastern Europe. The term has a Turkic origin in the kobyz and komuz....
     (Ukraine
    Ukraine

    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
    )
  • Konghou
    Konghou

    The konghou is an ancient China harp. The konghou, also known as kanhou, went extinct sometime in the Ming Dynasty, but was revived in the 20th century....
     (China
    China

    China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
    )
  • Kontigi
    Kontigi

    A kontigi or kuntigi is a one- or two-stringed stringed lute used in Nigerian Hausa music. It is also found among Islamized peoples throughout West Africa . The best-known player is Dan Maraya....
     (Nigeria)
  • Kora
    Kora (instrument)

    The kora is a 21-string instrument harp-lute used extensively by peoples in West Africa....
     (West Africa)
  • Koto
    Koto (musical instrument)

    The koto is a traditional Japanese string instrument musical instrument derived from the Chinese zither . The koto is the national instrument of Japan....
     (Japan)
  • Krar
    Krar

    The krar is a five- or six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Eritrea and Ethiopia . The instrument is tuned to a pentatonic musical scale. A modern krar may be Instrument amplifier, much in the same way as an electric guitar or electric violin....
     (Ethiopia)
  • Kutiyapi
    Kutiyapi

    The kutiyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is the only stringed instrument among the Maguindanao, and one of several among other groups such as the Maranao and Manobo....
     (Philippines
    Philippines

    The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
    )
  • Langeleik
    Langeleik

    The langeleik is a traditional string instrument musical instrument from Norway.The instrument has only one melody string, but it has additional Drone strings ....
     (Norway)
  • Laud
    Laud

    Laud may refer to:People with the given name Laud:* Laud Humphreys , American sociologist and author* Laud of Coutances , bishop of Coutances...
  • Liuqin
    Liuqin

    The liuqin is a four-stringed China lute with a pear-shaped body. It is small in size, almost a miniature copy of another Chinese plucked instrument, the pipa....
     (China)
  • Lute
    Lute

    Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
     (Europe)
    • Archlute
      Archlute

      The archlute is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo, the size and re-entrant tuning of which made for difficulties in the performance of solo music, and the Renaissance tenor lute, which lacked the bass range of the theorbo....
    • Theorbo
      Theorbo

      A theorbo is a plucked string instrument. As a name, theorbo signifies a number of long-necked lutes with second peg-boxes, such as the liuto attiorbato, the French th?orbe des pi?ces, the English theorbo, the archlute, the German baroque lute, the Ang?lique or angelica....
  • Lyre
    Lyre

    The lyre is a string instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greece were accompanied by lyre playing....
  • Mandolin family
    • Mandolin
      Mandolin

      A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the Mandora, a soprano member of the lute family. It has a body with a teardrop-shaped soundboard, or one which is essentially oval in shape, with a soundhole, or soundholes, of varying shapes which are open and are not decorated with an intricately carved grille lik...
    • Mandola
      Mandola

      The mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted string instrument musical instrument. The mandola has four double courses for a total of eight strings....
    • Octave mandola
    • Mandocello
      Mandocello

      The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. The mandocello is played with a plectrum and is fretted. Mandocello construction is similar to that of the mandolin....
    • Mandobass
  • Mando-banjo (a crossover instrument, not part of the mandola family)
  • Mohan veena
    Mohan veena

    The Mohan veena is a stringed musical instrument used in Indian classical music.It is actually a modified Archtop guitar with 20 strings: three melody strings, five drone strings strung to the peghead, and twelve sympathetic strings strung to the tuners mounted on the side of the neck....
  • Monochord
    Monochord

    A monochord is an ancient Musical instrument and scientific laboratory instrument. The word "monochord" comes from the Greek language and means literally "one string." In the monochord, a single Strings is stretched over a sound box....
  • Musical bow
    Musical bow

    The musical bow is a simple string instrument musical instrument consisting of a string supported by a flexible string bearer, usually made out of wood....
  • Nyatiti
    Nyatiti

    The nyatiti is an eight-stringed plucked lyre from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, typically in Benga music....
     (Kenya)
  • Oud
    Oud

    The oud is a pear-shaped, stringed instrument, which is often seen as the predecessor of the western lute, distinguished primarily by being without frets, commonly used in Middle Eastern music....
     (Middle East, Greece)
  • Pandura
    Pandura

    The pandura is an ancient string instrument from the Mediterranian basin.The ancient Greek pandoura was a medium or long-necked lute with a small resonating chamber....
  • Pipa
    Pipa

    The pipa is a plucked China string instrument. Sometimes called the Chinese lute, the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body. It has been played for nearly two thousand years in China, and belongs to the plucked category of instruments ....
     (China)
  • Portuguese guitar
    Portuguese guitar

    The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising of two strings each....
  • Psaltery
    Psaltery

    A psaltery is a stringed instrument musical instrument of the harp or the zither family. The of Ancient Greece dates from at least 2800 BC, when it was a harp-like instrument....
  • Qanún/kanun
    Kanun (Instrument)

    The qan?n or kanun is a string instrument found in Near Eastern traditional music based on Maqamat. It is basically a zither with a narrow trapezoidal soundboard....
     (Middle East, Persia)
  • Qinqin
    Qinqin

    File:Qinqinplayer.jpgThe qinqin is a plucked China lute originally with a wooden body, a slender fretted neck, and three strings. Its body can be either round, hexagonal , or octagonal. Often only two strings were used, as in certain regional silk-and-bamboo ensembles. In its hexagonal...
     (China)
  • Requinto
    Requinto

    The term requinto is used in both Spanish language and Portuguese language to mean a smaller, higher-pitched version of another instrument. Thus, there are requinto guitars, drums and other instruments....
  • Rote
    Crwth

    The crwth is an archaic string instrument musical instrument, associated particularly with Music of Wales, although once played widely in Europe....
  • Rubab
    Rubab

    Rubab or Robab is a lute-like musical instrument from Afghanistan. It is related to but distinct from the rebab, which is more usually played with a bow : it is also related to the Indian sarod but - unlike the sarod - it is a fretted instrument....
  • Rudra veena
    Rudra veena

    The rudra veena is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is an ancient instrument rarely played today. The rudra veena declined in popularity in part due to the introduction of the surbahar in the early 19th century which allowed sitarists to more easily present the alap sections of slow dhrupad-style rag...
     (India)
  • Sallaneh
    Sallaneh (lute)

    The sallaneh is a newly developed plucked string instrument made under the supervision of the Iranian musician Hossein Alizadeh, and constructed by Siamak Afshari....
     (Iran)
  • Sanxian
    Sanxian

    The sanxian is a China lute — a three-stringed fretless plucked musical instrument. It has a long fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snakeskin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator....
     (China)
  • Saraswati veena
    Saraswati veena

    The Saraswati veena is an Indian plucked string instrument. It is named after the Hindu goddess Saraswati, who is usually depicted holding or playing the instrument....
     (India)
  • Šargija
    Šargija

    The ?argija is a Plucked string instrument, fretted long necked chordophone used in the folk music of various Balkans countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia....
     (Eastern Europe)
  • Sarod
    Sarod

    The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in Hindustani classical music....
     (India)
  • Saung
    Saung

    The saung is a traditional musical instrument of Burma . The saung is regarded as a national musical instrument of Burma. The saung is unique in that it is a very ancient harp tradition still alive today....
     (Burma)
  • Saz
    Saz

    Saz may refer to:* Baglama* The rap artist Sameh Zakout...
     (Turkey
    Turkey

    Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
    )
  • Shamisen
    Shamisen

    The shamisen or samisen , also called sangen is a three-stringed musical instrument played with a plectrum called a bachi. The pronunciation in Japanese language is usually "shamisen" but sometimes "jamisen" rendaku ....
     (Japan
    Japan

    Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
    )
  • Sitar
    Sitar

    The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument. It uses sympathetic strings along with a long hollow neck and a gourd resonance chamber to produce a very rich sound with complex harmonic resonance....
     (India
    India

    India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
    )
  • Tambura
    Tambura

    This article is about the Indian fretless Drone_ lute. The New Grove Dictionary of Music also assigns the term to the Eastern European variety of saz: for this see Tamburitza....
  • Tamburitza
    Tamburitza

    The Tamburica or Tamburitza [] , is a family of string instruments popular in the traditional folk music of Croatia , northern Serbia and Hungary....
     (Pannonian plain
    Pannonian Plain

    The Pannonian Plain is a large plain in Central Europe that remained when the Pliocene Pannonian Sea dried out. It is a geomorphology subsystem of the Alpide belt....
    )
  • Tanbur
    Tanbur

    The term tanbur can refer to various long-necked, fretted lutes originating in the Middle East or Central Asia. According to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "terminology presents a complicated situation....
  • Tar (lute)
    Tar (lute)

    The tar is a long-necked, waisted Iranian/Persian instrument But other cultures and countries adapted this instrument into their culture,like Azerbaijan, Georgia , and other areas near the Caucasus region....
  • Tea chest bass
    Tea chest bass

    A tea chest bass is a home-made musical instrument that uses a tea chest as the resonator for an upright stringed bass . The instrument is made from a pole, traditionally a broomstick, placed into or alongside the chest....
  • Tiple
    Tiple

    Tiple is the Spanish word for treble or soprano, is often applied to specific instruments, generally to refer to a small chordophone of the guitar family....
  • Torban
    Torban

    The torban or teorban is a Culture of Ukraine musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque Lute with those of the psaltery. It was invented ca....
  • Tres
    Tres

    The tres is a 3-course, 6-string chordophone which was created in Cuba. A later adaptation, the Puerto Rico tres, is a 3-course, 9-string instrument....
     (Cuba
    Cuba

    The Republic of Cuba is a country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba , the island of Isla de la Juventud, and several adjacent small islands....
    )
  • Ukulele
    Ukulele

    The ukulele , , or abbreviated to uke, is a chordophone classified as a Pizzicatoed lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of musical instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four Course of strings....
     (Hawaii
    Hawaii

    File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
    )
  • Valiha
    Valiha

    The valiha is a bamboo tube zither from Madagascar. It is played by plucking the strings, which may be made of metal or the bamboo skin which is pried up in long strands and propped up by small bridges....
     (Madagascar
    Madagascar

    Madagascar, or Republic of Madagascar , is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the List of islands by area, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are Endemism to Madagascar....
    )
  • Veena
    Veena

    Veena is a plucked stringed instrument used in Carnatic music. There are several variations of the veena, which in its South Indian form is a member of the lute family....
     (India)
  • Vichitra veena
    Vichitra veena

    The Vichitra Veena is a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. It is similar to the Carnatic music gottuvadhyam . It has no Fret and is played with a slide....
     (India)
  • Vihuela
    Vihuela

    Vihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands....
     (Spain
    Spain

    Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
    )
  • Yueqin
    Yueqin

    The yueqin is a traditional Chinese musical instruments string instrument. It is a lute with a round, hollow wooden body which gives it the nickname moon guitar....
     (China)
  • Zhongruan
    Zhongruan

    The zhongruan , is a Chinese plucked string instrument that may be played with a plectrum or fingerstyle, similar to the pipa. The zhongruan is the tenor size of the ruan, or "moon guitar." It has a straight neck, a round sound box, and 24 frets on the fretboard....
     (China)
  • Zhu
    Zhu (instrument)

    The zhu was an ancient Chinese string instrument. Although it is no longer used, three very old specimens in varying degrees of preservation survive....
     (China)
  • Zither
    Zither

    The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures....


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