String Instruments

String instruments are musical instruments which use vibrating strings to produce sound. Some musical classification schemes also refer to them as chordophones. Examples of string instruments include mandolins, harps, banjos, cellos, violins, double bass and violas. The various types of string instruments are differentiated by their playing technique which causes the strings to vibrate. Some string instruments used the plucking technique as a playing method. The strings are plucked using either fingers or the thumb and some use a form of plectrum, typically made of plastic and this causes them to vibrate and produce sound. Examples of string instruments that are played using the plucking technique include the guitar, the lute, banjo and harp among many others.

The bowing technique of playing musical instruments is another technique used for playing string instruments and is used when classifying them. There is a bow with a stick that has numerous hairs stretched to either side. This bow is then rubbed across the string of the musical string instrument and this gives rise to a stick-slip phenomenon that causes the strings to vibrate. Bowed string instruments have roots in the Islamic empire which had several traditional bowed string instruments such as the kamanche of the Persians or the lira from the Byzantine Empire. Modern examples of such string instruments include the violin, cello and viola.

A third category of string instruments is that which uses the striking method of playing to produce sound. In this category, sound is produced by striking the strings using some form of hammer. The piano is actually categorized under string instruments though it has a keyboard for easy manipulation. It is the most well known example of musical instruments which uses the striking method. Some string instruments of the violin family are occasionally played by using the bow sides to strike instrument’s strings. There are several other methods of producing sounds with string instruments. For instance, some string instruments such as the Aeolian harp produces sound from its strings by air movement. Some string instruments made of steel produce sound using a magnetic field.

String instruments are among the most widely played musical instruments. Playing string instruments in an orchestra will usually take many players at once because one needs to play many instruments at once in order to produce that rich sound that is well balanced with wood winds, percussion as well as brass. The music produced by an orchestra playing string instruments is usually referred to as classical music and is enjoyed by many people. Actually, there are numerous well-known people in history who played string instruments even though they did not pursue music as a profession. Some of these include Woodrow Wilson who played the violin, Benjamin Franklin who played the violin along with the guitar, Albert Einstein who played the violin as well as the piano and Thomas Jefferson who played the violin, cello and the clavichord. String instruments are undoubtedly among the most favored musical instruments.