Stringed Instruments

Stringed instruments are musical instruments which produce sound by means of vibrating strings to produce sound. The most common stringed instruments in the string family are the guitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and harp.

Stringed instruments can be divided in three groups.

1. Lutes - Instruments in which the strings are supported by a neck and a bout ("gourd"). Instruments in this category include a guitar, a violin and a saz.
2. Harps - Instruments in which the strings are contained within a frame.
3. Zithers - Instruments with the strings mounted on a body, such as a Gugin, a Cimbalom or an autoharp.

All stringed instruments produce sound from one or more vibrating strings, transferred to the air by the body of the instrument or by a pickup in the case of electrically-amplified instruments. The technique used to make the strings vibrate (or the primary technique, in the case where more than one may apply) usually categorizes stringed instruments. The most common techniques are plucking, bowing and striking.

Stringed instruments such as the banjo, guitar, harp, lute, mandolin, oud, and sitar use plucking as the sole method of playing either by a finger or thumb or by some type of plectrum. A plectrum is usually made from plastic, metal, or ivory. The plucking method is sometimes to referred to by the Italian term pizzicato.

The violin, viola, cello and less commonly the double bass are stringed instruments that use bowing as the method of producing sound. The bow consists of a stick with many hairs stretched between its end. Bowing the instrument's string causes something called a stick-slip phenomenon to occur which makes the string vibrate.

Striking, the third common method, occurs when a string is hit with a hammer. The most common instrument to use this method is the piano. This method can also be executed with a finger on plucked and bowed instruments and the techniques is often referred to as a hammer-on by guitarists.