Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of

string instrument 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. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the ...

s that are played by a bow rubbing the

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

s. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to the origin of the bowing the problem of the origin of the bowing is unresolved Some say that the bow was introduced to Europe from the Middle East while others say the bow was not introduced from the Middle East but the other way round and that that the bow may have had its origin from a more frequent intercourse with North Europe and Western Europe The history of the violin, and other instruments played on with the bow from the remotest times to the present by Sandys, William, 1792-1874; Forster, Simon Andrew, 1801-1870
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List of bowed string instruments

Violin family

* Pochette * Violin (violino) * Viola (altviol, bratsche) *

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(violoncello) *

Double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

(contrabasso) ;Variants on the standard members of the violin family include: * Tenor violin *

Five string violin A five-string violin is a variant of violin with an extra string tuned below the violin's usual range. In addition to the G, D, A, and E strings of a standard violin, a five-string violin typically includes a lower C string. Violins with 6 or more ...

Cello da spalla The violoncello da spalla, known informally as the cello da spalla, is a small cello played braced against the shoulder. The violoncello da spalla was designed to be played by violinists, who have limited experience playing instruments such a ...

* Baroque violin * Kontra * Kit violin * Sardino *

Stroh violin The Stroh violin or Stroviol is a type of stringed musical instrument that is mechanically amplified by a metal resonator and horn attached to its body. The name Stroviol refers to a violin, but other instruments have been modified with the a ...

Låtfiol The låtfiol is a type of fiddle native to Sweden, which features two sympathetic strings running underneath the fingerboard. According to Lennart Carlsson (see link below), fiddles with up to eight sympathetic strings were fairly common in 18th ...

* Hardanger fiddle * Lira da braccio * Octobass

Viol family (Viola da Gamba family)

Treble viol Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

(treble viola da gamba) * Alto viol (alto viola da gamba) *

Tenor viol A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

(tenor viola da gamba) * Bass viol (bass viola da gamba) :Variants on the standard four members of the viol family include: * Pardessus de viol * Division viol * Lyra viol * Baryton * Violone * Viola d'amore *

Lirone The lirone (or lira da gamba) is the bass member of the ''lira'' family of instruments that was popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is a bowed string instrument with between 9 and 16 gut strings and a fretted neck. When played, ...

* Vihuela de arco

Lyra and rebec type

* Byzantine lyra * Cretan lyra * Calabrian lira * Gadulka * Lijerica * Ghaychak * Pochette * Rebec * Rabeca *

Rebab The ''rebab'' ( ar, ربابة, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via I ...

* Kemenche * Kamancheh *

Shah Kaman Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

* Kemençe of the Black Sea * Classical kemençe

Chinese bowed instruments

* Banhu * Daguangxian *

Dahu The dahu is a legendary creature that resembles a mountain goat and is well known in France and francophone regions of Switzerland and Italy, including the Aosta Valley. The dahu, a quadrupedal mammal, may have been inspired by the chamois, a sm ...

* Dihu * Diyingehu * Erhu * Erxian * Gaohu * Gehu * Huqin * Jiaohu * Jinghu *

Jing erhu The ''jing erhu'' () is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments, similar to the ''erhu''. It is so named because it is used in ''jing xi'', or Beijing opera. It is lower in pitch than the '' jinghu'', w ...

* * Laruan *

Leiqin The ''leiqin'' ( 雷琴 or 擂琴, literally "thunderous instrument"; also called ''leihu'') is a Chinese bowed string musical instrument. Construction It has a metal soundbox covered with snakeskin and a long fretless fingerboard. The two str ...

* Matouqin *

Maguhu The ''maguhu'' ( 馬骨胡; simplified: 马骨胡; pinyin: mǎgǔhú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of musical instruments. It has two strings and its sound box is made from the femur bone of a horse (or alte ...

Sanhu The ''sanhu'' proper (Chinese: 三胡; pinyin: sānhú) is a Chinese bowed musical instrument with three strings. It was developed in the 1970s and is essentially a three-stringed version of the two-stringed ''erhu'', with an additional bass st ...

* Sihu *

Tiqin The ''tiqin'' () is a name applied to several two-stringed Chinese bowed string musical instruments in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. Types There are several types of ''tiqin'': *The ''tiqin'' used for ''kunqu'' opera *The ''tiqin'' used fo ...

* Tihu * Tuhu * Yehu *

Yazheng The yazheng (simplified: 轧筝; traditional: 軋箏; pinyin: zházhēng; also spelled ''zha zheng'' or ''zha cheng'') is a Chinese string instrument. It is a traditional zither similar to the guzheng but bowed by scraping with a sorghum stem dus ...

* Xiqin *

Zhonghu The ''zhonghu'' (), short for ''zhongyin erhu'' () is a low-pitched Chinese bowed string instrument. Together with the erhu and gaohu, it is a member of the huqin family. It was developed in the 1940s as the alto member of the huqin family ( ...

Zhuihu The ''zhuihu'' ( 坠胡, pinyin: zhùihú; also called ''zhuiqin'' or ''zhuizixian'') is a two-stringed bowed string instrument from China. In construction, it resembles the ''sanxian'', and likely evolved as a bowed version of that musical instr ...

* Zhuiqin * Wenzhenqin *

Zhengni The ''zhengni'' ( 琤尼) is a traditional Chinese bowed zither, similar to the ancient Chinese instrument yazheng and Korean ajaeng. It is used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi. See also * Chinese music * List of Chinese musical instruments C ...

Rosined wheel instruments

The following instruments are sounded by means of a turning wheel that acts as the bow. *

Organistrum The organistrum is an early form of hurdy-gurdy. Generally considered the ancestor of all subsequent hurdy-gurdies, the organistrum differs substantially from later instruments in that it was played by two individuals: one turned the crank while ...

Hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a v ...

* Donskoy ryley * Dulcigurdy a.k.a. Vielle à roue et à manche *

Drejelire The drejelire is a string instrument with a keyboard, specifically, a type of hurdy-gurdy that uses a rosined wheel to create sound. The drejelire is made of wood. There is a crank Crank may refer to: Mechanisms * Crank (mechanism), in mechani ...

Lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

* tekerő *

Ninera Ninera is the unique Slovak version of the hurdy-gurdy. One well-known ninera player in Slovakia is Tibor Koblicek, born in a small village of Turicky, near Cinobaňa in southern Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak ...

* Kaisatsuko * Violano Virtuoso * Wheelharp * Viola organista *

Harmonichord A harmonichord is a kind of upright piano in which the strings are set in vibration not by the blow of the hammer but by indirectly transmitted friction. Description The harmonichord, one of the many attempts to fuse the piano and violin, was ...

Bowed clavier The bowed clavier (', ' or ' in German) is a keyboard instrument strung with gut strings, the tone of which is produced by a steadily revolving, well rosined cylinder powered by a foot pedal, a mechanism similar to that found in the hurdy-gurdy ...

Other bowed instruments

Masenqo The Masenqo ( am, ማሲንቆ; Tigrinya: ጭራ-ዋጣ (ዋጣ) is a single-stringed bowed lute commonly found in the musical traditions of Ethiopia. As with the krar, this instrument is used by Ethiopian minstrels called ''azmaris'' ("singer" ...

* Violoncello da spalla *

Ravanahatha A ravanahatha (variant names: ''ravanhatta'', ''rawanhattha'', ''ravanastron'', ''ravana hasta veena'') is an ancient bowed, stringed instrument, used in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and surrounding areas. It has been suggested as an ancestor of t ...

Ajaeng The ''ajaeng'' is a Korean string instrument. It is a wide zither with strings of twisted silk. It is played with a slender stick of forsythia wood that is drawn across the strings in the manner of a bow. The ''ajaeng'' mainly plays the bass p ...

* Yaylı tambur * Kingri string Instrument * Shichepshin * Đàn nhị * Đàn hồ * Đàn gáo * Sohaegeum *

Haegeum The ''haegeum'' () is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a vertical fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, inc ...

Kokyū The is a traditional Japanese string instrument, the only one played with a bow. A variant of the instrument also exists in Okinawa, called in Okinawan. The , like the , has its origins in Okinawa. Although it is similar to Chinese , it ...

* sorud * Chuurqin *

Daxophone The daxophone, invented by Hans Reichel, is an electric wooden experimental musical instrument of the friction idiophones category. Etymology The ''dax'' in ''daxophone'' is derived from the German word ''Dachs'', meaning "badger" and referenc ...

Arpeggione The arpeggione is a six-stringed musical instrument fretted and tuned like a guitar, but with a curved bridge so it can be bowed like a cello, and thus similar to the bass viola da gamba. The instrument is sometimes also called a guitar violonce ...

Bowed psaltery The bowed psaltery is a type of psaltery or zither that is played with a bow. In contrast with the centuries-old plucked psaltery, the bowed psaltery appears to be a 20th-century invention. History Violin zither In 1925 a German patent was issu ...

* Bowed dulcimer *

Jouhikko The ''jouhikko'' (Finnish: �jou̯hikːo is a traditional, two- or three-stringed bowed lyre, from Finland and Karelia. Its strings are traditionally of horsehair. The playing of this instrument died out in the early 20th century but has been r ...

Talharpa The talharpa, also known as a tagelharpa (tail-hair harp) or the stråkharpa (bowed harp), is a four-stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe. It was formerly widespread in Scandinavia, but is today played mainly in Estonia, particularly among t ...

Gue The gue is an extinct type of two-stringed bowed lyre or zither from the Shetland Isles. The instrument was described in 1809 by Arthur Edmondston in ''View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands'':"Before violins were introduced ...

Vielle The vielle is a European bowed stringed instrument used in the medieval period, similar to a modern violin but with a somewhat longer and deeper body, three to five gut strings, and a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal tuning pegs, sometimes with ...

Giga Giga ( or ) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or ). It has the symbol G. ''Giga'' is derived from the Greek word (''gígas''), meaning "giant". The ''Oxford English Di ...

* Fiðla * Tautirut * Agiarut *

Crwth The crwth (, also called a crowd or rote or crotta) is a bowed lyre, a type of stringed instrument, associated particularly with Welsh music, now archaic but once widely played in Europe. Four historical examples have survived and are to be fo ...

* Neola *

Bowed guitar Bowed guitar is a method of playing a guitar, acoustic or electric, in which the guitarist uses a bow, rather than the more common plectrum, to vibrate the instruments' strings, similar to playing a viola da gamba. Unlike traditionally b ...

Musical saw A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque f ...

Morin khuur The ''morin khuur'' ( mn, морин хуур, morin khuur), also known as the horsehead fiddle, is a traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument. It is one of the most important musical instruments of the Mongol people, and is considered ...

Gusle The gusle ( sr-cyrl, гусле) or lahuta ( sq, lahutë) is a single- stringed musical instrument (and musical style) traditionally used in the Dinarides region of Southeastern Europe (in the Balkans). The instrument is always accompanied b ...

Saw duang A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge. It is used to cut through material, very often wood, though sometimes metal or stone. The cut is made by placing the toothed edge against the material and mov ...

Saw sam sai The ''saw sam sai'' ( th, ซอสามสาย, , , also spelled ''saw samsai'', and occasionally called simply ''sam sai''; literally 'three-stringed fiddle') is a traditional bowed string instrument of Thailand. It is in the ''saw'' family ...

* Saw u * Salo (instrument) *

Tro Khmer The ''tro Khmer'' () is a traditional bowed string instrument from Cambodia. Its body is made from a special type of coconut covered on one end with snake skin, and it has three strings. Instruments are not standardized, and coconuts vary in s ...

* Tro sau toch * Tro sau thom * Tro u *

huqin ''Huqin'' () is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes ...

Sarangi The sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument played in traditional music from South Asia – Punjabi folk music, Rajasthani folk music, and Boro folk music (there known as the ''serja'') – in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. It ...

Sarangi (Nepali) The Nepali Sarangi ( ne, नेपाली सारङ्गी) is a Nepali folk instrument. It is a chordophone played by bowing. Traditionally in Nepal, the Sarangi was only played by people of Gandarbha or Gaine caste (both contested and ...

Sarinda Sarinda may refer to: * ''Sarinda'', a genus of jumping spiders * Sarinda, an Indian stringed instrument {{disambig ...

Esraj The (from the pa, ਇਸਰਾਜ) is an Indian stringed instrument found in two forms throughout the Indian subcontinent. It is a relatively recent instrument, being only about 300 years old. It is found in North India, primarily Punjab, wh ...

Nyckelharpa A nyckelharpa (, "keyed fiddle", or literally "key harp", plural ) is the national musical instrument of Sweden. It is a string instrument or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is depressed, serve as frets to chan ...

(Swedish keyed fiddle) * Ghaychak * Gadulka *

Gudok The gudok (, russian: гудок), gudochek (, russian: гудочек) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow.

Kobyz The Kobyz ( kk, қобыз, ''Qobyz''; ba, ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кубыз) or ''kylkobyz'' ( kk, қылқобыз, ''qylqobyz''; ba, ҡыл ҡумыҙ; tt-Cyrl, кылкубыз) is an ancient Turkic bowed string instrument, spread among Kaz ...

* Sorahi *

Byzaanchy The ''byzaanchy'' (Tuvan: бызаанчы; Russian: Бизанчи; also transliterated ''byzanchi'' or ''byzanchie'') is a four-stringed vertical spike fiddle used in the traditional music of Tuva. It is similar to the Chinese '' sihu''. Howe ...

Igil The ''igil'' ( Tuvan: игил) is a two- stringed Tuvan musical instrument, played by bowing the strings. (It is called "ikili" in Western Mongolia.) The neck and lute-shaped sound box are usually made of a solid piece of pine or larch. The t ...

Imzad The imzad (alternately amzad) is a single-string bowed instrument used by the Tuareg people in Africa. Its body is made out of a calabash or wood which is covered by animal skin. The strings are made from horse hair and are connected near the n ...

* Umbang

References

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