List of string instruments
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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.


Bowed

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Agiarut The agiarut (Inuktitut syllabics: also known as the Eskimo fiddle) is a bowed instrument native to the Inuit culture of Canada and Alaska. According to musicologist Beverley Cavanagh, agiarut is the name for a European fiddle, while tautirut Th ...
(Alaska) *
Ainu fiddle Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...
(Ainu) *
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 pa ...
(Korea) *
Alexander violin The Alexander violin is a string instrument designed by Sylvanus J. Talbott, of Milford, New Hampshire, in 1887 in the United States. The instrument was produced commercially and was available for purchase in D.H Bearman's 1890 catalogue. The i ...
(United States) *
Anzad 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 Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, bir ...
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apache fiddle The Apache fiddle (Apache: tsii' edo'a'tl, "wood that sings") is a bowed string instrument used by the indigenous Apache people of the southwestern United States. The instrument consists of a plant stalk, such as that of the agave or mescal plant ...
(Apache) * Apkhyarta (Abkhazia) *
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 ...
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Banhu The ''banhu'' (板胡, pinyin: bǎnhú) is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China. ''Ban'' means a piece of wood and ''hu'' is short for ''huqin''. Like the more ...
(China) *
Baryton The baryton is a bowed string instrument similar to the viol, but distinguished by an extra set of sympathetic but also pluckable strings. It was in regular use in Europe until the end of the 18th century. Design The baryton can be viewed as a ...
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Bazantar The bazantar is a custom made string instrument invented by musician Mark Deutsch, who worked on the design between 1993 and 1997. Overview The Bazantar is a six-string acoustic bass, fitted with an additional twenty-nine sympathetic strings a ...
(United States) * Bowed dulcimer *
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 bowed ...
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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 ...
(United States) *
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''. Howev ...
(Tuva) *
Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira ( gr, λύρα) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by ...
(Greece) *
Calabrian Lira {{Infobox Instrument , name=Calabrian lira , names=Lira Calabrese, Lira , image=IMAG1951.jpg , background=string , classification=Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Necked bowl lute sounded by a bow , range= , ...
(Italy) *
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 ...
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Electric cello The electric cello is a type of cello that relies on electronic amplification (rather than acoustic resonance) to produce sound. An acoustic cello can be fitted with a bridge or body mounted contact pickup providing an electric signal, or a built-i ...
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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 ...
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Chagane The Chagane ( az, cağan, çəqanə, ka, ჩაგანი) is an Azerbaijani four-stringed bowed musical instrument. Its range is F#2 to F#5. While played, instrument is held in a vertical position. Sound is produced with a bow in the right ha ...
(Azerbaijan) * Chikara (India) *
Chiwang The chiwang (Dzongkha: སྤྱི་དབང་; Wylie: ''spyi-dbang'') is a type of fiddle played in Bhutan. The chiwang, the lingm (flute), and the dramyen (lute) comprise the basic instrumental inventory for traditional Bhutanese folk music ...
(Bhutan) *
Chrotta The chrotta, was a musical instrument played in Ireland, whose exact description is contested. According to Irish historian Gratton Flood, it was a small harp played with a bow. The instrument could be rested on knees or on a table. Flood notes ...
(Wales) *
Chuniri The chuniri ( ka, ჭუნირი) is a bowed musical instrument of Georgia. Only the mountain inhabitants of Georgia preserve the bowed chuniri in its original form. This instrument is considered to be a national instrument of Svaneti and is ...
(Georgia) *
Cimboa The ''cimboa'' (), also known as the ''cimbó'' , is a musical instrument from Cape Verde. It is a bowed chordophone that was traditionally used to be played with the batuque dances. The ''cimboa'' is composed  of the instrument proper and ...
(cape verde) *
Cizhonghu The dahu ( 大 胡, pinyin: ''dàhú'') is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with python skin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vert ...
(China) *
Cornstalk fiddle The cornstalk fiddle is a toy, and a type of bowed string instrument played historically in North America. The instrument consists of a cornstalk, with slits cut into the shaft to allow one or more fibrous sections to separate from the main body an ...
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Cretan lyra ) * Lira da braccio * Rabāb (Arabic الرباب) * Lijerica * Violin , musicians = * Andreas Rodinos * Alekos Karavitis * Antonis Papadakis (Kareklas) * Kostas Mountakis * Nikos Xilouris * Psarantonis * Ross Daly * Yiorgos Kalou ...
(Greece) *
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 foun ...
(Wales) *
Daguangxian The ''daguangxian'' (; literally "great, broad string nstrument) is a Chinese bowed two-stringed List of traditional Chinese musical instruments, musical instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments, held on the lap and played upright. I ...
* Dahu (China) *
Đàn gáo The đàn gáo ("coconut shell fiddle") is a bowed string instrument, a part of the traditional Vietnamese orchestra. It is similar to the đàn hồ. The instrument originated from South Viet Nam, and is used in entertainment contexts. It ...
(Vietnam) * Đàn hô (Vietnam) * Đàn nhi (Vietnam) *
datong Datong is a prefecture-level city in northern Shanxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is located in the Datong Basin at an elevation of and borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west and Hebei to the east. As of the 2020 cens ...
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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 refer ...
* Dhantara (India) *
Dihu The ''dihu'' (低胡, pinyin: dīhú) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically ...
(China) *
Diyingehu The bass ''gehu'' (低音革胡; pinyin: ''dīyīngéhú'', ; also called ''digehu'' or ''beigehu'' 倍革胡, literally "bass ''gehu''") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family. It was developed by Yang Yusen along with ...
(China) * donskory Ryley (Russia) *
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 ...
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Electric double bass The electric upright bass (EUB) is an instrument that can perform the musical function of a double bass. It requires only a minimal or 'skeleton' body to produce sound because it uses a pickup and electronic amplifier and loudspeaker. Therefore, ...
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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 at the bottom, which must be moved continuously to produce sounds, ...
* ducheke (amur) * dūda (latvia) *
endingidi The endingidi (endingiri in Runyankole) is a type of bowed string instrument native to Uganda. The endingidi has one string, extending from the neck to a cylindrical sound-box or resonator made of wood or cow horn. A piece of hide is stretched ov ...
(Uganda) *
Enneg The enneg is a bowed string instrument. It is a traditional instrument of the Seri or Konkaak tribe in northwestern Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North Amer ...
(Mexico) *
Erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...
(China) *
Erxian The ''erxian'' ( 二弦; pinyin: èrxián; literally "two string") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. It has two strings and is used primarily in Cantonese music, most often in "hard string" chamber e ...
(China) *
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, whe ...
(India) *
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, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
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Fiðla The ''Icelandic fiddle'' (Icelandic: fiðla fɪðla is a traditional Icelandic instrument that can be described as a box with two brass strings which is played with a bow. The strings stretch across one end of the box to the other where they ...
(Icelandic) *
Gadulka The gadulka ( bg, гъдулка) is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are "gǎdulka", "gudulka" and "g'dulka". Its name comes from a root meaning "to make noise, hum or buzz". The gadulka is an integral part o ...
(Bulgaria) *
Gaohu The ''gaohu'' ( 高胡; pinyin: ''gāohú'', ; Cantonese: gou1 wu4; also called ''yuehu'' 粤 胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument developed from the ''erhu'' in the 1920s by the musician and composer Lü Wencheng (1898–1981) and use ...
(China) *
Gehu The ''gehu'' (革胡; pinyin: géhú) is a Chinese instrument developed in the 20th century by the Chinese musician Yang Yusen ( 杨 雨 森, 1926–1980). It is a fusion of the Chinese huqin family and the cello. Its four strings are also tu ...
(China) *
Ghaychak Ghaychak or Gheychak ( Persian: غیچک) is a bowed lute used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The name is similar to the Central Asian ghijak, but that instrument is more closely related to the kamancheh. Double-chambered bowl lu ...
(Iran) *
Ģīga The ģīga or divstīdzis is a two-stringed bowed zither found in Latvia. The instrument is descended from the psalmodicon ( lv, vienstīdzis or ''manihorka''), a bowed monochord developed in Sweden in 1829 for liturgical singing. From there it ...
(Latvia) *
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 Dic ...
(Norway) *
Goje The goje (the Hausa name for the instrument) is one of the many names for a variety of one or two-stringed fiddles from West Africa, almost exclusively played by ethnic groups inhabiting the Sahel and Sudan sparsely vegetated grassland belts lea ...
(Mali) *
Gudok The gudok (, russian: гудок), gudochek (, russian: гудочек) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow.
(Russia) *
Gue The gue is an extinct type of two-stringed Bowed string instrument, 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 ...
(Shetland) *
Gunjac The ''gunjac'' (plural: ''gunjci'') or ''bajs'' is a violoncello-like Croatian instrument but with only two strings. Gunjac instrumentalists are called ''bajsisti''. It is a double bass string instrument played with a bow. The gunjac is common ...
(Croatia) *
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 by s ...
(bulkans) *
Haegeum The ''haegeum'' () is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a vertical fiddle with two strings; derived from '' xiqin'', traditional Instrument of Xi people, which was introduced in Goryeo Dynasty through Northern Song. It has ...
(Korea) *
Hardanger fiddle A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than fo ...
(Norway) *
Huluhu The ''huluhu'' (traditional: 葫蘆胡; simplified: 葫芦胡; pinyin: húlúhú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. It has two strings, and its sound box is made from a gourd, with a face made of thin ...
(China) *
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 up ...
(China) *
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 vi ...
(Italy Spain and France) *
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 up ...
(China) *
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 ...
(Tuva) *
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 Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, bir ...
(Africa) *
jap fiddle The Jap fiddle or Japanese fiddle was a one-stringed bowed instrument used by street performers, music hall performers, and vaudevillians around the start of the 20th century, particularly in the United Kingdom and United States. The instrument ...
(Japan) *
Jiaohu The ''jiaohu'' ( 角 胡; pinyin: jiǎohú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family of musical instruments. Although very similar to the Jinghu and Ehru in physical structure, the Jiaohu is a traditional Chinese instrument. It is a ...
(China) * Jing erhu (China) * Jinghu (China) *
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 ...
(Finland) *
Kaisatsuko The kaisatsuko (Japanese: 回擦胡, literally "wheel-bowed fiddle") is a mechanical experimental musical instrument invented by Yuichi Onoue of Tokyo, Japan. The instrument consists of two strings on a fretless neck. A crank is affixed to a smal ...
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Kamancheh The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) ( fa, کمانچه, az, kamança, hy, Քամանչա, ku, کەمانچە ,kemançe) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, and ...
(Iran) *
Kemenche Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Greece, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to the Black S ...
(Turkey) *
Kemence Kemence is a village in Pest county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania t ...
(Balkans) **
Classical Kemençe The classical ''kemenche'' ( tr, Klasik kemençe), ('pear-shaped kemenche') or ( el, πολίτικη λύρα, 'Constantinopolitan lyre') is a pear-shaped bowed instrument that derived from the medieval Greek byzantine lyre. It was mainly u ...
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Kemençe of the Black Sea The Kemençe of the Black Sea ( tr, Karadeniz kemençesi, el, Ποντιακή λύρα ''Pontiakí lýra'' or ''Pontic lyre'', lzz, Çilili (ჭილილი), hy, քամանի ''Qamani'') is a Greek and Turkish traditional musical instr ...
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Kezaixian The ''kezaixian'' () is a bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family originating in China. More specifically a type of ''yehu'', it is a two-stringed fiddle and is used in Taiwan opera. Traditionally the ''khak-a-hian'' is constructed with a ...
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kingri Kingri ( sd, ڪنگري) is a Tehsil of Khairpur District in the Sindh province of Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most pop ...
(India) *
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 Ka ...
(Kazakhstan) *
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 a ...
(Japan) * Kongahyan (Java) *
kontra , et, Kolmekeelne vioola , image= Haromhuros bracsa.png , image_capt=A ''kontra'' shown from the front and the side , background=string , hornbostel_sachs= , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= g – d – a , r ...
* krem (Jah hut) *
K'ni The k'ni, also known as ''mim'' in Cambodia, popularly known as a mouth violin is a mouth resonator fiddle, i.e. a fiddle-like instrument used by the Jarai people in Vietnam and Tampuan people in Cambodia. Etymology ''K'ni'' is the common word ...
(Vietnam) *
Langspil The langspil (; meaning ''long-play'') is a traditional Icelandic drone zither. It has a single melody string and usually 2 drone strings. The langspil can be played by plucking the strings by hand, with a bow or by hammering. Langspils exist ...
(Iceland) * låtflol (Sweden) *
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 ...
(China) *
Lijerica ) * Gudok (''russian: гудок'' '' uk, гудок'') * Kemenche * Rabel (instrument) * Rabāb (Arabic الرباب) * Rebec * violin The lijerica () is a musical instrument from the Croatian region of Dalmatia and Croatian parts of eastern H ...
(Croatia) *
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 ...
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Lira da braccio The lira da braccio (or ''lyra de bracio''Michael Praetorius. Syntagma Musicum Theatrum Instrumentorum seu Sciagraphia Wolfenbüttel 1620) was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court i ...
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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 play ...
* Liujiaoxian *
Lokanga bara The lokanga bara (sometimes referred to by the generic term ''lokanga'') is a three-stringed fiddle popular among the Southern Antandroy and Bara ethnic groups of Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Ma ...
(Madagascar) * Macedonian lyra * Maguhu (China) *
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" ...
(Ethiopia) *
Moraharpa The moraharpa is a modern name for an early predecessor of the nyckelharpa keyed fiddle; the primary example instrument dated 1526, was found in Mora, Sweden. A number of modern reproductions of the original moraharpa have been made since the 198 ...
(Sweden) *
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 a ...
(Mongolia) *
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 ...
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Nail violin } The nail violin is a musical instrument which was invented by German violinist Johann Wilde in 1740. The instrument consists of a semicircular wooden soundboard, approximately by in size, with iron or brass nails of different lengths arranged ...
* Neola (Wales) *
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 ...
* Niutuiqin *
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 cha ...
(Sweden) * N'vike *
Octobass The octobass is an extremely large and rare bowed string instrument that was first built around 1850 in Paris by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875). It has three strings and is essentially a larger version of the double bas ...
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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 ...
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Orutu The ''orutu'' is a one-stringed vertical fiddle originated in the pre-colonial societies of Western Kenya, especially amongst the Luo community. The Luo had a strong tradition of stringed instruments and was famous for their skills with harps and ...
(East Africa) * Pena *
philomel Philomel is another name for Philomela, a character from Greek mythology. It may refer to: Nature * A nightingale Arts and Letters * An abbreviated form of the name Philomela, a figure in Greek mythology often invoked as a symbol in literature. * ...
(Italy France and German) *
Phonofiddle A phonofiddle is a class of stringed musical instruments that are played with a bow and use a phonograph type reproducer as a voice-box. The sound producing diaphragm may be a metal cone as in the Stroh violin or a mica sheet as in the instruments ...
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Pinaka vina The ''pināka vīnā'' ( hi, पिनाक pinnak + hi, वीणा veena) was an Indian musical instrument, a musical bow that was itself played with a bow. It has also been transliterated ''pinaki vina'' and ''pinak''. It appeared simil ...
(India) *
Psalmodikon The psalmodicon (psalmodikon or salmodikon) is a stringed musical instrument; the most common variants have a single string. It was developed in Scandinavia for simplifying music in churches and schools, and as an alternative to the fiddle f ...
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Psaltry A psaltery ( el, ψαλτήρι) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer; the harp, virginal, harpsichord and clavichord were also inspired by ...
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qelutviaq The qelutviaqJacobson, Steven A. (2012)Yup'ik Eskimo Dictionary, 2nd edition Alaska Native Language Center. ("''Qelutviaq'' stringed musical instrument, such as guitar, banjo, or harp.") or kelutviaqSadie, Stanley. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Mus ...
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rabeca The rabeca or rabeca chuleira is a fiddle originating in Portugal, commonly used in Portugal, Northeastern Brazil, where it is most commonly used in Brazilian forró music, and Cape Verde. It is descended from the medieval rebec. History The rab ...
* Rabel *
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 ...
(India) *
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 ...
(Afghanistan, Pakistan and India) *
Rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
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Salo Salo or Salò may refer to: Places Finland *Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland **Salo sub-region, a subdivision of Finland Proper and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009 *An old name of Saloinen, a former municipality in Ostroboth ...
* Sanhu (China) *
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 is ...
(India) *
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 is ...
(Nepal) * Sarinda (India) * Saw bang *
Saw duang A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chain saw, 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 ...
*
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 ...
(Thailand) *
Saw u The ''saw u'' ( th, ซออู้, , ; also spelled ''saw ou'') is a Thai bowed string instrument. It has a lower pitch than the saw duang and is the lowest sounding of the saw family. Reliable evidence shows that pattern of the Saw U was prob ...
*
segankuru The segankuru is a bowed trough zither, bar zither or musical bow, a string instrument found in Botswana and other areas of South Africa, and found under many names. It consists of a wooden body attached to a tin can resonator, with a single metal ...
* Sihu (China) * Solangeum *
soku A soku ( bm, ߛߏ߬ߞߎ, italics=no) is a traditional West African instrument used in a type of music called Wassoulou music, Wassoulou which originated in the Wasulu region of southwest Mali. It is a traditional fiddle, sometimes replaced by mod ...
*
sorahi The Sorahi (Persian صراحی) is a new Iranian musical instrument. A member of the family of bowed string instruments developed by the Iranian musician M. R. Shajarian, This string instrument can cover the sound range produced by soprano, alto, ...
*
Streichmelodion The Streichmelodion or Breitoline is a bowed zither, similar in shape to a viola. The Streichmelodion was created in 1856 by Leopold Breit in Brno, evolving from the alpine zither and inspired by the Streichzither de. The Breitoline is descri ...
* Suroz *
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 ...
*
Tar shehnai The tar shehnai, also spelled tarshenai or sometimes tar shehanai, is an esraj (an Indian bowed instrument) whose sound is amplified by a metal horn attached to its sound board. The term is also used to refer to the horn itself. The horn of a phono ...
*
Taus Taus may refer to: * Domažlice (German: Taus), a town of the Czech Republic * Taus, Wisconsin, United States, an unincorporated community * Melek Taus, "The Peacock Angel", the Yazidis' name for the central figure of their faith * Taus (instrumen ...
*
Tautirut The ''tautirut'' (Inuktitut syllabics: or ''tautiruut'', also known as the Eskimo fiddle) is a bowed zither native to the Inuit culture of Canada. Lucien M. Turner described the "Eskimo violin" in 1894 as being The Canadian anthropologist Er ...
*
Tenor violin A tenor violin (or tenor viola) is an instrument with a range between those of the cello and the viola. An earlier development of the evolution of the violin family of instruments, the instrument is not standard in the modern symphony orchestra. I ...
* Terz violin *
Tihu Tihu (Pron:ˈtɪhuː) is a town and a town area committee established in 1951 in Nalbari district in the Indian state of Assam. Demographics India census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating inf ...
*
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 f ...
* Träskofiol * Tro (Cambodia) *
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 si ...
* Trumpet marine or ''tromba marina'' * Tuhu *
Ukelin The ukelin is a bowed psaltery with zither strings made popular in the 1920s. It is meant to be a combination of the violin and the Hawaiian ukulele. It lost popularity prior to the 1970s because the instrument was difficult to play and often ret ...
*
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 a ...
*
Vielle à roue et à manche The vielle à roue et à manche (called dulcigurdy by some luthiers) is a modern term for an early music instrument, of unknown original name, of the hurdy-gurdy family, but distinct in that the notes were changed by fingering the neck rather th ...
*
Viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...
(viola da gamba) **
Lyra viol The lyra viol is a small bass viol, used primarily in England in the seventeenth century. Described as "the smallest of the bass viols", one should consider that the consort bass was much larger in 17th century England than most bass viols nowa ...
**
Violone The term violone (; literally "large viol" in Italian, " -one" being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted i ...
**
Division viol The division viol is an English type of bass viol, which was originally popular in the mid-17th century, but is currently experiencing a renaissance of its own due to the movement for historically informed performance. John Playford mentions th ...
**
Pardessus de viole The pardessus de viole is the highest-pitched member of the viol family of instruments. It is a bowed string instrument with either five or six strings and a fretted neck. The pardessus first appeared in the early 18th century, and was commonly ...
**
Viola bastarda :''Lyra bastarda is a common misnomer for the baryton.'' Viola bastarda refers to a highly virtuosic style of composition or extemporaneous performance, as well as to the altered viols created to maximize players' ability to play in this style. ...
*
Viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
**
Electric viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...
*
Viola d'amore The viola d'amore (; Italian for "viol of love") is a 7- or 6- stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin. Structure and sound The viol ...
*
Viola organista The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to how a violin produces sounds), with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard (similar to an or ...
*
Viola pomposa __NOTOC__ The viola pomposa (also known as the violino pomposo) is a five-stringed instrument developed around 1725. There are no exact dimensions applicable to all instruments used under this name, although in general the pomposa is slightly wid ...
* Violetta *
Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
**
Baroque violin A Baroque violin is a violin set up in the manner of the baroque period of music. The term includes original instruments which have survived unmodified since the Baroque period, as well as later instruments adjusted to the baroque setup, and moder ...
**
Electric violin An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term most properly refers to an instrument intentionally made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. It can also refer to a violin fi ...
**
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 ...
**
Kit violin The pochette is a small stringed instrument of the bowed variety. It is essentially a very small violin-like wood instrument designed to fit in a pocket, hence its common name, the "pochette" (French for ''small pocket''). Also known as a pocket ...
(dancing master violin) ** Pochette ** Stroh violin **
Violin octet The violin octet is a family of stringed instruments developed in the 20th century primarily under the direction of the American luthier Carleen Hutchins. Each instrument is based directly on the traditional violin and shares its acoustical prop ...
**
Vertical viola The vertical viola, or alto violin, is a stringed instrument with the range of a viola that is played vertically in the manner of a cello. It is the fourth-highest member of the violin octet (after the treble, soprano, and mezzo violins). The st ...
* Violinzither *
Waterphone A waterphone (also ocean harp) is a type of inharmonic acoustic tuned idiophone consisting of a stainless steel resonator ''bowl'' or ''pan'' with a cylindrical ''neck'' and bronze rods of different lengths and diameters around the rim of the bowl ...
*
Wheelharp The wheelharp is a musical instrument with bowed strings controlled by a keyboard and foot-controlled motor, similar to Leonardo da Vinci's viola organista, a keyboard-operated string instrument for continuously sounding strings by rubbing the strin ...
* Xiqin * yakatat (Alaska) * Yaylı tambur (Turkey) *
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 dust ...
(China) *
Yehu The ''yehu'' () is a bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of Chinese musical instruments. ''Ye'' means coconut and ''hu'' is short for ''huqin''. It is used particularly in the southern coastal provinces of China and in Taiwan. The i ...
(China) *
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 ...
(China) *
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 (sim ...
(China) *
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 ins ...
(China)


Plucked or strummed

*
Aarbajo The aarbajo () is a Nepali four-string lute used as a rhythm instrument (Tālabājā ()). It is the traditional instrument of the Gandarbha caste of musical performers, and is considered a companion to the Sarangi (Nepal), Nepali sarangi. The Gand ...
(Nepal) * Ahenk (Turkey) *
ajayu {{Infobox Instrument , name=Ajayu , names= , image= , image_capt= , background=string , classification=String instrument , hornbostel_sachs= , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone , developed= Chile , range= , related= Laúd, Bandurria, Ban ...
(Chile) * Angélique *
Appalachian dulcimer The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of ...
(United States) *
Archlute The archlute ( es, archilaúd, it, arciliuto, german: Erzlaute) 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 p ...
*
asor The asor ( he, עָשׂוֹר ''ʿasor''; from עשר ''eśer'', meaning "ten") was a musical instrument "of ten strings" mentioned in the Bible. There is little agreement on what sort of instrument it was or to what instruments it had similaritie ...
(Hebrew) *
Auto-harp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...
** Chromaharp *
Bağlama The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music and in parts of Syria, Iraq ...
(Turkey) * Bajo quinto and
Bajo sexto Bajo sexto (Spanish: "sixth bass") is a Mexican string instrument from the guitar family with 12 strings in six double courses. A closely related instrument is the bajo quinto (Spanish: "fifth bass") which has 10 strings in five double courses. ...
(Mexico) *
Balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...
(Russia) ** Descant balalaika ** Piccolo balalaika ** Prima balalaika ** Secunda balalaika ** Alto balalaika ** Tenor balalaika ** Bass balalaika ** Contrabass balalaika *
bandol Bandol (; oc, Bandòu) is a commune in Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. Bandol and the seat of its eponymous commune, was founded in 1595 and built around a small military fort. The Bandol wine region, lo ...
(Trinidad and Tobago) *
Bandolón A bandolón is a musical instrument from Mexico. It is a guitar sized instrument, resembling a flatback mandolin with 18 strings, arranged in 6 courses, three strings per course, and played with a pick. It is associated with the típica orquest ...
(Mexico) *
Bandura A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...
(Ukraine) *
Bandurria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...
(Spain) *
Banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
(United States) ** Banjo cello ** Banjolin ** anjulele** ass banjo** Bluegrass banjo (5-string banjo)** Contrabass banjo **
Electric banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
** Fretless banjo ** Guitanjo ** Long neck banjo **
Plectrum banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
**
Tenor banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
* Barbat (Iran) *
basolia The basolia ( uk, Басо́ля, pl, basy or pl, basetla) is a Ukrainian or Polish folk instrument of the bowed string family similar to the cello, although usually slightly larger and not as sophisticated in construction. The basolia was usual ...
(Ukraine and Poland) *
Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
**
Electric bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
**
Acoustic bass guitar The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...
*
Begena The ''begena'', also known as ''bagana'' ( am, በገና) is a ten-stringed box-lyre instrument from the Amhara people of Ethiopia, and is the sole melodic instrument devoted only to the ''zema'', the spiritual part of Amhara music. Etymology an ...
(Ethiopia) *
Biwa The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime duri ...
(Japanese) *
Bordonua The Bordonua (Bordonúa) is a large, deep body (sound-boxes are usually deep) bass guitar which is native to Puerto Rico. They are made using several different shapes and sizes. The Bordonúa is the least common of the three stringed instrum ...
(Puerto Rico) *
Bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
(Greece) ** Trichorda ** Tetrachorda * Brac * Bugarija (Croatia) *
Buzuq The ''buzuq'' ( ar, ; also transliterated ''bozuq'', ''bouzouk'', buzuk etc.) is a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki and Turkish saz. It is an essential instrument in the Rahbani repertoire, but it is not classified a ...
(Lebanon) * Cak *
Cavaquinho The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the lute family of instr ...
(Portugal and Brazil) *
Cekuntrung The cekuntrung is a stringed musical instrument from Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, includ ...
(Indonesia) *
Çeng The ''çeng'' is a Turkish harp. It was a popular Ottoman instrument until the last quarter of the 17th century. The ancestor of the Ottoman harp is thought to be an instrument seen in ancient Assyrian tablets. While a similar instrument als ...
(Turkey) * Cetera *
ceterone The Ceterone (Italian), was an enlarged cetera (''Eng''. cittern), believed to be similar to the chitarrone as a development of the chitarra and lute to enhance the bass capabilities of these instruments. Michael Praetorius includes such an ...
(Italy) *
Chapey The Chapei Dang Veng ( Khmer: ចាប៉ីដងវែង) or chapey (ចាប៉ី) is a Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the sou ...
*
Charango The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...
(Bolivia) ** Charango bajo ** Hulayacho **
Ronroco The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during co ...
** Charagón ** Chillador ** Hatun charango **
Ranka charango Ranka may refer to: * Ranka (ethnic group), an ethnic group belonging to the Marwari people of Rajasthan, India * Ranka (grape), another name for the wine grape Chasselas ** Luglienga, another wine and table grape that is also known as Ranka * Ran ...
* Chardha *
Chelys The chelys or chelus ( el, χέλυς, la, testudo, both meaning "turtle" or "tortoise"), was a stringed musical instrument, the common lyre of the ancient Greeks, which had a convex back of tortoiseshell or of wood shaped like the shell. The wor ...
* Chilili *
Chitarra battente The chitarra battente (in Italian "strumming guitar", however "battente" literally means "beating" related to the fact that this guitar thumps the rhythm of the music) is a musical instrument, a chordophone of the guitar family. It is similar to ...
(Italy) *
Chitarrone The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending out ...
(Mexico) *
Chitrali sitar The chitrali sitar ( ur, چترالی ستھار) is a long-necked lute played in northern area, Chitral of Pakistan. It is not related to the Indian sitar and its name is related to ''setar, the Central Asian and Iranian long-necked lute. The in ...
*
Chonguri The choghur ( az, Çoğur; ka, ჩონგური) is a plucked string musical instrument common in Azerbaijan and Georgia. It has 4 nylon strings. The choghur dates back to the 12th to 16th centuries, the period between the gopuz and the ...
*
Çifteli The çifteli (çiftelia, qifteli or qyfteli , sq, "doubled" or "double stringed") is a plucked string instrument, with only two strings, played mainly by the Albanians of northern and central Albania, Southern Montenegro, parts of North Maced ...
(Albania) *
Citole The citole was a string musical instrument, closely associated with the medieval fiddles (viol, vielle, gigue) and commonly used from 1200–1350."CITOLE, also spelled Systole, Cythole, Gytolle, &c. (probably a Fr. diminutive form of cithara ...
*
Cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...
(
Early Modern Britain Early modern Britain is the history of the island of Great Britain roughly corresponding to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Major historical events in early modern British history include numerous wars, especially with France, along with the E ...
) **
ball Cittern A ball is a round object (usually sphere, spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be ...
*
Concheras Concheras or conchas are Mexican stringed-instruments, plucked by concheros dancers. The instruments were important to help preserve elements of native culture from Eurocentric-Catholic suppression. The instruments are used by Concheros dancer ...
**
mandolina conchera Concheras or conchas are Mexican stringed-instruments, plucked by concheros dancers. The instruments were important to help preserve elements of native culture from Eurocentric-Catholic suppression. The instruments are used by Concheros dancer ...
or concheras de mandolinas ** vihuela conchera or concheras de vihuelas ** guitarra conchera or concheras de guirarras *
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 foun ...
*
Cuatro antiguo Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...
* Cuatro cubano *
Cuatro Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...
(Puerto Rico and Venezuela) ** Venezuela Cuatro ** Puerto Rico cuatro * Cuk *
Cümbüş The ''cümbüş'' (; ) is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş (1881–1947) as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble. The cümbüş is sh ...
(Turkey) ** Tamburo cümbüş *
Cura Cura or CURA may refer to: Music * ''Cura'' (album), 2018 Keys N Krates release * Cura (instrument), Turkish musical instrument Organizations * Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA), Ohio State University * Institute on Culture, Rel ...
*
Cythara The cythara is a wide group of stringed instruments of medieval and Renaissance Europe, including not only the lyre and harp but also necked, string instruments. In fact, unless a medieval document gives an indication that it meant a necked inst ...
*
Đàn bầu The đàn bầu (; "gourd zither"; chữ Nôm: ), also called độc huyền cầm (獨絃琴, "one-string zither") is a Vietnamese stringed instrument, in the form of a monochord (one-string) zither. History While the earliest written records o ...
(Vietnam) * Đàn đáy *
Đàn nguyệt The đàn nguyệt ( "moon lute") also called nguyệt cầm, đàn kìm, is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument.The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music - Page 262 Terry E. Miller, Sean Williams - 2008 "This lute is th ...
(Vietnam) * Đàn tam (Vietnam) * Đàn tính (Vietnam) * Đàn tranh (Vietnam) * Đàn tú (Vietnam) *
Đàn tỳ bà The ''đàn tỳ bà'' (, Chữ Nôm: ) is a Vietnamese traditional plucked string instrument derived form the Chinese pipa.Garland Encyclopedia of World Music South East Asia p262 "The tỳ bà, a pear-shaped lute, first appeared in Vietnam in t ...
(Vietnam) *
Diddley bow The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which influenced the development of the blues sound. It consists of a single string of baling wire tensioned between two nails on a board over a glass bottle, which is used both as a bridg ...
(United States) *
Dombra The ''dombra'', also known as ''dombyra'' ( kz, домбыра, uz, dombira, ba, думбыра) is a long-necked Kazakh, Uzbek and Bashkir lute and a musical string instrument. The dombyra shares certain characteristics with the komuz a ...
(Eastern Europe and Central Asia) *
Domra The ''domra'' (Cyrillic: до́мра, ) is a long-necked Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian folk string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three or four metal strings. History The first known mention of domra is in ''Admonit ...
(Russia) ** Piccolo Domra ** Prims DomraPrima: ** Soprano DomraSoprano: b e1 a1 ** Alto DomraAlto: e a d1 ** Tenor DomraTenor: B e a ** Bass DomraBass: E A d ** Contrabass Domra (major) ** Contrabass Domra (minor) *
Doshpuluur The doshpuluur ( Tuvan: дошпулуур, , ) is a long-necked Tuvan lute made from wood, usually pine or larch. The doshpuluur is played by plucking and strumming. There are two different versions of the doshpuluur. One version has a trapezo ...
(Tuva) *
Dotar The ''dutar'' (also '' dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Centr ...
*
Dotara The ''dotara'' (or ''dotar'') Persian ( bn, দোতারা, as, দোতাৰা, literally, 'Of or having two strings') is a two, four, or sometimes five- stringed musical instrument, originating from Iran and Central Asia. It is comm ...
(Bangladesh) *
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 ...
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Dramyin The dramyin or dranyen (; dz, dramnyen; ) is a traditional Himalayan folk music lute with six strings, used primarily as an accompaniment to singing in the Drukpa Buddhist culture and society in Bhutan, as well as in Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim and ...
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Dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...
* Duo'Lectar *
Dutar The ''dutar'' (also ''Dotara, dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and ...
(Persia) *
Duxianqin The ''duxianqin'' is a Chinese plucked string instrument with only one string; it is derived from the Vietnamese ''đàn bầu''. Chinese sources describe duxianqin as being an instrument of the Jing (also spelled Gin or Kinh) ethnic group, wh ...
(China) *
Ek Tare Ektara ( bn, একতারা, hi, एकतारा, ur, اِک تارا, ne, एकतारे, pa, ਇਕ ਤਾਰਾ, ta, எக்டரா; literally 'one-string', also called actara, iktar, ektar, yaktaro, gopichand, gopichant, ...
(Nepal) *
Ektara Ektara ( bn, একতারা, hi, एकतारा, ur, اِک تارا, ne, एकतारे, pa, ਇਕ ਤਾਰਾ, ta, எக்டரா; literally 'one-string', also called actara, iktar, ektar, yaktaro, gopichand, gopichant, ...
(India) *
Epinette des vosges The ''épinette des Vosges'' () is a traditional plucked-string instrument of the zither family, whose use was confined to two areas in the Vosges mountains of France approximately 50 km apart: around Val-d'Ajol and around Gérardmer. Or ...
* Gabusi *
Gayageum The ''gayageum'' or ''kayagum'' (in Korean 가야금, 伽倻琴 in Chinese characters) is a traditional Korean plucked zither with 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 18, 21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional K ...
(Korea) *
Geomungo The geomungo (also spelled ''komungo'' or ''kŏmun'go'') or ''hyeongeum'' (literally "black zither", also spelled ''hyongum'' or ''hyŏn'gŭm'') is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and frets. ''Geomungo'' is a representative ...
(Korea) * Geyerleier (Germany) *
Gittern The gittern was a relatively small gut-strung, round-backed instrument that first appears in literature and pictorial representation during the 13th century in Western Europe (Iberian Peninsula, Italy, France, England). It is usually depicted pl ...
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Gottuvadhyam The chitravina ( sa, चित्रवीणा) (also known as chitra veena, chitraveena, chitra vina, hanumad vina, or mahanataka vina) is a 20 or 21-string fretless lute-style veena in Carnatic music. Around the late 19th and early 20th ce ...
(India) *
Gravikord The Gravikord is a 24 string electric double bridge-harp invented by Robert Grawi in 1984, which is closely related to both the West African kora and the mbira. It was designed to employ a separated double tonal array structure making it possibl ...
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Gubguba The gubguba, also known as gabgubagub, guba, gopijantro, gubgubbi, ananda lahari, premtal, khamak, khomok, chonka, jamidika, jamuku and bapang is an Indian percussion string instrument. It consists of a dried gourd or wooden resonator through whi ...
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Guitalin A guitalin () is a Northern American folk instrument that is a part of the lute family, having four Course (music), courses of strings (music), strings. Its fourth course is tuned to an octave while the remaining courses are tuned in unisons. T ...
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Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(Spain) **
Acoustic bass guitar The acoustic bass guitar (sometimes shortened to acoustic bass or initialized ABG) is a bass instrument with a hollow wooden body similar to, though usually larger than a steel-string acoustic guitar. Like the traditional electric bass guitar a ...
** Alto guitar **
Armónico The armónico, also known as trilina, is a guitar-like instrument from Cuba. It is a hybrid between the Spanish guitar and the Cuban tres. The armónico has seven strings: five single strings, plus one pair of strings tuned in unison. The armóni ...
**
Banjitar Banjo guitar or banjitar or ganjo (Australia) is a six-string banjo tuned in the standard tuning of a six-string guitar (E2-A2-D3-G3-B3-E4) from lowest to highest strings. The six-string banjo was introduced in the late 19th century. Less widespre ...
**
Baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...
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Bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
**
Cigar box guitar The cigar box guitar is a simple chordophone that uses an empty cigar box as a resonator. The earliest had one or two strings; modern models typically have three or more. Generally, the strings are connected to the end of a broomstick or a 1×2 i ...
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Classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...
**
Eight-string guitar An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings, or one more than the Russian guitar's seven. Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string guitars, but they are used by a few classical, jazz, and metal guitarists. The e ...
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Electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...
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Flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...
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Guitalele A guitalele (sometimes spelled guitarlele or guilele), also called a ukitar, or kīkū,Harp guitar The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to ...
**
Nine-string guitar A nine-string guitar is a guitar with nine strings instead of the commonly used six strings. Such guitars are not as common as the six-string variety, but are used by guitarists to modify the sound or expand the range of their instrument. Variant ...
** Octave guitar **
Dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...
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Seven-string guitar The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range (usually a low B) or also to extend the treble range. The additional string is added in one of two different ways: by ...
**
Tailed bridge guitar The 3rd bridge is an extended playing technique used on the electric guitar and other string instruments that allows a musician to produce distinctive timbres and overtones that are unavailable on a conventional string instrument with two br ...
**
Tenor guitar The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson and C.F. Martin so that players of ...
**
Ten-string guitar There are many varieties of ten-string guitar, including: * Both electric and acoustic guitars. * Instruments used principally for classical, folk and popular music. * Both coursed and uncoursed instruments. Uncoursed ten-stringed guitars ...
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Twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
* Guitaro * Guitarrón argentino (Argentina) *
Guitarrón mexicano The guitarrón mexicano (the Spanish name of a "big Mexican guitar", the suffix ''-ón'' being a Spanish augmentative) or Mexican guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican six-string acoustic bass played traditionally in Mariachi group ...
(Mexico) *
Guitarrón chileno The Guitarrón Chileno (literally: "large Chilean guitar") is a guitar-shaped plucked string instrument from Chile, with 25 or 24 (rarely) strings. Its primary contemporary use is as the instrumental accompaniment for the traditional Chilean ge ...
(Chile) *
Guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...
(China) *
Gusli ''Gusli'' ( rus, гусли, p=ˈɡuslʲɪ) is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Ru ...
(Russia) *
Guzheng The zheng () or gu zheng (), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from ''Paulownia'' wood. Other co ...
(China) *
Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
**
Chromatic harp Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...
**
Electric harp The electric harp is an instrument based on its acoustic original. There are both solid-body and hollow body electro-acoustic models available. True electric harps have a solid body versus a hollow body electro-acoustic harp, which can be played ...
**
Folk harp Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...
**
Pedal Harp The pedal harp (also known as the concert harp) is a large and technologically modern harp, designed primarily for use in art music. It may be played solo, as part of a chamber ensemble, or in an orchestra. It typically has 47 strings with seve ...
(a.k.a.
concert harp The pedal harp (also known as the concert harp) is a large and technologically modern harp, designed primarily for use in art music. It may be played solo, as part of a chamber ensemble, or in an orchestra. It typically has 47 strings with seven ...
) **
Triple harp The triple harp is a type of multi-course harp employing three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row. One common version is the Welsh triple harp (Welsh: ''telyn deires''), used today mainly among players of traditional We ...
*
Harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
(Europe, keyboard instrument) *
Hu Hu The hu hu () is a string instrument originating in 19th century China. It is similar to the erhu and is typically made of wood, snakeskin, fabric, glue, bamboo, and horsehair Horsehair is the long hair growing on the manes and tails of ho ...
(China) *
Huapanguera The huapanguera, guitarra quinta huapanguera or guitarra huapanguera is a Mexican guitar-like instrument that usually forms part of a conjunto huasteco ensemble, along with the jarana huasteca and violin. Because of its large body and deeper str ...
* Huobosi * Ichigenkin *
Idiochord An idiochord ( la, idio – "self", chord – "string", also known as a drum zither) is a musical instrument in which the "string" of the instrument is made from the same material as its resonating body. Such instruments may be found in the Indian O ...
(Latin) * Inanga (Burundi) * Janzi (Uganda) *
Jarana huasteca The jarana huasteca, jarana de son huasteco or jaranita is a string instrument. It is most often called simply jarana. It is a guitar-like chordophone with 5 strings, tuned in thirds (low to high): G, B, D, F# and A. It has a range similar ...
*
Jarana jarocha The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted 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 double-courses in ...
** Jarana jarocha requinto * Jarana Leona *
Kabosy The kabosy is a box-shaped wooden guitar commonly played in music of Madagascar. It has four to six strings and is commonly thought to be a direct descendant of the Arabic oud. The kabosy has staggered frets, many of which do not even cross ...
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Kacapi The kacapi ( su, ᮊᮎᮕᮤ) is a traditional zither of Sundanese people in Indonesia. This musical instrument is similiar to Chinese , Japanese ''koto'', the Mongolian , the Korean , the Vietnamese and the Kazakh jetigen The jetigen ( kk ...
(Indonesia) *
Kanklės Kanklės () is a Lithuanians, Lithuanian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic region, Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery, along with the Latvian kokles, Estonian kannel (music), kannel, Finnish kant ...
(Lithuania) * Kannel (Estonia) *
Kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian ...
(Finland) * Kanun (Middle East, Persia, Greece) * karantouzemi (Greece) * Khonkhota * Koboz (Hungary) *
Kobza The kobza ( uk , кобза), also called bandurka ( uk , бандурка) is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family ( Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobz ...
(Ukraine) *
Kokles Kokle (; ltg, kūkle) or historically kokles (''kūkles'') is a Latvian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Lithuanian kanklės, Estonian kannel, Finnish ...
(Latvia) *
Konghou The () is a Chinese plucked string instrument. In ancient China, the term came to refer to three different musical instruments: a zither and two different types of harp. Today, usually refers the modern '' concert harp'', which was invente ...
(China) *
Kontigi A kontigi or kuntigi is a one- or three-stringed African lute. The one string version is used among the Songhai and Djerma. The 3-string version ''teharden'' is used among the Tamashek. The instrument is also used in Hausa music, primarily i ...
(Nigeria) *
Komuz The komuz or qomuz ( ky, комуз , az, Qopuz, tr, Kopuz) is an ancient fretless string instrument used in Central Asian music, related to certain other Turkic string instruments, the Mongolian tovshuur, and the lute. The instrument can be f ...
(Kyrgyzstan) * Kora (West Africa) *
Koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...
(Japan) *
Krar Krar (Amharic: ክራር) is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern ''Krar'' may be amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or violin. The ''Krar'', along wit ...
(Eritrea) *
Kse diev The kse diev ( km, ខ្សែដៀវ) or ( km, ខ្សែមួយ) is a Cambodian musical bow with a single copper or brass string and a gourd resonator. The resonator is held to the bow with a nylon cord and is open at the other end. The ...
(Cambodia) * kumuz (Kyrgyzstan) *
Kutiyapi The kutiyapi, or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree. Common to all ...
(Philippines) *
Kwitra The kwitra (also '' quwaytara'', ''kouitra'' and ''quitra''); Arabic الكوترة or عود أندلسي (literally Andalusian oud); is an Algerian stringed instrument, sometimes referred to as the Algerian lute. The instrument is tied to And ...
(Algeria) *
Langeleik The ''langeleik'', also called langleik, is a Norwegian stringed folklore musical instrument, a droned zither. Description The langeleik has only one melody string and up to 8 drone strings. Under the melody string there are seven frets per o ...
(Norway) *
Laouto The laouto ( el, λαούτο, pl. laouta ) is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece and Cyprus, and similar in appearance to the oud. It has four double-strings. It is played in most respects like the oud (plucked w ...
(Greece) *
Laúd Laúd ( es, "lute") is a plectrum-plucked chordophone from Spain, played also in diaspora countries such as Cuba and the Philippines. The laúd belongs to the cittern family of instruments. The Spanish and Cuban instruments have six double c ...
(Spain, Cuba) ** Laúd, Philippines *
Lavta The lavta is a plucked string music instrument from Istanbul. Description The Lavta has a small body made of many ribs made using carvel bending technique. Its appearance is somewhat like a small (Turkish) oud - the strings are made from gut l ...
*
Liuqin The ''liuqin'' (Chinese: , pinyin: ) is a three, four or five -stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than the ''pipa'', and it has its own special place in Chinese music, whether in ...
(China) *
Liuto cantabile The liuto cantabile, also termed a liuto moderno, is an uncommon ten-stringed mandocello. This bass variant of the mandolin family was developed by the Neapolitan luthiers of the Vinaccia family in the late 19th century and perfected by Raffaele ...
(Italy) * Luc huyen cam (Vietnam) *
Lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
(Europe) **
Harp lute The harp lute, or dital harp, is a musical instrument that combines features of harp and lute and to increase its compass of the latter. It was invented in 1795 by Edward Light., (though an earlier form is shown in the "'' Garden of Earthly Del ...
** Swedish lute **
Archlute The archlute ( es, archilaúd, it, arciliuto, german: Erzlaute) 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 p ...
**
Theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ou ...
*
Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was ...
(Crete) *
Lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...
(Greece) *
Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
(Italy) **
Electric mandolin The electric mandolin is an instrument tuned and played as the mandolin and amplified in similar fashion to an electric guitar. As with electric guitars, electric mandolins take many forms. Most common is a carved-top eight-string instrument fit ...
**
Mandola The mandola (US and Canada) or tenor mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted, stringed musical instrument. It is to the mandolin what the viola is to the violin: the four double courses of strings tuned in fifths to the same pitches as the viola ...
("tenor mandola", in the UK) **
Mandocello The mandocello ( it, mandoloncello, Liuto cantabile, liuto moderno) is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paire ...
**
Mandolin-banjo The mandolin-banjo is a hybrid instrument, combining a banjo body with the neck and tuning of a mandolin. It is a soprano banjo. It has been independently invented in more than one country, variously being called mandolin-banjo, banjo-mandolin, ...
**
Mandobass Mandobass is the largest (and least common) member of the mandolin family, sometimes used as the bass instrument in mandolin orchestras. It is so large that it usually is not held in the lap, but supported on a spike that rests on the floor. The ...
**
Octave mandolin The octave mandolin (US and Canada) or octave mandola (Ireland and UK) is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in fifths, G−D−A−E (low to high), an octave below a mandolin. It is larger than the mandola, but smaller ...
("Irish bouzouki") ** Piccolo mandolin ** Tremolo bass **
Mandore Mandore is a suburb Historical town located 9 km north of Jodhpur city, in the Indian state of Rajasthan. History Mandore is an ancient town, and was the seat of the Pratiharas of Mandavyapura, who ruled the region in the 6th century CE ...
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Mandolute The Weymann Mandolute was one of the products sold under Weymann, the Philadelphia-based brand of Weymann and Sons, established 1864. The 'mandolutes' were actually mandolins with eight strings and tuned exactly the same. The scale length is als ...
**
Mandriola A tricordia (also trichordia or tricordio) or mandriola is a twelve-stringed variation of the mandolin. The tricordia is used in Mexican folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary ge ...
** Mandotar *
Mejorana The mejoranera or mejorana is a folkloric chordophone from Panama. It is carved from one block of wood (usually cedar) or from dry fibers of Bejuco, and is shaped like a small guitar. It has five nylon, horse hair, or gut strings. The mejoraner ...
(Panama) *
Monochord A monochord, also known as sonometer (see below), is an ancient musical and scientific laboratory instrument, involving one (mono-) string ( chord). The term ''monochord'' is sometimes used as the class-name for any musical stringed instrument h ...
* Nevoud (Turkey) *
Ngombi The ngombi is a traditional musical instrument from Central Africa. History It is a arched harp. Countries * Central African Republic * Equatorial Guinea * Republic of Congo * Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabones ...
* Nigenkin (Japan) *
Nyatiti The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked bowl yoke lute from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, specifically in the Siaya region south of Kisumu. It is about two to three feet long with a bowl- ...
(Kenya) *
Octavina The octavina or Philippine octavina is a guitar-shaped Filipino instrument with a tuning similar to the laúd. Originally a Spanish instrument, the octavina was soon incorporated into other cultures, notably including Filipino culture. History W ...
(Philippines) *
Octofone The octophone (or octofone) is a stringed musical instrument related to the mandola family resembling an octave mandolin. It was marketed by Regal Musical Instrument Company, who introduced it 21 January 1928, as an "eight-purpose instrument". ...
(United States) *
Oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
(Middle East, Greece) * oungum *
Pandura The pandura ( grc, πανδοῦρα, ''pandoura'') or pandore, an ancient string instrument, belonged in the broad class of the lute and guitar instruments. Akkadians played similar instruments from the 3rd millennium BC. Ancient Greek artwork d ...
*
panduri The panduri ( ka, ფანდური) is a traditional Georgian three-string plucked instrument common in all regions of Eastern Georgia: such as Pshav-Khevsureti, Tusheti, Kakheti and Kartli. The panduri is generally used to accompany solo ...
*
Pararayki The ''pararayki'' is a long-necked lute played by the Ainu people of the Kuril Islands. It generally has three strings, and is based upon the Russian balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed mu ...
*
Pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
(United States) * Penorcon *
Phandar The Phandar ( ce, Пхıандар; ;) is a traditional Vainakhish three-string plucked instrument from Chechnya and Ingushetia in the Northern Caucasus. The sound produced by the Phandar is similar to the Panduri, but it is easy to hear the di ...
*
Pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...
(China) *
Portuguese guitar The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra ( pt, guitarra portuguesa, ) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six course (music), courses of two strings. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses wat ...
(Portugal) *
Psaltery A psaltery ( el, ψαλτήρι) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer; the harp, virginal, harpsichord and clavichord were also inspired by ...
* Qanun (Middle East, Persia, Greece) * Qiftelia (Kosovo) *
Qinqin The qinqin (wiktionary:秦, 秦wiktionary:琴, 琴; pinyin: qínqín; Vietnamese: Đàn sến) is a plucked China, Chinese lute. It was originally manufactured with a wooden body, a slender fretted neck, and three strings. photo 2Its body can ...
(China) *
Rawap The rawap (Uyghur: راۋاپ, равап Uzbek: rubob) is a fretted plucked long-necked stringed instrument used in folk music by residents of the Uyghur autonomous region of Xinjiang, Western China. The history of the instrument dates back ...
*
Requinto The term requinto is used in both Spanish and Portuguese to mean a smaller, higher-pitched version of another instrument. Thus, there are ''requinto'' guitars, drums, and several wind instruments. Wind instruments ''Requinto'' was 19th-century Sp ...
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Ronroco The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during co ...
(Bolivia) *
Russian guitar The Russian guitar (sometimes referred to as a "Gypsy guitar") is an acoustic seven-string guitar that was developed in Russia toward the end of the 18th century: it shares most of its organological features with the Spanish guitar, although som ...
* Rubab **
Pamiri rubab The Pamiri rubab (Russian and Tajiki: рубоб) is a fretless six-strung lute, carved from a single piece of wood with a skin head. It is played in the Badakhshan region of Tajikistan, as part of the Pamiri musical tradition. The Pamiri ruba ...
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Rudra veena The ''Rudra veena'' ( sa, रुद्र वीणा) (also spelled ''Rudraveena'' or ''Rudra vina'')—also called ''Bīn'' in North India—is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani Music, especially dhrupad. It is one of the m ...
(India) *
Ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings *Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa *John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Places *Ruan, County Clare, Ireland *Ruan, Loiret, France *Mont Ruan, Switzerland *Ruan Major and Ru ...
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Sallaneh The sallaneh ( fa, سلانه) is a newly developed plucked string instrument made under the supervision of the Iranian musician Hossein Alizadeh Hossein Alizadeh ( fa, حسین علیزاده) is an Iranian musician, composer, radif-preserver, ...
(Iran) *
Salterio (Mexico) The salterio mexicano is a 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. Musician ...
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Sambuca Sambuca () is an Italian anise-flavoured, usually colourless, liqueur. Its most common variety is often referred to as ''white sambuca'' to differentiate it from other varieties that are deep blue (''black sambuca'') or bright red (''red sambuc ...
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Sanshin The is an Okinawan and Amami Islands musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese (). Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. Origins Its close resemblance in both appearance a ...
(Okinawa, Japan) *
Sanxian The (, literally "three strings") is a three-stringed traditional Chinese lute. It has a long fretless fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snake skin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes ...
(China) *
Sapeh The sape' (sampek, sambe', sapek) is a traditional lute of the Kenyah and Kayan community who live in the longhouses that line the rivers of East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan, Indonesia and Northern part of Sarawak, Malaysia. Sape' are carv ...
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Saraswati veena The Sarasvatī vīṇa (also spelled Saraswati vina) (Devanagari: सरस्वती वीणा (vīṇā), te, సరస్వతి వీణ, kan, ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ವೀಣೆ, ta, சரஸ்வதி வீணை, Malayalam ...
(India]) *
Šargija thumb The ''šargija'' ( sh, šargija, шаргија; sq, sharki or sharkia), anglicized as ''shargia'', is a plucked, fretted long necked lute used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croati ...
(Albania) *
Sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...
(India) *
Sasando The sasando, also called ''sasandu'' from Sandu or Sanu, is a tube zither, a harp-like traditional music string instrument native to Rote Island of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The name ''sasando'' is derived from the Rote dialect word ”sasa ...
(Indonesia) *
Saung The ''saung'' ( Burmese: စောင်း, MLCTS caung: ; also known as the ''saung-gauk'' ( စောင်းကောက်), Burmese harp, Burma harp, or Myanmar harp), is an arched harp used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is re ...
(Burma) * Saz (Turkey) *
Seni rebab The Seni rebab ( Hindustani: सेनी रबाब (Devanagari), (Nastaleeq), Punjabi: ਸੇਨੀ ਰੱਬਾਬ), also known as the Seniya rabab ( Hindustani: सेनिया रबाब (Devanagari), (Nastaleeq)) is a plucked str ...
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Setar A setar ( fa, سه‌تار, ) is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octa ...
(Iran) *
Shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...
(Japan) *
shashtar The Shashtar, Sheshtar or Shashtay (probably from Persian ''Şeş-tar'' ششتار, meaning six-string) is a stringed musical instrument of the lute family. It was mentioned historically by Evliya Çelebi and Abd al-Qadir Maraghi. It is or was pla ...
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Sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
(India) **
Surbahar ''Surbahar'' (; ) sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is closely related to the sitar, but has a lower pitch. Depending on the instrument's size, it ...
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Socavon The socavon is a stringed instrument from Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the n ...
(Panama) * Stoessel lute * Strumstick (United States) *
Swarabat The Swarabat, Swarbat or Swaragat is a rare plucked string instrument of the classical Carnatic music genre of South India. It belongs to the chordophone, lute family of musical instruments, and is closely related to the ''veena'' and ''yazh'' i ...
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Tamboori The tamboori (also called a tambra) is a long-necked bowed string instrument found in Indian music. The tamboori is very similar to the tanpura, despite being smaller and played with a bow. A tamboori is played as a melodic instrument, unlike the ...
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Tambouras The tambouras ( el, ταμπουράς ) is a Greek traditional string instrument of Byzantine origin. It has existed since at least the 10th century, when it was known in Assyria and Egypt. At that time, it might have between two and six strings ...
* Tambura (Bulgaria) *
Tamburica Tamburica ( or ) or tamboura ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", tamburica, тамбурица, little tamboura; hu, tambura; el, Ταμπουράς, Tampourás; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza), refers to a family of long-necked lute ...
*
Tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...
(Turkey) *
Tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...
(India) *
Tarhu The tarhu (also spelled tarhou) is a type of string instrument invented by Australian musician and craftsman Peter Biffin during the 1980s. The tarhu has a long slender neck made of Blackwood, a small round body also made of Blackwood, and four str ...
* Tarica (Europe) *
Tar (lute) The tar (from fa, تار, lit=string) is a long-necked, waisted lute family instrument, used by many cultures and countries including Iran, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan (Iranian Plateau), Turkey, and others near the Ca ...
* tati *
Tea chest bass The washtub bass, or gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses hav ...
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Tembor The Tembor (; ) is a long-necked lute used in the music of Xinjiang, a diverse region of western China. Specifically, it is used by the Uyghur people, Uyghur ethnic group. It has five strings in three courses and is tuned A A, D, G G. The string ...
* Tidinet *
Timple The timple is a traditional five-string plucked string instrument of the Canary Islands. It started being manufactured in the 19th century. In La Palma island and in the north of the island of Tenerife, many timple players omit the fifth (D) ...
(Canary Islands) *
Tiple A tiple (, literally treble or soprano), is a plucked typically 12-string chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a ''tiplista''. The first mention of the tiple comes from musicologist Pablo Minguet e Irol in 1752. Although ma ...
(North and South America) ** American tiple ** Tiple Colombiano ** Tiple Colombiano requinto ** Puerto Rican tiple *
Torban The torban ( ua, Торбан, also ''teorban'' or ''Ukrainian theorbo'') is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute kno ...
(Ukraine) *
Tovshuur The ''tovshuur'', also known as ''topshur'', ''topshuur'' or ''tovshuur'' (Mongolian Cyrillic: ; mn, , tobshiğur) is a two or three-stringed lute played by the Western Mongolian ( Oirats) tribes called the Altai Urianghais, the Altais, Tuva ...
(Mongolia) *
Tremoloa The tremoloa , plural tremoloas, is a stringed instrument belonging to the fretless zither family. It was produced in United States in response to the rapid increase in popularity of Hawaiian music during the 1920s, and continued to be produced u ...
** Hawaiian tremoloa *
Tres Tres may refer to: * Tres (instrument), a Cuban musical instrument * Tres, Trentino, municipality in Italy * "Tres" (song) by Juanes * "Tres", a song by Líbido from their album ''Hembra'' * TrES, the ''Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey'' * Templi R ...
(Cuba) ** Cuban tres (Cuba) ** Puerto Rican Tres (Puerto Rico) *
Tricordia A tricordia (also trichordia or tricordio) or mandriola is a twelve-stringed variation of the mandolin. The tricordia is used in Mexican folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary g ...
(Mexico) *
Tritantri vina Tritantri or Tritantrika vina/veena can refer to two different instruments: A medieval stick zither with 3 strings. As a term for small practice sitar malaproped in the 19th century by Raja Sir Surindo Mohun Tagore from Calcutta (1840-1914) The ...
*
Tungna The Tungna ( Nepali: टुङ्ना) is a plucked string instrument from the Northern Himalayan region: Nepal, Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan. It is made from a single piece of carved wood. The front hollow body (which serves as the sound-box) is ...
*
Tzouras The ''tzouras'' ( el, τζουράς), is a Greek stringed musical instrument related to the bouzouki. Its name comes from the Turkish cura. It is made in six-string and eight-string varieties. The six-string model has the same arrangement of st ...
(Greece) *
Ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
(Hawaii) **
Banjolele The banjo ukulele, also known as the banjolele or banjo uke, is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. The earliest known banjoleles were built by John A. Bolander and by Alvin D. Keech, both ...
**
Baritone ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrume ...
** Bass ukulele ** Concert ukulele ** Taropatch (a.k.a. lili'u) **
Tahitian ukulele The Tahitian ukulele (ukarere or Tahitian banjo) is a short-necked fretted lute with eight nylon strings in four doubled courses, native to Tahiti and played in other regions of Polynesia. This variant of the older Hawaiian ukulele is noted by ...
(Tahiti) ** Tenor ukulele *
Valiha The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the " national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of related zithers of differing shapes and materials. Th ...
(Madagascar) *
Veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.< ...
(India) **
Mohan veena Mohan veena refers to either of two distinct plucked string instruments used in Indian classical music, especially Hindustani classical music which is associated with the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The first of these was a mix of ...
** Ranjan veena ** Sagar veena *** Triveni veena *
Vichitra veena The ''vichitra veena'' ( sa, विचित्र वीणा) is a stick zither, a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. Similar to the Carnatic ''gottuvadhyam'' (chitra vina) it has no frets and is played with a slide. The s ...
(India) *
Vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
(Mexico) *
Vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
(Spain) *
Viola amarantina The viola amarantina is a stringed musical instrument from Amarante, Northern Portugal. It is also named viola de dois corações (two-hearted guitar) because of the two heart-shaped frontal openings. It has 10 strings in 5 courses. The strings ...
(Portugal) *
Viola beiroa The Viola Beiroa is a stringed musical 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. Musi ...
(Portugal) *
Viola braguesa Viola braguesa is a stringed instrument from Braga, north-western Portugal. It has 10 strings in 5 courses. The strings are made of steel. It is tuned C4/C3–G4/G3–A4/A3–D4/D4–G4/G4. The scale length is about . Requinta Many , such as the ...
(Portugal) *
Viola caipira The ''viola caipira'', often simply ''viola'', (Portuguese for ''country guitar'') is a Brazilian ten-string guitar with five courses of strings arranged in pairs. It was introduced in the state of São Paulo, where it is widely played as the b ...
(Brazil) *
Viola campanica ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
(Portugal]) *
Viola da terra Viola da terra is a stringed musical instrument from the islands of the Azores, closely associated with the '' saudade'' genre of Portuguese music. Its 12 or 15 metal strings are arranged in either five or six courses. Construction The viola ...
(the Azores) *
Viola de arame The Viola de arame is a String instrument, stringed musical instrument from the Portuguese island of Madeira. It has 9 strings in 5 courses. The strings are made of steel. Tuning It is tuned G3 G2, D3 D2, G3 G3, B3, D3 D3. The two lowest cour ...
(Portugal) *
Viola de cocho The viola de cocho is a singular plucked string instrument from Brazil. It is typical in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul and has been designated a part of Brazil's intangible national heritage by IPHAN, the Brazilian instituti ...
(Brazil) * Viola da Terceira (Azores) *
Viola toeira The Viola Toeira is a stringed musical instrument from Portugal. It has 12 strings in five courses. The strings are made of steel. It is tuned A3 A3 A2, D3 D3 D2, G3 G2, B3 B3, E3 E3. The name of the instrument comes from the strings used on the ...
(Portugal) *
Walaycho The walaycho (hispanicized spelling ''hualaycho'', also ''walaychu'') is a small lute-like fretted stringed instrument, the smallest member of the charango family. It is the same or similar to the ''maulincho''. The ''walaychu'' along with the ch ...
(the Andes) *
Waldzither The waldzither (german: "forest zither") is a plucked string instrument from Germany that came up around 1900 in Thuringia. It is a type of cittern that has nine steel strings in five courses. Different types of waldzither come in different tuni ...
(Germany) *
Yaybahar The Yaybahar is an acoustic musical instrument invented by the Turkish musician Gorkem Sen (Turkish: ''Görkem Şen''), who describes it as a "real-time acoustic string synthesizer." Etymology The name ''yaybahar (pronounced /jajba'har/)'' ha ...
*
Yueqin The ''yueqin'' (; ja, 月琴, Gekkin; ko, 월금/月琴, Wolgeum; vi, Nguyệt cầm), also called a moon lute or moon guitar, is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, a ...
(China) *
Zheng Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...
(China) *
Zhongruan The ''zhongruan'' (), is a Chinese plucked string instrument. The ''zhongruan'' has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard and 4 strings. It is usually played with a plectrum (guitar pick). It can also be played with fingers (index f ...
(China) * Zhu (China) *
Zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
** Alpine zither (Central Europe) ** Concert zither (United States) **
Guitar zither The guitar zither (also chord zither, fretless zither, mandolin zither or harp zither) is a musical instrument consisting of a sound-box with two sets of unstopped strings. One set of strings is tuned to the diatonic, chromatic, or partially chr ...


Struck or tapped

*
Berimbau The berimbau () is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, originally from Africa, that is now commonly used in Brazil. The berimbau would eventually be incorporated into the practice of the Afro-Brazilian martial art ''capoeira'' ...
(Brazil) *
Cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...
(Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania) *
Chapman stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...
(United States) **
Chapman Stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...
** Grand Stick ** Bass Stick *
Chitarra battente The chitarra battente (in Italian "strumming guitar", however "battente" literally means "beating" related to the fact that this guitar thumps the rhythm of the music) is a musical instrument, a chordophone of the guitar family. It is similar to ...
, a.k.a. "knocking guitar" (Italy) *
Clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
(keyboard instrument) *
Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
(electric keyboard instrument) * Đàn tam thập lục (Vietnam) * Fiddlesticks *
Hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...
*
Harpejji The harpejji ( ) is an electric stringed musical instrument developed in 2007 by American audio engineer Tim Meeks. It can be described as a cross between a piano and a guitar, or as a cross between an accordion and a pedal steel guitar. The play ...
*
Jhallari The jhallari, jallary, getchu vadyam or gethuvadyam, is a string percussion instrument from South India. It consists of a large resonator (kudam) carved and hollowed out of a log (usually of jackwood), a tapering neck of 1 to 2 feet long, a strin ...
*
Khim The ''khim'' ( th, ขิม ; lo, ຂິມ ;  km, ឃឹម ) is a stringed musical instrument derived from the Mesopotamian or Persian Santur. It is similar to the Hammered Dulcimer or Cimbalom. This ''khim'' was introduced to Thailand fro ...
(Thailand and Cambodia) *
Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
(Keyboard instrument) * Santur/Santoor (
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, India, Pakistan, Greece) *
Tsymbaly The tsymbaly ( uk, цимбали) is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal (steel or bronze) strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against ...
(Ukraine) * Utogardon (Hungary) *
Warr guitar The Warr Guitar is an American-made touch guitar, a type of instrument that combines both bass and melodic strings on a single fretboard. It is related to the Chapman Stick, another two-handed tapping instrument. The Warr guitar is designed for ...
*
Yanggeum The yanggeum is a traditional Korean string instrument. It is a hammered dulcimer. Unlike other traditional Korean instruments (most of which have silk strings), the ''yanggeum'' has metal strings. It is played by striking the strings with a b ...
(Korea) *
Yangqin The trapezoidal yangqin () is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋 琴 (lit. "foreign zither"), but over time the first character changed t ...
(China)


Other methods

*
Aeolian harp An Aeolian harp (also wind harp) is a musical instrument that is played by the wind. Named for Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of the wind, the traditional Aeolian harp is essentially a wooden box including a sounding board, with strings stretched ...
(air movement) * Long String Instrument, (by
Ellen Fullman Ellen Fullman (born 1957) is an American composer, instrument builder, and performer. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is known for her 70-foot (21-meter) Long String instrument, tu ...
, strings are rubbed in, and vibrate in the
longitudinal Longitudinal is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Longitude ** Line of longitude, also called a meridian * Longitudinal engine, an internal combustion engine in which the crankshaft is oriented along the long axis of the vehicle, ...
mode) * Magnetic resonance piano, (strings activated by electromagnetic fields)


Stringed instruments with keyboards


Struck

*
Clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
**
Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
*
Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
**
Fortepiano A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...
**
Pedal Piano The pedal piano (or piano-pédalier or pédalier,) is a kind of piano that includes a pedalboard, enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet, as is standard on the organ. There are two broad types of pedal pianos: either the pedal ...
**
Harmonichord A harmonichord is a kind of upright piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pian ...
**
Tangent piano The tangent piano is a very rare keyboard instrument that resembles a harpsichord and early pianos in design. It normally features five octaves of keys and the strings are acted upon by narrow wooden or metal slips when the keys are depressed. ...
** Orphica


Plucked

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Clavicymbalum The clavicymbalum (or clavisymbalum, clavisimbalum, etc.) is an early keyboard instrument and ancestor of the harpsichord. The instrument is described as a psaltery to which keys, but no dampers, have been attached, allowing the keys rather than t ...
*
Harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
**
Archicembalo The archicembalo (or arcicembalo, ) was a musical instrument described by Nicola Vicentino in 1555. This was a harpsichord built with many extra keys and strings, enabling experimentation in microtonality and just intonation. Construction The ...
**
Lautenwerck The lautenwerck (also spelled lautenwerk), alternatively called lute-harpsichord (lute-clavier) or keyboard lute, is a European keyboard instrument of the Baroque period. It is similar to a harpsichord, but with gut (sometimes Nylon) rather than ...
**
Spinet A spinet is a smaller type of harpsichord or other keyboard instrument, such as a piano or organ. Harpsichords When the term ''spinet'' is used to designate a harpsichord, typically what is meant is the ''bentside spinet'', described in this ...
**
Virginal The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. Description A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...
* Xenorphica


Bowed

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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 cha ...
*
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 vio ...
*
Viola organista The viola organista is a musical instrument designed by Leonardo da Vinci. It uses a friction belt to vibrate individual strings (similar to how a violin produces sounds), with the strings selected by pressing keys on a keyboard (similar to an or ...
**
Wheelharp The wheelharp is a musical instrument with bowed strings controlled by a keyboard and foot-controlled motor, similar to Leonardo da Vinci's viola organista, a keyboard-operated string instrument for continuously sounding strings by rubbing the strin ...


Other/hybrid

* Magnetic resonance piano


Stringed instruments by country

*
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
(Rubab) *
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
(regional): ** Hhajhuj (Sentir) (North Africa) ** Kibangala (Gabusi) (East Africa) ** Kora (West Africa) **
Kwitra The kwitra (also '' quwaytara'', ''kouitra'' and ''quitra''); Arabic الكوترة or عود أندلسي (literally Andalusian oud); is an Algerian stringed instrument, sometimes referred to as the Algerian lute. The instrument is tied to And ...
(Kouitra) ** Loutar (Central North Africa) ** Nngoni (West and Central Africa) ** Oud arbi (Northern Africa) **
Ramkie The Ramkie (also called an ''Afri-can'') is a type of guitar usually made in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Malawi. It is made using a discarded oil can (or similar) for the soundbox. It has three or four strings (rarely six like a ...
(Southern Africa) * Albania: ** Qiftelia **
Šargija thumb The ''šargija'' ( sh, šargija, шаргија; sq, sharki or sharkia), anglicized as ''shargia'', is a plucked, fretted long necked lute used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croati ...
** Sharki (Sharkia) * Algeria: **
Kwitra The kwitra (also '' quwaytara'', ''kouitra'' and ''quitra''); Arabic الكوترة or عود أندلسي (literally Andalusian oud); is an Algerian stringed instrument, sometimes referred to as the Algerian lute. The instrument is tied to And ...
**
Mondol The Algerian mandole (mandol, mondol) is a steel-string fretted instrument resembling an elongated mandolin, widely used in Algerian music such as Chaabi, Kabyle music and Nuubaat (Andalusian classical music). The name can cause confusion, as ...
(Mandole) * Argentina: ** Guitarrón Argentino *
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
(regional): **
Dombra The ''dombra'', also known as ''dombyra'' ( kz, домбыра, uz, dombira, ba, думбыра) is a long-necked Kazakh, Uzbek and Bashkir lute and a musical string instrument. The dombyra shares certain characteristics with the komuz a ...
(Central Asia) * Austria: ** Schrammel gitarre (Contraguitar) ** Xenorphica (Harp Piano) **
Zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
(Alpine Zither) *
Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
: ** Viola da terceira **
Viola da terra Viola da terra is a stringed musical instrument from the islands of the Azores, closely associated with the '' saudade'' genre of Portuguese music. Its 12 or 15 metal strings are arranged in either five or six courses. Construction The viola ...
* Bangladesh: **
Dotara The ''dotara'' (or ''dotar'') Persian ( bn, দোতারা, as, দোতাৰা, literally, 'Of or having two strings') is a two, four, or sometimes five- stringed musical instrument, originating from Iran and Central Asia. It is comm ...
** Gopichand *
Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...
: ** Hommel ** Vlier ** Épinette ** Hakkebord * Bolivia: **
Charango The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...
** Chillador *
Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
: ** Kecapi dayak ** Sundatang * Bosnia: ** Bugarija **
Šargija thumb The ''šargija'' ( sh, šargija, шаргија; sq, sharki or sharkia), anglicized as ''shargia'', is a plucked, fretted long necked lute used in the folk music of various Balkan countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croati ...
** Saz (Bosnian saz) * Brazil: **
Berimbau The berimbau () is a single-string percussion instrument, a musical bow, originally from Africa, that is now commonly used in Brazil. The berimbau would eventually be incorporated into the practice of the Afro-Brazilian martial art ''capoeira'' ...
**
Cavaquinho The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the lute family of instr ...
**
Craviola Paulinho Nogueira (Campinas, 8 October 1929 – São Paulo, 2 August 2003) was a Brazilian guitarist, composer and singer. Biography He was an eclectic composer, his influences ranging from bossa nova to Bach. Paulinho Nogueira designed the cr ...
**
Bahian guitar The Bahian guitar in pt, guitarra baiana, pau elétrico (meaning electric pole or electric log (electric stick).) is a Brazilian solid-body electric mandolin with either 4 or 5 strings, normally tuned GDAE and CGDAE, respectively, and has the s ...
**
Viola caipira The ''viola caipira'', often simply ''viola'', (Portuguese for ''country guitar'') is a Brazilian ten-string guitar with five courses of strings arranged in pairs. It was introduced in the state of São Paulo, where it is widely played as the b ...
**
Viola de cocho The viola de cocho is a singular plucked string instrument from Brazil. It is typical in the states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul and has been designated a part of Brazil's intangible national heritage by IPHAN, the Brazilian instituti ...
** Violão de sete cordas * Bulgaria: **
Gadulka The gadulka ( bg, гъдулка) is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. Alternate spellings are "gǎdulka", "gudulka" and "g'dulka". Its name comes from a root meaning "to make noise, hum or buzz". The gadulka is an integral part o ...
** Tambura (Tamboura) * Burma: **
Saung The ''saung'' ( Burmese: စောင်း, MLCTS caung: ; also known as the ''saung-gauk'' ( စောင်းကောက်), Burmese harp, Burma harp, or Myanmar harp), is an arched harp used in traditional Burmese music. The saung is re ...
**
Migyaung The ''mi gyaung'' ( my, မိကျောင်း ) or ''kyam'' ( mnw, ကျာံ, ; pronounced "chyam") is a crocodile-shaped fretted, plucked zither with three strings that is used as a traditional instrument in Burma. It is associated ...
* Burundi: ** Inanga (Burundian zither) * Cambodia: **
Chapey The Chapei Dang Veng ( Khmer: ចាប៉ីដងវែង) or chapey (ចាប៉ី) is a Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the sou ...
**
Khim The ''khim'' ( th, ขิม ; lo, ຂິມ ;  km, ឃឹម ) is a stringed musical instrument derived from the Mesopotamian or Persian Santur. It is similar to the Hammered Dulcimer or Cimbalom. This ''khim'' was introduced to Thailand fro ...
** Tro * Canada: ** Mandolinetto *
Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
: **
Timple The timple is a traditional five-string plucked string instrument of the Canary Islands. It started being manufactured in the 19th century. In La Palma island and in the north of the island of Tenerife, many timple players omit the fifth (D) ...
*
Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...
: ** Viola de dez cordas * Chile: **
Guitarrón Chileno The Guitarrón Chileno (literally: "large Chilean guitar") is a guitar-shaped plucked string instrument from Chile, with 25 or 24 (rarely) strings. Its primary contemporary use is as the instrumental accompaniment for the traditional Chilean ge ...
* China: **
Banhu The ''banhu'' (板胡, pinyin: bǎnhú) is a Chinese traditional bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is used primarily in northern China. ''Ban'' means a piece of wood and ''hu'' is short for ''huqin''. Like the more ...
**
Cizhonghu The dahu ( 大 胡, pinyin: ''dàhú'') is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with python skin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vert ...
**
Diyingehu The bass ''gehu'' (低音革胡; pinyin: ''dīyīngéhú'', ; also called ''digehu'' or ''beigehu'' 倍革胡, literally "bass ''gehu''") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family. It was developed by Yang Yusen along with ...
** Dong pipa **
Erhu The ''erhu'' (; ) is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument, more specifically a spike fiddle, which may also be called a ''Southern Fiddle'', and is sometimes known in the Western world as the ''Chinese violin'' or a ''Chinese two-s ...
**
Erxian The ''erxian'' ( 二弦; pinyin: èrxián; literally "two string") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. It has two strings and is used primarily in Cantonese music, most often in "hard string" chamber e ...
**
Gaohu The ''gaohu'' ( 高胡; pinyin: ''gāohú'', ; Cantonese: gou1 wu4; also called ''yuehu'' 粤 胡) is a Chinese bowed string instrument developed from the ''erhu'' in the 1920s by the musician and composer Lü Wencheng (1898–1981) and use ...
**
Gehu The ''gehu'' (革胡; pinyin: géhú) is a Chinese instrument developed in the 20th century by the Chinese musician Yang Yusen ( 杨 雨 森, 1926–1980). It is a fusion of the Chinese huqin family and the cello. Its four strings are also tu ...
**
Guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...
(Ku chin) **
Guzheng The zheng () or gu zheng (), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from ''Paulownia'' wood. Other co ...
**
Huluhu The ''huluhu'' (traditional: 葫蘆胡; simplified: 葫芦胡; pinyin: húlúhú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. It has two strings, and its sound box is made from a gourd, with a face made of thin ...
**
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 up ...
(family of bowed lutes) **
Huobusi The Huobosi (simplified: 火不思; pinyin: Huǒbùsī; ) is a stringed musical instrument from China. The name is a transliteration into Chinese of a Turkmenian name for the instrument. It has four strings in four courses and is tuned E, A, ...
** Jinghu **
Laruan The ''lāruǎn'' ( 拉 阮; also spelled ''la ruan'') is a relatively new Chinese string instrument blending the acoustics of the ''ruan'' with that of the Western cello. Its larger counterpart is the ''dalaruan'' (大拉阮), which corresponds to ...
**
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 ...
**
Liuqin The ''liuqin'' (Chinese: , pinyin: ) is a three, four or five -stringed Chinese mandolin with a pear-shaped body. The range of its voice is much higher than the ''pipa'', and it has its own special place in Chinese music, whether in ...
** Maguhu ** Nanyin pipa **
Pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets rang ...
** Qiqin **
Ruan Ruan may refer to: Buildings *Ruan Center, office building in Des Moines, Iowa *John Ruan House, historic mansion in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Places *Ruan, County Clare, Ireland *Ruan, Loiret, France *Mont Ruan, Switzerland *Ruan Major and Ru ...
**
Sanshin The is an Okinawan and Amami Islands musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese (). Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. Origins Its close resemblance in both appearance a ...
**
Sanxian The (, literally "three strings") is a three-stringed traditional Chinese lute. It has a long fretless fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snake skin stretched over a rounded rectangular resonator. It is made in several sizes ...
** Sihu ** Tianqin ** Yángqín (Chinese hammered dulcimer) **
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 dust ...
**
Yehu The ''yehu'' () is a bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of Chinese musical instruments. ''Ye'' means coconut and ''hu'' is short for ''huqin''. It is used particularly in the southern coastal provinces of China and in Taiwan. The i ...
**
Yueqin The ''yueqin'' (; ja, 月琴, Gekkin; ko, 월금/月琴, Wolgeum; vi, Nguyệt cầm), also called a moon lute or moon guitar, is a traditional Chinese string instrument. It is a lute with a round, hollow soundboard, a short fretted neck, a ...
(Yueh qin; moon guitar) **
Zheng Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...
**
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 (sim ...
**
Zhongruan The ''zhongruan'' (), is a Chinese plucked string instrument. The ''zhongruan'' has a straight neck with 24 frets on the fingerboard and 4 strings. It is usually played with a plectrum (guitar pick). It can also be played with fingers (index f ...
** Zhu **
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 ins ...
* Colombia: ** Bandola Andina Colombiana ** Tiple Colombiano ** Tiple Colombiano Requinto *
Comoros The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...
: ** Gabusi * Congo: ** Karindula ** Lindanda *
Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...
: ** Cetera *
Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...
: **
Lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was ...
* Croatia: ** Berda ** Bisernica ** Brac ** Bugarija ** Celo (Celovic) **
Gunjac The ''gunjac'' (plural: ''gunjci'') or ''bajs'' is a violoncello-like Croatian instrument but with only two strings. Gunjac instrumentalists are called ''bajsisti''. It is a double bass string instrument played with a bow. The gunjac is common ...
**
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 by s ...
** Tambura samica (Dangubica) **
Tamburitza Tamburica ( or ) or tamboura ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", tamburica, тамбурица, little tamboura; hu, tambura; el, Ταμπουράς, Tampourás; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza), refers to a family of long-necked lute ...
* Cuba: **
Armónico The armónico, also known as trilina, is a guitar-like instrument from Cuba. It is a hybrid between the Spanish guitar and the Cuban tres. The armónico has seven strings: five single strings, plus one pair of strings tuned in unison. The armóni ...
** Cuban cuatro ** Laúd cubano **
Tres cubano The tres (Spanish for ''three'') is a three-course chordophone of Cuban origin. The most widespread variety of the instrument is the original Cuban tres with six strings. Its sound has become a defining characteristic of the Cuban son and it is ...
* Ecuador **
Bandolin The bandolin is a 15-stringed musical instrument in Ecuador. It is used as a rhythm and melody instrument in the Andean region of Ecuador during festivals where dancing and music are involved. It has a flat back and 15 strings in triple course (m ...
*
Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
: **
Krar Krar (Amharic: ክራር) is a five-or-six stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is tuned to a pentatonic scale. A modern ''Krar'' may be amplified, much in the same way as an electric guitar or violin. The ''Krar'', along wit ...
* Estonia: ** Kannel * Ethiopia: **
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" ...
**
Begena The ''begena'', also known as ''bagana'' ( am, በገና) is a ten-stringed box-lyre instrument from the Amhara people of Ethiopia, and is the sole melodic instrument devoted only to the ''zema'', the spiritual part of Amhara music. Etymology an ...
*
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
(regional): **
Clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was mostly used as a practice instrument and as an aid to compositi ...
(Central Europe) **
Dombra The ''dombra'', also known as ''dombyra'' ( kz, домбыра, uz, dombira, ba, думбыра) is a long-necked Kazakh, Uzbek and Bashkir lute and a musical string instrument. The dombyra shares certain characteristics with the komuz a ...
(Eastern Europe) **
Guitar Zither The guitar zither (also chord zither, fretless zither, mandolin zither or harp zither) is a musical instrument consisting of a sound-box with two sets of unstopped strings. One set of strings is tuned to the diatonic, chromatic, or partially chr ...
(Central Europe) **
Harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
(Central Europe) **
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 vio ...
(Western Europe) **
Lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
**
Piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
(Central & Southern Europe) **
Tamburitza Tamburica ( or ) or tamboura ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", tamburica, тамбурица, little tamboura; hu, tambura; el, Ταμπουράς, Tampourás; sometimes written tamburrizza or tamburitza), refers to a family of long-necked lute ...
(Central Europe) ** Tarica * Finland: **
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 ...
** Kannel **
Kantele A kantele () or kannel () is a traditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the south east Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Estonian kannel, Latvian kokles, Lithuanian ...
* France: **
Epinette des Vosges The ''épinette des Vosges'' () is a traditional plucked-string instrument of the zither family, whose use was confined to two areas in the Vosges mountains of France approximately 50 km apart: around Val-d'Ajol and around Gérardmer. Or ...
**
Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
(Concert harp; Pedal harp) **
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 vio ...
* Gambia: **
Akonting The ''akonting'' (, or ''ekonting'' in French transliteration) is the folk lute of the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. It is a banjo-like instrument with a skin-headed gourd body, two long melody strings ...
* Germany: **
Akkordolia The akkordolia is a zither from Germany and Austria, consisting of a long box, with the strings being pressed against the fretboard by pressing down buttons from above, similar to the Japanese taishogoto. One row of buttons changes the melody ...
**
Hackbrett The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...
**
Hammered dulcimer The hammered dulcimer (also called the hammer dulcimer) is a percussion-stringed instrument which consists of strings typically stretched over a trapezoidal resonant sound board. The hammered dulcimer is set before the musician, who in more trad ...
**
Scheitholt The scheitholt or scheitholz is a traditional German stringed instrument and an ancestor of the modern zither. It falls into the category of drone zither Drone zithers or droned zithers are stringed instruments of the zither family that have f ...
**
Waldzither The waldzither (german: "forest zither") is a plucked string instrument from Germany that came up around 1900 in Thuringia. It is a type of cittern that has nine steel strings in five courses. Different types of waldzither come in different tuni ...
**
Zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
(Alpine zither) * Ghana: ** Molo *
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
**
Cittern The cittern or cithren ( Fr. ''cistre'', It. ''cetra'', Ger. ''Cister,'' Sp. ''cistro, cedra, cítola'') is a stringed instrument dating from the Renaissance. Modern scholars debate its exact history, but it is generally accepted that it is d ...
* Greece: ** Baglama **
Bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...
** Laghouto **
Laouto The laouto ( el, λαούτο, pl. laouta ) is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece and Cyprus, and similar in appearance to the oud. It has four double-strings. It is played in most respects like the oud (plucked w ...
**
Lyre The lyre () is a stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the lute-family of instruments. In organology, a lyre is considered a yoke lute, since it is a lute in which the strings are attached to a yoke ...
**
Oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
** Tabouras **
Tzouras The ''tzouras'' ( el, τζουράς), is a Greek stringed musical instrument related to the bouzouki. Its name comes from the Turkish cura. It is made in six-string and eight-string varieties. The six-string model has the same arrangement of st ...
(Tsoura; Jura) * Hungary: **
Cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...
** Citera **
Kobza The kobza ( uk , кобза), also called bandurka ( uk , бандурка) is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family ( Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobz ...
(Kobaz) * Iceland: **
Langspil The langspil (; meaning ''long-play'') is a traditional Icelandic drone zither. It has a single melody string and usually 2 drone strings. The langspil can be played by plucking the strings by hand, with a bow or by hammering. Langspils exist ...
* India: ** Bulbul tarang ** Ālāpiṇī vīṇā **
Ektara Ektara ( bn, একতারা, hi, एकतारा, ur, اِک تارا, ne, एकतारे, pa, ਇਕ ਤਾਰਾ, ta, எக்டரா; literally 'one-string', also called actara, iktar, ektar, yaktaro, gopichand, gopichant, ...
**
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, whe ...
** Gottuvadhyam veena (Gottu vadyam) (south India) ** Mahanataka veena **
Mohan veena Mohan veena refers to either of two distinct plucked string instruments used in Indian classical music, especially Hindustani classical music which is associated with the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The first of these was a mix of ...
**
Pinaka vina The ''pināka vīnā'' ( hi, पिनाक pinnak + hi, वीणा veena) was an Indian musical instrument, a musical bow that was itself played with a bow. It has also been transliterated ''pinaki vina'' and ''pinak''. It appeared simil ...
**
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 ...
**
Rudra veena The ''Rudra veena'' ( sa, रुद्र वीणा) (also spelled ''Rudraveena'' or ''Rudra vina'')—also called ''Bīn'' in North India—is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani Music, especially dhrupad. It is one of the m ...
**
Santoor The Indian santoor instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, and a variation of the Iranian santur. The instrument is generally made of walnut and has 25 bridges. Each bridge has 4 strings, making for a total of 100 strings. It is a ...
**
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 is ...
**
Saraswati veena The Sarasvatī vīṇa (also spelled Saraswati vina) (Devanagari: सरस्वती वीणा (vīṇā), te, సరస్వతి వీణ, kan, ಸರಸ್ವತಿ ವೀಣೆ, ta, சரஸ்வதி வீணை, Malayalam ...
(south India) ** Sarinda **
Sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...
** Seni rabab **
Sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...
**
Surbahar ''Surbahar'' (; ) sometimes known as bass sitar, is a plucked string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It is closely related to the sitar, but has a lower pitch. Depending on the instrument's size, it ...
(Bass sitar) **
Sursingar The sursingar (IAST: ), sursringar or surshringar (Sringara: Pleasure in Sanskrit), is a musical instrument originating from the Indian subcontinent having many similarities with the sarod. It is larger than the sarod and produces a deeper sound. ...
**
Tanpura The tanpura (), also referred to as tambura and tanpuri, is a long-necked plucked string instrument, originating in India, found in various forms in Indian music. It does not play melody, but rather supports and sustains the melody of an ...
(Tampura) ** Tati (Nagaland) **
Tumbi The tumbi or toombi ( pa, ਤੂੰਬੀ, pronunciation: ''tūmbī''), also called a tumba or toomba, is a traditional musical instrument from the Punjab region of the northern Indian subcontinent. The high-pitched, single- string plucking inst ...
(north India) **
Veena The ''veena'', also spelled ''vina'' ( sa, वीणा IAST: vīṇā), comprises various chordophone instruments from the Indian subcontinent. Ancient musical instruments evolved into many variations, such as lutes, zithers and arched harps.< ...
**
Vichitra veena The ''vichitra veena'' ( sa, विचित्र वीणा) is a stick zither, a plucked string instrument used in Hindustani music. Similar to the Carnatic ''gottuvadhyam'' (chitra vina) it has no frets and is played with a slide. The s ...
**
Villu Paatu ''Villu Paatu'' (English: Bow Song, Tamil: வில்லுப்பாட்டு), also known as Villadichampaatu, is an ancient form of musical story-telling method performed in Southern India , where narration is interspersed with music, a ...
* Indonesia (see also Borneo): ** Bijol ** Cak (Cuk; Keroncong guitar) ** Dambus ** Gambus selodang **
Hasapi Hasapi, also written as kacapi, hapitan, and kulcapi, is a two-stringed lute played by the Batak people of the Indonesian island of Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully wi ...
** Jungga **
Kacapi The kacapi ( su, ᮊᮎᮕᮤ) is a traditional zither of Sundanese people in Indonesia. This musical instrument is similiar to Chinese , Japanese ''koto'', the Mongolian , the Korean , the Vietnamese and the Kazakh jetigen The jetigen ( kk ...
(Sundanese)(Java) ** Kecapi makassar (Sulawesi) ** Kulcapi karo **
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 ...
(Java) **
Sasando The sasando, also called ''sasandu'' from Sandu or Sanu, is a tube zither, a harp-like traditional music string instrument native to Rote Island of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The name ''sasando'' is derived from the Rote dialect word ”sasa ...
** Situr (Java, Bali) * Iran (
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
): ** Barbat ** Chang (Harp) **
Dutar The ''dutar'' (also ''Dotara, dotar''; fa, دوتار, dutâr; russian: Дутар; tg, дутор; ug, دۇتار, ucy=Дутар, Dutar; uz, dutor; ; dng, Дутар) is a traditional Iranian long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and ...
**
Ghaychak Ghaychak or Gheychak ( Persian: غیچک) is a bowed lute used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Tajikistan. The name is similar to the Central Asian ghijak, but that instrument is more closely related to the kamancheh. Double-chambered bowl lu ...
**
Kamancheh The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) ( fa, کمانچه, az, kamança, hy, Քամանչա, ku, کەمانچە ,kemançe) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, and ...
**
Mugni The mugni (archlute) is a Persian stringed musical instrument which resembles a tar except that the two globes are connected and not separated like the tar's. During Ghuri rulers and Khwarizmi (12th – 13th century) music grew. Two notable the ...
** Qanun ** Rubab ** Rud **
Sallaneh The sallaneh ( fa, سلانه) is a newly developed plucked string instrument made under the supervision of the Iranian musician Hossein Alizadeh Hossein Alizadeh ( fa, حسین علیزاده) is an Iranian musician, composer, radif-preserver, ...
**
Santur The santur (also ''santūr'', ''santour'', ''santoor'') ( fa, سنتور), is a hammered dulcimer of Iranian origins.--- Rashid, Subhi Anwar (1989). ''Al-ʼĀlāt al-musīqīyya al-muṣāhiba lil-Maqām al-ʻIrāqī''. Baghdad: Matbaʻat al-ʻU ...
** Sāz **
Setar A setar ( fa, سه‌تار, ) is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than two and a half octa ...
**
Shahrud The Shahrud (Turkish ''Şehrud'' from Persian شاهرود, DMG ''šāh-i rūd'' or ''šāh-rūd'') was a short-necked lute, illustrated in the '' Surname-i Hümayun'', resembling an oud or barbat, but being much larger. The larger size gave th ...
**
Shurangiz The Shurangiz ( fa, شورانگیز, meaning tumult-exciting) is an Iranian musical instrument, based on the setar, developed in the 20th century. It differs from the setar by having skin as part of the soundboard and in the number of string ...
**
Sorahi The Sorahi (Persian صراحی) is a new Iranian musical instrument. A member of the family of bowed string instruments developed by the Iranian musician M. R. Shajarian, This string instrument can cover the sound range produced by soprano, alto, ...
**
Tanbur The term ''Tanbur'' ( fa, تنبور, ) can refer to various long-necked string instruments originating in Mesopotamia, Southern or Central Asia. According to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', "terminology presents a compli ...
**
Tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...
* Iraq: ** Qanún/kanun ** Santur/Santoor * Ireland: **
Folk Harp Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fo ...
(Celtic Harp) **
Irish bouzouki The Irish bouzouki () is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι). The newer Greek ''tetrachordo'' bouzouki (4 courses of strings) was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of th ...
(Octave mandolin) * Italy: **
Calabrian Lira {{Infobox Instrument , name=Calabrian lira , names=Lira Calabrese, Lira , image=IMAG1951.jpg , background=string , classification=Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Necked bowl lute sounded by a bow , range= , ...
(Calabria) **
Chitarra battente The chitarra battente (in Italian "strumming guitar", however "battente" literally means "beating" related to the fact that this guitar thumps the rhythm of the music) is a musical instrument, a chordophone of the guitar family. It is similar to ...
("knocking guitar") **
Chitarrone The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending out ...
**
Liuto cantabile The liuto cantabile, also termed a liuto moderno, is an uncommon ten-stringed mandocello. This bass variant of the mandolin family was developed by the Neapolitan luthiers of the Vinaccia family in the late 19th century and perfected by Raffaele ...
(Naples) **
Mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
(Mandolin family) * Japan: **
Biwa The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime duri ...
** Ichigenkin ** Gekkin **
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 a ...
**
Koto Koto may refer to: * Koto (band), an Italian synth pop group * Koto (instrument), a Japanese musical instrument * Koto (kana), a ligature of two Japanese katakana * Koto (traditional clothing), a traditional dress made by Afro-Surinamese women * K ...
** Nigenkin **
Shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...
**
Sanshin The is an Okinawan and Amami Islands musical instrument and precursor of the mainland Japanese (). Often likened to a banjo, it consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. Origins Its close resemblance in both appearance a ...
** Taishogoto **
Tonkori The is a plucked string instrument played by the Ainu people of Hokkaidō, northern Japan and Sakhalin. It generally has five strings, which are not stopped or fretted but simply played "open". The instrument is believed to have been developed ...
* Kazakhstan: **
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 Ka ...
* Kenya: **
Nyatiti The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked bowl yoke lute from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, specifically in the Siaya region south of Kisumu. It is about two to three feet long with a bowl- ...
* Korea: **
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 pa ...
** Dang bipa **
Gayageum The ''gayageum'' or ''kayagum'' (in Korean 가야금, 伽倻琴 in Chinese characters) is a traditional Korean plucked zither with 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 18, 21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional K ...
**
Geomungo The geomungo (also spelled ''komungo'' or ''kŏmun'go'') or ''hyeongeum'' (literally "black zither", also spelled ''hyongum'' or ''hyŏn'gŭm'') is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and frets. ''Geomungo'' is a representative ...
**
Haegeum The ''haegeum'' () is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a vertical fiddle with two strings; derived from '' xiqin'', traditional Instrument of Xi people, which was introduced in Goryeo Dynasty through Northern Song. It has ...
** Hyang bipa ** Komungo **
Yanggeum The yanggeum is a traditional Korean string instrument. It is a hammered dulcimer. Unlike other traditional Korean instruments (most of which have silk strings), the ''yanggeum'' has metal strings. It is played by striking the strings with a b ...
* Kyrgyzstan: ** Kormuz * Latvia: **
kokles Kokle (; ltg, kūkle) or historically kokles (''kūkles'') is a Latvian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery along with Lithuanian kanklės, Estonian kannel, Finnish ...
* Lebanon: **
Buzuq The ''buzuq'' ( ar, ; also transliterated ''bozuq'', ''bouzouk'', buzuk etc.) is a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki and Turkish saz. It is an essential instrument in the Rahbani repertoire, but it is not classified a ...
* Lithuania: **
kanklės Kanklės () is a Lithuanians, Lithuanian plucked string instrument (chordophone) belonging to the Baltic region, Baltic box zither family known as the Baltic psaltery, along with the Latvian kokles, Estonian kannel (music), kannel, Finnish kant ...
* Macedonia: ** Tambura * Madagascar: **
Kabosy The kabosy is a box-shaped wooden guitar commonly played in music of Madagascar. It has four to six strings and is commonly thought to be a direct descendant of the Arabic oud. The kabosy has staggered frets, many of which do not even cross ...
** Llokango voatavo **
Valiha The valiha is a tube zither from Madagascar made from a species of local bamboo; it is considered the " national instrument" of Madagascar. The term is also used to describe a number of related zithers of differing shapes and materials. Th ...
*
Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...
: ** Braguinha (Machete de braga) **
Rajão The rajão ( pt, machete de rajão) is a 5-stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal. The instrument traces back to the country's regional folk music, where it is used in folklore dances of Portugal in addition to other stringed instruments fr ...
**
Viola de arame The Viola de arame is a String instrument, stringed musical instrument from the Portuguese island of Madeira. It has 9 strings in 5 courses. The strings are made of steel. Tuning It is tuned G3 G2, D3 D2, G3 G3, B3, D3 D3. The two lowest cour ...
(Viola da Madeira) * Malaysia (see also Borneo): ** Gambus ** Gambus Melayu ** Sape * Malawi: ** Bangwe * Mali: **
Goje The goje (the Hausa name for the instrument) is one of the many names for a variety of one or two-stringed fiddles from West Africa, almost exclusively played by ethnic groups inhabiting the Sahel and Sudan sparsely vegetated grassland belts lea ...
*
Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
: ** Terzin kitarra * Mexico: ** Bajo quinto and
Bajo sexto Bajo sexto (Spanish: "sixth bass") is a Mexican string instrument from the guitar family with 12 strings in six double courses. A closely related instrument is the bajo quinto (Spanish: "fifth bass") which has 10 strings in five double courses. ...
** Cartonal ** Guitarra conchera **
Guitarra de golpe The Guitarra de golpe is a stringed musical instrument from Mexico. It has 5 nylon strings in 5 courses. The headstock traditionally has a traditional shape that is designed to look like a stylised owl with wooden pegs, but nowadays this is some ...
**
Guitarra de son Guitarra may refer to: *Gittern, a medieval string instrument *Guitarra Portuguesa, a traditional Portuguese string instrument used in Fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probabl ...
(Requinto jarocho) ** Guitarra doble ** Guitarra séptima **
Guitarrón mexicano The guitarrón mexicano (the Spanish name of a "big Mexican guitar", the suffix ''-ón'' being a Spanish augmentative) or Mexican guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican six-string acoustic bass played traditionally in Mariachi group ...
(Guitarrón) **
Huapanguera The huapanguera, guitarra quinta huapanguera or guitarra huapanguera is a Mexican guitar-like instrument that usually forms part of a conjunto huasteco ensemble, along with the jarana huasteca and violin. Because of its large body and deeper str ...
**
Jarana huasteca The jarana huasteca, jarana de son huasteco or jaranita is a string instrument. It is most often called simply jarana. It is a guitar-like chordophone with 5 strings, tuned in thirds (low to high): G, B, D, F# and A. It has a range similar ...
**
Jarana jarocha The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted 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 double-courses in ...
**
Mandolina conchera Concheras or conchas are Mexican stringed-instruments, plucked by concheros dancers. The instruments were important to help preserve elements of native culture from Eurocentric-Catholic suppression. The instruments are used by Concheros dancer ...
**
Requinto The term requinto is used in both Spanish and Portuguese to mean a smaller, higher-pitched version of another instrument. Thus, there are ''requinto'' guitars, drums, and several wind instruments. Wind instruments ''Requinto'' was 19th-century Sp ...
**
Salterio (Mexico) The salterio mexicano is a 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. Musician ...
**
Tricordia A tricordia (also trichordia or tricordio) or mandriola is a twelve-stringed variation of the mandolin. The tricordia is used in Mexican folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary g ...
** Vihuela conchera **
Vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
(Mexican vihuela) *
Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
: **
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 a ...
** Naxi (Sugudu; Hubo; Huobusi) ** Sshanz (Shudraga) ** Tobshuur **
Topshur The ''tovshuur'', also known as ''topshur'', ''topshuur'' or ''tovshuur'' (Mongolian Cyrillic: ; mn, , tobshiğur) is a two or three-stringed lute played by the Western Mongolian (Oirats) tribes called the Altai Urianghais, the Altais, Tuvans ...
(Khomys) * Morocco: ** Gunbri ** Gunibri ** Lotar * Nepal: **
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 is ...
* Nigeria: **
Kontigi A kontigi or kuntigi is a one- or three-stringed African lute. The one string version is used among the Songhai and Djerma. The 3-string version ''teharden'' is used among the Tamashek. The instrument is also used in Hausa music, primarily i ...
* Norway: **
Hardingfele A Hardanger fiddle ( no, hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument considered to be the national instrument of Norway. In modern designs, this type of fiddle is very similar to the violin, though with eight or nine strings (rather than fo ...
(Hardanger fiddle) **
Langeleik The ''langeleik'', also called langleik, is a Norwegian stringed folklore musical instrument, a droned zither. Description The langeleik has only one melody string and up to 8 drone strings. Under the melody string there are seven frets per o ...
* Panama: **
Mejoranera The mejoranera or mejorana is a folkloric chordophone from Panama. It is carved from one block of wood (usually cedar) or from dry fibers of Bejuco, and is shaped like a small guitar. It has five nylon, horse hair, or gut strings. The mejoraner ...
**
Socavon The socavon is a stringed instrument from Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the n ...
(Bocona) * Peru: **
Bandurria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...
**
Charango The charango is a small Andean stringed instrument of the lute family, from the Quechua and Aymara populations in the territory of the Altiplano in post-Colonial times, after European stringed instruments were introduced by the Spanish during c ...
* Philippines: **
Banduria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...
** Fegereng ( Tiruray) ** Kitara **
Kudyapi The kutiyapi, or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree. Common to all ...
** Kudlung (Kudyapi; Fagelung) **
Kutiyapi The kutiyapi, or kudyapi, is a Philippine two-stringed, fretted boat-lute. It is four to six feet long with nine frets made of hardened beeswax. The instrument is carved out of solid soft wood such as that from the jackfruit tree. Common to all ...
(
Maguindanao Maguindanao (, Maguindanao language, Maguindanaon: ''Prubinsya nu Magindanaw''; Iranun language, Iranun'': Perobinsia a Magindanao''; tl, Lalawigan ng Maguindanao) was a Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the ...
) ** Laud **
Octavina The octavina or Philippine octavina is a guitar-shaped Filipino instrument with a tuning similar to the laúd. Originally a Spanish instrument, the octavina was soon incorporated into other cultures, notably including Filipino culture. History W ...
* Portugal (see also Azores and Madeira): **
Bandolim A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...
** Banjolim **
Cavaquinho The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. More broadly, ''cavaquinho'' is the name of a four-stringed subdivision of the lute family of instr ...
**
Guitarra portuguesa The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra ( pt, guitarra portuguesa, ) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses of two strings. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses watch-key or Prest ...
(Portuguese guitar) ** Rajao **
Viola amarantina The viola amarantina is a stringed musical instrument from Amarante, Northern Portugal. It is also named viola de dois corações (two-hearted guitar) because of the two heart-shaped frontal openings. It has 10 strings in 5 courses. The strings ...
** Violão baixa **
Viola beiroa The Viola Beiroa is a stringed musical 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. Musi ...
**
Viola braguesa Viola braguesa is a stringed instrument from Braga, north-western Portugal. It has 10 strings in 5 courses. The strings are made of steel. It is tuned C4/C3–G4/G3–A4/A3–D4/D4–G4/G4. The scale length is about . Requinta Many , such as the ...
** Viola campaniça **
Viola de arame The Viola de arame is a String instrument, stringed musical instrument from the Portuguese island of Madeira. It has 9 strings in 5 courses. The strings are made of steel. Tuning It is tuned G3 G2, D3 D2, G3 G3, B3, D3 D3. The two lowest cour ...
** Viola de fado **
Viola toeira The Viola Toeira is a stringed musical instrument from Portugal. It has 12 strings in five courses. The strings are made of steel. It is tuned A3 A3 A2, D3 D3 D2, G3 G2, B3 B3, E3 E3. The name of the instrument comes from the strings used on the ...
* Puerto Rico: **
Bordonúa The Bordonua (Bordonúa) is a large, deep body (sound-boxes are usually deep) bass guitar which is native to Puerto Rico. They are made using several different shapes and sizes. The Bordonúa is the least common of the three stringed instrum ...
**
Cuatro Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...
(Puerto Rican cuatro) **
Tiple A tiple (, literally treble or soprano), is a plucked typically 12-string chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a ''tiplista''. The first mention of the tiple comes from musicologist Pablo Minguet e Irol in 1752. Although ma ...
(Puerto Rican tiple) **
Tres Tres may refer to: * Tres (instrument), a Cuban musical instrument * Tres, Trentino, municipality in Italy * "Tres" (song) by Juanes * "Tres", a song by Líbido from their album ''Hembra'' * TrES, the ''Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey'' * Templi R ...
(Puerto Rican tres) * Romania: **
Cobza The ''cobza'' (also ''cobsa'', ''cobuz'', ''koboz'') is a multi-stringed instrument of the lute family of folk origin popular in the Romanian folklore from both Romania and Republic of Moldova (it is considered the oldest accompaniment instrumen ...
**
Kontra , et, Kolmekeelne vioola , image= Haromhuros bracsa.png , image_capt=A ''kontra'' shown from the front and the side , background=string , hornbostel_sachs= , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= g – d – a , r ...
** Horn-violin * Russia (see also Tuva): **
Balalaika The balalaika (russian: link=no, балала́йка, ) is a Russian stringed musical instrument with a characteristic triangular wooden, hollow body, fretted neck and three strings. Two strings are usually tuned to the same note and the thir ...
**
Domra The ''domra'' (Cyrillic: до́мра, ) is a long-necked Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian folk string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three or four metal strings. History The first known mention of domra is in ''Admonit ...
**
Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(Russian guitar) **
Gudok The gudok (, russian: гудок), gudochek (, russian: гудочек) is an ancient Eastern Slavic string musical instrument, played with a bow.
**
Gusli ''Gusli'' ( rus, гусли, p=ˈɡuslʲɪ) is the oldest East Slavic multi-string plucked instrument, belonging to the zither family, due to its strings being parallel to its resonance board. Its roots lie in Veliky Novgorod in Novgorodian Ru ...
* Rwanda: ** Inanga *
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
: ** Kithera sarda * Senegal: **
Akonting The ''akonting'' (, or ''ekonting'' in French transliteration) is the folk lute of the Jola people, found in Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. It is a banjo-like instrument with a skin-headed gourd body, two long melody strings ...
* Serbia: ** Berda ** Bisernica ** Brac ** Bugarija ** Celo (Celovic) ** Tambura samica (Dangubica) * Slovenia: **
Drone zither Drone zithers or droned zithers are stringed instruments of the zither family that have few (sometimes only one) melodic strings and a greater number of drone strings. The oldest known form of drone zither is the Scheitholt. The Scheitholt deve ...
* Spain: **
Bandurria The bandurria is a plucked chordophone from Spain, similar to the mandolin and bandola, primarily used in Spanish folk music, but also found in former Spanish colonies. Instrument development Prior to the 18th century, the bandurria had a round ...
**
Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(Spanish guitar) **
Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(Flamenco guitar) **
Guitarro Guitarro could refer to: * Guitarro (instrument), a type of baroque guitar in Spain * Guitarro, a type of ray in the guitarfish The guitarfish, also referred to as shovelnose rays, are a family, Rhinobatidae, of rays. The guitarfish are known f ...
(Guitarrico) **
Laúd Laúd ( es, "lute") is a plectrum-plucked chordophone from Spain, played also in diaspora countries such as Cuba and the Philippines. The laúd belongs to the cittern family of instruments. The Spanish and Cuban instruments have six double c ...
**
Vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
* Sri Lanka: **
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 ...
* Sweden: ** Hummel **
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 cha ...
*
Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...
: ** Tahitian ukulele * Taiwan: ** Yueqin taiwan * Tanzania: ** Zeze * Thailand: ** Grajappi ** Jakhay **
Khim The ''khim'' ( th, ขิม ; lo, ຂິມ ;  km, ឃឹម ) is a stringed musical instrument derived from the Mesopotamian or Persian Santur. It is similar to the Hammered Dulcimer or Cimbalom. This ''khim'' was introduced to Thailand fro ...
**
Phin The phin ( th, พิณ, ) is a type of lute with a pear-shaped body, originating in the Isan region of Thailand and played mostly by ethnic Laotians in Thailand and Laos. It has frets on the neck over which two or three metal strings run that a ...
**
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 ...
**
Sueng The ''sueng'' ( th, wikt:ซึง, ซึง, Burmese language, Burmese: ၄ကြိုးထပ်ပို (ဆီုင်), , also spelled ''seung'' or ''süng'') is a plucked fretted lute from the Northern Thailand, northern (Lanna) region ...
** Sung lisu (Subu) * Turkey: **
Bağlama The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music and in parts of Syria, Iraq ...
**
Çeng The ''çeng'' is a Turkish harp. It was a popular Ottoman instrument until the last quarter of the 17th century. The ancestor of the Ottoman harp is thought to be an instrument seen in ancient Assyrian tablets. While a similar instrument als ...
**
Cümbüş The ''cümbüş'' (; ) is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. It was developed in 1930 by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş (1881–1947) as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble. The cümbüş is sh ...
**
Kemenche Kemenche ( tr, kemençe) or Lyra is a name used for various types of stringed bowed musical instruments originating in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly in Armenia, Greece, Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. and regions adjacent to the Black S ...
** Nevoud ** baglama, Saz ** Turkish tambur ** Yaylı tambur * Tunisia: ** Gambara (instrument), Gambara ** Gumbri * Tuva: ** Chanzy (instrument), Chanzy **
Doshpuluur The doshpuluur ( Tuvan: дошпулуур, , ) is a long-necked Tuvan lute made from wood, usually pine or larch. The doshpuluur is played by plucking and strumming. There are two different versions of the doshpuluur. One version has a trapezo ...
**
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 ...
* Ukraine: **
Bandura A bandura ( uk, банду́ра) is a Ukrainian plucked string folk instrument. It combines elements of the zither and lute and, up until the 1940s, was also often referred to by the term kobza. Early instruments (c. 1700) had 5 to 12 strings ...
**
Kobza The kobza ( uk , кобза), also called bandurka ( uk , бандурка) is a Ukrainian folk music instrument of the lute family ( Hornbostel-Sachs classification number 321.321-5+6), a relative of the Central European mandora. The term ''kobz ...
** Starosvitska bandura **
Torban The torban ( ua, Торбан, also ''teorban'' or ''Ukrainian theorbo'') is a Ukrainian musical instrument that combines the features of the Baroque lute with those of the psaltery. The Тorban differs from the more common European bass lute kno ...
**
Tsymbaly The tsymbaly ( uk, цимбали) is the Ukrainian version of the hammer dulcimer. It is a chordophone made up of a trapezoidal box with metal (steel or bronze) strings strung across it. The tsymbaly is played by striking two beaters against ...
* United States of America: **(see also Puerto Rico) **
Appalachian dulcimer The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of ...
**
Auto-harp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...
**
Banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
** Banzantar **
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 ...
** Chapman stick **
Clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...
**
Diddley bow The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which influenced the development of the blues sound. It consists of a single string of baling wire tensioned between two nails on a board over a glass bottle, which is used both as a bridg ...
**
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, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
**
Guitalele A guitalele (sometimes spelled guitarlele or guilele), also called a ukitar, or kīkū,Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
(electric guitar, bass guitar) **
Guitar zither The guitar zither (also chord zither, fretless zither, mandolin zither or harp zither) is a musical instrument consisting of a sound-box with two sets of unstopped strings. One set of strings is tuned to the diatonic, chromatic, or partially chr ...
**
Harp guitar The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to ...
** Lap steel guitar, Hawaiian guitar **
Octofone The octophone (or octofone) is a stringed musical instrument related to the mandola family resembling an octave mandolin. It was marketed by Regal Musical Instrument Company, who introduced it 21 January 1928, as an "eight-purpose instrument". ...
**
Octobass The octobass is an extremely large and rare bowed string instrument that was first built around 1850 in Paris by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875). It has three strings and is essentially a larger version of the double bas ...
**
Pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...
**
Psaltry A psaltery ( el, ψαλτήρι) (or sawtry, an archaic form) is a fretboard-less box zither (a simple chordophone) and is considered the archetype of the zither and dulcimer; the harp, virginal, harpsichord and clavichord were also inspired by ...
(Bowed psaltry) ** Resophonic guitar (Dobro; Delvecchio; Triolian) ** Steel Guitar (Hawaii) (Lap steel guitar) ** Strumstick ** Taropatch (Tenor ukulele) **
Tenor violin A tenor violin (or tenor viola) is an instrument with a range between those of the cello and the viola. An earlier development of the evolution of the violin family of instruments, the instrument is not standard in the modern symphony orchestra. I ...
**
Tiple A tiple (, literally treble or soprano), is a plucked typically 12-string chordophone of the guitar family. A tiple player is called a ''tiplista''. The first mention of the tiple comes from musicologist Pablo Minguet e Irol in 1752. Although ma ...
(American tiple) **
Ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...
(Hawaii) **
Zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
(Concert zither) * Venezuela: ** Bandola llanera ** Bandola oriental **
Cuatro Cuatro is Spanish language, Spanish (and other Romance languages) for the 4 (number), number four. Cuatro may also refer to: * Cuatro (instrument), name for two distinct Latin American instruments, one from Puerto Rico (see cuatro (Puerto Rico), ...
** Cinco ** Cinco y medio ** Seis * Vietnam: **
Đàn bầu The đàn bầu (; "gourd zither"; chữ Nôm: ), also called độc huyền cầm (獨絃琴, "one-string zither") is a Vietnamese stringed instrument, in the form of a monochord (one-string) zither. History While the earliest written records o ...
** Đàn đáy, Đàn day ** Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, Đàn doan (Dan nhat; Dan tu) **
Đàn gáo The đàn gáo ("coconut shell fiddle") is a bowed string instrument, a part of the traditional Vietnamese orchestra. It is similar to the đàn hồ. The instrument originated from South Viet Nam, and is used in entertainment contexts. It ...
** Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, Dan ghita (Luc huyen cam; Vong co guitar) **
Đàn nguyệt The đàn nguyệt ( "moon lute") also called nguyệt cầm, đàn kìm, is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument.The Garland handbook of Southeast Asian music - Page 262 Terry E. Miller, Sean Williams - 2008 "This lute is th ...
(Dan kim) ** Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, Đàn sen ** Đàn tam ** Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments, Đàn thập lục ** Dan tinh ** Đàn tranh **
Đàn tỳ bà The ''đàn tỳ bà'' (, Chữ Nôm: ) is a Vietnamese traditional plucked string instrument derived form the Chinese pipa.Garland Encyclopedia of World Music South East Asia p262 "The tỳ bà, a pear-shaped lute, first appeared in Vietnam in t ...
**
K'ni The k'ni, also known as ''mim'' in Cambodia, popularly known as a mouth violin is a mouth resonator fiddle, i.e. a fiddle-like instrument used by the Jarai people in Vietnam and Tampuan people in Cambodia. Etymology ''K'ni'' is the common word ...
** Luc huyen cam * Wales: **
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 foun ...
** Experimental musical instrument#1970s–1980s, Neola * Zambia: ** Karindula


References


See also

* List of guitars {{Strings (music) String instruments, * Lists of musical instruments, String yi:סטרונע אינסטרומענטן