
The following observations all apply to a string that is infinitely flexible strung between two fixed supports. Instruments with a fingerboard are then played by adjusting the length of the vibrating portion of the strings. String instruments are tuned by varying the strings' tension because adjusting length or mass per unit length is impractical. There are three ways to change the pitch of a vibrating string. At electric instruments, this technique can generate multitone sounds reminiscent of a clock or a bell.Ĭhanging the pitch of a vibrating string For instance press on the 7th fret on a guitar and pluck it at the head side and a tone will resonate at the opposed part. It's possible on acoustic instruments as well, but lesser convenient. The technique is mainly used on electric instruments because these have a pickup that amplifies only the local string vibration. It provides a sustained, singing tone on the string which is magnetically vibrated.ģrd Bridge is a plucking method where the string is divided into two pieces and struck at the side which is unamplified. An E-Bow is a small hand-held battery-powered device which can be used to excite the strings of an electric guitar. Steel-stringed instruments (such as the guitar, bass, violin, etc.) can be played using a magnetic field. Other keyed string instruments, small enough for a strolling musician to play, include the plucked autoharp, the bowed nyckelharpa, and the hurdy gurdy, which is played by cranking a rosined wheel. Composers such as Henry Cowell wrote music which asks for the player to reach inside the piano and pluck the strings directly, or to "bow" them with bow hair wrapped around the strings, or play them by rolling the bell of a brass instrument such as a trombone on the array of strings. With these keyboard instruments too, the strings are occasionally plucked or bowed by hand. These include the piano, the clavichord, and the harpsichord. Some instruments that have strings have attached keyboards that the player uses instead of directly manipulating the strings. The aeolian harp employs a very unusual method of sound production: the strings are excited by the movement of the air. A well-known use of col legno for orchestral strings is the Gustav Holst's "Mars" movement from The Planets suite. This yields a percussive sound along with the pitch of the note. Violin family string instrument players are occasionally instructed to strike the string with the side of the bow, a technique called col legno. The third common method of sound production in stringed instruments is to strike the string. Rarely, the guitar can be played with a bow (rather than plucked) for unique effects. Other bowed instruments are the rebec, hardingfele, nyckelharpa, kokyū, erhu, igil, sarangi and K'ni. Bowing the instrument's string causes a stick-slip phenomenon to occur, which makes the string vibrate.Īncestors of the modern bowed string instruments are the rebab of the Islamic Empires, the Persian kamanche and the Byzantine lira. The bow consists of a stick with many hairs stretched between its ends. They are usually categorized by the technique used to make the strings vibrate (or by the primary technique, in the case of instruments where more than one may apply.) The three most common techniques are plucking, bowing and striking.īowing ( Italian: Arco) is a method used in some string instruments, including the violin, viola, cello, and the double bass (of the violin family) and the old viol family.
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Types of playing techniques For a full list, see List of string instruments.Īll string instruments produce sound from one or more vibrating strings, transferred to the air by the body of the instrument (or by a pickup in the case of electronically amplified instruments). It is also possible to divide the instruments into groups focused on how the instrument is played.

Zithers - instruments with the strings mounted on a body, such as a guqin, a cimbalom, an autoharp, or a piano.Harps - instruments in which the strings are contained within a frame.Lutes - instruments in which the strings are supported by a neck and a bout ("gourd"), for instance a guitar, a violin, a saz.String instruments can be divided into three groups. The most common string instruments in the string family are guitar, electric bass, violin, viola, cello, double bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and harp. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones. 2 Changing the pitch of a vibrating stringĪ string instrument (or stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings.
