The bow is loosely strung with horse hair coated with larch or cedar wood resin, and is held from underneath with the right hand.

The underhand grip enables the hand to tighten the loose hair of the bow, allowing very fine control of the instrument's timbre.

Traditionally, the frame is covered with camel, goat, or sheep skin, in which case a small opening would be left in the back.

[3] A beginner-grade morin khuur typically features a pine top with birch or laminated back and sides.

In contrast, player-grade morin khuur is crafted from higher quality tonewoods, such as spruce for the top and birch for the back and sides.

Good quality instruments can achieve a strength of 85 dBA, which allows it to be played (if desired) even in mezzoforte or crescendo.

In general the quality of a horse hair string depends on its preparation, the climate conditions and the nutrition of the animals.

Quality nylon strings (Khalkh Mongolian: сатуркан хялгас) last for up to 2 years, but only if prepared and placed properly on the instrument.

The fact that most of the eastern Turkic neighbors of the Mongols possess similar horse hair instruments (such as the Tuvan igil, the Kazakh kobyz, or the Kyrgyz Kyl kyyak), though not western Turkic, is a testament to the shared musical heritage across the various Khanates that mutually ruled these people.

The gusle/lahuta from Southeastern Europe (Serbia, Croatia & Albania) is a very similar instrument, and may have been brought along trade routes that both Mongolia and the Balkans shared.

The primary education is to learn the scales, to train the ear for achieving the "muscle memory", the ability to automatically adapt the finger position when a note wasn't hit properly.

The Igil has the opposite placement of strings, so a player has to adapt in order to play pieces made for the other one.

In Mongolia, the morin khuur can be learned at three schools: Also many amateur players acquired reasonable skills by taking lessons from private teachers, or being taught by their parents or other relatives.

First held in 2008, second in 2010 - with 8 participating countries (Mongolia, Korea, China, Russia, USA, Germany, France, Japan) - and planned for May 2012.

Here, many amateurs come and play freestyle pieces, but also a professional contest is held and an instrument making competition.

On the national festival "Naadam" praise songs are played for the most magnificent horse and for the highest ranked wrestler and archer.

A number of folk metal and folk rock bands from Mongolia and the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia have combined heavy metal and rock music with traditional Mongolian lyrical themes and instruments, including the morin khuur; some of these bands include Altan Urag, Nine Treasures, Tengger Cavalry, Hanggai, the Hu, and Uuhai.

While re-adoption in animal husbandry practice is widely used in various nomadic civilizations worldwide, uniquely for Mongolian Gobi herders, only this instrument is used with camels.