It has a rodlike neck, a hollow wooden soundbox, and two silk strings, and is held vertically on the knee of the performer and played with a bow.

It is also popularly known as kkangkkang-i (깡깡이),[1] kkaengkkaeng-i (깽깽이), or aeng-geum (앵금).

The haegeum is made using eight materials: metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, clay, hide, and wood, and so it is called paleum (eight sounds).

The sohaegeum (소해금) is a modernized fiddle with four strings, used only in North Korea and in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China.photo[permanent dead link‍] The haegeum is a Korean musical instrument played with a wooden bow between two strings, standing in line with a large wooden block standing vertically on top of the ring box.

Accordingly, it is possible to make a wide variety of sounds by pulling and releasing strings since it has no fingerboard.