Jarana jarocha

The jarana jarocha is a guitar-shaped fretted stringed instrument from the southern region of the state of Veracruz, Mexico.

[1] The jarana traditionally features a singular type of construction; the body is carved to shape from a solid piece of wood (traditionally Spanish cedar), and it is then hollowed out, with a separate soundboard and fingerboard applied.

Other Mexican and South American folk guitars derivative of Spanish instruments are also made this way, notably the charango of Bolivia.

It is almost a percussion instrument in the way it is played, with an accented down and double upstroke pattern that almost mimics the zapateado steps of the dancers.

Leonardo Zendejas of the group Son de Barro has commented that the absence of the bottom G string makes chord shapes and climbing the finger board on these instruments much easier than on more traditional 5-course jaranas.