String instrument

The strings may be struck with sticks, plucked with the bare fingers or a plectrum, bowed or (in the Aeolian harp, for instance) sounded by wind.

Curt Sachs also broke chordophones into four basic subcategories, "zithers, lutes, lyres and harps.

Another innovation occurred when the bow harp was straightened out and a bridge used to lift the strings off the stick-neck, creating the lute.

"[8] Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in Ancient Mesopotamian sites, like the lyres of Ur, which include artifacts over three thousand years old.

The development of lyre instruments required the technology to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen the string tension.

[11] A cylinder seal from c. 3100 BC or earlier (now in the possession of the British Museum) shows what is thought to be a woman playing a stick lute.

[11][12] From the surviving images, theorists have categorized the Mesopotamian lutes, showing that they developed into a long variety and a short.

Early versions of the violin and fiddle, by comparison, emerged in Europe through instruments such as the gittern, a four-stringed precursor to the guitar, and basic lutes.

The violins of the Renaissance featured intricate woodwork and stringing, while more elaborate bass instruments such as the bandora were produced alongside quill-plucked citterns, and Spanish body guitars.

Major changes to string instruments in the 20th century primarily involved innovations in electronic instrument amplification and electronic music – electric violins were available by the 1920s and were an important part of emerging jazz music trends in the United States.

The distinctive sound of the amplified electric guitar was the centerpiece of new genres of music such as blues rock and jazz-rock fusion.

The ongoing use of electronic amplification and effects units in string instruments, ranging from traditional instruments like the violin to the new electric guitar, added variety to contemporary classical music performances, and enabled experimentation in the dynamic and timbre (tone colour) range of orchestras, bands, and solo performances.

An important difference between bowing and plucking is that in the former the phenomenon is periodic so that the overtones are kept in a strictly harmonic relationship to the fundamental.

Instruments normally played by bowing (see below) may also be plucked, a technique referred to by the Italian term pizzicato.

The bow consists of a stick with a "ribbon" of parallel horse tail hairs stretched between its ends.

Darker grades of rosin grip well in cool, dry climates, but may be too sticky in warmer, more humid weather.

Ancestors of the modern bowed string instruments are the rebab of the Islamic Empires, the Persian kamanche and the Byzantine lira.

Other bowed instruments are the rebec, hardingfele, nyckelharpa, kokyū, erhu, igil, sarangi, morin khuur, and K'ni.

A well-known use of col legno for orchestral strings is Gustav Holst's "Mars" movement from The Planets suite.

The aeolian harp employs a very unusual method of sound production: the strings are excited by the movement of the air.

A concert harp has pedals that cause a hard object to make contact with a string to shorten its vibrating length during a performance.

Application of the bow close to the bridge (known as sul ponticello) produces an intense, sometimes harsh sound, which acoustically emphasizes the upper harmonics.

Bowing above the fingerboard (sul tasto) produces a purer tone with less overtone strength, emphasizing the fundamental, also known as flautando, since it sounds less reedy and more flute-like.

Pressing the string against a fret while plucking or strumming it shortens the vibrating part and thus produces a different note.

The bridges of a koto, on the other hand, may be moved by the player occasionally in the course of a single piece of music.

The Middle Eastern zither, the qanun, is equipped with small levers called mandal that let each course of multiple strings be incrementally retuned "on the fly" while the instrument is being played.

The normal force applied to the body from the strings is supported in part by a small cylinder of wood called the soundpost.

The strings' vibrations are distributed via the bridge and soundpost to all surfaces of the instrument, and are thus made louder by matching of the acoustic impedance.

Achieving a tonal characteristic that is effective and pleasing to the player's and listener's ear is something of an art and craft, as well as a science, and the makers of string instruments often seek very high quality woods to this end, particularly spruce (chosen for its lightness, strength and flexibility) and maple (a very hard wood).

Amplified string instruments can be much louder than their acoustic counterparts, so musicians can play them in relatively loud rock, blues, and jazz ensembles.