Facts on String Instruments
String instruments produce sound by way of a string stretched between two points. Players bow, pluck or strike the string to produce vibrations, which in turn produce the sound. String instruments are used in a wide variety of settings and in a wide variety of music genres, from symphony orchestras to a country music.
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Violin Family
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The most prominent group of stringed instruments are those of the violin family, whose members are the violin, the viola, the violoncello--usually just called the cello--and the double bass.
Viol Family
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The viol family is a group of instruments developed during the Renaissance. These differ from the violin family in that they have flat backs, frets and six strings.
Plucked String Instruments
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Plucked string instruments are played by plucking, picking or strumming, and have many examples, including the guitar, banjo, oud, harp and the harpsichord, which is a keyboard instrument.
Struck String Instruments
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Struck stringed instruments, which produce sound when something such as mallet or hammer strikes a string, include well-known instruments such as the piano, and lesser-known instruments such as the hammered dulcimer and the cimbalom, a Hungarian instrument used for classical, folk and gypsy music.
Piano
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Because the piano has strings, it is considered a string instrument, but the instrument is also considered a percussion instrument because the strings are struck by hammers.
Aeolian Harp
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The aeolian harp is a struck type of stringed instrument that is played by the wind, the strings being "struck" as the air blows--no human is needed except to appreciate the music created by nature.
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