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 Home > Learning Center > String Instruments

String Instruments

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String instruments are musical instruments that utilize one or more strings to create sound. The string or strings can be played in one of many methods. The most common methods are striking, bowing, and plucking. Each will produce a different sound, even if used on the same instrument.

The most common stringed instruments fall into one of the three categories outlined above. The best known plucked instrument is the guitar. This instrument can produce quite a surprising variety of tones and is used in most forms of new music. The guitar consists of a head, neck, and body. The body of the guitar can be hollow, as in acoustic guitars. It can also be a solid back, like electric guitars. The body features the static attachment point for the strings. The body is also where the strings are plucked, or strummed. The sound of an acoustic guitar is created in the hollow body, and the sound of an electric guitar is picked up in the body and transmitted to an amplifier.

The opposite end of the guitar is the head. The head features the adjustable anchor point for the strings. The guitar is one of the string instruments that features fewer strings than there are notes. It can be tuned by adjusting the tension of the strings via knobs on the head. Some performers will have several guitars tuned differently for a single performance.

The neck of the guitar is also known as a fret board. It is where the strings are modified to produce different notes. Since a guitar has only a few strings, notes are played by shortening the strings to produce different notes. The fret board has frets, or small metal bands that correspond to different notes. For instance, the 5th fret on a string will play the same note as the base of the string above it for every string but the 3rd. For that string, the 4th will do the same thing.

The most common stringed instrument that is played by plucking would be the violin. It also has larger cousins in the viola and the upright bass. The violin looks like a small guitar, and has a similar design to it. The major difference is that the violin is primarily played by running a bow with a string on it, such as one made of horse tail, across the strings of the instrument, rather than plucking them. It is used far more commonly in orchestral pieces, and less in modern popular music. I won’t go into the details of its construction, as it is very similar to a small acoustic guitar that is played horizontally instead of vertically.

Finally, we come to the granddaddy of all stringed instruments. While you may not think of it first, it is the most well known stringed instrument around. I’m speaking of course of the piano. It falls into the third category, a stringed instrument that is played by striking the strings. The piano is a very different beast from the violin or guitar. For starters, it has a different string set for each note it plays. This becomes quite a few strings when you stop to think that a piano has 88 keys. The second major difference is that your fingers don’t touch the strings on a piano under ordinary circumstances. Your hands play keys, which mechanically cause felt covered hammers to strike the strings, creating sound.

Pianos have a long and well documented history. This is because they were heavily involved in the work of classical composers, and you can watch the work incorporate changes made to the instrument as time went on. They are more expensive than other instruments because they are so large. You can buy a top of the line guitar for less than an entry level baby grand.

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