String Instruments Like Guitar

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A strummed instrument with strings stretched across a resonating box. Buttons on th autoharp control bars that dampen all strings except the ones needed to produce a desired chord.

A stringed instrument in the guitar family with a long neck, five strings and a round body like a tambourine with an open back. A banjo's strings are strummed or plucked with the fingers.

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A stringed instrument that is double the length of a violin and deeper from front to back. It has four strings, is held between the knees, and is supported on the floor with a metal peg. It is played with a bow and has a tone that is much lower and more mellow than a violin.

The largest and lowest-pitched instrument in the string family. The double bass rests on the floor on a metal peg; double bass players often stand when they perform.

The highest pitched member of the string instrument family. It has a shallow wooden body, four strings that are tuned with pegs, and it is played with a bow.

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This string instrument dates back to pre-historic times. The modern harp has a large triangular frame with strings stretched vertically across the triangle. The strings are graduated in length from longest/lowest pitches to shortest/highest and there are pedals that can be used to raise the pitch of each string by half steps. The sound is created by plucking the strings with fingers.

A string instrument used extensively in West Africa, a kora typically has 21-strings which are played by plucking with the fingers, and combines features of the lute and a harp.

An ancestor of the guitar, this string instrument with a pear-shaped body has its strings arranged in pairs. Its strings are plucked.

The Guitar: A Fretful Stringed Instrument

A small, stringed instrument of the lute family. It has a pear shaped body, strings in four pairs and a neck similar to a guitar.

A simple string instrument used by a number of South African peoples, that consists of a flexible stick and strung end to end with a taut cord, usually metal. It can be played with the hands or a wooden stick or branch.

A small wooden instrument with four strings, similar to a guitar. The ukulele was brought to Hawaii by Portuguese settlers in the 1870's, and quickly became popular with native Hawaiians.

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Slightly larger than the violin, this member of the string family has a hollow wooden body, four strings that are tuned with pegs, and is played with a bow. It sounds a fifth lower than a violin.

A folk instrument with 30 – 40 strings stretched over a flat, shallow, horizontal soundboard. The zither is played with a thumbpick* and with the tips of the fingers.

* A thumbpick is a small, flat tool with a loop on the end that is placed over the thumb, and used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument.When it comes to musical instruments the guitar is clearly my favorite, sure I play the drums when I feel like punching something and I do enjoy my bass from time to time, but there’s nothing like a guitar, both acoustic and electric.

String Instruments List

The truth is that I was ignorant and it took me a while to realize that the world of musical instruments doesn’t stop there, and there are so many different types of guitar-like instruments worth my attention.

There are more than 300 different instruments that are part of the string family that can be found around the world, including the guitar. More specifically, the guitar is a plucked stringed instrument that belongs to the lute family, just like the bass guitar, banjo, mandolin, guitarrón, ukulele, sitar, and many more.

If you are also not aware of how versatile plucked stringed instruments are and you are scared of leaving the comfort zone of your guitar then let’s explore instruments similar to the guitar, and discover which would be the easiest to learn and how to choose the right one for you!

Traditional String Instruments Like A Harp With Many Strings Or Like A Guitar

To be even more precise unlike violins, violas, and other similar bowed stringed instruments the guitar is a plucked stringed instrument, belonging to the lute family.

While it most likely originated in the 16th century in Spain, the guitar is not the first plucked string instrument in human history. Even before the guitar, we have the Guitarra Latina, a four-stringed late medieval instrument.

Before Guitarra Latina, we have other stringed instruments predating the guitar, and according to Alisha Nypaver, a college music educator, “the earliest surviving stringed instruments to date are the Lyres of Ur, plucked chordophones, which currently exist in fragments that date back to 4, 500 years ago.”

File:plucked String Instruments (2) Mandolin, Lute, Portuguese String Ensemble, Portuguese Guitar

So, multitudes of plucked stringed instruments have been around for a long time, many of which were invented and perfected by various cultures. Many of them are the ancestors of the modern-day guitar therefore it’s safe to assume that they share many similarities.

So, let me introduce you to other plucked stringed instruments, some of which are closely related to the guitar while others can be characterized as distant cousins.

Today the banjo is closely associated with American folk music, but you can actually hear its distinct twangy sound in genres like jazz, bluegrass, and of course country.

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This instrument definitely shares some similarities with the guitar, perhaps somewhat smaller the banjo’s body is round and instead of wood the resonator is formed by a thin membrane of animal skin, vellum, or plastic.

It’s of course a stringed instrument, but unlike the guitar that has 6 strings, the banjo comes with 4 or 5 strings that are usually plucked with the fingers or a pick.

The great thing about the banjo strings is that they are usually much easier to press down compared to the guitar because of the lighter gauge.

How To Set Up A Guitar

Mandolin or mandoline was developed in Italy during the 17th-18th century. While this instrument does remind me of a violin because of its size or perhaps because it’s also tuned like a violin, however, it also shares a few similarities with the guitar.

First of all, it’s a stringed instrument that’s part of the lute family and second of all, it’s a fretted instrument that you can strum or pluck like a guitar.

Instead of 6 or 12 strings, the mandolin has 8 strings arranged in pairs that are usually tuned in fifths and not forths like with the guitar.

Atlas Of Plucked Instruments

Because they are quite similar I think picking up the mandolin will be an easy task for someone who knows how to play the guitar, easier than picking up the banjo in my opinion.

Their sound is quite unique and versatile and is often used in folk music, jazz, country, and even rock. Let’s not forget that you can also find them in a classical setting like in the video above!

It’s hard to miss the similarities between the guitarron and the guitar, but you may be surprised to find out that the Mexican guitarron was “independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña.”

Top Persian Musical Instruments |tap Persia

It’s a six-stringed instrument and it has a similar shape to the guitar but its body is much larger and the back instead of being flat is bulky and protruding.

This instrument is fretless and the neck is quite small especially compared to its body. Because of its grand size the guitarron has more volume and doesn’t need electric amplification. The Guittarron sound is quite deep and very impressive!

Just like the guitar, the sitar is a stringed instrument of the lute family, and you have to pluck or strum the strings to produce the sitar’s unique sound.

Stringed Instruments From South America And Mexico

When it comes to construction the sitar has a large pear or gourd-shaped body made from teak a close-grained hardwood that is strong and resistant to any rotting. The neck is much longer than the guitar’s neck, and altogether it can be up to 4 feet long.

The sitar actually started off as a three-stringed instrument and during the early 18th century two more strings were added. Today, the sitar actually has anywhere from 18 to 21 strings. Which sounds wild when we compare it to the six or even 12-string guitar!

Of course, I need to note that usually six to seven strings are played while the rest of the strings run under the frets so they resonate when the other strings are plucked.

Ho Chi Minh City's 'guitar Street' Echoes With Sweet Sounds

That’s what gives sitar its unmistakable sound, which can’t be really compared to the guitar as you can hear in this video.

Charango actually looks a lot like a ukulele that in turn looks like a mini guitar. This small five-stringed instrument as you can imagine is part of the lute family. It originated in South America in the Andes Mountains, and some believe that it might be the descendant of a Spanish-stringed instrument.

What’s fascinating about the charango’s construction is that instead of wood the armadillo shell is used as a sandbox. Nowadays the use of wood is more commonly used!

String Instruments Vector Art, Icons, And Graphics For Free Download

This instrument can be played with a pick or just with your fingers by plucking the strings or strumming, as you would

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