Viol
The viola da gamba, also called the viol or gamba, is a string instrument that is played with a bow and has frets. It is held against the player’s legs, which is why it is called “da gamba” (Italian for “on the leg”). It is different from the violin and viola da braccio, which came later.
Viol
The viola da gamba, also called the viol or gamba, is a string instrument played with a bow. It is held between the legs, which is why it is called “da gamba,” meaning “on the leg” in Italian. It is different from the violin and viola da braccio, which came later.
Bowed psaltery
The bowed psaltery is a type of psaltery or zither that is played using a bow. It is different from the plucked psaltery, which has been around for hundreds of years. The bowed psaltery seems to have been created in the 20th century.
Crwth
The crwth (pronounced KROOTH) is a type of stringed instrument called a bowed lyre. It is also known as a crowd, rote, or crotta. The crwth is linked to Welsh music and was once widely played in Europe, though it is now considered old-fashioned.
Rebec
The rebec, sometimes spelled rebecha, rebeckha, or in other ways, is a bowed string instrument from the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It usually has a narrow, boat-shaped body and can have between one and five strings.
Hardanger fiddle
A Hardanger fiddle (Norwegian: hardingfele) is a traditional stringed instrument recognized as Norway’s national instrument. Modern versions of this fiddle resemble a violin but have eight or nine strings (instead of four) and are made with thinner wood. The oldest known Hardanger fiddle was created in 1651 by Ole Jonsen Jaastad in Hardanger, Norway.
Nyckelharpa
The nyckelharpa, which means “keyed fiddle” in Swedish, is a type of string instrument that looks similar to a fiddle or violin but is larger. It has keys along its neck that press against strings to change the pitch when played, much like a hurdy-gurdy. The keys slide under the strings, and the tangents attached to them are placed perpendicular to the keys, reaching above the strings.
Hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that makes sound using a wheel covered with rosin, which is turned by hand and rubs against the strings. This wheel works like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and individual notes played on the hurdy-gurdy sound similar to those of a violin. Melodies are played on a keyboard that presses small wedges, called tangents—usually made of wood or metal—against one or more strings to change their pitch.
Psaltery
A psaltery, also called a sawtry in old times, is a musical instrument without frets that looks like a box zither. It is the earliest model of zithers and dulcimers. Other plucked keyboard instruments, like the harpsichord, were influenced by the psaltery.
Autoharp
An autoharp is a string instrument in the zither family. It has a special part with bars that have soft pads. These pads stop the strings that are not part of a certain chord from making sound.