This is a glossary of chordophones. It can include any stringed instrument, or any musical instrument that produces sound through one or more vibrating strings.
This glossary only includes the names of actual instruments. It does not include playing techniques, bows or plectrums, music genres or anything other than the names of instruments. It does not comprehensively include families or types of instruments -- only specific instruments -- but some families of instruments are listed because they are also used as the name of a specific instrument from within that family.
This appendix does not generally include translations, but in English writing foreign words are often used to describe instruments. Some instruments do not have a direct English translation. This appendix does cover such foreign words and any other non-English terminology that can be helpful to understand writing about music and musical instruments.
See also the glossary of musical instrument classification (organology).
- akonting[4]cite • discuss
- A folk lute of the Jola people of West Africa; a banjo-like instrument with a skin-headed gourd body, two long melody strings, and one short drone string.
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- archlute[7] [8]cite • discuss
- A fretted and double-necked stringed musical instrument with a large body, double courses in the bass, and two sets of tuning pegs.
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- armónico[10]cite • discuss
- A stringed instrument with seven strings in six courses and one string (the middle one) doubled; it is structurally a combination of a guitar and a tres.
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- arpeggione[11]cite • discuss
- A six-stringed musical instrument of the nineteenth century, fretted and tuned like a guitar but bowed like a cello, and held vertically between the knees.
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- baglama[13]cite • discuss
- A seven-stringed musical instrument in various cultures around the eastern Mediterranean, with a pear-shaped body, and strings in double or sometimes triple courses.
- Synonym: bağlama, saz
- Note: Though saz is often used as a synonym for the baglama, it more precisely refers to any of a family of long-necked lutes (of which the baglama is one type) common throughout the Middle-East and nearby regions. See saz in this glossary for more.
- Types: cura (smallest), elektro-baglama (an electric version)
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- baglamas[14]cite • discuss
- A plucked stringed instrument, a long-necked bowl lute, played in Greek music and often made of improvised materials; it is a high-pitched and small bouzouki with one string in an octave pair on the lower D and unison pairs on the four highest strings.
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- banhu[23]cite • discuss
- A two-stringed bowed instrument of northern Chinese origin, held vertically, possessing a soundbox made of coconut shell and a front surface covered with a thin layer of wood.
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- banjolincite • discuss
- A musical instrument, most often with four strings, resembling a small banjo but tuned like a mandolin.
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- bouzouki[39]cite • discuss
- A Greek long-necked plucked fretted lute having a sharp, metallic sound, with a curved soundbox, six strings in double courses and a very long neck.
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- contraguitarcite • discuss
- An old form of guitar originating in Vienna, with a standard six-string neck and a second bass neck with up to nine strings.
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- crwth[58]cite • discuss
- An archaic stringed instrument associated particularly with Wales, though once played widely in Europe, and characterized by a vaulted back and enough space for the player to stop each of the six strings on the fingerboard.
- Synonyms: crowd, rote, cruth, crowth, crout, crouth
- Performer: crowder, (Surnames) Crewther, Crowder, Crother, Crowther, MacWhirter, MacWhorter
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- cuatrocite • discuss
- At least two different stringed instruments: the Venezuelan cuatro, which has a ukulele-like shape with four strings; the Puerto Rican cuatro has a violin-like shape and most commonly ten strings in five courses.
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- dan daycite • discuss
- A type of lute with three strings, a hollow trapezoidal wooden body with an open back, and a very long neck, originating in traditional Vietnamese music (particularly ca trù).
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- dan nhicite • discuss
- A vertical bowed fiddle-like string instrument with two strings, originating in the traditional and classical music of Vietnam.
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- domracite • discuss
- A round-bodied lute of Russian origin, with either three or four strings.
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- dulcimercite • discuss
- A stringed instrument, with strings stretched across a sounding board, usually trapezoidal.
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- fiddlecite • discuss • Wikipedia
- Any of various bowed string instruments, often used to refer to a violin when played in any of various traditional styles, as opposed to classical violin.
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- gadulkacite • discuss
- A traditional Bulgarian stringed instrument, played with a bow, and most commonly featuring three main strings and up to sixteen sympathetic strings.
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- guitarcite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A stringed musical instrument, of European origin, usually with a fretted fingerboard and six strings, played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick).
- Synonym: axe (slang), gat (New Zealand, slang)
- Performer: guitarist
- Types: electric guitar, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, classical guitar, archtop, bass guitar, armónico, semi-acoustic, acoustic-electric, steel-string acoustic guitar
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- harp guitarcite • discuss
- Any of several designs of guitars with at least one unstopped string that can be plucked, like that of a harp.
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- hurdy-gurdycite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A medieval stringed instrument which has a droning sound. One hand turns a handle connected to a wheel which vibrates the strings, while the other hand plays a keyboard to alter the pitch.
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- kantele[77]cite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A plucked string instrument (a zither) of the {{w:Baltic psaltery|Baltic psaltery}} family, traditionally with five strings but now more widely varying, originating in the folk music of Finland, where it is seen as a national symbol.
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- kanoncite • discuss
- _
- Synonym of: qanun (if used in the context of Armenian music)
- Synonym of: monochord (if used in the context of ancient Greek music)
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- kemenchecite • discuss
- Any of various bowed stringed instruments characteristic to the Eastern Mediterranean.
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- khonkhotacite • discuss
- A stringed instrument of Bolivian origin, with eight strings in five courses.
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- kit violin[78]cite • discuss
- A very small long-necked violin, which came in a variety of shapes and configurations, meant to be carried in a pocket and intended for instructors (dancing masters) to carry to accompany their students.
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- kontracite • discuss
- A large instrument, similar to a viola but with three strings and a flat bridge, originating in the traditional music of Transylvania.
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- kobzacite • discuss
- A lute-like stringed instrument traditionally made from a single block of wood, with a medium-length neck, originating in Ukrainian folk music.
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- kotocite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A Japanese stringed instrument having numerous strings, usually seven or thirteen, that are stretched over a convex wooden sounding board and are plucked with three plectra, worn on the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of one hand.
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- krarcite • discuss
- A five-stringed, bowl-shaped lyre of Eritrea and Ethiopia.
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- laouto[81]cite • discuss
- A fretted instrument with a round back, moveable frets, and a long neck, used in Greek and Cypriot music.
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- laúdcite • discuss
- A cittern-like instrument of Spanish origin, with six double courses in unison, played with a plectrum.
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- leonacite • discuss
- A fretted four-stringed low-pitched instrument, originating in the Mexican state of Veracruz.
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- lironecite • discuss
- A fretted and bowed archaic string instrument with between nine and sixteen strings.
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- liuqincite • discuss
- A four-stringed instrument, similar to a mandolin, with a pear-like shape, used in Chinese music.
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- lutecite • discuss
- A fretted stringed instrument, similar to a guitar, having a bowl-shaped body or soundbox.
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- lute guitarcite • discuss
- A stringed instrument that combines a normal guitar six-string layout over a lute-like bowl-shaped body, originating in German folk traditions.
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- lyrecite • discuss
- An ancient instrument played with a plectrum, a yoke lute with a widely varying number of strings.
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- mandolacite • discuss
- A fretted stringed musical instrument resembling the mandolin, but of larger size and tuned lower.
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- mandolincite • discuss
- A stringed instrument and a member of the lute family, having eight strings in four courses, frequently tuned as a violin, and with either a bowl-shaped back or a flat back.
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- mejoraneracite • discuss
- A folk five-stringed instrument of Panamanian origin.
- Performer: mejoranero (masculine), mejoranera (feminine)
- Notes: The word mejorana is used mainly for the genre of music produced by the mejoranera in a certain kind of Panamanian ensemble, but mejorana is also used sometimes for the name of the stringed instrument in question.
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- monochordcite • discuss
- A musical instrument for experimenting with the mathematical relations of musical sounds, consisting of a single string stretched between two bridges, one or both of which can be moved, and which stand upon a graduated rule for the purpose of changing and measuring the length of the part of the string between them.
- Note: Also used more generally to describe any one-stringed instrument.
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- morin khuurcite • discuss
- A traditional Mongolian bowed stringed instrument, made from a trapezoidal sound box with two strings.
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- nyatiticite • discuss
- A traditional type of lyre with eight strings, used by the Luo people of Kenya.
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- octobasscite • discuss
- A very large double bass requiring two musicians, one to finger and one to bow.
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- octophonecite • discuss
- A modern stringed instrument intended to be able play the tone combinations of the tenor guitar, tenor banjo, ukulele, taro patch, tiple, mandolin, mandola and mandocello.
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- pianocite • discuss
- A keyboard musical instrument, usually ranging over seven octaves, with white and black keys, played by pressing these keys, causing hammers to strike strings.
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- qanuncite • discuss
- A Near Eastern and Caucasian musical instrument having either 26 strings and a single bridge, or twice that number and two bridges.
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- qincite • discuss
- Any of several traditional Chinese musical instruments, most commonly the seven-stringed instrument more specifically called the guqin.
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- rajãocite • discuss
- A stringed instrument of Portuguese origin, with five or six strings in five courses.
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- rebabcite • discuss
- A stringed musical instrument, related to the lute, used especially in Islamic countries.
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- rebeccite • discuss
- An early three-stringed instrument, somewhat like a simple violin.
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- rotecite • discuss
- A kind of guitar, the notes of which were produced by a small wheel or wheel-like arrangement; an instrument similar to the hurdy-gurdy.
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- ruancite • discuss
- A Chinese plucked string instrument with a fretted neck.
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- sarangicite • discuss
- A bowed string instrument used in the Hindustani classical music of North India.
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- sarodcite • discuss
- A lute-like instrument widely used in Indian classical music.
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- sazcite • discuss
- A type of long-necked lute, common in many forms in the Middle-East, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus and Southwest Asia.
- Note: Sometimes a synonym for the baglama, which is more properly one very common instrument from within the saz family.
- Types: cura (smallest), Üçtelli saz, Çöğür saz, tambura, baglama, bozuk saz, meydan sazı, aşik sazı, divan sazı, bas sazı (bass version)
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- sitarcite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A Hindustani/Indian classical stringed instrument, typically having a gourd as its resonating chamber.
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- surozcite • discuss
- A stringed instrument with a long neck, played vertically and with a bow, especially identified with the Baloch people.
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- tamburacite • discuss
- An etymologically complex web of words referring to various stringed musical instruments occurring from Southeastern Europe through the Middle East to South Asia.
- Iranian tanbur (Kurdish tanbur), used in Yarsan rituals
- Turkish tambur, instrument played in Turkey
- yaylı tambur, also played in Turkey
- tanpura, a drone instrument played in India
- tambura, played in Balkan peninsula
- tamburica, any member of a family of long-necked lutes popular in Eastern and Central Europe
- tambouras, played in Greece
- tanbūra, a lyre played in East Africa and the Middle East
- Synonym: tamboura
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- tanburcite • discuss
- In Classical Turkish music, a long-necked, fretted, plucked lute. Also, various lutes of West and Central Asia.
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- tarcite • discuss
- A long-necked and waisted instrument found in Iran and neighboring countries.
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- timplecite • discuss
- A plucked five-stringed instrument, originating in the Canary Islands.
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- tiple[94] [95]cite • discuss
- Any of several kinds of small, plucked stringed instruments of the guitar family, used in the traditional musics of Spain and various Latin American nations.
- Performer: tiplista
- American tiple: A ukulele-like instrument based on the Colombian tiple.
- Argentinian tiple: The word tiple in Argentina refers to the type of guitar known in English as the requinto.
- Colombian tiple: A plucked stringed instrument with twelve strings in four courses, and a national symbol of Colombian culture.
- Cuban tiple: A stringed instrument with five strings in double courses.
- Dominican tiple: A melodic stringed instrument with ten steel strings in five double courses; it is called in Spanish a tiple de Santo Domingo, tiplecito, guitarrito or a tiplet.
- Minorcan tiple: A small guitar more widely known as the guitarro.
- Puerto Rican tiple: The smallest instrument in the jibaro trio, most often with four or five strings and a distinctively angled upper body.
- Peruvian tiple: A stringed instrument four strings, which can be either singular or doubled.
- Uruguayan tiple: The word tiple in Uruguay refers to the type of guitar known in English as the requinto.
- Venezuelan tiple: An instrument similar to the Colombian tiple, with pairs of triple strings; it is also called a guitarro segundo or segunda guitarra in Spanish.
- Venezuelan tiple: A second Venezuelan instrument called a tiple, this one part of the cuatro family, and featuring five strings.
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- tiqincite • discuss
- Any of several types of small bowed instruments, part of the huqin family of traditional Chinese instruments.
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- trescite • discuss
- A three-course stringed instrument similar to a guitar; the Cuban variant has six strings, and the Puerto Rican has nine.
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- tromba marina[97]cite • discuss
- A Middle Ages European string instrument with a long, slender and triangular-shaped body, featuring one main string and sometimes additional sympathetic strings, known for an extremely loud sound making it useful for signalling between ships, and for a distinctive ethereal tone (harmonic overtones) created by the player fingering the string at precise intervals below the point where the string is to be bowed, rather than above as most similar instruments.
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- veenacite • discuss
- A plucked stringed instrument used mostly in Carnatic Indian classical music.
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- viellecite • discuss
- An archaic string instrument of European origin, like a long violin.
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- vihuelacite • discuss
- A guitar-like instrument with six doubled strings, of Spanish origin.
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- violacite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A stringed instrument of the violin family, somewhat larger than a violin, played under the chin, and having a deeper tone.
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- yehucite • discuss
- A bowed string instrument in the huqin family of traditional Chinese instruments.
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- zithercite • discuss • Wikipedia
- A musical instrument consisting of a flat sounding box with numerous strings placed on a horizontal surface, played with a plectrum or fingertips.
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