Instruments that create music are magical themselves. Know about various types of string instruments

 “How is your ‘Sarangi-Waadak’ friend?”, asked my dad in a casual conversation over dinner table. I was home during my semester break after completing engineering third year exams. He was referring to my buddy and roommate, Aditya Mishra, who was a guitarist by hobby and dad had met him a few times while seeing us off on train to college. He used to travel with his Givson six string guitar usually.

“He is doing great. He also got an offer from the same company as me.”, I said cheerfully. “And it is not a sarangi, Papa. It’s a guitar”, my tone changed and had a tinge of disappointment at my father’s ignorance and generalization of string instruments.

“Haha, they all look same to me.”, he laughed it off. In his defense, my dad is a nature lover who would enjoy the rustling sound of leaves and chirping of birds in a garden more over a Brayan Adams concert.  Also, Aditya’s instrument was always in bag and my dad assumed it to be a sarangi.

While Sarangi and Guitar both are string instruments, they are quite different from each other, both based on sound they produce and the method of playing them. Some of the string instruments are very popular and we might be able to identify and differentiate between them, but few are not. For example, you may find it easy to differentiate a guitar from a violin but is it equally easy to find a veena kept with few sitars?

Based on the structure or frame, string instruments can be classified into below categories:

Lutes: These are the instruments with a long neck that supports the strings on one end and the other end of the string is attached to a bout(the broader base of body).

Guitar is an example of lute

Harps: These instruments have strings contained within a frame, which is usually triangular. Remember the instrument that princess Chandrakanta used to play in the popular 90’s tv show ‘Chandrakanta’ on DoorDarshan, or for a more recent reference, the instrument that Dr. Sheldon Cooper’s girlfriend Dr. Amy Farah Fowler plays on the popular sitcom ‘The Big Bang Theory’.

lady playing harp

Zithers: These instruments have mounted strings on a frame.

Strings of a piano

The string instruments can also be classified based on the method of playing. The common methods are:

Plucking:  Plucking the strings to create vibrations and create sound as in guitar, sitar or veena.

Bowing: Strings of the instrument vibrate when a bow with a ribbon of horse tail hair is moved across the strings as in violin or cello.

Striking: Strings are struck with a hammer on pressing a key as in piano.

Nerd Note 1: The pitch of the sound created by vibrating string can be altered by changing the length, tension or linear density of material of string.

Nerd Note 2: The body or bout is an important part that uses the acoustic effect of air columns to amplify and enhance the sound produced by vibrations.

Nerd Note 3: Some instruments have few extra strings which are not meant to be plucked. The purpose of these strings is to resonate with the vibrating strings and thus create additional tones. These strings are called Sympathetic strings.

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And as always,

Thanks for reading.

Ayush!!!