Stringed instruments

Stringed instruments, musical instruments whose sound is produced by vibrating strings or wires, the pitch being controlled by their length and tension. In the balalaika, banjo, guitar, harp, lute, mandolin, sitar, ukulele, and zither, the vibration is produced by plucking with the fingers or a plectrum. The strings of the dulcimer are struck with 2 small, light hammers. In the keyboard instruments—clavichord, harpsichord, piano, spinet, virginal—the strings are either plucked or struck by hammers operated by depressing the keys. The violin, viola, cello, and bass are played with a horsehair bow, which is drawn across the strings, or the strings are plucked.