The cello (short for “violoncello”) is a bowed string instrument, similar to a larger violin that is held upright instead of on the chin. It originated from the three-stringed bass violin created by Jambe de Fer in 1556. The first composer to use the bass violin is thought to be Gabrieli in 1597. [...]

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• Brief History of Violins The violin is the smallest in size of all the stringed instruments. This compact size also gives the violin the highest pitch of the string family of instruments, with the viola and cello both having a lower tone. Almost any musical style can be played on the violin, from classical......
• Which is Best: Stand Up Bass or Regular Bass? The first thing that you need to understand when it comes to comparing a stand up bass against a regular bass is that despite the similar naming structure, these are actually two very different instruments. The term "bass" is used to refer to an entire family of musical instruments that......
• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 5 ... Continued from pt. 4 The Pontic Lira The Pontic lira is a lira that is slim and bottle shaped and that has a finger board upon which three steel strings can be stopped. All three of the steel strings are tuned into fourths. This instrument features a nut like......
• Some Background on the Acoustic Bass Guitar The acoustic bass guitar is an instrument which provides the heavy tones and harmonies associated with good Jazz. Somewhat of a mixed past, the acoustic bass guitar was born in the 50's but was developed in the 60s by Ernie Ball. It came after it's cousin, the electric bass guitar,......
• Manufacturers: Meisel Meisel violins have been around since 1659, predating Paganini and even Beethoven. The Meisel name is still synonymous with solid workmanship and quality instruments at a reasonable price. Students or professionals can find the right violin for them in Meisel's product line. All Meisel stringed instruments exceed the specifications set......

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Interval – An interval is described as a difference in pitch from one tone to another, and intervals are most commonly measured as the difference between the lower tone and the higher tone.
Intonation – Intonation, in its most literal form, means either pitch or using pitch. One who speaks with intonation uses pitch variation to [...]

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• Guitar Buying Advice Walk into any music store and you are bound to find an entire wall covered in guitars; including electric guitars, bass guitars, acoustic guitars and plenty of other specialty guitars as well. Purchasing your first guitar is not nearly as easy as choosing the most attractively designed instrument that you......
• Guide to Saxophone Types The saxophone, which is also commonly known as the sax, is a musical instrument that is crafted from brass and played with the use of a reed mouthpiece. The saxophone can vary significantly in its size, and it can range from fifteen centimeters to two meters in size based on......
• Shopping for a Child Size Guitar - What You Need to Know When it comes to purchasing acoustic musical instruments for children, choosing the right size is absolutely vital for the best results. When it comes to shopping for a child size guitar for example, it can not be over emphasized how important it is to consider neck size and the overall......
• Acoustic Musical Instruments Defined Acoustic musical instruments are musical instruments that are capable of creating sounds entirely via acoustic means as opposed to by way of electronic means. Before electronic instruments came along, there was no need to define instruments as being acoustic as every instrument was acoustic by nature. Acoustic music, or generally......
• How Acoustic Bass Guitars Work The acoustic bass guitar can be viewed as a deeper brother of the standard western style guitar. The acoustic bass guitar is definitely related to the guitarrons that Mexican mariachi bands use, but they are also different in their own right. They are different in a number of ways that......

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The Koto is a stringed instrument that came to Japan from China during the 7th and the 8th centuries. It is a large instrument that is about six feet in length and it has a hollow wooden body and 13 strings. The strings are ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku, shichi, hachi, kyu, ju, to, [...]

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• Harps Throughout History Harps are a musical instrument that is played all throughout a great deal of the world. Consider the fact that in Africa alone there are more than one hundred and fifty different distinct traditions involving the harp. The harp's ancestor is suggested to be a hunting bow, but the history......
• Brief History of Violins The violin is the smallest in size of all the stringed instruments. This compact size also gives the violin the highest pitch of the string family of instruments, with the viola and cello both having a lower tone. Almost any musical style can be played on the violin, from classical......
• Acoustic Hybrids (Can Also Be Played Plugged-in) Acoustic instruments are popular instruments to play, but some acoustic instruments do not produce a whole lot of sound on their own. The acoustic guitar, for example, does not produce a whole lot of sound on its own, which is why electric guitars were invented in the first place. Another......
• A History of Drums and Tribal Music Different styles of drums all have their own unique histories. African tribal music and the drums associated with it are completely unique to the other drum types that have been developed throughout the world. One example of an African tribal drum is the Djembe, a drum that has an extraordinary......
• Stand Up Bass Buying Guide Buying a stand up bass can be difficult because there is no standard set of specifications designed for stand up bass instruments. For this reason, you can find stand up bass instruments in a variety of different sizes and shapes. When you find stand up basses offering higher prices, this......

Continue reading → History of the Koto

A Koto is a stringed instrument that originally came from China and then moved into Japan during the 7th and 8th centuries. The Japanese Koto appears as a large instrument that is approximately 6 feet in length, and it consists of a hollow body that is made from kiri, or Paulownia wood. Beneath the body [...]

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• Brief History of the Sitar The sitar is a plucked string instrument that uses sympathetic strings and a long hollow neck along with a gourd resonating chamber in order to produce a very rich musical sound along with a complex harmonic resonance. The Sitar is predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, but has been used......
• Introduction to the Cittern Instrument There are a lot of really interesting instruments out there, in addition to the common ones that you hear about regularly. One example of a not so well known instrument is the cittern. The cittern is a musical instrument possessing strings, and it originally came from Europe. It is said......
• Stringing a Violin Violin strings will age as well as wear out regardless if they are made of metal or gut. The doctor's orders? - Preventative medicine. Transplant them before they can give out on you mid performance. Here is a guide to how you can string or restring a violin instrument. Steps:......
• History of the Koto The Koto is a stringed instrument that came to Japan from China during the 7th and the 8th centuries. It is a large instrument that is about six feet in length and it has a hollow wooden body and 13 strings. The strings are ichi, ni, san, shi, go, roku,......
• Hammered Dulcimer The hammered dulcimer is a stringed instrument that is based upon a sound box that is shaped as a trapezoid. The musician sits or stands in front of the instrument, which lies upon a stand at an inclined angle. The principle way to play the instrument is to hammer the......

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The Hammered Dulcimer
What the dulcimer is, is a stringed instrument that has perceived to be an ancestor to the modern piano. It possesses a number of courses of between two and five strings for each note, and they are stretched across a shallow trapezoid shaped box that is made out of wood. Players are responsible [...]

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• Introduction to the Bass Instrument The bass is also known as the double bass or the doghouse, and it is both the largest as well as the lowest pitch instrument in the violin family. Just like the violin, the double bass instrument evolved from the viol in Europe. Fine bass models are made out of......
• Construction of the Acoustic Guitar The construction process and materials behind the acoustic guitar involves a number of crucial considerations because the quality of the sound as well as the type of sound are both at stake if the guitar is put together incorrectly or using materials of a poor caliber. While some acoustic guitars......
• The Modern Piano It has been a staple of classical and contemporary music, used by musicians from Mozart to Elton John and more. Many musicians who have brought their fingers to the ivories have created music that has inspired and captured the hearts of countless people all over the world. That instrument is......
• A Look at the Lyre The lyre is a type of stringed musical instrument that is well known for having been used widely in classical antiquity as well as later on. The recitations made by the Ancient Greeks were often accompanied by playing the Lyre. The Lyre known of in classical Antiquity was typically played......
• How to Find Rare Acoustic Musical Instruments It's not difficult to learn how to find rare acoustic musical instruments. But it can be difficult narrowing down your choices from all the interesting types of instruments you'll find. Whether you're looking for rare types of instruments like a zither or a lute, or rare vintage items like an......

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A harp is a type of stringed instrument. The harp’s plane of strings is positioned in a perpendicular fashion to the sound board, unlike most other instruments where the sound board and the strings are affixed in a parallel fashion. As many other non percussion based instruments, the harp is capable of being used as [...]

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• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 4 ... Continued from pt. 3 The Tarhu One of the most significant new developments in the technology behind spike fiddle instruments can be found in the form of the circular bodied instruments known as Tarhu, as they are made by an Australian luthier known as Peter Biffin. With these instruments......
• Brief History of Guitars One of the most widely recognized musical instruments is the acoustic guitar. It is an instrument that has roots deep in history, and is played many different ways. There are many varieties, in four, six, seven, eight, ten and twelve strings, although six is standard. Guitars are used in many......
• Book Review: Mel Bay's Basic Harp Mel Bay's Basic Harp is intended to be an introductory book to teach beginners how to play the harp in a step-by-step manner. Designed for players of any level, the material in this book can be used on any kind of harp, whether it has pedals or not. It also......
• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 5 ... Continued from pt. 4 The Pontic Lira The Pontic lira is a lira that is slim and bottle shaped and that has a finger board upon which three steel strings can be stopped. All three of the steel strings are tuned into fourths. This instrument features a nut like......
• Introduction to Stringed Instruments, pt 1 Stringed instruments are musical instruments that produce sound when strings on the instrument are excited or vibrated. Stringed instruments are also regarded as chordophones when following the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. Some of the most well known and most common stringed instruments in this family as the cello,......

Continue reading → A Look at the Harp

The history of the Harpsichord can be traced back to the 15th century, but the instrument actually got its start from the psaltery, which was a stringed instrument that the player held upright to pluck its strings (unlike the dulcimer which rested on the player’s lap so the strings could be hit with a hammer). [...]

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• How to Find Rare Acoustic Musical Instruments It's not difficult to learn how to find rare acoustic musical instruments. But it can be difficult narrowing down your choices from all the interesting types of instruments you'll find. Whether you're looking for rare types of instruments like a zither or a lute, or rare vintage items like an......
• A Look at the Lyre The lyre is a type of stringed musical instrument that is well known for having been used widely in classical antiquity as well as later on. The recitations made by the Ancient Greeks were often accompanied by playing the Lyre. The Lyre known of in classical Antiquity was typically played......
• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 2 ... Continued from pt. 1 The Zhuihu, also known as the Zhuiqin is an instrument that is descended from a Chinese lute known as the Sanxian, and the strings of this instrument are stopped by pressing them down on a flat fingerboard on its neck. The Kokyu is a four......
• Hammered and Lap Dulcimer Instruments The Hammered Dulcimer What the dulcimer is, is a stringed instrument that has perceived to be an ancestor to the modern piano. It possesses a number of courses of between two and five strings for each note, and they are stretched across a shallow trapezoid shaped box that is made......
• Harps Throughout History Harps are a musical instrument that is played all throughout a great deal of the world. Consider the fact that in Africa alone there are more than one hundred and fifty different distinct traditions involving the harp. The harp's ancestor is suggested to be a hunting bow, but the history......

Continue reading → The History of the Harpsichord

Generically, fiddles are bowed lutes. The fiddle term denotes the existence of a stringed instrument that has a neck that bears strings sounded through the use of friction rather than the use of striking or plucking as with other musical instruments.
Playing the Fiddle
In nearly all fiddle instruments around the world, the friction that creates the [...]

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• Acoustic Musical Instruments Glossary, pt 2 Bucking - Bucking is characterized by the cancellation of one frequency component or signal by another signal that has the equal amount of amplitude but an opposite polarity. Capo - Short for capotasto, a Capo is a moveable bar that is attached to the finger board of any fretted instrument......
• Harp Introduction The Harp is an acoustic musical instrument which is made up stings that are held stretched under tension, which will produce harmonics when plucked with the fingers, a pick or a similar device. There are two primary kinds of harps, bow and angle. Bow harps are so named after the......
• Buyer's Guide for Banjos There are a number of elements to consider when buying a banjo. The main thing to look for is a banjo that is comfortable, easy to play, and does not hurt your hands. Push down on the strings up and down the neck to make sure they have enough give......
• Introduction to Stringed Instruments, pt 2 In the last post in this series we started talking about stringed instruments and the different varieties. We listed plucked stringed instruments, and will now talk about instruments that are played by bowing, striking and other methods. Bowing is a method that is used with some string instruments, including the......
• Fiddling Instruments: A Primer pt 4 ... Continued from pt. 3 The Tarhu One of the most significant new developments in the technology behind spike fiddle instruments can be found in the form of the circular bodied instruments known as Tarhu, as they are made by an Australian luthier known as Peter Biffin. With these instruments......

Continue reading → Fiddling Instruments: A Primer

Basically, a violin is just a more specialized type of fiddle. A fiddle can be any type of stringed instrument that is played with a horsehair bow. The main distinction between a fiddle and a violin generally refers to the different styles of music played on each. Fiddles are more commonly used [...]

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• Brief History for Double Bass or Stand Up Bass The Double Bass or Stand Up Bass is the largest and the lowest pitched of all bowed string instruments that is used as a part of the modern symphony orchestra. The stand up bass is a standard member of the symphony orchestra's string section as well as smaller string ensembles......
• Guitar Buying Advice Walk into any music store and you are bound to find an entire wall covered in guitars; including electric guitars, bass guitars, acoustic guitars and plenty of other specialty guitars as well. Purchasing your first guitar is not nearly as easy as choosing the most attractively designed instrument that you......
• Introduction to the Bass Instrument The bass is also known as the double bass or the doghouse, and it is both the largest as well as the lowest pitch instrument in the violin family. Just like the violin, the double bass instrument evolved from the viol in Europe. Fine bass models are made out of......
• Which is Best: Stand Up Bass or Regular Bass? The first thing that you need to understand when it comes to comparing a stand up bass against a regular bass is that despite the similar naming structure, these are actually two very different instruments. The term "bass" is used to refer to an entire family of musical instruments that......
• Acoustic Musical Instruments Glossary Action - This is a term that is used to describe how a musical instrument plays. The use of this term is highly varied within the industry, but the general sense that it refers to is the playability of the instrument or how well it functions on a mechanical level.......

Continue reading → Confused About the Difference Between a Fiddle and a Violin?

The harp is a simple stringed instrument that is comprised of a plane of strings that is positioned perpendicular in relation to the instrument’s sound board. All harps have similar elements, like the neck, the strings and the resonator. Some harps, frame harps as they are referred to, also have what is known as a [...]

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• Harp Introduction The Harp is an acoustic musical instrument which is made up stings that are held stretched under tension, which will produce harmonics when plucked with the fingers, a pick or a similar device. There are two primary kinds of harps, bow and angle. Bow harps are so named after the......
• Harps Throughout History Harps are a musical instrument that is played all throughout a great deal of the world. Consider the fact that in Africa alone there are more than one hundred and fifty different distinct traditions involving the harp. The harp's ancestor is suggested to be a hunting bow, but the history......
• World Horns 101 pt 1 Virtually any type of tube, some even without having sustained any modification can be used as a music instrument simply by sounding it as a horn. A series of notes can be produced in this way through the use of the harmonic series. Here is a look at some of......
• Manufacturers: Meisel Meisel violins have been around since 1659, predating Paganini and even Beethoven. The Meisel name is still synonymous with solid workmanship and quality instruments at a reasonable price. Students or professionals can find the right violin for them in Meisel's product line. All Meisel stringed instruments exceed the specifications set......
• Metal Instruments 101 There are a range of different metal percussion instruments that can be found in the modern western orchestra, even though many of them have origins that are not only ancient in nature, but also global as well. The Anvil - The Anvil is a specific type of sound effect that......

Continue reading → A Little Background on Harps