Stringed instrument musicians/artists.

Information about autoharps and autoharp makers.

Please submit sites dealing with banjo-music-related products, such as accessories, instructional materials, book, ebooks, tablature, DVDs and audio downloads.

String bass instruments including electric and acoustic bass guitars. For bowed bass sites, see Arts/Music/Instruments/Stringed/Bowed_Strings/Bass.

A member of the 'long neck lute' family now closely associated with Greece. During the first half of the 20th century the bouzouki was used principally for virtuoso improvisation and for accompanying the Rebetika (urban folk songs associated with the criminal underworld).

With the half-pear body of the lute and long neck, it is closely related to several similar 'long-necks' in Turkey, Iran, and Central Asia. The traditional three-course instrument suits an improvization style derived from the traditional musics of Asia Minor, using Turkish modes (makam).

Since the 1940s, the bouzouki with four courses has widened the possibility of introducing Western-style chords. Western major and minor scales have displaced the oriental makam as the framework.

The bouzouki has become the Greek urban instrument par excellence and is played throughout the Greek-speaking world. Greek composers trained in Western music, such as Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjidakis, have used the bouzouki in their works, drawing on the old repertory of the instrument for melodic and rhythmic inspiration.

The charango is a small ten string lute that originated in South America. The back of the instrument is traditionally fashioned from an armadillo.

A large and complex family of stringed instruments which developed from the 16th through to the 18th centuries. While the lute and guitar families were strung with gut, the citterns were wire-strung and played with a plectrum.

Two members of the cittern family have retained their importance - the Spanish Bandurria and the Portuguese Guitar (the latter particularly associated with Fado).

In the latter years of the 20th century, the word "cittern" came to be applied to a bewildering range of instruments of the mandolin family, and, in Celtic music, to the Irish bouzouki.

A trapezoidal instrument of the zither family. Strings, which are stretched over a soundboard, may be hit by hammers (Hammered dulcimer) or plucked (Mountain or Appalachian dulcimer). The name dulcimer is derived from latin and translated means "sweet sounds".

Sites providing free stringed instrument education, or about stringed instrument education. Teachers can be found in the Regional part of the directory listed according to where they teach. Commercial sites can be found in the Shopping branch.

At its simplest, a guitar is "a stringed instrument of the lute family, plucked or strummed, as the instrument sits upright in one's lap." However, the guitar family has proved particularly adaptable to different cultures, musical genres, and to technological developments.

• The modern Classical Guitar has six strings, usually of nylon (once of gut), a wooden resonating chamber with incurved sidewalls and a flat back, and is nowadays normally tuned to standard tuning (EADGBE).
  • The Flamenco Guitar is very similar, but of lighter construction.
• The Acoustic Guitar is similar to the modern classical guitar; however, it has steel strings, which involves building a stronger and larger resonating chamber, and a stronger but narrower neck. Standard tuning (EADGBE) is the commonest tuning. However, a wide variety of alternative tunings is available, some of them particularly associated with certain musical styles. The acoustic guitar has proved particularly flexible and some of the variations include
  • Resonator Guitars - where the sound box's function is replaced by metal resonators;
  • Guitars with varying numbers of strings; 6 courses of 2 strings (12 strings) is relatively common, but there are also 7, 8, and 10 string guitars;
  • Guitars with different shaped bodies - with flat tops or arched tops.
    
  • Semi-acoustic guitars are designed to combine the physical construction of a sound-box to transmit and amplify sound, with inbuilt electronics to facilitate use as an electric guitar.
• The Electric Guitar generally has a solid body, as electronic amplification replaces the function of the acoustic guitar's sound-box. It generally (but not necessarily) has 6 strings, tuned to standard tuning (EADGBE).
  • Bass Guitars are a particularly flexible development of the electric guitar; they generally have 4 strings.

There are two major caveats:

1. These definitions reflect a somewhat simplistic view of the commonest guitars as played by most players in major genres of western musics. Beyond that, the guitar family includes
   • Adaptations of the classic model in Iberia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and elsewhere; these vary considerably in size, number of strings, tunings, and method of playing;
   • Adaptations which considerably change the structure of the guitar - Steel Guitars (Lap Steel or Pedal Steel), which bear some resemblance to zithers.
2. The physical description of the "guitar box, strings, and neck" has little connection to musical styles/genres in which the guitar has become irreplaceable. It would be very hard to imagine some musical styles without the guitar, played in particular styles, with a particular range of chords/fingerings, or with specific tunings. These genres require very specific skills and understanding of the instrument. A few examples:
   • Bluegrass
   • Blues
   • Classical
   • Country and Western
   • Flamenco
   • Hawaiian Slack Key
   • Jazz
   • Rock
   • Soukous

The harp is an ancient string-percussion instrument, with many varieties today. This category contains informational sites about harps, including harpists, builders, historical information, photo galleries, and events.

The kantele is the national instrument of Finland. It may have from 5 to 30 strings and is classified as a cordophone.

The koto is a stringed instrument with a long hollow body and movable bridges. The instrument originated in China and was brought to Japan in the 7th or 8th century.

The French word lutherie, now used also in English, refers to the art of constructing string instruments. The name luthier harkens back to early lute-makers.

A string instrument whose strings are attached to a yoke which consists of two arms and a crossbar. The yoke lies in the same plane as the soundtable (unlike a harp, whose strings are at right angles to the soundtable).

The earliest known lyres, dating from the 3rd millennium BCE, were found in Mesopotamia (Iraq). Lyres appeared in several ancient Mediterranean cultures and spread throughout medieval Europe.

Lyres were also played in the East African kingdoms of Kush (c650 BCE–325 CE) and Aksum (c100–350 CE), a tradition which has survived unbroken in modern Ethiopia.

Makers, manufacturers and builders of stringed instruments.

For sites dedicated primarily to instruments of the mandolin family. Subjects include musical range and tone, technical specifications, history, and instrument making, manufacture and repair.

Sites of manufacturers of stringed instruments.

Organizations, associations, societies, and clubs focusing on stringed instruments.

This category includes sites pertaining to the playing, history, construction, and performers of the stringed instrument known as the oud. The oud is a Middle Eastern and North African fretless lute. Originally from the region of present-day Baghdad and Tehran, it once had four strings that were tuned in fourths. Modern-day ouds have between 10 and 13 strings and are played with a plectrum known as a risha, mezrab, or mezrap. Some famous players of the oud have included: Greek: Yorgo Barcanos Armenian: Udi Hrant Kenouklian, Udi Marko Melkon Turkish: Cinuçen Tanrikorur, Necati Çelik, Yurdal Tokcan, Udi Nevres Bey, Targan Lebanese: Farid al-Atrach Egyptian: Mohammed abd al-Wahab, Riyad as-Sinbati Nubian: Hamza al-Din Iraqi: Munir Bachir, Omar Bachir, Nasser Shamma Scandanavian: Anouar Brahen Armenian-American: Ara Dinkjan, John Bilezekian, Haig Manoukian ++++ In Persian music (and the Farsi language), the oud is also known as the barbat. The oud/barbat is commonly believed to be the ancestor of the European lute and guitar, and in the Arab world is definitively considered the ancestor of the tanbur, saz, and buzuq (bazouki).

This category is for sites primarily focussed on the sitar or other similar Indian stringed instruments.

Informational sites about the ukulele, including comprehensive sites, online communities, chats and forums, photo galleries, and organizations.

The veena is a stringed instrument with a large hollowed out body and a gourd positioned under the neck. There are several varieties, including the Mahanataka veena, Saraswati veena, Rudra veena, and Vichitra veena. The latter is played with a slide.