Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

s. The bow rubbing the string causes

vibration Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum—or random, suc ...

which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to the origin of the bowing the problem of the origin of the bowing is unresolved Some say that the bow was introduced to Europe from the Middle East while others say the bow was not introduced from the Middle East but the other way round and that that the bow may have had its origin from a more frequent intercourse with North Europe and Western Europe The history of the violin, and other instruments played on with the bow from the remotest times to the present by Sandys, William, 1792-1874; Forster, Simon Andrew, 1801-1870
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List of bowed string instruments

Violin family

* Pochette *

Violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

(violino) *

Viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

(altviol, bratsche) *

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(violoncello) *

Double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

(contrabasso) ;Variants on the standard members of the

violin family The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 16th century. At the time the name of this family of instruments was viole da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family (viole ''da gamba''). The standa ...

include: * Tenor violin * Five string violin * Cello da spalla * Baroque violin * Kontra * Kit violin * Sardino *

Stroh violin The Stroh violin or Stroviol is a type of stringed musical instrument that is mechanically amplified by a metal resonator and horn attached to its body. The name Stroviol refers to a violin, but other instruments have been modified with the a ...

Låtfiol The låtfiol is a type of fiddle native to Sweden, which features two sympathetic strings running underneath the fingerboard. According to Lennart Carlsson (see link below), fiddles with up to eight sympathetic strings were fairly common in 18th ...

* Hardanger fiddle * Lira da braccio *

Octobass The octobass is an extremely large and rare bowed string instrument that was first built around 1850 in Paris by the French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798–1875). It has three strings and is essentially a larger version of the double ba ...

Viol family (Viola da Gamba family)

Treble viol Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

(treble viola da gamba) * Alto viol (alto viola da gamba) *

Tenor viol A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

(tenor viola da gamba) * Bass viol (bass viola da gamba) :Variants on the standard four members of the

viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

family include: * Pardessus de viol * Division viol * Lyra viol * Baryton * Violone * Viola d'amore *

Lirone The lirone (or lira da gamba) is the bass member of the ''lira'' family of instruments that was popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is a bowed string instrument with between 9 and 16 gut strings and a fretted neck. When played, ...

* Vihuela de arco

Lyra and rebec type

* Byzantine lyra *

Cretan lyra ) * Lira da braccio * Rabāb (Arabic الرباب) * Lijerica * Violin , musicians = * Andreas Rodinos * Alekos Karavitis * Antonis Papadakis (Kareklas) * Kostas Mountakis * Nikos Xilouris * Psarantonis * Ross Daly * Yiorgos ...

* Calabrian lira * Gadulka * Lijerica * Ghaychak * Pochette * Rebec * Rabeca *

Rebab The ''rebab'' ( ar, ربابة, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via ...

* Kemenche *

Kamancheh The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) ( fa, کمانچه, az, kamança, hy, Քամանչա, ku, کەمانچە ,kemançe) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, an ...

* Shah Kaman * Kemençe of the Black Sea * Classical kemençe

Chinese bowed instruments

* Banhu * Daguangxian *

Dahu The dahu is a legendary creature that resembles a mountain goat and is well known in France and francophone regions of Switzerland and Italy, including the Aosta Valley. The dahu, a quadrupedal mammal, may have been inspired by the chamois, a sm ...

* Dihu * Diyingehu * Erhu *

Erxian The ''erxian'' ( 二弦; pinyin: èrxián; literally "two string") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the '' huqin'' family of instruments. It has two strings and is used primarily in Cantonese music, most often in "hard string" chamber en ...

* Gaohu * Gehu *

Huqin ''Huqin'' () is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes ...

* Jiaohu * Jinghu *

Jing erhu The ''jing erhu'' () is a Chinese two-stringed bowed musical instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments, similar to the ''erhu''. It is so named because it is used in ''jing xi'', or Beijing opera. It is lower in pitch than the '' jinghu'', w ...

* * Laruan * Leiqin * Matouqin *

Maguhu The ''maguhu'' ( 馬骨胡; simplified: 马骨胡; pinyin: mǎgǔhú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of musical instruments. It has two strings and its sound box is made from the femur bone of a horse (or alte ...

Sanhu The ''sanhu'' proper (Chinese: 三胡; pinyin: sānhú) is a Chinese bowed musical instrument with three strings. It was developed in the 1970s and is essentially a three-stringed version of the two-stringed ''erhu'', with an additional bass st ...

* Sihu * Tiqin * Tihu *

Tuhu The ''tuhu'' ( 土胡, pinyin: tǔhú) is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the ''huqin'' family of instruments. It is used primarily by non-Han ethnic groups of southern China, particularly the Zhuang, who live in the Guangxi province and u ...

* Yehu * Yazheng * Xiqin * Zhonghu * Zhuihu * Zhuiqin * Wenzhenqin *

Zhengni The ''zhengni'' ( 琤尼) is a traditional Chinese bowed zither, similar to the ancient Chinese instrument yazheng and Korean ajaeng. It is used by the Zhuang people of Guangxi. See also * Chinese music * List of Chinese musical instruments C ...

Rosined wheel instruments

The following instruments are sounded by means of a turning wheel that acts as the bow. *

Organistrum The organistrum is an early form of hurdy-gurdy. Generally considered the ancestor of all subsequent hurdy-gurdies, the organistrum differs substantially from later instruments in that it was played by two individuals: one turned the crank while ...

Hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a v ...

Donskoy ryley The Donskoy ryley (russian: Донской рылей) is a String instrument, stringed musical instrument from Russia. It is a type of hurdy-gurdy, where the strings are constantly bowed by a wheel which is turned using a crank, and the pitch of ...

* Dulcigurdy a.k.a. Vielle à roue et à manche *

Drejelire The drejelire is a string instrument with a keyboard, specifically, a type of hurdy-gurdy that uses a rosined wheel to create sound. The drejelire is made of wood. There is a crank Crank may refer to: Mechanisms * Crank (mechanism), in mechani ...

* Lira * tekerő * Ninera * Kaisatsuko * Violano Virtuoso * Wheelharp * Viola organista * Harmonichord *

Bowed clavier The bowed clavier (', ' or ' in German) is a keyboard instrument strung with gut strings, the tone of which is produced by a steadily revolving, well rosined cylinder powered by a foot pedal, a mechanism similar to that found in the hurdy-gurdy ...

Other bowed instruments

* Masenqo * Violoncello da spalla * Ravanahatha * Ajaeng * Yaylı tambur * Kingri string Instrument * Shichepshin * Đàn nhị *

Đàn hồ The đàn hồ (Chữ Nôm: 彈胡) is a two-stringed vertical violin with wooden resonator. The term hồ ("barbarian, central Asian" 胡) derives from Chinese hu, as in Chinese huqin 胡琴). It is similar to the yehu The ''yehu'' () is a bo ...

Đàn gáo The đàn gáo ("coconut shell fiddle") is a bowed string instrument, a part of the traditional Vietnamese orchestra. It is similar to the đàn hồ. The instrument originated from South Viet Nam, and is used in entertainment contexts. It c ...

* Sohaegeum *

Haegeum The ''haegeum'' () is a traditional Korean string instrument, resembling a vertical fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, inc ...

* Kokyū * sorud * Chuurqin * Daxophone * Arpeggione *

Bowed psaltery The bowed psaltery is a type of psaltery or zither that is played with a bow. In contrast with the centuries-old plucked psaltery, the bowed psaltery appears to be a 20th-century invention. History Violin zither In 1925 a German patent was issu ...

Bowed dulcimer The bowed dulcimer is a musical instrument. Designed in the style of the Appalachian dulcimer (a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings), it is either a standard instrument played with a violin bow, or a ...

* Jouhikko * Talharpa * Gue * Vielle *

Giga Giga ( or ) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or ). It has the symbol G. ''Giga'' is derived from the Greek word (''gígas''), meaning "giant". The ''Oxford English Di ...

* Fiðla * Tautirut * Agiarut *

Crwth The crwth (, also called a crowd or rote or crotta) is a bowed lyre, a type of stringed instrument, associated particularly with Welsh music, now archaic but once widely played in Europe. Four historical examples have survived and are to be fo ...

* Neola *

Bowed guitar Bowed guitar is a method of playing a guitar, acoustic or electric, in which the guitarist uses a bow, rather than the more common plectrum, to vibrate the instruments' strings, similar to playing a viola da gamba. Unlike traditionally b ...

* Musical saw * Morin khuur * Gusle * Saw duang * Saw sam sai * Saw u * Salo (instrument) * Tro Khmer * Tro sau toch * Tro sau thom * Tro u *

huqin ''Huqin'' () is a family of bowed string instruments, more specifically, a spike fiddle popularly used in Chinese music. The instruments consist of a round, hexagonal, or octagonal sound box at the bottom with a neck attached that protrudes ...

* Sarangi * Sarangi (Nepali) *

Sarinda Sarinda may refer to: * ''Sarinda'', a genus of jumping spiders * Sarinda, an Indian stringed instrument {{disambig ...

* Esraj * Nyckelharpa (Swedish keyed fiddle) * Ghaychak * Gadulka * Gudok * Kobyz * Sorahi *

Byzaanchy The ''byzaanchy'' (Tuvan: бызаанчы; Russian: Бизанчи; also transliterated ''byzanchi'' or ''byzanchie'') is a four-stringed vertical spike fiddle used in the traditional music of Tuva. It is similar to the Chinese '' sihu''. Howe ...

* Igil * Imzad * Umbang

References

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