The koto is a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument, and the national instrument of Japan. It is derived from the Chinese zheng and se, and similar to the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum and ajaeng, the Vietnamese đàn tranh, the Sundanese kacapi and the Kazakh jetigen. Koto are roughly 180 centimetres (71 in) in length, and made from Paulownia wood. The most common type uses 13 strings strung over movable bridges used for tuning, different pieces possibly requiring different tuning. Seventeen-string koto are also common, and act as bass in ensembles. Koto strings are generally plucked using three fingerpicks, worn on the first three fingers of the right hand.
In musical instrument classification, string instruments or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Zithers are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, it could be any instrument of the psaltery family. In modern terminology, it is more specifically an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body, the topic of this article.
The kacapi is a traditional zither of Sundanese people in Indonesia. This musical instrument is similar to Chinese guzheng, Japanese koto, the Mongolian yatga, the Korean gayageum, the Vietnamese đàn tranh and the Kazakh jetigen. The kacapi played as the main accompanying instrument in the Tembang Sunda or Mamaos Cianjuran, kacapi suling genre, pantun stories recitation or an additional instrument in Gamelan Degung performance.
The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional Korean musical instrument. It is a plucked zither with 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 18, 21 or 25 strings. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument. It is based on the Chinese guzheng and is similar to the Japanese koto, Mongolian yatga, Vietnamese đàn tranh, Sundanese kacapi and Kazakh jetigen.
The geomungo or hyeongeum is a traditional Korean plucked zither with both bridges and frets. Geomungo is a representative stringed instrument made in Goguryeo before the 5th century. Scholars believe that the name refers to Goguryeo and translates to "Goguryeo zither" or that it refers to the colour and translates to "black crane zither".
The trapezoidal yangqin is a Chinese hammered dulcimer, likely derived from the Iranian santur or the European dulcimer. It used to be written with the characters 洋琴, but over time the first character changed to 揚, which means "acclaimed". It is also spelled yang ch'in. Hammered dulcimers of various types are now very popular not only in China, but also Eastern Europe, the Middle East, India, Iran, and Pakistan. The instruments are also sometimes known by the names "santoor" and "cymbalom". This instrument had an influence on the Thai classical instrument, known as Khim (ขิม).
The guqin is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted by the quote "a gentleman does not part with his qin or se without good reason," as well as being associated with the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. It is sometimes referred to by the Chinese as "the father of Chinese music" or "the instrument of the sages". The guqin is not to be confused with the guzheng, another Chinese long stringed instrument also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string.
The zheng or guzheng, is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is 64 inches long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from Paulownia wood. Other components are often made from other woods for structural or decorative reasons. Guzheng players often wear a fingerpick made from materials such as plastic, resin, tortoiseshell, or ivory on one or both hands.
The ichigenkin is a Japanese single-stringed plucked zither. Its body is a slender, slightly curved plank carved from kiri wood. Its raw silk string is plucked with a tubular plectrum placed on the index finger of the right hand while a tubular ivory device similar to a guitar slide placed over the middle finger of the left hand slightly depresses the string—though not so hard that it presses against the hardwood soundboard—to vary the pitch. Both the plectrum and slide are referred to as rokan. As with the Chinese guqin, from which it was likely originally adapted, the ichigenkin has no frets, so sliding tones are an important part of the technique of the instrument. Traditionally, the ichigenkin is used to accompany traditional singing, although there are also purely instrumental works in its repertoire. The instrument was once popular among samurai, literati, and priests, but today players of the instrument are very rare. The only unbroken line of ichigenkin transmission is Seikyodo Ichigenkin, whose current Iemoto is Issui Minegishi. Minegishi performs widely in North America, Europe, and Asia, and occasionally with Canadian multi-instrumentalist Randy Raine-Reusch, perhaps the only non-Japanese ichigenkin performer, who composes and records new works for the instrument.
The đàn tranh or đàn thập lục is a plucked zither of Vietnam, based on the Chinese guzheng, from which are also derived the Japanese koto, the Korean gayageum and ajaeng, the Mongolian yatga, the Sundanese kacapi and the Kazakh jetigen. It has a long soundbox with the steel strings, movable bridges and tuning pegs positioned on its top.
Plucked string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by plucking the strings. Plucking is a way of pulling and releasing the string in such a way as to give it an impulse that causes the string to vibrate. Plucking can be done with either a finger or a plectrum.
Traditional Vietnamese musical instruments are the musical instruments used in the traditional and classical musics of Vietnam. They comprise a wide range of string, wind, and percussion instruments, used by both the Viet majority as well as the nation's ethnic minorities.
This is a chart of stringed instrument tunings. Instruments are listed alphabetically by their most commonly known name.
The jadagan is a wooden board zither of the Khakas people in Siberia.
The jetigen is a Kazakh and Kyrgyz plucked zither. Similar to Chinese guzheng, yazheng and se, Japanese koto, Korean gayageum and ajaeng, Mongolian yatga, Vietnamese đàn tranh, and Sundanese kacapi. The strings were sometimes made of horsehair. The jetigen is played by plucking, in a similar manner to the gusli, tube zither or box zither.
The chadagan is a Tuvan bridge zither. It usually has 16 strings and is tuned to a pentatonic scale. The number of strings varies, and the bridge is sometimes movable. Although it is usually plucked, it may also be played by striking with thin sticks, like a hammered dulcimer.
The tube zither is a stringed musical instrument in which a tube functions both as an instrument's neck and its soundbox. As the neck, it holds strings taut and allows them to vibrate. As a soundbox, it modifies the sound and transfers it to the open air. The instruments are among the oldest of chordophones, being "a very early stage" in the development of chordophones, and predate some of the oldest chordophones, such as the Chinese Se, zithers built on a tube split in half. Most tube zithers are made of bamboo, played today in Madagascar, India, Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Tube zithers made from other materials have been found in Europe and the United States, made from materials such as cornstalks and cactus.
