| Name | Image | Tradition | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cümbüş |  | Turkey | The cümbüş is a Turkish stringed instrument of relatively modern origin. Developed in the early 20th century by Zeynel Abidin Cümbüş as an oud-like instrument that could be heard as part of a larger ensemble. In construction it resembles both the American banjo and the Middle Eastern oud. A fretless instrument, it has six courses of doubled-strings, and is generally tuned like an oud. In shape, though, it closely resembles the banjo with a metal resonator bowl and skin body head. It has a loud, metallic, resonant tone and is widely heard in Middle Eastern popular music. |
| Dadihu |  | China | The dadihu (大低胡) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. It is pitched one octave below the xiaodihu and two octaves below the erhu. The biggest string instrument shown in the photo is a dadihu. Yes, it is huge. |
| Daguangxian |  | China | The daguangxian (Chinese: 大廣弦; literally "large and wide string") is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family of instruments. It is held vertically. It is used primarily in Taiwan and Fujian (one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China), among the Hakka (a subgroup of the Han Chinese people.) |
| Dahu |  | China | The dahu (大胡) is a large bowed string instrument from China. It has a large soundbox covered on one end with snakeskin. Like most other members of the huqin family of instruments, it has two strings and is held vertically. The instrument is generally pitched one octave below the erhu, and is considerably larger than the erhu. |
| Dan Bau |  | Vietnam | The đàn bầu (đàn độc huyền or độc huyền cầm) is a Vietnamese monochord. Originally, the Dan Bau was made of just 4 parts: a bamboo tube, a wooden rod, a coconut shell half, and a silk string. The string was strung across the bamboo, tied on one end to the rod, which is perpendicularly attached to the bamboo. The coconut shell was attached to the rod, serving as a resonator. Now, the bamboo has been replaced by a wooden soundboard, with hardwood as the sides and softwood as the middle. An electric guitar string has replaced the traditional silk string. While the gourd is still present, it is now generally made of wood, acting only as a decorative feature. Also, most Dan Baus now have modern tuning machines, so the base pitch of the string can be adjusted. The duxianqin, found in southern China, is nearly identical to the Dan Bao, differing only sometimes in materials. The reason for the parallel structure of these two instruments is probably because the Dan Bau was brought over when the Jing people, ethnically Vietnamese, fled to China in the sixteenth century. |
| Đàn Dáy |  | Vietnam | The đàn đáy is a Vietnamese plucked lute with three strings, a trapezoidal wooden body, and a very long wooden neck with ten raised frets. Players formerly used silk strings, but since the late 20th century have generally used nylon. Day lute is exclusively used to accompany the Dao singing genre. Day lute is the unique instrument of Vietnamese people as there are no trace of such a similar lute in design, produced sounds and performed music genre in other areas outside Vietnam. |
| Đàn Nguyệt |  | Vietnam | The đàn nguyệt (also called nguyệt cầm, đàn kìm, moon lute, or moon guitar) is a two-stringed Vietnamese traditional musical instrument. It is used in both folk and classical music, and remains popular throughout Vietnam. The đàn nguyệt's strings, formerly made of twisted silk, are today generally made of nylon or fishing line. They are kept at a fairly low tension in comparison to the guitar and other European plucked instruments. This, and the instrument's raised frets, allow for the bending tones which are so important to the proper interpretation of Vietnamese traditional music. Such bending tones are produced by pressing the string toward the neck rather than bending to the side. The strings are generally plucked with a small plectrum; often a plastic guitar pick is used. |
| Đàn Nhị |  | Vietnam | The đàn nhị (also called đàn cò) is a Vietnamese bowed string instrument with two strings. Its sound box is generally covered on one end with snakeskin. It is related to the huqin family of instruments of China. |
| Đàn Sến |  | Vietnam | The đàn sến is a Vietnamese plucked string instrument with two strings and a slender neck with raised frets. A sound box has a shape of six-petal peach blossom or hexagon with diameter of 28 cm. Đàn sến is derived from the Chinese qinqin and is used primarily in the traditional music of southern Vietnam. It is played in orchestras of Vietnamese classical drama (Tuong), or renovated opera (Cai luong). |
| Đàn Tranh |  | Vietnam | The đàn tranh (檀箏) is a plucked zither of Vietnam. It has a wooden body and steel strings, each of which is supported by a bridge in the shape of an inverted "V." The đàn tranh can be used either as a solo instrument, or as one of many to accompany singer/s. The đàn tranh originally had 16 strings but it was renovated by Master Nguyễn Vĩnh Bảo of South Vietnam in the mid 1950s. Since then, the 17-stringed đàn tranh has gained massive popularity and become the most preferred form of the instrument used throughout Vietnam. |
| Dinh Goong |  | Vietnam | Dinh Goong is a stringed musical instrument of the Gia Rai ethnic group of Vietnam. Its body is made of a bamboo section, 70-90 cm in length and about 5-8 cm in diameter. It has 9 to 11 strings hung along its body. Tuning key is made of sharpened bamboo put through its body. Amplifying box, which is attached at the end of the body, is made of the cover of old calabash, about 16-23 cm in diameter. The Dinh Goong is the musical instrument for men for solo or ensemble performances and accompanies singing in daily activities. The Dinh Goong can be played at varieties of fast or slow tempos. |
| Dombra |  | Kazakhstan | The dombra is a long-necked stringed instrument possessing a wooden resonating chamber, somewhat similar to a banjo or a lute. The dombra is played by either strumming with the hand, or plucking each string individually, with an occasional tap on the main surface of the instrument. While the strings are traditionally made of metal or sinew, modern dombras are usually produced using nylon strings. It is a traditional instrument of Central Asia, and is especially popular in such countries as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, as well as by Kazakhs living in China. The Uzbek dombra is usually unfretted, while the Kazakh dombra is constructed with frets. |
| Domra |  | Russia | Domra (Russian language:домра) is a long-necked Russian string instrument of the lute family with three or four metal strings. It has a round body. There are two types of domra: three strings (EAD tunning) and four strings (GDAE tuning). |
| Doshpuluur |  | Tuva | The doshpuluur (Tuvan: Дошпулуур) is a long-necked Tuvan lute made from wood, usually pine or larch. There are two different versions of the doshpuluur. One version has a trapezoidal soundbox, which is covered on both sides by goat skin and is fretless. The other has a kidney-shaped soundbox mostly of wood with a small goat or snake skin roundel on the front and has frets. The doshpuluur is played by plucking and strumming. Like the other stringed instruments of Tuva, it is traditionally used as an accompaniment for a solo performance. |
| Double Bass |  | Europe | The double bass (also known as the contrabass, string bass, upright bass, bull fiddle, bass fiddle, bass violin, or simply bass) is the largest and lowest pitched bowed string instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra. It is a standard member of the string section of the symphony orchestra and smaller string ensembles in Western classical music. In addition, it is used in other genres such as jazz, 1950s-style blues and rock and roll, rockabilly/psychobilly, bluegrass, and tango. The image shows the front and side of a double bass. |
| Dramyin |  | Tibet | The dramyin or dranyen (Dzongkha: dramnyen) is a traditional Himalayan folk music lute with 7 strings, used primarily as an accompaniment to singing in the Drukpa Buddhist culture and society in Bhutan, as well as in Tibet, Sikkim and Himalayan West Bengal. It is often used in religious festivals of Vajrayana Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, like the Tsechu. The instrument is played by strumming, fingerpicking or (most commonly) plucking. The dramyin is a long-necked, double-waisted and fretless lute. It is usually hollowed out of a single piece of wood and can vary in size from 60 cm to 120 cm in length. The image shows a street musician with a dramyin in Xigatse, Tibet 1993. |
| Dutar |  | Iran | The dutar (also dotar or doutar) is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Central Asia. Its name comes from the Persian word for "two strings", dotar (do "two", tar "string"), although the Herati dutar of Afghanistan has 14 strings. When played, the strings are usually plucked by the Uyghurs of Western China and strummed and plucked by the Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen, and Afghan people. |
| Duxianqin |  | China | The duxianqin (独弦琴, meaning "single string zither") is a Chinese plucked string instrument with only one string. It is played using harmonics, with the string's tension varied by the use of a flexible rod manipulated with the left hand. The duxianqin is nearly identical to the Vietnamese đàn bầu, from which it is likely derived. Chinese sources describe it as being an instrument of the Jing (also spelled Gin or Kinh) ethnic group of China, who are ethnic Vietnamese living in China. |
| Ektara |  | Bangladesh | Ektara (also called iktar, ektar or gopichand) is a one string instrument used in Bangladesh and India, and Pakistan. In origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger. The ektara usually has a stretched single string, an animal skin over a head (made of dried pumpkin/gourd, wood or coconut) and pole neck or split bamboo cane neck. Pressing the two halves of the neck together changes the pitch, creating an unusual sound. There are commonly three sizes: soprano, tenor and bass. The smallest size gives the highest pitch. |
| Electric Harp |  | Switzerland | Like electric guitars, electric harps are based on their acoustic originals, and there are both solid body and electro-acoustic models available. A solid body electric harp has no hollow soundbox, and thus makes very little noise when not amplified. It is usually lever harp, though solid body pedal harp has also been built. An electro-acoustic harp looks nearly identical to a regular acoustic harp, whether lever or pedal. It too has pickups at the base of each string, and some also contain a separate pickup inside the soundbox, enabling the harpist to mix the signals from both kinds of pickup to produce special effects. The image shows Andreas Vollenweider (a Swiss musician) and his electrically modified harp. |
| Electric Violin |  | United States | An electric violin is a violin equipped with an electronic output of its sound. The term can refer to a standard violin fitted with an electric pickup of some type, or to an instrument purposely made to be electrified with built-in pickups, usually with a solid body. Electrically amplified violins have been used in one form or another since the 1920s; jazz and blues artist Stuff Smith (Portsmouth, Ohio) is generally credited as being one of the first performers to adapt pickups and amplifiers to violins. The Electro Stringed Instrument Corporation, National Valco and Vega attempted to sell electric violins in the 1930s and 1940s; Fender produced a small number of electric violins in the late 1950s. Larger scale manufacture of electric violins did not happen until the late 1990s. |
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