Chordophone facts for kids

Three string instruments from the 1600s.

Harpist Elaine Christy playing a harp. Harps are great examples of chordophones.

A chordophone is a type of musical instrument. It makes sound when one or more strings vibrate. These strings are stretched tightly between two points on the instrument.

Many instruments you know are chordophones. Think of violins, guitars, lyres, and harps. They all use strings to create their beautiful sounds.

How String Instruments Make Sound

When you play a chordophone, its strings start to vibrate. These vibrations then create sound waves. Most chordophones also have a special part, like the body of a guitar or violin, that helps the sound get louder. This is called resonance.

You can make the strings vibrate in different ways:

• Plucking: Like on a harp or ukulele.
• Strumming: Like on a guitar or banjo.
• Bowing: Rubbing the strings with a bow, like on a violin or cello.
• Striking: Hitting the strings, like inside a piano or with a stick on a dulcimer.

Some common chordophones include the banjo, cello, double bass, guitar, harp, lute, piano, sitar, ukulele, viola, and violin.

The History of String Instruments

String instruments have been around for a very long time! The oldest picture of a chordophone is a stone carving from about 3,300 years ago. It shows a Hittite musician playing a stringed instrument.

Ancient clay tablets from Babylonia also show people playing instruments that look a lot like early guitars. This suggests that instruments similar to the guitar might have first appeared in Babylonia.

Types of Chordophones

Here is a list of many different chordophones:

• Banjo
• Cello
• Citole
• Clavichord
• Clavinet
• Crwth
• Cuban tres
• Double bass
• Gittern
• Guitar
• Dulcimer
• Harp
• Hurdy-gurdy
• Lyre
• Lute
• Monochord
• Piano
• Psaltery
• Rebec
• Rote
• Sitar
• String drum
• Ukulele
• Veena
• Vielle
• Viol
• Viola
• Violin

Images for kids

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  Numerous stringed instruments of Chinese make on display in a shop in Hong Kong

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  Viol, fidel and rebec (from left to right) on display at Amakusa Korejiyokan in Amakusa, Kumamoto, Japan

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  A woman playing some kind of string instrument while riding a horse, Tang dynasty

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  String fingering is proportional and not fixed, as on the piano

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  The strings of a piano

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  The Moroccan loutar uses a soundboard made of goatskin.

See also

In Spanish: Instrumento de cuerda para niños