String instrument String instrument String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers or a plectrum—and others by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer or by rubbing the strings with a bow. In some keyboard instruments, such as the harpsichord, the musician presses a key that plucks the string. With bowed instruments, the player rubs the strings with a horsehair bow, causing them to vibrate. With a hurdy-gurdy, the musician operates
Hurdy-gurdy is sometimes more descriptively called a "wheel fiddle" in English, but this term is rarely used among players of the instrument. Another possible derivation is from the Hungarian "hegedűs" (Slovenian variant "hrgadus") meaning a fiddle. In France, the instrument is known as "vielle à roue" (wheel fiddle) or simply "vielle" (even though there is another instrument with this name), while in the French-speaking regions of Belgium it is also known in local dialects as "vièrlerète/vièrlète" or "tiesse di dj'va" ('horse's head'). The Flemings and the Dutch call it a "draailier", which is similar to its German name, "Drehleier". An alternate