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 rolls, and more recently by electronic modules. The French call the barrel organ the "Orgue de Barbarie" ("Barbary organ"), while the Germans and Dutch say "Drehorgel" and "draaiorgel" ("turned organ"), instead of "Drehleier" ("turning lyre"). In Czech, the barrel organ is called "Flašinet". A person who plays the hurdy-gurdy is called a hurdy-gurdyist, or (particularly for players of French instruments) viellist. In France, a player is called un sonneur de vielle (literally: ""a sounder of vielle""), un vielleux or un vielleur. Because of the prominence of the French tradition, many instrument and performance terms used in English are commonly taken