String instrument strings, or play them by rolling the bell of a brass instrument such as a trombone on the array of strings. However, these are relatively rarely used special techniques. Other keyed string instruments, small enough for a strolling musician to play, include the plucked autoharp, the bowed nyckelharpa, and the hurdy-gurdy, which is played by cranking a rosined wheel. Steel-stringed instruments (such as the guitar, bass, violin, etc.) can be played using a magnetic field. An E-Bow is a small hand-held battery-powered device that magnetically excites the strings of an electric string instrument to provide a sustained, singing tone reminiscent
Hurdy Gurdy Man also says that "Hollsworth" had played with Blue Mink, which was a band that Alan Parker had played in. In the autobiography, Donovan said that perhaps this session inspired the creation of Led Zeppelin. The four-string tambura that Donovan plays on the track had been given to him in India by George Harrison, who also helped write the lyrics. In his autobiography, Donovan recalls that he began writing "Hurdy Gurdy Man" on the tambura after Harrison discussed the sitar scales he had learned from Ravi Shankar. Donovan also says that with the drone of the tambura on the song, he