What does zither mean in music?

zither, any stringed musical instrument whose strings are the same length as its soundboard. The European zither consists of a flat, shallow sound box across which some 30 or 40 gut or metal strings are stretched.

What type of music does the zither play?

String instrument
Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum….Zither.

String instrument
Classification (Chordophone), String instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification 314.122-5,6 (Resonated box zither, plucked by fingers or a plectrum)
Developed Antiquity
Related instruments

Is a piano a zither?

Most sound when the strings are plucked, but some are bowed or struck. Among the keyboard instruments, the piano is a box zither, as are the harpsichord and the clavichord.

What culture is the zither from?

The zither is a large stringed instrument used in East Asian music; with or without frets, it is something like a cross between a lap guitar and a harp. IIIZ+ combines zithers from China, Japan, and Korea, along with a changgu, a type of Korean drum.

Is a zither a harp?

The instrument is also called a lap harp, cymbala, yerbonitsa, or plucked psaltery. They’re so easy to play from your very first try!

What is the sound of a zither?

The zither can move smoothly between classical and folk music, and even approximate something like the woozy lilt of a Hawaiian lap steel guitar. Both the autoharp and zither have a distinctive, spidery, high register rattling sound, which can be evocative, especially in soundtrack work.

Is a guitar a zither?

A zither is technically any stringed instrument that has the feature of the strings not extending beyond the soundhole or resonator of the instrument (unlike, say, a guitar, where the strings stretch out into a neck).