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Music vocabulary · Instruments and Voice

Strings

Meaning in music, with examples

/strɪŋz/nounCore term

In music, strings means: The section of instruments played with a bow, mainly violins, violas, cellos and double basses. It also means the actual strings on an instrument such as a guitar.

In Turkish: yaylılar, yaylı çalgılar, teller

How it is used

In orchestras and studios, 'the strings' means the bowed section: 'bring in the strings', 'a string section', 'string quartet'. Guitarists talk about changing strings, light or heavy strings and breaking a string.

Example sentences

  1. The strings enter softly in the second verse and grow into the chorus.

  2. I broke a string in the first song and had to switch guitars.

Common collocations

  • string section
  • string quartet
  • change strings
  • break a string
  • string arrangement
  • orchestraA large group of musicians playing string, woodwind, brass and percussion instruments together, usually led by a conductor.
  • instrumentAn object made or used to produce musical sounds, such as a piano, violin, guitar, drum or ney.
  • brassThe family of wind instruments, usually made of metal, in which the player makes the sound by buzzing the lips into a cup-shaped mouthpiece, such as the trumpet, trombone, horn and tuba.
  • woodwindThe family of wind instruments that make sound by blowing across an edge or through a reed, such as the flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone.
  • arrangementA version of a piece that decides which instruments play which parts, how sections are ordered and how the song builds from start to finish.

More terms: Instruments and Voice

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