Sanxian

From Freepedia

The sanxian (Chinese: 三弦, pinyin sānxián, Wade-Giles san1-hsien2, lit. 'three strings') is a Chinese lute — a three-stringed fretless plucked musical instrument. It has a long fingerboard, and the body is traditionally made from snakeskin stretched over a square resonator. It is made in several sizes for different purposes and in the late 20th century a four-stringed version was also developed.

The sanxian has a rich tone and loud volume, and the larger ones have a range of three octaves. It is primarily used as an accompanying instrument or in the orchestra, though solo pieces and concertos also exist.

Traditionally the instrument is plucked with a thin, hard plectrum made from animal horn but today most players use a plastic plectrum (similar to a guitar pick) or, more rarely, their fingernails.

A closely related instrument is the Japanese shamisen, which is derived from the sanxian but which generally uses cat skin rather than snakeskin to cover its resonator.