Take a bow
All of the instruments we’re describing here are usually played with a bow – a long, thin piece of wood (or these days, often carbon fibre). It’s strung along its length with horsehair that’s fixed at either end of the bow and coated in rosin – a sticky mixture of tree resin and wax – to produce the necessary amount of friction required to create sound when moved across the strings. Up to 200 hairs from a horse’s tail can be used in the production of a bow, and it’s this side that’s used for 90 percent of normal string playing. There is, however, a technique known as ‘Col legno’, which, when marked on a score, means that the part should be played by striking the strings percussively with the wooden back of the bow, rather than the stringy part. Stringed instruments can also be played pizzicato, by plucking the strings with the fingers, rather than using the bow.