Zither - Playing

Playing

The zither is played by plucking the strings while it lies flat on a table, which acts as a resonator to amplify the sound.

The right thumb, wearing a thumb-mounted plectrum, picks out the melody on the five fretboard strings, which are stopped by the left hand like a guitar. Meanwhile, the remaining fingers of the right hand play accompanying chords on the open strings. Typically, these are grouped as follows: the first twelve strings after the fretboard are accompanying strings, then the next twelve are bass strings. All these are tuned according to the circle of fifths. After that, there may be some contrabass strings tuned uglu. As few as two or three, or as many as thirteen, depending on the type of zither.