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fiddle

Colloquial term for a bowed string instrument, most often a violin; used across classical and folk genres, sometimes with construction differences such as a flatter bridge arch to facilitate folk playing techniques

EntityQ510487

Also known as folk violin · fiddles · fiddle-family

Subclass of: bowed lute

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. Fiddle is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violin and fiddle are essentially synonymous, the style of the music played may determine specific construction differences between fiddles and classical violins. For example, fiddles may optionally be set up with a bridge with a flatter arch to reduce the range of bow-arm motion needed for techniques such as the double shuffle, a form of bariolage involving rapid alternation between pairs of adjacent strings. To produce a brighter tone than the deep tones of gut or synthetic core strings, fiddlers often use steel strings. The fiddle is part of many traditional (folk) styles, which are typically aural traditions—taught "by ear" rather than via written music.

Overview

All data

15 statements · 13% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Hornbostel-Sachs classification: 321.322-71
Has part(s) of the class: scroll
Said to be the same as: violin
Used by: fiddler

On other databases

9 identifiers linking fiddle across the web's reference databases

Data quality

statements

13%

externally sourced

Source last edited September 30, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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AIDB. (2026). fiddle (Q510487). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/fiddle-Q510487