Bouzouki

Bouzouki

The bouzouki is the mainstay of modern Greek music as well as other Balkan folk music. It is a
stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body and a very long neck. The bouzouki
is a member of the ‘long neck lute’ family and is similar to a mandolin. The
front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl.The
instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound.

Many musicians such as Manolis
Chiotis and Giorgos Zampetas began using specially designed pickups to achieve a
slightly thicker humbucker -like sound in the mid-1960s. These pickups are
widely used by several Greek artists today and came in active and (usually)
passive versions.

There are two main types of bouzouki:

• Trichordo, having three pairs of strings (courses).
• Tetrachordo, having four pairs of strings

Bouzouki of three chords and an old-fashioned lengthy vessel. Figure of a gramophone, oval-shaped hole, chaplets on the side and the headspring, fingerboard and vessel made of black walnut tree and ebony. It can also be made with four chords and another hole.

Giorgos Zampetas: Famous Greek bouzouki player

 

Edited by Christiana