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What is the difference between guitar,voilen,sitar,veena?

As the class expert in Indian classical music in my heyday, I feel it's my place to answer this question.

The guitar is of Western origin, has 6 strings, is plucked or strummed and is not used in Indian music.

The violin is of Western origin, has 4 strings, is the only one out of the four which is played with a bow (but sometimes plucked), and is also used in Carnatic (South Indian) music, albeit with different tuning of the strings.

The sitar is the main instrument of Hindusthani (North Indian) music and is gourd-shaped with a long neck. The instrument itself in fact is made out of aged pumpkin shell. It has many strings, the number varies but 17 is usual. It is usually performed alongside the tabla.

The veena is the sitar's Carnatic counterpart and is also gourd-shaped with a long neck. It is made of wood. The veena has 4 main strings and 3 drone or sympathetic strings, and is usually paired with the mridangam which is the South Indian drum.

P.S. The first answerer has not done her homework. Neither the guitar nor the violin is a so-called modern invention (the guitar originated as far back as 1900-1800 B.C. while the modern six-stringed guitar emerged in the 18th century, while the violin appeared in the 16 century with the oldest documented four-stringed violin made in 1555 by the famous violin maker Amati). Nor are they American in origin.

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