Course (music)
A course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string. It may also refer to a single string normally played on its own on an instrument with other multi-string courses, for example the bass string on a nine string baroque guitar.
An instrument with at least one (multiple string) course is referred to as coursed, while one whose strings are all played individually is uncoursed.
Instruments that use two-string courses include:
- Saz
- Bajo quinto
- Bajo Sexto
- Baroque guitar
- Bouzouki
- Charango
- Chitarra battente
- Cumbus
- Eight-string bass guitar
- Lute
- Mandolin
- Oud
- Springtime, a seven string guitar with three coursed strings
- Twelve-string guitar
- Vihuela
- Viola guitar
Instruments that use three-string courses include:
- Chilean Guitarrón
- Tiple
- Twelve-string bass
Read more about Course (music): Mandolins, Twelve-string Bass