Why does the violin have four strings while the guitar has six?

Question

Why does the violin have four strings while the guitar has six? and why are the notes different?

Answer 1

The violin was designed to be a part of something more complex, while historically the guitar was the instrument of a lone performer. To put it simply, violins occupy a range reserved for the melody while the other orchestral strings provide harmony and bass, but a guitarist usually had to provide his own accompaniment in the form of plucked bass strings or raked chords.
The notes aren't different: the strings are tuned differently, however, to make the most of the fingering hand's reach.

Answer 2

Let's put it this way: both instruments are a product of long evolution with a lot of trial and error. Different instrument builders tried different options, and the ones that worked best eventually became the de-facto standards.

The first modern violin is believed to have been made by Andrea Amati in Cremona, Italy, in the early 16th century. It was derived from a three-srting instrument called rebec.

The earliest known six-string guitar was built in 1779 by Gaetano Vinaccia in Naples, Italy. (As an aside, the Vinaccia family also developed the mandolin.)

But the six-string guitar is not the only one around. In addition to the 12-string (which is played identically to the six-string, since it has the same strings as the six-string, but two of each), there are also seven-string guitars (independently developed in Russia in early 1800s and in Brazil in early 1900s). Eight-string guitars are exotic, but they do exist (some have two extra bass strings, others, an extra bass and an extra treble). Finally, there's ukulele, a small four-string guitar played in Hawaii...

Answer 3

The guitar is a chording instrument (the simultaneous sounding of more than one note), where as the violin is clearly designed to be a serial note-producing instrument (no chords, in other words).

Chords played on a guitar can consist of up to 6 notes, thus the 6 strings.

There are other similar instruments that have less strings, such as the ukelele (with 4 strings), but they do not have the rich possibilities of the guitar regarding chording.

Answer 4

I'm no musician but I guess that you can have as many strings as you want (example: Indian guitars) in guitars because your fingers are adept to picking any of the strings while in the case of violin, the bow (horse hair) is straight and it would be difficult to arrange six or more string configuration without the chances that you may hit two or more strings accidentally.

Answer 5

If the violin had more than four strings, it would necessitate a much larger fingerboard. Because the violin is held under the chin, the angle of the wrist and fingers prohibits easy use of such a wide fingerboard.

The 'cello might be able to facilitate more strings due to the softer angle of the wrist, and I am sure that has been experimented with.

Answer 6

Because violin can come you down with four strings,but guitar has make you cry loud with six.

Answer 7

Because the geezer who invented the guitar wasn't the same bloke who invented the violin. Anyway, Pat Metheny's Pikaso has 48 strings.

Answer 8

Well, i know the violin has 4 strings, i don't know about the guitar.

Answer 9

They have 6 string bass guitars too!

Answer 10

playing a violin is like playing an upside down guitar...or bass guitar since there are only four strings....with no frets and different tuning.