Viol

The viol or viola da gamba is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments that first appeared in Spain in the mid to late 15th century and was most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Early ancestors include the Arabic rebab and the medieval European vielle, but later, more direct possible ancestors include the Venetian viole and the 15th- and 16th-century Spanish vihuela, a 6-course plucked instrument tuned like a lute that looked like but was quite distinct from the 4-course guitar. Although bass viols superficially resemble cellos, viols are different in numerous respects from instruments of the violin family: the viol family has flat rather than curved backs, sloped rather than squarely rounded shoulders, c holes rather than f holes, and six or seven rather than four strings; some of the many additional differences are tuning strategy, the presence of frets, and underhand rather than overhand bow grip. All members of the viol family are played upright between the legs like a modern cello, hence the Italian name viola da gamba. This distinguishes the viol from the modern violin family, the viola da braccio.