“Stairway To Heaven” Sounds So Beautiful On This Weird Instrument

A gayageum is a Korean musical instrument that has 12 strings. King Gasil invented this ancient instrument back in the 6th century. Apparently, a certain Chinese instrument amused him and this made him order a musician by the name of Wu Ruk to compose a song that could be played on the gayago now called gayageum. What is it made of? It is 160cm long 30cm wide and 10cm deep. The body of the gayageum is made from paulownia wood. The sides are made with hard wood. The modern gayageum is now can have 13, 17, 18, 21, 22 or 25 strings. Movable bridges support the strings. The work of these bridges is to control the tuning and intonation. The strings surround themselves on floating pegs at the bottom end of the instrument. How does it work? You use the left hand to press the strings while the right hand strums or plucks them to produce a unique tone. The left hand usually performs four movements they are shaking, pressing, bending and vibrating.