Ukulele

The ukulele is a small, four-stringed guitar from Hawaii. It grew from little guitars that Portuguese settlers brought to the islands in the 1870s, and its name is often said to mean "jumping flea," for the way a player's fingers hop over the strings.

Tap it and a pick sweeps across the strings four times, and each string shakes back and forth between the two ends where it is held. A string's note depends on how long, how tight and how heavy it is: a shorter, tighter string plays higher.