The Harpejji, A Unique Stringed Instrument That Is Played by Tapping the Strings Instead of Strumming

In 2007, musician, experimental instrument maker and Marcodi Musical Products founder Tim Meeks, created the Harpejji, a really cool stringed, amplified instrument that employs the principles of guitar, piano, harp and percussion. The player taps the strings with one finger rather than forming chords to strum and can use the wooden frame to provide a back beat.

The harpejji is a member of a small family of stringed musical instruments known as tapping instruments. Tapping instruments are decedents of the electric guitar but are optimized for a style of playing that involves tapping on the strings to produce a note. One of the primary benefits of this style of playing is that it only requires one finger to make each note, unlike strumming which requires at least one finger on each hand to make a note. By freeing up more fingers, the player has the freedom to play arrangements that are physically too difficult to play with the more traditional playing techniques. Unlike all other commercially available tapping instruments, the harpejji has a keyboard-inspired playing interface that many will find easier to learn, more comfortable to play and more interesting to explore.

via Rare and Strange Instruments