CineSamples Viola da Gamba

The Viola da Gamba is a 6-stringed bowed and fretted instrument that first appeared in Spain in the mid to late 15th century and was most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Cinesamples´ Viola da Gamba was recorded at the MGM Scoring Stage in Los Angeles.

Viols are fretted in a manner similar to early guitars or lutes, by means of movable wrapped-around and tied-on gut frets. The movable nature of the tied-on frets permits the viol player to make adjustments to the tempering of the instrument. On this particular instrument, the frets only extend 7 semi-tones on each string.