The lute-like instrument in the photograph is a sanxian. It consists of a snakeskin-covered soundbox joined to a long wooden neck that serves as an unfretted fingerboard. Three strings are stretched from a stub at the base of the instrument over a low bamboo bridge to tuning pegs inserted laterally at the top of the neck. The performer usually sounds the strings with false fingernails, although sometimes a plectrum is used. There are several tunings, but generally the outer strings are tuned an octave apart, with the middle string a fourth or a fifth above the lowest, often to the pitches G, D and G.