A vihuela is a fretted, plucked string instrument, with a guitar-like shape but tuned similar to a lute and with five or six pairs of strings. It was used in 15th and 16th century Spain as the equivalent of the lute in Italy. The Mexican vihuela, which shares the same name but is not closely related to the now largely obsolete Spanish vihuela, is today widely used in Mariachi music, especially in solo parts.