Bodner and Fitzgerald and Woodward have described dynamic tests on beams of aluminum alloy and polytetrafluoroethylene, respectively, in which the laterally vibrating bars were subjected to tension by coaxial wires. In both cases, the direct effect of the wires was disregarded. This paper presents an analysis of the wire‐bar systems, based on the theories of vibrating bars and strings. The calculations show that resonance patterns generally resembling those found experimentally should be expected.