The daegeum has a mouth piece with a closed end and a membrane hole. The membrane is collected from the inside of the reed stem and it produces a unique buzzing sound of the daegeum. A membrane guard is attached to cover it or to control its resonance. There are six finger holes, and extra holes are made at the end of the instrument. The extra holes are called chilseonggong, which literally mean seven star holes, and are not used to produce sounds but for balancing the pitch.