Instrument sound guides
Learn common instruments through origins, timbre, arrangement roles and representative works.
Strings
13 instruments
EElectric Guitar
United States, 1930s
Strings
AAcoustic Guitar
European roots; modern steel-string form developed in the United States
Strings
BBass Guitar
United States, mid-twentieth century
Strings
CCello
Italy, sixteenth century
Strings
DDouble Bass
Europe, taking shape around the sixteenth century
Strings
EErhu
China; developed from older huqin traditions and gained a modern solo repertory in the twentieth century
Strings
KKora
Mande cultural region of West Africa
Strings
OOud
Middle East and North Africa; part of an ancient fretless short-necked lute tradition
Strings
PPipa
China; developed over centuries through Central Asian and local plucked-string traditions
Strings
SSitar
Indian subcontinent; modern form emerged around the eighteenth century
Strings
VViolin
Northern Italy, sixteenth century
Strings
GGuzheng
China, with roots reaching at least to the Warring States and Qin-Han eras
Strings
SShamisen
Japan, sixteenth century; developed through instruments including the Ryukyuan sanshin
Strings
Electronic
3 instruments
Winds
3 instruments
Percussion
7 instruments
CCongas
Cuba, from drumming traditions of the African diaspora
Percussion
DDrum Kit
United States, late nineteenth to early twentieth century
Percussion
TTabla
North India, around the eighteenth century; precise origins remain debated
Percussion
TTaiko
Japan; modern ensemble taiko developed after the 1950s
Percussion
BBalafon
West Africa, especially Mande and neighboring cultures
Percussion
DDjembe
Mande cultural region of West Africa
Percussion
SSteelpan
Trinidad and Tobago, 1930s–1940s
Percussion
