Instrument List

Wind instrument

• accordina (harmonica/accordion hybrid) — Harmonica/Accordion hybrid where the bellows for the accordion bit with buttons/keys receive air though the user blowing into the instrument like an harmonica
• accordion (Commonly used bellowed free reed with keys/buttons) — Invented and developed by several people in the early 1800's, it has an arm operated bellows with keys or buttons at one end and bass buttons at the other.
• algozey — The algozey is a wooden, beaked double-flute traditionally played by goat herders in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan.
• alphorn — The alphorn, or alpine horn, is a conical wood horn used for communication in mountains.
• alto clarinet — The alto clarinet is a clarinet in E♭ or sometimes F, normally with a curved neck.
• alto flute — The alto flute is a concert flute in G, lower in tone than the flûte d'amour.
• alto saxophone (Middle member of the saxophone family) — The most common member of the saxophone family, it is the alto member.
• Anglo concertina (Historical hybrid between English and German style concertinas) — Bisonoric and button layout like the German, reeds and hexagonal ends like the english, this concertina was created to rival the popular German variant imported into England.
• antara (Andean single row panpipe) — Used in traditional Andes music, it consists of a single row of pipes.
• arghul — The arghul is a traditional Egyptian double-pipe, single-reed woodwind instrument.
• bagpipe — The bagpipe is an instrument consisting of a series of enclosed reeds fed by a bag of air.
• bandoneón — Invented and used in 1800's Europe, it became popular in Argentina. Unlike concertinas it is square, but alike its button action is parallel, typically it has several reeds per button.
• bansuri — The bansuri is a transverse alto flute, which is the North Indian counterpart to the venu.
• baritone horn — The baritone horn is a piston valve brass instrument with a wide-rimmed cup mouthpiece which is pitched in B♭, one octave below the B♭ trumpet.
• baritone saxophone (Middle-Low member of the saxophone family) — The most common of the lower members of the saxophone family, it is the middle-low baritone.
• baroque rackett (Conical bored compact double reed) — Improved by Johann Christoph Denner sometime around 1730, its "coiled snake" bore now is conical, in addition it is played through a removable metal curled mouth piece.
• baroque trumpet (20th century reinvented natural trumpet) — Based on the natural trumpet used in the 1500s to 1700s, this mid 20th century reinvention lacks valves but may have vents.
• barrel organ — A barrel organ is a mechanical musical instrument typically operated by a person turning a crank which turns a barrel which has music encoded onto it.
• bass clarinet — The bass clarinet is a clarinet, typically pitched an octave below the soprano B♭ clarinet.
• bass flute — The bass flute is a flute, pitched one octave below the C concert flute, with a tube about 1.5 meters long.
• bass harmonica — The bass harmonica is a type of octave harmonica where the lowest note (E) is the same as that on a bass guitar.
• bass oboe — The bass oboe is a double reed woodwind instrument which is about twice the size of a regular oboe.
• bass recorder
• bass saxophone (Second lowest member of the saxophone family) — Second largest and lowest member of the saxophone family. It is similar to the baritone, but larger and with a longer loop near the mouthpiece.
• bass trombone
• bass trumpet — The bass trumpet is a type of low trumpet similar to the valve trombone.
• basset clarinet
• basset horn
• bassoon
• bawu — The bawu is a Chinese wind instrument. Although shaped like a flute, it is actually a free reed instrument, with a single metal reed. It is played in a transverse (horizontal) manner.
• bayan
• bazooka (telescoping brass tube) — Large wide tube with a very strongly flaring bell, the telescoping creates only subtle fluctuating overtones. It inspired the name of the anti-tank weapon.
• bellowed reed — Free reeds with bellows attached, often in a square shape, thence called squeezebox
• biniou (Small Breton bagpipe) — Developed from the veuze and often accompanying the bombard, the small high-pitched, singular octave bagpipe is used in Breton folk dancing.
• birbynė
• birch lur (Wooden natural brass) — Known from the Viking age, this natural brass trumpet/horn was made of wood or birch bark
• boatswain's pipe
• bombarde — conical bore double-reed musical instrument from Brittany
• brass
• bronze lur (Bronze age natural brass) — Chiefly Scandinavian, these bronze age natural brass horns were ritualistically buried in pairs.
• bugle
• buisine — The buisine was a type of straight medieval trumpet usually made of metal.
• button accordion
• calliope
• Cembalet (electric piano with reeds) — Electromechanical piano with stainless steel reeds and an amplified pick-up. not to be confused with "cembalo" which is another name for Harpsichord
• chalumeau — The chalumeau is a single-reed woodwind instrument of the late baroque and early classical era.
• chamber organ — A chamber organ is a small pipe organ.
• chirimía (oboe-like double-reed from South-America) — a relative of the shawm, it was introduced to central and south-america by the spanish in the sixteenth and seventeenth century.
• chromatic button accordion (Accordion with buttons arranged chromatically)
• chromatic harmonica
• cimbasso (19th century bass trombone) — Its name variously used to describe the serpentone, the ophicleide and the bombardon, the modern cimbasso was developed by instrument making firm Pelitti under instruction guidance by Verdi; it had a forward facing bell and 3 to 6 valves. The modern instrument has a characteristic bend.
• clarinet
• claviola (free reed aerophone with pitching pipes.) — free reed melodica like instrument that is worn like an accordion, with differenting length pipes which control the pitch
• concertina
• conch — conch shell
• contrabass clarinet
• contrabass flute
• contrabass recorder
• contrabass saxophone (Largest member of the saxophone family) — The largest and lowest pitch member of the saxophone family (ignoring the subcontrabass tubax)
• contrabassoon
• cor anglais (Curved bulb belled transposing oboe) — While also known as English horn, it is neither a horn nor English, but a transposing member of the oboe family, pitched at F
• cornamuse — The cornamuse is a double reed instrument from the Renaissance, similar to the crumhorn but with a closed bell.
• cornet (19th century brass trumpet-like) — Early 19th century brass instrument with a conical bore, it is more compact and mellower than the trumpet which it resembles.
• cornett (Wooden medieval wind instrument) — Popular from 1500 to 1650, also known as zink, it was octagonal with seven holes like flute but mouthpiece like trumpet.
  For the modern brass instrument, see cornet.
• crumhorn — Crumhorn used in the 14th to 17th centuries in Europe
• daegeum — The daegeum is a large transverse flute from Korea which is made of bamboo.
• danso (Korean educational end-blown bamboo flute) — Used in folk music and educationally in Korean schools, it is a notched, vertically end-blown bamboo flute which, like its bigger cousin the Tungso, was derived from the Chinese xiao in the 19th century.
• diatonic button accordion (Accordion with buttons arranged diatonically) — For the organ also known as Melodeon, see reed organ.
  For the mouth blown keyed MELODION, see melodica.
  Also known as Melodeon, it has 1 to 2 rows of buttons that each produce two tones (bisonoric).
• didgeridoo
• đing buốt — Ede traditional flute, four finger holes, blowing reed
• đing năm — The đing năm is a gourd mouth organ used by minority ethnic groups in the central highlands of Vietnam.
• ding tac ta — The ding tac ta is a free reed wind instrument played by the Ê Đê minority in Vietnam. It is made of a bamboo tube with three holes and a gourd wind chamber.
• dizi — The dizi is a Chinese transverse flute typically made of bamboo. In Chinese, it is sometimes just called 笛 (di), but in Japanese 笛 (fue) is a more generic word referring to a whole class of flutes rather than this specific instrument.
• double reed
• duck call — Short wooden flute used to imitate the sound of ducks
• duduk — The duduk is a traditional Armenian double reed woodwind instrument.
• dulcian — The dulcian is a double reed bass woodwind instrument which is a 16th century ancestor of the bassoon.
• dulzaina
• E-flat clarinet — The E♭ clarinet is a member of the clarinet family.
• end-blown flute
• English concertina (Unisonoric concertina) — Unisonoric concertina with hexagonal sides and concertina reeds.
• English flageolet (English "improved" flageolet) — working to improve on its design, the English flageolet had 6 finger holes in front and one thumb hole in the back.
• euphonium
• fife — Small, high-pitched, transverse flute, similar to the piccolo, but with a narrower bore.
• fipple flute — Fipple or duct flutes have a mouthpiece that is breathed into, but no reeds
• flabiol (Small Catalan fipple flute) — Small Catalan flageolet used in the cobla ensemble, unlike other tabor-pipes it is also played with both hands.
• flageolet (french 16th century fipple flute) — while today it is obscure, it was developed and improved for 400 years, the French flageolet has 4 holes in front and two thumb holes in the back
• flugelhorn
• flumpet (Hybrid between trumpet and flugelhorn) — As long as a trumpet, it shares the piston valve design of both instruments with a mellow sound between the two.
• flute (Reedless aerophone) — Reedless Aerophone, usually a tube
• flûte d'amour — The flûte d'amour is the mezzo-soprano instrument of the flute family.
• flutina — Early predecessor to the diatonic accordion, it was similar to the German concertina and had 4 fold bellows and brass reeds.
• footbass (Foot operated bass bellows) — Large square spring-containing bellows operated by the feet, it was used by accordion players as bass accompaniment in early 20th century Wallonia.
• free reed
• French horn
• fujara — The fujara is a large folk shepherd's fipple flute originated from central Slovakia.
• gaida (Southeastern Europe and Balkan bagpipe) — Small Bulgarian/Macedonian and Balkan goat or sheep-skin bagpipe used in folk, pastoral or other traditional settings. There are many similarly named small bagpipes in this area.
• gaita asturiana (Larger Asturian bagpipe) — Larger than the gallega, it has been in use since atleast the 13th century, traditionally with only one chanter and drone, it has very colourfully decorated fur.
• gaita de boto (Cloth covered Aragonese bagpipe) — Historically solo instrument used in traditional and ritual dances, the drones have reinforced pewter rings and the goatskin bag is covered with a colourful fabric.
• gaita gallega (Two to three drone Galician bagpipe) — Used at-least since the 9th century, it has two to three drones with bag and pipe both decorated with fur. Used in festivals by marching players accompanied by percussion.
• gaita sanabresa (Small single drone Sanabrian bagpipe) — From Sanabria, it is distinct from other Spanish bagpipes, with its single drone and open fingering, it is accompanied by percussion in folk music.
• gajdy (Large Silesian bellow-blown bagpipe) — Czech-polish bellow-blown large goatskin bag with a 6 finger hole chanter and a long angular drone pipe that is balanced over the shoulder, the two flared pipes have inlaid metal designs and can have goat head decorations.
• garklein recorder
• garmon (Russian diatonic folk accordion) — Used in Russian, Mari and Caucasus folk music, it has two rows of buttons in a diatonic scale, as well as additional bass buttons.
• gemshorn (Medieval chamois or goat horn) — Medieval or possibly older, it was historically made of goat-horns or, less commonly, clay. With only a few holes and a single octave range it was used pastorally. Modern revival variants are more complicated and are usually made of cattle-horn.
• German concertina (Bisonoric concertina) — More usually square than hexagonal, with long plate reeds
• gralla — The gralla is a traditional Catalan double reed instrument in the oboe family.
• great bass recorder / c-bass recorder
• Great Highland bagpipe (Large Scottish bagpipe) — Known since 1400, traditionally in military context, today it is the most widespread and famous of bagpipes.
• guan — The guan is a Chinese double reed wind instrument made from hardwood or bamboo.
• härjedalspipa (fipple flute from Härjedalen, Sweden) — six holed fipple flute used traditionally in pastoral settings like its cousin the spilåpipa.
• harmonica (mouth organ) — Used especially in blues, American folk and country, it consists of a rectangle shape with soundholes along the wide side, where air is blown and drawn across free reeds which are mounted on a plate inside.
• harmonium (Portable Indian reed organ) — Not to be confused with European upright reed organ also commonly known as "Harmonium".
  Also known as the samvadini, it was developed in India from imported reed organs. Consists of a wooden box-shape with a keyboard and a bellows in the back; both are operated by the same player, often a singer. While upright versions exist, they are rare.
• heckelphone
• helicon
• hichiriki (Japanese double reed flute) — Used in gagaku, it is a double reed flute
• hmông flute — family of Hmông flutes
• horn
• hotchiku — The hotchiku is a Japanese end-blown bamboo flute.
• hue puruhau (Māori taonga pūoro large bass gourd) — large gourd (hue) with no finger-holes, it is blown like a jug and has a booming bass sound.
• hulusi — The hulusi is a Chinese free reed wind instrument which has three bamboo pipes which pass through a gourd.
• Irish flute (19th century transverse flute) — wooden flute of the simple-system type, popular in Irish folk music
• jug — an empty jug (usually made of glass or stoneware) played with the mouth
• k'lông pút (Vietnamese Air Xylophone) — Played by manipulating the airstream through bamboo pipes using cupping and clapping, this Vietnamesian "Air Xylophone" was traditionally played in the rice-field.
• kagurabue (Japanese transverse bamboo flute) — Used in gagaku, this traditional bamboo flute has six holes.
• kaval — The kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute from the Balkans and Anatolia.
• kèn bầu (Vietnamese double reed) — Used in the traditional music of Vietnam, it is made of wood with a gourdshaped bell.
• kèn lá — The kèn lá is an instrument used by the Hmong minority of Vietnam which consists of a leaf which is curled up and positioned in the mouth so it vibrates when it is blown.
• keyed brass instruments — These have holes along the body and sound production is similarly to woodwinds.
• khèn Mèo — The khèn Mèo is a mouth organ used by the Hmong people. It has bamboo pipes (typically six) which each have a free reed.
• khene (Traditional bamboo mouth organ) — Traditional instrument from Laos, it is also used in Thailand and even Vietnam. it consists of 14 bamboo pipes with a small hollowed hardwood soundbox.
• khlui (Vertical bamboo duct flute) — Ancient reedless fipple flute made of bamboo.
• ki pah — cow horns without fingerholes. with mouthpiece and free reed
• kōauau (Māori taonga pūoro small cross-blown flute) — cross-blown flute made of stone, bone or wood. It is 10 to 39 cm long, with usually 3, but everything from none to 5 holes is known.
• kōauau ponga ihu (Māori taonga pūoro tiny gourd nose flute) — nose flute made of gourd with it two holes, while it is tiny, it has a huge sound
• kortholt — The kortholt is a woodwind instrument that was popular in the Renaissance period.
• launeddas — The launeddas is a typical Sardinian woodwind instrument, consisting of three pipes.
• limbe — The limbe is a Mongolian transverse flute.
• low whistle (Low pitch fipple flute) — Larger and deeper than the tin whistle, it was developed by Overton and made of aluminium.
• mellophone (Middle-range valved brass) — Not to be confused with melophone, a bellowed free reed shaped like a lute.
  Originating in the 19th century horn-design boom, it is used mostly in outside concert and marching music
• melodica (Free-reed keyboard mouth-organ) — Popular as a musical education tool, it is usually made of plastic with a keyboard, its free-reed mouthpiece can also have an optional air tube. It has many brandnames.
• melophone (Bellowed free reed in a lute-like casing) — Not to be confused with mellophone, a brass valved instrument.
  Wooden body shaped like a lute, it has a bellow operated by a handle at the bottom and buttons operating the reeds in the "neck"
• mijwiz (twin bamboo single reed pipe) — Played using circular breathing, it is made of twin bamboo reeds with five to six holes. From the middle-east, it is used in traditional music and as a accompaniment to belly dancing and dabke.
• mirliton — Simultaneously a woodwind and membranophone, sound is produced by singing or speaking into a thin buzzing membrane.
• mouth organ — A mouth organ is a generic term for free reed aerophone with one or more air chambers fitted with a free reed.
• musette de cour (French baroque bagpipe) — Also known as baroque musette, it was a small bagpipe used predominantly by French court and nobility in the 1600-1700's.
  For the instrument known as "chinese musette", see suona
  For the oboe also known as musette, see piccolo oboe
• nabal — The nabal is a long, straight brass horn used in Korean traditional music.
• nadaswaram (South Indian large double reed) — Similar to the north Indian shahnai, it has a 95 cm long hardwood body with 7 finger holes and 5 wax-fillable tuning holes and a wide flaring wooden bell; shorter variants have a metal bell.
• nagak
• nai (Romanian diatonic pan flute) — Used traditionally since 16th-17th century by lǎutari, it is made of bamboo or reed stopped with cork and beeswax set in a curved bottom bar.
• natural brass instruments — Natural brass instruments only play notes in the instrument's harmonic series.
• natural horn (Brass valveless and keyless ancestor of the modern horn) — Ancestor of the modern horn, it consists of a coiled tubing with a large flared bell. Bugles, posthorns and hunting horns are all natural horns
• natural trumpet (Brass valveless ancestor of the modern trumpet) — Ancestor of the modern trumpet, it is valveless with a mouthpiece and at-least one coil, it has an origin in military use.
• ney — Persian / Turkish / Arabic end-blown flute with five or six finger holes and one thumb hole.
• nguru (Māori taonga pūoro small vessel flute) — Small vessel flute made of wood, clay, bone or soft stone like soapstone, it has 4 holes and is played with the nose or mouth.
• nohkan — The nohkan is a high-pitched bamboo transverse flute from Japan.
• Northumbrian pipes (Small north east England bagpipes) — Used for more than 250 years, its one chanter and usually four drones have narrow bores.
• nose flute — The nose flute is a flute played by the nose commonly found in countries in and around the Pacific.
• nose whistle — The nose whistle (also known as the Humanatone) is a simple instrument played with the nose. The stream of air is directed over an edge in the instrument and the frequency of the notes produced is controlled by the volume of air.
• oboe — Oboe (soprano)
• oboe d'amore — Oboe d'amore / Oboe d'amour (mezzo-soprano)
• oboe da caccia (Baroque curved flared bell transposing oboe) — First referred to in 1722, this transposing double-reed has a curved tube and a flared (brass) bell.
• ocarina — The ocarina is a type of vessel flute which has a mouthpiece extending from the body.
• olifant (Ivory natural brass hunting horn) — Hunting horn carved out of ivory, it was widely used in Medieval wars to alarm or increase soldiers' morale.
• ophicleide
• organ
• pan flute (Collection of end-blown pipes) — Named after the Greek god Pan, they are a selection of end-blown pipes made of reeds, bamboo, wood or similar. Many different variations exists around the world, especially in South America.
• pang gu ly hu hmông — a kind of a "slide whistle" form. Hmông flute
• pedal accordion (Polish foot-pedal accordion) — Developed in Warszaw, Poland, it is used in folk music. It has two foot-operated bellows attached via metal/brass pipe; its body-bellows are only used for accents.
• pi nai — The pi nai is a type of pi normally used in the piphat ensemble.
• pí thiu — Pí thiu or Pí khui vertical flute
• piano accordion
• piccolo
• piccolo oboe — The piccolo oboe is the smallest and highest pitched member of the oboe family.
• piccolo trumpet
• pipe organ
• piri — The piri is a Korean double reed instrument made of bamboo, used in both the folk and classical (court) music of Korea. Related to the Chinese guan and Japanese hichiriki.
• pocket trumpet — The pocket trumpet is a compact size B♭ trumpet, with the same playing range as the regular trumpet.
• poi āwhiowhio (Māori taonga pūoro swung whistling gourd) — A hollowed out gourd (hue) with one to three holes, swung around creating a whistling, chattering sound that resembled birds
• porotiti (Māori taonga pūoro humming discs) — Whirring, spinning disks of many shapes, sizes and materials. When blown on, they also create a well of different humming sounds.
• portative (Very small bellows operated pipe organ) — Constructed in medieval Europe to be as portable as possible, small upright wooden frame with keyboard contains a row of flute-pipes fed air from hand operated bellows.
• pōrutu (Māori taonga pūoro two harmonic flute) — A longer version of the kōauau, it is from 30-40 cm up towards 60 cm in length and often made of bone and hardwoods such as porokaiwhiria, mataī and tutu.
• post horn (Post-signalling valveless coiled brass) — Developed as early as the 1500-hundreds and used for mail-carrier signalling, it was coiled (usually just once) and valveless.
• practice chanter — Looks like a recorder, but with double reeds and bagpipe fingering system. Mostly used to learn how to play the pipes, but are occasionally played in their own right.
• pūkaea (Māori taonga pūoro wooden announcement trumpet) — Up to 2,5 meters long, this wooden trumpet was used for a variety of announcements like war, welcoming people and kumara planting.
• pūmotomoto (Māori taonga pūoro long one-holed flute) — Long wooden flute with a notched open top and a single finger hole near the end.
• pūpakapaka (Māori taonga pūoro long necked conch trumpet) — A pūtātara with a long wooden mouth piece, it has a deeper timbre than the pūtātara
• pūtātara (Māori taonga pūoro conch shell trumpet) — Trumpet made of conch shell, it has a beautifully carved wooden mouthpiece. It was for signalling, but also ceremonial and ritual use.
• pūtōrino (Māori taonga pūoro wooden dual-voiced flute) — Made of wood and shaped after the casemoth cocoon, it can be played as both a flute (female voice) and a trumpet (male voice).
• quadruple reed
• quena (Small Andean end-blown flute) — Used in traditional Andean music, it is the smallest of its family
• rauschpfeife — A wooden double-reed instrument with a conical bore from the 16th and 17th centuries
• recorder (Family of end-blown fipple flutes) — Family of end-blown woodwind flutes with a thumb-hole and seven finger-holes, it is the most common flute in Western classical tradition.
  The family consists of a wide assortment of sizes:
  
  • garklein recorder
  • sopranino recorder
  • soprano recorder (descant)
  • alto recorder (treble)
  • tenor recorder
  • bass recorder
  • great bass recorder (c-bass)
  • contrabass recorder
  • subcontrabass recorder
  
  Not to be confused with the transverse (side-blown) Western concert flute.
• reed organ (Organ with free reeds) — For the accordion also known as Melodeon, see diatonic button accordion.
  For the mouth blown keyed MELODION, see melodica.
  For the portable reed organ used in India see harmonium.
  Also known as pump organ, it is large, looks like an upright piano and has pedals attached to bellows with reeds. Sound is produced by playing the keyboard.
• reeds
• regal (Portable bellowed reed organ) — Popular in the renaissance, it was small and portable with two bellows and brass reeds.
• rehu (Māori taonga pūoro long flute) — Made of wood like mataī or tutu, this long flute has a transverse blowing hole with a fipple like European flutes but finger holes in the style of the traditional pōrutu.
• renaissance rackett (Renaissance era compact double reed) — Originating 1590 or earlier and made of wood or ivory, it had nine parallel cylindrical bores joined up at the top and bottom creating a continuous bore like a curled up snake. Its reed is attached to a center pirouette.
• rondador (Ecuadorean panpipes) — Made of cane, it is used in Ecuador.
• ryuteki (Japanese transverse flute) — Used in gagaku, it is a transverse flute
• sackbut
• säckpipa (Historical Swedish bagpipes) — Almost completely disappeared by the 20th century, modern revivals based on museum examples are now used by Swedish folk musicians.
• saduk — A cross between a saxophone and a duduk invented and played by Alexander Berne
• saluang (West Sumatran end-blown flute.) — Used traditionally by the Minang people of West Sumatra for love songs, in shamanic rites and for capturing tigers, this open end-blown bamboo flute can be decorated to resemble tiger-stripes. Played with a circular breathing technique, it is 75 cm long with 3 to 6 holes depending on subtype.
  
  • saluang darek "inland" 4 holes
  • saluang pauh/padang 6 holes
  • saluang sungai pagu 3 holes
• samba whistle — The samba whistle is a tri-tone whistle used in samba music and other Brazilian music styles.
• sáo meò — saó ôi (flute of the Muong)
• sáo trúc — The sáo trúc is a Vietnamese transverse flute made of bamboo.
• sarrusophone — The sarrusophone is a family of transposing musical instruments, intended to serve as a replacement in wind bands for the oboe and bassoon.
• saxophone
• Schwyzerörgeli — The Schwyzerörgeli is a type of diatonic button accordion used in Swiss folk music.
• Scottish smallpipes (Small Scottish bagpipe) — Like (and developed from) the Northumbrian smallpipes, but with Great Highland Bagpipe fingering.
• serpent
• shakuhachi (Japanese end-blown flute)
• shawm (12th century to present double reed woodwind) — Not to be confused with zummara or other double clarinets with similar names.
  For the multiple bore free reed created in 1880 see Martinshorn.
  For the similarly named single-reed woodwind see chalumeau.
  For the Japanese descendant named from Portuguese, see charumera.
  For the Catalan shawm, see tible .
  For the Italian ciaramella see piffero.
  For the bagpipe, see xeremia.
  
  European medieval and renaissance conical bore double-reed woodwind, two types evolved; one from Middle-eastern instruments and one from bagpipe chanters. A combination of both where used to develop the modern oboe.
• shehnai — From the Indian subcontinent, it is used at marriages, in temples and concerts - made of wood with a double reed and wood/metal flared bell, it has 6-9 holes.
• sheng — The sheng is a Chinese free reed instrument consisting of a number of vertical pipes.
• shinobue (Japanese high-pitched transverse flute)
• sho (Japanese free reed flute) — It is based on the Chinese sheng, but is smaller
• shofar (Ram's horn natural brass)
• shruti box — The shruti box is similar to a harmonium and is used to provide a drone accompaniment.
• siku (Andean double row panpipe) — For the Italian bag-pipe, see zampogna.
  Also known as zampona, traditional Andean panpipe has two rows of pipes tied together with colourful bands.
• single reed
• slide brass instruments — Slide brass instruments use a slide to change the length of tubing.
• slide whistle — Slide whistle (infamous 'Clangers' sound)
• sopilka — Sopilka (generally) refers to a type of fife used in Ukrainian traditional music.
• sopranino recorder
• sopranino saxophone
• soprano clarinet
• soprano flute
• soprano recorder (Middle member of the end-blown fipple flute recorder family) — Also known as the descant, it is the third smallest and most common member of the modern recorder family.
  Traditionally made of various woods, it is today often made of plastic and used to teach children music.
  Not to be confused with the side-blown (concerto) soprano flute.
• soprano saxophone
• sousaphone
• spilåpipa — The spilåpipa is a Swedish fipple flute with eight finger-holes on the top, but no thumb-holes. It has a modal tuning.
• subcontrabass recorder
• suling (Southeast asian bamboo fipple flute) — Made of bamboo, it has from 4 to 6 finger-holes and a small wedge-shaped fipple. There are many varieties all around Southeast Asia, it is also used in gamelan.
• suona (Chinese double reed) — Important to the folk music in northern China, it has a conical wooden body and seven finger holes.
• syrinx (Ancient Greek pan flute) — Named after the myth of the nymph Syrinx, this reed pan flute was used in ancient Greece.
• taepyeongso — The taepyeongso is a Korean double reed wind instrument which has a conical wooden body with a metal mouthpiece and cup-shaped metal bell.
• taragot — The taragot is a Turkish/Hungarian/Romanian reed instrument related to the saxophone and clarinet.
• tarota (Wooden keyless shawm from Catalonia) — Traditional Catalan double reed of medieval origin. Used for cobla music in the 19th century, it mostly disappeared: current tarotas are a modern re-invention.
• tenor horn / alto horn
• tenor recorder
• tenor saxophone
• tenor trombone — The tenor trombone is a trombone pitched in B♭.
• tenora (Catalonian double reed descendant of shawm) — Derived from the tenor shawm, it was independently developed in Catalonia by oboe player Andreu Turon in the 19th century. Made of ginjoler wood with a metal cone, it is used in the traditional Cobla and Sardana music.
• theatre organ — Theatre organ, such as the Wurlitzer
• three-hole pipe (european 11th century pipe) — Ancient pipe originating in Europe, with analogies all over the world, it is often combined with tabor drums.
• tible (Catalan valved shawm used in cobla) — Catalan double-reed, created in the 19th Century by adding valves to the tarota. Used principally for cobla music.
• tiêu — The tiêu is a Vietnamese end-blown flute related to the Chinese xiao.
• tin whistle (Simple fipple flute) — Simple six-holed fipple flute, originally made of metal; it used to cost a penny, giving it the alternate name “penny whistle”.
• Tonette (plastic fipple flute) — introduced in 1938, it was a popular American educational instrument.
• torupill (Estonian folk bagpipe) — With a bag made of seal's stomach, 5-6 holed chanter of juniper, pine or ash and 1-2 drones, it was attested at least from the 14th century. It survived in coastal regions until its recent revival.
• tràm plè — a variant of the "Hmông flute". flute blowers lips enclose the blowing hole with the vibrating "free reed" inside
• trắng jâu — trắng jâu bass form of trắng lu
• trắng lu
• transverse flute
• treble flute
• treble recorder / alto recorder
• trikiti (Basque button accordion) — Diatonic button accordion used in traditional Basque ensemble
• trombone
• trumpet
• tuba
• tubax — The tubax is a modified saxophone which is more compact due to the tubing being folded more times.
• tulum (Droneless Turkish bagpipe) — Used by shepherds and peoples of the southeast Black Sea region, it is droneless with parallel double chanters each with 5 fingerholes.
• tungso (Korean notched end-blown bamboo flute) — Made of thick aged bamboo, this notched end-blown flute may have had a buzzing membrane.
• txistu (Basque fipple flute) — Fipple flute that became a symbol for the Basque folk revival.
• uilleann pipes (Irish bellow-blown bagpipe)
• valve trombone
• valved brass instruments — Valved brass instruments use a set of valves which introduce additional tubing into the instrument.
• venu (South Indian transverse bamboo flute)
• vessel flute — A vessel flute is a type of flute with an enclosed rather than cylindrical body.
• vibrandoneon (accordina with piano keys) — wood accordina with piano keys invented in Italy
• vuvuzela (plastic horn) — plastic horn often used at football matches in South Africa
• Wagner tuba
• whistle (Small simple single-toned flute) — Simple, single-toned and round-bodied whistle often used for regulation and signalling (sport, traffic, ...).
• Wiener Horn — Used in classical and orchestral music, mostly by orchestras in Vienna.
• willow flute
• wind instruments
• woodwind
• wot (Round Southeast Asian traditional pan-flute) — Used in Laos and Isan traditional music, it is made of bamboo or ku wood, the individual stopped pipes are arranged around a central core using beeswax.
• Xaphoon — The Xaphoon is a keyless chromatic single-reed woodwind instrument.
• xiao (Chinese end-blown flute) — Ancient Chinese vertical, end-blown flute made of bamboo
• xun — The xun is a vessel flute from China which has a blowing hole at the top.
• żaqq (Maltese mouth-blown bagpipe) — Made of a whole animal-skin, it is used in festivals. The blowpipe (mserka) is made of rubber or cane, the chanter (saqqafa) are two cane pipes, one 2 holed, the other 5 holed, with the bell of an ox horn.
• zhaleika — The zhaleika is a single reed hornpipe from Russia.
• zurna

String instrument

• 12 string guitar
• 17-string bass koto — A koto with 17 rather than 13 strings, sometimes described as a bass koto.
• acoustic bass guitar
• acoustic fretless guitar — Acoustic guitar without frets.
• acoustic guitar
• aeolian harp
• ajaeng — The ajaeng is a bowed Korean zither with 7 (sometimes 8 or 9) strings.
• akkordolia (German keyed box zither) — Similar to the Japanese taishogoto, it has an elongated teardrop shaped wooden body with button accordion like keys which plays the melody and sets chords..
• alto viol (Alto member of the viol family) — Alt, alto or contralto member of the viol family. Not to be confused with the Viola of the violin family, known as "Alto" in French.
• alto violin (Alto or vertical violin, for French "alto" credits, choose viola) — Tuned the same as the viola but larger in size, it is played upright like the cello.
• Appalachian dulcimer (Folk drone zither from N. America) — Historically a folk instrument from Appalachia, its elongated figure-of-eight shaped soundbox is made of various woods and often has heart-shaped sound-holes. It has 3 to 4 metal strings (including drone) and is fretted diatonically.
• archlute — The archlute is a European plucked string instrument developed around 1600 as a compromise between the very large theorbo and the Renaissance tenor lute
• archtop guitar — An archtop guitar is a steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitar with a distinctive arched top, which is particularly popular with jazz players.
• arpeggione (bass viol with guitar frets and tuning) — Invented in 1823, it had a body like a medieval fiddle, but had frets and tuning like the guitar.
• autoharp (Damper bar box zither) — Initially developed in 1880's by Gütter, it was produced and sold by Zimmerman in America and became popular in the 1910 and onward. Wooden box zither has spring mounted bars used to mute strings for chords.
• bağlama (Turkish long-necked bowl lute) — Used in folk music, it is often called "saz". The neck with adjustable frets, is of beech or juniper, the body with spruce soundboard, of various woods, its seven strings divided into courses are plucked with a plectrum.
• baglamas (Treble bouzouki) — Long necked bowl lute, it is named after a related Turkish lute
• bajo sexto — The bajo sexto is a Mexican string instrument with 12 strings in 6 double courses.
• balalaika
• bandora — Although originally built like a cittern, its 6-7 courses of strings were tuned more like a lute.
• bandura (Ukraininan lute-zither) — Large box lute-zither with a short, unfretted neck. It has 30 or more strings fanned out on the body, the four to eight bass strings are strung to the neck.
• bandurria
• banhu (northern coconut huqin) — The banhu is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family. It is also called banghu for its use in bangzi opera.
• banjitar — The banjitar is a six-string banjo with the neck of a guitar.
• banjo
• banjo-ukulele (banjo ukulele hybrid) — small fretted hybrid instrument with a banjo body and a ukulele neck, popular in the 1920-30
• banjolin (banjo and mandolin/violin hybrid) — reinvented several times in different lands, it combines banjo body and neck of mandolin, it is tuned like it and the violin.
• barbat (ancient asian/persian lute) — ancient central asian/persian string instrument ancestor of the iranian oud. it was an important instrument in pre-islamic iran and persia. the current "Persian barbat" is more similar to the oud
• baritone guitar
• baroque guitar (Baroque gut string guitar) — Predecessor of the modern classical guitar, it had gut strings and even gut frets. First described in 1555, it surpassed the Renaissance lute's popularity.
• baryton (Bowed with pluckable strings) — Hybrid between the viol and the bandora, it has an extra set of plucked strings in addition to the bowed ones. Used regularly in Europe until the end of the 18th century.
• bass guitar — Bass member of the guitar family. For the electric variant use electric bass guitar for the acoustic one, use acoustic bass guitar
• bass viol (Bass member of the viol family) — Most common viol member today, it was the bass-range viol in the original consort.
• bass violin (Sixteenth century precursor of the (violon)cello) — Sixteenth century predecessor of the violoncello, it was fretless with f-holes and had at first three, then later four, strings tuned in fifths.
• berda (begeš, large bass serbo-croatian plucked stringinstrument) — Bass member of the Serbo-Croatian tamburica orchestra, it is contrabass like. it has four thick metal strings
• berimbau
• bhapang (Rajasthani string membranophone) — Originating in Mewati community of Rahajastan, India, it is traditionally made of gourd with top and bottom cut of with a goat hide membrane nailed to one opening and a gut string which ends in a bamboo piece attached to the membrane. The instrument is held in the armpit and played by plucking the string while pulling the it.
• bin-sitar (Hybrid fretted stick-zither)
• bisernica (prim, small serbo-croatian plucked stringinstrument) — smallest member of the Serbo-Croatian tamburica orchestra, it is usually the lead or "prim" instrument. it can either have one double string and three single strings (prim/bisernica) or two double strings and two single strings (bisernica)
• biwa — The biwa is a short-necked Japanese fretted lute which is played with a large triangular-shaped plectrum.
• Blaster Beam (long metal bar with strings) — Very long metal bar fitted with strings and electric pickups, it makes a deep ominous booming sound and is often used in score.
• bolon — The bolon is a traditional harp-lute played in several African countries.
• bouzar / gouzouki (hybrid of bouzouki and guitar) — guitar-bouzouki hybrid with guitar body and 4 pairs of strings like the bouzouki, developed separately several different luthiers, among them Stefan Sobell (bouzar) and Davy Stuart (gouzouki)
• bouzouki
• bowed lute
• bowed lyre
• bowed piano — A piano whose strings are bowed, using nylon filament or other materials
• bowed psaltery
• bowed string instruments
• brač (basprim, serbo-croatian plucked stringinstrument) — second smallest member of the Serbo-Croatian tamburica orchestra, there are often two, first and second bass. it can either have three double strings or two double strings and three single strings
• bugarija (kontra, serbo-croatian plucked stringinstrument) — chord rhythm member of the Serbo-Croatian tamburica orchestra, it is guitar like. it has one double string D and three single strings
• bulbul tarang (Indian keyed box zither) — Developed from the Japanese taishogoto, it is made of wood, often an integral case. It has two courses of strings; drone and melody strings operated by buttons or keys.
• buzuq — The buzuq is a long-necked fretted lute related to the Greek bouzouki and Turkish saz which is associated with the music of Lebanon and Syria.
• cavaquinho (Small four-stringed Portugesian lute) — Small Portuguese lute with four wire or gut strings, it has many descendants in South and Latin America.
• cello (Small bass of modern violin family) — Also know as violoncello (the "small large viol"), it is the medium bass member of the modern violin family and a principal member of the symphony orchestra.
• čelo (čelović or csello, counter serbo-croatian plucked stringinstrument) — counterpoint member of the Serbo-Coatian tamburica orchestra, it is guitar like like the bugarija. it can either have two double strings and two single strings (čelović) or now four single strings are more common. (čelo/čelović/) the čelović is a different pitch than the čelo
• chakhe — The chakhe is a three stringed crocodile shaped plucked zither from Thailand.
• chanzy — The chanzy is a three-stringed Tuvan lute.
• Chapman stick
• charango (Small Andean lute) — Used by the Quechua and Aymara, it is a small lute of 5 courses with 10 strings
• chikuzen biwa — The chikuzen biwa is a biwa with either four strings and frets or five strings and frets popularised during the Meiji period.
• chitarra battente (Italian strumming 17th century guitar) — Developed chiefly as a folk instrument for accompanying singing and dancing, its front has a intricately carved soundhole and slants towards the bottom where the 5 double (sometimes triple courses) of thin steel strings are fastened with pins. The back can be rounded or flat.
• chitra veena (Large South Indian fretless Carnatic slide lute) — 13th century or earlier South Indian fretless slide lute used in Carnatic music. Hollow body made of jack-fruit with a secondary resonator of hollowed out gourd, it has 6 main, 3 drone and 11-12 sympathetic strings with a sliding block of hardwood to vary pitch. Much like the North Indian vichitra veena is to the rudra veena, chitra veena is to the Saraswati veena.
• chuurqin (ancient predecessor of the Morin khuur) — Counter-trapezoid shaped Mongolian fiddle, it is the ancestor of the Morin khuur
• cimbalom (European hammered dulcimer)
• citole — The citole is an archaic musical instrument, similar and a distant ancestor of the modern guitar.
• cittern
• cizhonghu (large huqin) — The dahu, also known as cizhonghu or xiaodihu, is a large Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family.
• classical guitar (Modern acoustic gut/nylon string guitar) — Also known as Spanish guitar, it is used in classical, folk and other styles, the strings are nylon or gut.
• classical kemençe — Turkish bowl-shaped kemenche, mainly used in classical Ottoman music
• clavichord
• clavinet (Electro-mechanical amplified clavichord) — Originally produced by Hohner from 1964 to 1982, it had keys with rubber-clad metal tines that tapped metal strings and two electric pickups. Its sound has been recreated in many modern synths.
• cò ke — The cò ke is an instrument used by the Mường ethnic minority in Vietnam. It is similar to the đàn nhị, consisting of a cylindrical wooden soundbox covered in snakeskin and two strings which are played with a horsehair bow.
• concert harp
• craviola (guitar/Viola caipira like plucked string instrument) — Distinctly asymmetric in contrast to typical guitar, its timbre is a combination of the harpsichord (pt:cravo) and the Viola caipira. It can have six or twelve nylon or steel strings and are produced solely by company Giannini.
• Cretan lyra — The Cretan lyra is a Greek pear-shaped, three-stringed bowed musical instrument, central to the traditional music of Crete and parts of Greece.
• crwth
• cuatro — A class of South-American guitars
• cümbüş (Turkish oud like) — created by Zeynel Abidin who name himself after the instrument, it's a banjolin like modern Turkish instrument
• đàn bầu (One-string Vietnamese tube zither) — Possibly ancient Vietnamese tube zither. It was originally made of bamboo with one silken string, today it is usually wooden with a metal string. Fastened in one end to a movable device and resonator, the melody comes from changing the string's tension.
• đàn nguyệt — The đàn nguyệt or đàn kìm is a two-stringed Vietnamese lute with a long neck and a circular, flat body.
• đàn nhị — The đàn nhị is a Vietnamese stringed instrument with a small, cylindrical body, covered at one end with snakeskin. The bow passes between the two strings and the instrument has no frets. This instrument is of Chinese descent but has relatives all over Asia.
• đàn tam — The đàn tam is a three-stringed fretless lute from Vietnam.
• đàn tam thập lục (Vietnamese hammered dulcimer) — Recently imported into Vietnamese instruments, this thirty-six stringed dulcimer has many counterparts in various countries, such as "santoor" in India and "cimbalon" in Europe.
• đàn tranh — The đàn tranh is a a long Vietnamese zither with sixteen strings and high, movable bridges. The strings are plucked with plectrums, while the left hand is used for ornamenting the notes by pressing the strings.
• đàn tứ — The đàn tứ or đàn đoản is a traditional Vietnamese moon-shaped lute with a short neck.
• đàn tứ dây — A latter-day construction in the form of a four-stringed, square-bodied bass guitar
• đàn tỳ bà — The đàn tỳ bà is a four-stringed Vietnamese lute with a pear-shaped body. Like the Chinese pipa from which is derived, it has greatly elevated frets at the neck.
• daruan (Bass ruan) — Bass member of Chinese ruan family of lutes.
• diddley bow — The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which is typically homemade. It consists of a single string of baling wire tensioned between two nails on a board over a glass bottle, which is used both as a bridge and as a means to magnify the instrument's sound.
• dilruba — The dilruba is a bowed string instrument from Northern India, mostly used in religious music and light classical songs
• diyingehu (bass gehu (huqin)) — The diyingehu is a Chinese bowed string instrument, with four strings and tuned like the double bass.
• djoza (ancient Iraqi bowed string instrument) — its origins can be sourced almost 5000 years ago, this Iraqi string instrument is the forefather of several instruments around the world. Its name means coconut or acorn, while originally made of walnut, it is today of coconut and fish-skin or heart-membrane.
• dolceola — A dolceola is a musical instrument resembling a miniature piano, but which is in fact a zither with a keyboard.
• dombra — The dombra is a long-necked lute from central Asia.
• domra — The domra is a long-necked Russian string instrument of the lute family with a round body and three or four metal strings.
• donso ngɔni (West African calabash lute-harp) — Six-stringed lute-harp from Wassoulou, West Africa. Traditionally played by hunters, its resonator box is made of calabash covered by animal skin.
• doshpuluur — The doshpuluur is a long-necked Tuvan lute.
• double bass (Contrabass of modern violin family) — Known also as contrabass or upright bass, it is the largest and lowest-pitched member of the modern violin family and a principal member of the symphony orchestra.
• dramyin — The dramyin is a traditional Himalayan long-necked lute with seven strings.
• dulce melos — European mediaeval struck string instrument, similar to the psaltery and a possible ancestor of the piano. Basically it is a dulcimer with keys.
• dutar — The dutar is a long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran and Central Asia.
• duxianqin — The duxianqin is a one-string zither which is likely derived from the Vietnamese đàn bầu.
• electric bass guitar — Solid body 4-stringed electric bass guitar. The most common for "bass guitar" and "bass" credits in popular (rock) music.
• electric cello
• electric fretless guitar — Electric guitar without frets.
• electric grand piano
• electric guitar
• electric harp
• electric lap steel guitar
• electric sitar (electric guitar variant of sitar) — an electric derivation of the sitar, it often features sympathetic strings and a more guitar shaped body.
• electric upright bass
• electric viola
• electric violin
• erhu (Middle range huqin) — The erhu is a bowed Chinese instrument with two strings.
• esraj — The esraj is a bowed string instrument from Eastern and Central India, mostly used as an accompanying instrument
• five-string banjo — The most common and based on the original design, its fifth string is shorter than the others, creating an uneven pitch progression.
• flamenco guitar (Guitar used in flamenco) — Deriving from the classical guitar, it has many modifications and playing techniques to create a more percussive sound. Originally having wooden tuning pegs like lutes and violins, it has a thinner, lighter build with "golpeadores" or tapping-plates and less sustain than the classical guitar.
• folk harp
• fortepiano
• four-string banjo — Lacking the short drone string of its predecessor, it is usually played with a plectrum and has 22 frets.
• fretless bass — variety of bass guitars without frets
• gadulka
• gaohu (High pitched huqin) — The gaohu is a Chinese bowed string instrument developed from the erhu and tuned a fourth higher.
• gayageum — The gayageum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument which normally has 12 strings.
• gehu (cello huqin) — The gehu is a Chinese bowed string instrument, with four strings and tuned like the cello.
• geomungo — The geomungo is a traditional Korean zither, based on the Chinese guqin, which typically has 6 strings.
• German harp — German/Bohemian harp
• ghaychak (Persian double-chambered bowl lute) — Having 4 metal strings, it is carved from a single piece of wood into a particular shape similar to the Sarinda, it has 3 soundholes, two on each side of the short neck and one under the bridge which is membrane-covered.
  Not to be confused with the Uyghur spike fiddle ghijak.
• ghijak (Uyghur spike fiddle) — Not to be confused with the Persian lute ghaychak.
• ģīga — The ģīga is a two-stringed bowed zither found in Latvia.
• gittern (Medieval lute-like guitar forerunner) — Round-backed lute ancestral to the guitar
• gopichant (Indian drum-zither) — Also known as ektara, it has a body of wood or coconut with a membrane at the bottom. Attached to the sides is a handle-like neck of split bamboo from which a single string is suspended and attached to the membrane.
  For the one string lute also called "ektar" see tumbi
  
• grand piano
• Gravikord (Modern 24-stringed stainless steel kora) — Based on the polyrhythm of the Afrikan kora, kalimba and Japanese koto, it is electro-acoustic with a stainless steel frame with 24 nylon strings and an integral piezoelectric sensor.
• gudok
• guitalele — The guitalele is a guitar-ukulele hybrid, combining the small size of a guitalele with the six strings of a classical guitar.
• guitar
• guitarrón chileno — The guitarrón chileno is a Chilean guitar-like plucked string instrument which typically has 25 strings.
• guitarrón mexicano — The guitarrón mexicano is a very large and deep-bodied Mexican guitar-like instrument with six strings which is traditionally played in mariachi groups.
• gumbri (3-stringed plucked bass-lute) — Lute played by Gnawa people, its camel hide covered wooden soundbox has 3 goat gut strings.
• guqin — The guqin is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family.
• gusli (Traditional Russian plucked psaltery) — Ancient Russian psaltery/box-zither with 4 to 36 metal strings, it is played in a few different ways, depending on the variation (see annotation). Originally similar to a flat harp, it was played at ceremonies and other festivities.
• guzheng — The guzheng or zheng is a Chinese plucked zither, with 18 to 23 or more strings and movable bridges.
• haegeum (Korean silk-string fiddle) — Widely used in Korea, it has a wood soundbox and a rod neck with two silk-strings, heldt on the knee while played with a bow
• hammered dulcimer
• hardingfele — Folk-fiddle from Hardanger, Norway. It has 4 melody- and 4-5 drone-strings, it is richly decorated and used in the traditional "halling" folk music and dance.
• harp — The harp is a plucked string instrument consisting of multiple strings stretched across a vertical frame.
• harp guitar — The harp guitar is a guitar-based string instrument with any number of additional unstopped strings which can accommodate individual plucking.
• harpejji (Electric guitar-piano tapping instrument) — Effectively a small electric guitar-piano hybrid, it is played by tapping the multiple isometric arranged strings that are stretched over a long flat board.
• harpsichord
• Hawaiian guitar
• heike biwa — The heike biwa is a biwa with four strings and five frets used to play Heike Monogatari.
• hummel (Medieval pear-shaped drone zither) — Whole or half-pear shaped wooden body, it is partly fretted and has two string-courses; melody and drone. The name comes from Germanic words meaning bumblebee or buzzing.
• hurdy gurdy
• igil — The igil is a Tuvan bowed string instrument with two strings.
• Indonesian rebab (Indonesian spike-fiddle used in gamelan) — Introduced to Indonesia in the 15th century, this variant of the spike-fiddle rebab has two bowed metal strings with characteristically long tuning pegs and is made of hide-covered wood or coconut shell. It is the melody leader in gamelan and is also used in healing rituals.
• Irish bouzouki
• Irish harp / clàrsach — An Irish/Scottish harp.
• jantar (Rajasthani stick zither) — Stick zither from Rajasthan. It is made of wood with at least two large gourd resonators, the strings rest on very high frets.
  
  Not to be confused with the 13th century tritantri-vina which evolved into the bin via a five-string stick-zither also known as "jantar".
• jeli ngɔni (West African four-stringed grigot lute) — Four-stringed banjo-like lute from West Africa, traditionally played by griots. Made of hollowed out wood with an animal hide as membrane.
• jing'erhu (Beijing opera supporting erhu (huqin)) — The jing'erhu is a Chinese bowed string instrument, similar to the erhu, so named because is played in Beijing opera.
• jinghu (Beijing opera upmost small & high pitch huqin) — The jinghu is a Chinese bowed string instrument with two strings used primarily in Beijing opera.
• jouhikko — The jouhikko is a traditional, 2 or 3 stringed bowed lyre, from Finland and Karelia.
• kacapi (Family of Sundanese string zithers) — There are two kinds, boat shaped "mother" and "child" ones, originally made of a single piece of wood and descended from the kacapi pantun as used in epic story. And a flat box-zither made of wood used from the 1950's and in experimental music.
• kacapi indung (Boat shaped zither used in Sundanese gamelan) — Known as indung "mother" or parahu "boat", it has 18 brass strings each with its own pyramid shaped bridge. Shaped like a boat, its sound hole is at the bottom.
• kacapi rincik (Small boat shaped zither used in Sundanese gamelan) — Known as rincik "child" it has 15 steel strings, it has individual bridges and a sound-hole in the bottom.
• kacapi siter (Box zither used in Sundanese gamelan) — Inspired by western zithers, it has 20 strings and is flatter than the other kacapis.
• kachva sitar (Flat-cut gourd sitar) — Flat-cut gourd sitar with 16 frets, 2 steel & 3 brass strings. In the 1820s it was used by Ghulam Mohammed to develop the surbahar.
  
  Mistakenly re-named "Kachapi vina" in the 19th century by Tagore, that instrument was actually an ancient unrelated short-necked pear-shaped lute.
• kamale ngɔni (Modern ngoni made of calabash with more strings) — Modern derivative of the donso ngɔni, it comes with more strings and is made of calabash. It became an important instrument in the rise of the Wassoulou music in the 80's and 90's.
• kamancheh (Persian spike-fiddle)
• kanklės (Traditional Lithuanian plucked psaltery) — Oldest instrument of Lithuania, it is made of a special tree in a trapezoid shape, it has a metalbar and wooden pegs at each side were 5 to 12 strings are strung.
• kannel (Traditional Estonian plucked psaltery) — National symbol of Estonia, related to Finnish kantele. While traditionally a small instrument with 5 to 7 strings, some newer versions are much bigger, with up to 50 strings.
• kantele (Traditional Finnish plucked psaltery) — Traditional and mythological psaltery of Finland, it comes in two versions; the oldest, a one piece bridge-less psaltery with 5 to 20 originally horsehair, later metal, strings and a modern "Concert" box-zither variant with a switch mechanism to alter the up to 40 strings sharps and flats.
• kanun — Kanun, Arabic plucked strings
• kemençe of the Black Sea — Turkish box-shaped kemenche, mainly used for folk music.
• kemenche (Eastern Mediterranean bowed lute) — Made of wood, its soundbox is oblong and its neck is short
• keyed box zither (Composite chordophone) — Composite chordophone, box zither where some or all strings are operated by typewriter-keys or buttons (keyboard)
• khim (Thai and Cambodian hammered dulcimer) — Hammered dulcimer of Thailand and Cambodia it was imported via China.
• kinnor
• kithara
• kokle (Traditional Latvian plucked psaltery) — Originating from 13th century Latvia, it is made of wood and have today nine to eleven, up to thirty-three strings tuned diatonically. Played horizontally on lap or table by plucking while muting chosen strings. Became in the 70's and 80's an important part of the folklore movement.
• kokyu (Traditional Japanese bowed spikefiddle.) — Although similar to and introduced at the same time as the shamisen, it is unique to japan. With ebony neck and coconut body its three (rarely four) strings are played upright with a horsetail bow.
• komuz (Ancient Kyrgys fretless string) — Possibly dating back as far as 6000 BC, it is a national symbol of the Kyrgyz. Made of a single piece of apricot or juniper wood with 3 gut stings, it has derivations in much of eastern Europe.
• kora
• koto — The koto is a traditional Japanese string instrument with 13 strings that are strung over 13 movable bridges along the width of the instrument.
• krar — The krar is a five or six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre from Eritrea and Ethiopia.
• langeleik
• laouto (Greek long-neck lute) — Differs from other lutes in that its string tension is greater thus sounding more like the oud. From ancient Greece, it was used as an accompaniment to Cretan Lyra
• lap harp (simplified zither) — Used to teach children how to play, it is a simplified zither shaped like a trapezoid.
• lap steel guitar
• laúd (Spanish plucked chordophone) — a Spanish plucked cittern, it is also played in the Spanish diaspora.
• lautenwerck
• lavta — The lavta is a plucked string instrument from Greece and Turkey.
• lira da braccio (Renaissance violin) — For the wheel-bowed instrument also called "lira", see hurdy-gurdy
  For the harp-like instrument, see lyre
  For the bowed lute, see Cretan lyra
• lirone (Bass renaissance violin) — Popular late 16th to early 17th, it is the bass member of the lira family with between 9 and 16 strings and a fretted neck
• liuqin (Small pearshaped chinese lute) — Traditionally made of willow, it has four strings and a small, pear-shaped body. Played with a pick, it has a higher pitch than the pipa.
• lute — This is the specific instrument, for other, "lute-like" instruments, see lute-family
• luthéal — The luthéal is a kind of hybrid piano which extends the register possibilities of a standard piano, created by Georges Cloetens
• lyra viol (Small bass viol) — Small bass viol, specialised for intricate polyphonics, it had a flatter bridge than the other bass viols.
• lyre
• mandocello — The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family, the equivalent to the cello in the violin family
• mandoguitar (electric guitar / mandolin hybrid) — Unison course tuned 12 stringed electric guitar body with mandolin neck, it is tuned an octave higher than a conventional guitar, thus having the tonal range of the mandolin.
  Not to be confused with flat-backed mandolin which is also sold as "mando-guitar"
• mandola
• mandolin
• mandolute — A mandolute is a North African fretted string instrument which combines a traditional oud string format with five pairs of metal strings
• mandora / gallichon (18th century bass lute) — Invented by European luthiers in the first half of the 18th century, it had 6 to 7 single or double courses of gut strings and a long neck with either sharp or shallow angled pegbox.
• Marxophone — A type of fretless zither.
• Mexican vihuela — Mexican vihuela, used by mariachi bands
• minipiano — The minipiano is a type of piano in which the sound producing mechanism is positioned below the keyboard, allowing an economical use of space.
• morin khuur (traditional bowed Mongol fiddle) — Important to the Mongolians, it is trapezoid shaped with two traditionally horsehair, now often nylon, strings fastened by wooden pegs at the end which is carved like a horse head.
• musical bow
• ngɔni (West African gourd-lute) — A lute from West Africa, made of wood or gourd.
• njarka (Malian single string gourd-fiddle) — Made of goatskin covered dried gourd, it has a single gut string bowed with a horsehair bow.
• nyatiti — The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked string instrument from Kenya.
• nyckelharpa — The nyckelharpa is a traditional Swedish string instrument.
• octave mandolin — The octave mandolin is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in fifths, G, D, A, E (low to high), an octave below a mandolin.
• octavilla (Spanish melody & strumming guitar) — Used in Spanish classic and popular music during the late 19th and early 20th century, it together with bandurria and laúd carried the melody in rondas and rondallas. It had six pairs of strings, tuned a fourth lower than bandurria, It fell out of use when contralto bandurria became common.
• octavina (Filipino rondalla guitar) — Originating with the Spanish influence on Filipino culture, it has 14 strings and a short neck with 16 to 20 frets. It is played with its close relative, the laúd.
• octobass (Extralarge 3-string Bass) — Constructed as the uttermost largest member of the violin family, it is up towards 4 meters and has three strings operated by levers and pedals.
• oktawka — Small Polish traditional fiddle.
• orpharion (Metal stringed renaissance lute.) — Invented in 16th century England, it had low-tension metal strings and sloping frets.
• orphica (late 18th century portable piano with shoulder strap) — portable piano with shoulder strap invented in 1795, it is a descendant of the Baroque Bauchladenspinett and a sort of early precursor of the keytar
• oud
• oval spinet (late 17th century oval harpsichord) — more accurately a virginals, its strings were arranged in a pattern creating an oval shape, allowing for a stronger, more compact configuration. 2 examples survive today.
• Paraguayan harp — The Paraguayan harp is a 32-48-string diatonic harp used in Paraguay and Venezuela.
• pardessus de viole (Smallest member of the viol family) — Pardessus or sopranino member of the viol family
• pedal piano — The pedal piano is a kind of piano that includes a pedalboard, enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet, as is standard on the organ.
• pedal steel guitar
• piano
• piano spinet (small drop action piano) — small piano with drop action stickers manufactured from around 1930 to the early 1990s.
• pipa (Pearshaped chinese lute) — Chinese pear-shaped plucked lute with four strings and 12 to 26 frets.
• plucked string instruments
• pluriarc (bow lute from West Africa) — From West Africa, it has multiple curved necks each with one string, sometimes played a harp and sometimes with stops like a lute.
• Portuguese guitar (Portugese plucked lute) — Used in fado, it has twelve steel strings, strung in six courses.
• prepared piano — A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers.
• psaltery
• ravanahatha — Ancient bowed fiddle, once popular in Western India and Sri Lanka.
• rebab (Generic rebab catch-all) — "Rebab" (and other variant spellings) is the name for chiefly these 3 types of bowed/plucked string instrument families:
  
  • Large, short necked boatshaped "sarinda" type, here the kabuli rebab
  • Small, long necked spike fiddle "huqyin" type, here the Indonesian rebab
  • various sizes, varying necklength, pearshaped "Cretan lyra" type, here the bowed lutes proper
  
  
  Given the name cross-overs they are confused with eachother in most sources. Curiously, this cross-over confusion extends to related but separately or similarly named instruments as well, for example Ghijak (a spikefiddle) and Ghaychak (a boat-shaped).
  It is, for the meantime, unknown how, if at all, these 3 subtypes are related.
  
  For the spike fiddle used in gamelan, see Indonesian rebab.
  For the plucked, boat-shaped Afghani instrument also know as kabuli rabab, see rubab.
  For the medieval Indian plucked lute see Seni rebab.
  For the medieval European pear-shaped fiddle see rebec.
• rebec (Medieval bowed lute) — With a pear shaped body made from a single piece of wood, this medieval bowed string instrument originated as a Byzantian lyra-like variant of the Arabic rebab and was a possible influence to the violin.
• resonator guitar — Dobro, resonator guitar
• ronroco (South American square charango) — An octave lower than the charango, it is the largest member of the family.
• ruan — Ruan is a family of Chinese plucked lutes.
• rubab (Ancient Afghan plucked lute member of the bowed rebab family) — Related to bowed instrument rebab, it is played in many countries, from India to Afghanistan. It's made of wood and covered with a membrane and has 3 melody strings, 3 drone strings and 11/12 resonance strings.
• rudra veena (Ancient large North Indian tube zither) — Considered the originator of all Indian strings (veena) it was used for ritual and meditation, North Indian raga and Dhrupad music. It has two dried gourd resonators and a body of bamboo with 24 wooden frets and 4 main, 2-3 secondary and one drone string.
• samica (solo serbo-croatian plucked lute) — also known as dangubica or kuterevka, it is similar to the bisernica and the ancestor of the entire tamburica ensemble. this plucked long-necked lute has two double strings and is played solo.
• sanshin — The sanshin is an Okinawan string instrument which consists of a snakeskin-covered body, neck and three strings. It is traditionally played with a plectrum made of horn worn on the index finger.
• santoor (Traditional Indian dulcimer) — Ancient hammered dulcimer with trapezoid walnut or maple soundbox, 25 bridges each with 4 strings that are hit by special mallets called mezrab. Used in traditional, folk and mystic Sufi music.
• santur (Persian/Iran hammered dulcimer) — Santur, Middle Eastern
• sanxian — The sanxian is a Chinese lute with three strings.
• sarangi — The sarangi is a short-necked, bowed string instrument from India, Nepal and Pakistan.
• Saraswati veena (Ancient Carnatic veena lute) — Used in Carnatic tradition, named after goddess of art and music Saraswati, it is known since ancient times. Lute with a gourd sound resonator, it has 24 fixed frets, 7 steel strings (4 main & 3 drone)
• šargija — The šargija is a long necked plucked lute used in the folk music of the Balkans.
• sarod
• sasando (Indonesian tube zither) — Made of palmyra leaves that act as a resonator and a bamboo-tube stuck with wooden pegs where the plucked strings are attached, this traditional Indonesian instrument has an important place in folk history. It is still being used and modernised.
• satsuma biwa — The satsuma biwa is a biwa with four strings and frets popularised during the Edo period.
• saw duang — The saw duang is a two-stringed instrument used in traditional Thai music which has a cylindrical soundbox made of wood and a snakeskin resonator.
• saw sam sai — The saw sam sai is a three-stringed bowed instrument from Thailand.
• saw u — The saw u is a Thai bowed string instrument which has a soundbox made from a coconut shell with a cowskin resonator.
• saz — The saz is a long-necked fretted lute
• seni rebab (Medieval Indian evolution of the Afghan (kabuli) rabab) — Larger, with a longer neck than the kabuli rabab, it has a hide covered soundbox and wooden fingerboard with mostly gut strings, it was developed during medieval times by Tansen, who improved it and gave it metal sympathetic strings.
• setar (Persian three-stringed long-necked lute) — Derived from the Indian tritantri veena by the Persian poet Amir Khusro sometime in 13th century, it had 3 (now 4) strings and a long neck. It later gave name to the Indian sitar.
• shamisen
• shichepshin — The shichepshin is a traditional bowed string instrument of the Circassian peoples.
• shudraga — The shudraga is a Mongolian fretless lute with three strings.
• sitar (Indian long-necked fretted gourdlute) — Soundbox made of gourd, it has 18-21 (6-7 on frets and 11-15 sympathetic under the frets) metal strings, two bridges and a long wooden neck where the tuning pegs of the sympathetic strings are attached. Used in India since ancient times, it flourished during the 16-17th before arriving at it's current form in the 18th century. It became popular worldwide in the 1950-60
• slide guitar
• soprano violin — Tuned a fourth above and about three quarters the size of a standard violin.
• spike-fiddle — Particular type of fiddle, long neck, often few strings and usually with a rather small soundbox, it has a spike at the end.
• spinet (A smaller harpsichord, strings at an angle) — A smaller harpsichord, often with the strings at 30 degrees from the keyboard.
• spinettone (extralong spinet with deep bass register) — Exceptionally long spinet, with multiple strings choirs, its bass-tones were produced by longer, not thicker strings.
• steel guitar
• steel-string acoustic guitar (Modern acoustic steel string guitar) — Also know and "flat-top", it is a hollow-body acoustic guitar strung with steel strings.
• stick zither — Class of instruments where the body is a simple stick with one to many strings attached, may also have up to several usually gourd or wood resonators.
• strings
• Stroh violin (Horn-amplified violin) — Instead of a wooden body, it is amplified by a metal horn resonator; its louder and more directional sound made it useful in loud areas.
• struck string instruments
• suka — The suka is a once-extinct fiddle from Poland.
• surbahar (Bass sitar) — Effectively a bass sitar, it has 4 main, 3-4 chikari(drone) and 10-11 resonance strings strung over a wide wooden neck. Made of flat-cut gourd with a possible secondary resonator (tumba) it was invented in 1825 by sitar-player Ghulam Mohammed who wanted a deeper sound.
• sursingar (19th century large North-Indian dhrupad bass-sarod) — Improved further by Jaffar Khan, it had a wooden soundboard, the fingerboard covered with iron and all strings are steel or bronze.
  Less common today, it was used for Dhrupad style music.
• swarmandal (North Indian trapezoid board zither) — Used chiefly in classical Indian songstyles Khyal and Thumri, it has a trapezoid shape with up to 40 metal strings fastened at both sides by iron pegs with one side having tuning keys.
• table steel guitar
• tack piano — The tack piano is a permanently altered version of an ordinary piano, which has tacks or nails placed on the felt-padded hammers of the instrument at the point where the hammers hit the strings, giving the instrument a tinny, more percussive sound.
• taishogoto (Japanese keyed box zither) — Developed in the early Taisho period to modernise the ningenkin, it has metal strings and typewriter like keys with a wooden lid over the frets.
• talharpa — The talharpa is a four-stringed bowed lyre from northern Europe, mostly played in Estonia.
• tambura (Macedonian/Bulgarian long-necked lute) — do not confuse with: Serb-Croat "tamburica" ensemble. Persian/Turkish ancient things evolved/came from "tanbur". unrelated Indian drone "tanpura" related Indian "pandour"
• tanbur (Persian/Turkish ancient long-necked lute) — the ancient ancestor of many related lute like instruments.
• tangent piano
• tanpura (Indian drone long-necked frettless gourdlute) — Usually accompanying sitar on ragas, the fretless instrument comes in different sizes: largest; male-voice, smaller; female-voice and smallest; the instrument-accompanying "tanpuri"
• tar (lute) — The tar is a long-necked, waisted lute found in Azerbaijan, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, and other areas near the Caucasus region. Not to be confused with the drum of the same name.
• te kū (Māori taonga pūoro single string bow) — also just "kū", a mouthbow with a single string, struck with a light implement of bone or wood.
• tenor banjo (4 string tenor banjo) — Used as rhythm accompaniment, it has a shorter neck and 17-19 frets
• tenor guitar — Slightly smaller, four-string version of the steel-string acoustic guitar
• tenor viol (Tenor member of the viol family) — Tenor member of the viol family
• tenor violin — Tuned an octave below the traditional violin and at about half the size of the cello, it has a range between the cello and the viola. It has a longer neck and thinner ribs than the cello.
• theorbo (Extended necked many-stringed lute) — Developed as an extended range bass-lute in Italy during the late sixteenth century, it has an extended neck with a second pegbox.
• tiple
• tololoche — The tololoche is a traditional musical instrument from northern Mexico, similar but smaller than the European double bass.
• tonkori — The tonkori is a plucked string instrument played by the Ainu of northern Japan and Sakhalin.
• topshuur — The topshuur is a two-stringed lute from Mongolia and Tuva.
• toy piano
• treble viol (Treble/soprano member of the viol family) — The treble, descant or soprano member of the viol family
• treble violin (Smallest member of the new violin family) — Tuned an octave above and about quarter the size of the traditional violin.
• tres
• tritantri veena (Indian medieval three-stringed stick zither) — Used in India during the medieval period, it had a stick-zither body with 3 strings
  For the the long necked lute called "tritantri veena" in the 19 century, see "sitar"
• tromba marina — A tromba marina is a triangular bowed string instrument used in medieval and Renaissance Europe that consists of a body and neck in the shape of a truncated cone resting on a triangular base.
• tube zither — zither with a hollow or vaulted body, it can have several resonators
• tumbi — The tumbi is a high pitched, single string plucking instrument associated with folk music of Punjab.
• tzoura
• ukeke — The ukeke is a Hawaiian musical bow made of koa wood, 16 to 24 inches long and about 1½ inches wide with two or three strings fastened through and around either end, tuned to an A major triad.
• ukulele — The ukulele is a small guitar-like instrument commonly associated with Hawaiian music. It generally has four nylon or gut strings.
• upright piano
• ütőgardon (Hungarian percussion-viol) — Played in folk music of Hungary and Transylvanian regions, its 3-4 strings are plucked or struck with a stick, and its soundbox is made of thick maple, poplar or willow wood.
• valiha — The valiha is a bamboo tube zither from Madagascar
• vichitra veena (Large North Indian fretless sliding tube zither) — Played like a slide guitar, it has two large gourd resonators with a teak body that often ends in carved peacock heads. Fretless, it has 4 main, 5 chikari and 13 resonance strings, slide is a glass orb named batta.
• vielle (Medieval violin)
• Vietnamese guitar — The Vietnamese guitar is similar to a normal guitar, but with scalloped fingerboard resulting in elevated frets similar to the đàn nguyệt.
• vihuela (Spanish string instrument.)
• viola (Alto of modern violin family) — It is known by many names, based on the full "alto de viola da braccio": "alto", "bratsch (braccio)", "viola", etc.
  It is the alto member of the modern violin family and a principal member of the symphony orchestra.
• viola caipira (Brazilian música caipira guitar) — Used in folk-music, It has ten steel strings in five courses.
• viola d'amore (Baroque fretless similar to both viols and violins.) — While it is fretless and played like the violins "a la braccia", it has a flat back, c-holes and sloping shoulders like a viol. From the baroque period, it has up to 14 strings.
• viola da gamba (Generic member of the viol family, Use for "Viol" Credits) — The Generic member of the viol family, use it for "Viol" credits, most viola da gamba credits are however the Bass Viol
• viola organista
• violin (Soprano of modern violin family) — The most famous member of the violin family, it is actually the "small viol". Its register is soprano and it's a principal member of the symphony orchestra.
• violino piccolo — The violino piccolo is a stringed instrument of the baroque period. Most examples are similar to a child's size violin in size and are tuned a third or a fourth higher.
• viololyra (cretan lyra / violin hybrid) — Inspired by the violin in 1920, Hellenic luthiers combined parts of the old Cretan lyra with the violin.
• violoncello piccolo (for violoncello use "cello") — Baroque string instrument sized between the viola and cello, it typically has five strings.
• violone (Contra/double-bass member of the viol family) — Violone, The largest/deepest member of the Viol family
• violotta
• virginal — The virginals is a smaller and simpler rectangular form of the harpsichord with only one string per note
• walaycho (Smallest member of charango family) — Smaller than the charango, it has 10 strings.
• Warr guitar
• washtub bass (Improvised monochord) — Consisting of a stick, a string and an resonator of various materials, it is used in many countries' low-cost and DIY cultures. It's technically a variable tension chordophone.
• wire-strung harp
• xalam
• yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer) — It is related to similar hammered dulcimers in India, middle east and Europe.
• yatga — The yatga is a traditional Mongolian plucked zither, similar to the Chinese guzheng.
• yaylı tanbur (Turkish bowed lute) — The yaylı tanbur is a bowed lute from Turkey derived from the older plucked tanbur.
• yehu (southern coconut huqin) — The yehu is a Chinese bowed string instrument in the huqin family, made from a coconut shell.
• yoochin (Mongolian wire-stringed hammered dulcimer) — Originally introduced to Mongolia from China, it has 13 double wire-strings and a black lacquered wooden soundboard. Traditionally it was only played by townspeople.
• yueqin (Traditional Chinese lute) — It has a short fretted neck originally with four silk but now usually nylon or steel strings, and large flat round body, earning it the nickname "moon lute"
• zhonghu (Alto huqin) — The zhonghu is a Chinese bowed string instrument developed from the erhu and tuned a fourth or a fifth lower.
• zhongruan — The zhongruan is a Chinese plucked lute, the tenor-ranged size in the ruan family.
• zhuihu (Wooden huqin) — Originating from Henan province, this fretless huqin has the accustomary two strings, but is made of wood.
• zither

Percussion instrument

• afoxé (Brazillian rattle-gourd) — Made of a gourd wrapped in a beaded net, it is used in Brazilian afoxé music.
• agogô — The agogô is a single or multiple bell used in samba music with origins in traditional Yoruba music.
• akete (set of Nyabinghi drums) — Three-parts drumset (baandu, funde and kete) commonly used in Burru and Nyabinghi musics.
• alfaia — The alfaia is a Brazilian cylindrical drum.
• amadinda — Amadinda, southern Uganda giant xylophone, made on with resonating hardwood bars
• aman khuur (mongolian mouth harp) — there are two types: temür/tömör khuur (steel) and khulsan khuur (bamboo)
• angklung (Single pitch bamboo rattle xylophone used in Sundanese gamelan) — Usually consisting of 2-3 carved bamboo tubes suspended in a wooden or bamboo frame that is shook. It has been in use since ancient times by Sundanese peoples.
• ankle rattlers
• anvil (Tuned metal shape.) — Originally used just by blacksmiths, the crisp, clear tone produced was noticed by even early composers. In modern use, it is specifically made for music from tuned metal, sometimes placed in a resonator, and is struck with metal hammers.
• arrabel (Spanish bone scraper) — Scraper made of bones tied together with rope scraped with a conch-shell, in Catalonia it's scraped with a castanet. Ginebra is a variant made of cane.
• ashiko (cone shaped west african frame-drum) — conical goatskin frame-drum originating with the Yoruba people of West Africa, it is also found in Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American cultures.
• atabaque — The atabaque is a tall Brazilian hand drum.
• atarigane — The atarigane is a Japanese gong which is struck using a deer horn mallet.
• baandu (Nyabinghi bass drum) — Larger bass drum also known as thunder or pope smasher, it has a double goat skin membrane and is hit with a padded mallet. Important in the Jamaican Burru music and Rastafari movement, it is part of the Nyabinghi/Akete drums.
• balafon — Balafon, Malian 'gourd xylophone'
• bangu (Traditional Chinese frame drum) — Widely used in folk music, opera and music ensembles, it can be round or cone-shaped with cow/pigskin nailed to the larger convex end which has a small hole (guxin).
• barrel drum
• bass drum
• Batá drum (Double headed hourglass Nigerian drums) — Primarily in the religious rituals of the Yoruba and diaspora, these hourglass shaped drums have membranes on each end. Their names are largest to least: Iyá, Itótele, Okónkolo.
• bedug (Very large suspended Javanese barrel drum) — Extra large double-headed water buffalo hide barrel drum. It is suspended from a rack and beat with mallet, it is used in central Javanese gamelan and for religious signalling purposes in mosques.
• bell (Tuned metal cups) — Cup or bellshaped bells, these are shook or struck.
• bell plate (Set of tuned metal plates used in western orchestra) — Used occasionally in the western classical orchestra and theatre, it consists of several tuned aluminium, steel or bronze plates, struck to imitate the sound of bells.
• bell tree — A bell tree is a percussion instrument, consisting of vertically nested inverted metal bowls.
• bendir — Bendir, frame drum from North Africa, doesn't have jingles
• bicycle bell — Bell as found on bicycles, sound is made by internal spring loaded hammer, not unlike alarm-clock.
• bin-sasara — The binzasara is a Japanese percussion instrument made of many small slats of wood connected by a spine of string with handles at each end.
• bodhrán
• body percussion — Percussion performed by parts of the body.
• bombo legüero (Andean bass-drum) — Used in folklore music of Andes, it is a descendant of European bass drum. It has a shoulder strap and two soft headed mallets used to strike the goat or llama pelt membrane.
• bonang (Family of bronze gong-chime sets used in Javanese gamelan) — Consisting of bossed bronze kettle-like gongs arranged in elaborately decorated wooden frames, these are hit with tabuh beaters.
• bonang barung (Medium pitched gong-chime set in Javanese gamelan) — One to two octaves below panerus, it plays elaborate melodies and is one of the most important instruments in the ensemble.
• bonang panembung (Lowest pitched gong-chime set in Javanese gamelan) — Chiefly used in Yogyvanese gamelan, the largest and deepest pitched member of the bonang family of gong-chimes
• bonang panerus (Highest pitched gong-chime set in Javanese gamelan) — Used to play fast melodies, it is the highest pitched member of the bonang family of gong-chimes
• bones (Folk music idiophone) — Made of bone or wood, these are paired sticks of sonorous material used in folk music.
• bongos
• boobam (arrangement of bamboo tube-drums) — Pipes of bamboo with goat or calfskin membranes, the pitches depend largely on tube-lenght, it is the ancestor to the octoban. Modern variants are usually made of wood, plastic or metal with plastic membranes.
• boomwhacker (Tuned hollow plastic tubes) — Often used in group musical education and by street musicians, it consists of individual colourful hollow plastic tubes of various widths that are struck on various surfaces to produce sound, tubes can also be arranged and hit by mallets.
• brushes
• buk — The buk is a Korean drum. While buk is a generic term for drum, it normally refers to a shallow barrel-shaped drum with a wooden body.
• cabasa (Modern wood and metal-bead shaker) — Developed from the African agbe, a small shaker not unlike shekere, it is made of wood and metal, with metal beads.
• caixa (Brazilian Samba snare-drum) — Traditionally used in samba and maracatu, it originates from the European military battalion. It is made of a 30-35 cm diameter metal barrel strung with a synthetic material, upon which a steel wire or guitar string is strung across.
• cajón — Cajón, Peruvian box drum
• calabash — Made of dried gourd. Struck with hands or objects.
• calung (Bamboo xylophone used in Sundanese gamelan) — Made of multiple vertical hung bamboo tubes with segments cut out to create different pitch. They can be played either hanging suspended or on a bamboo frame like a xylophone.
  For the balinese metallophone sometimes known as chalung or calung, see jublag
• carillon (belfry tower bell set) — Set of many bronze bells, often mechanized and operated by keyboard, they are set in the bell tower (belfry) of important buildings.
  For the steel bar metallophone used from toy to orchestra, see glockenspiel.
  For the crank operated, revolving cylinder/disc plucked idiophone see music box.
• castanets (Pair of concave shells) — Pair of concave wood, bone, shell or even fibreglass shells, they are combined by a string and are often used by dancers.
• caxixi — The caxixi is a shaker originating in Brazil which is made of a small wicker basket containing seeds or other small particles.
• celesta (Struck metal plate keyboard instrument) — Similar to how a piano works, here keys operate hammers that strike metal plates, creating a soft bell sound.
• çevgen (Ceremonial Ottoman jangle-staff) — Originating in Central Asia, it gained symbolic value to the Turks who used it in Ottoman marching-bands. It is 2-2,5 m long, has a bronze crescent shape with bells and jangles attached.
• chacha — Chacha, west Indian rattle
• chande — The chande is a drum used in the traditional and classical music of South India.
• chap — Chap are a pair of cymbals used in Thai and Cambodian music. They are larger, flatter and thinner than the cymbals known as ching.
• chau gong — The chau gong is a large gong made of brass or bronze which is almost flat except for the rim.
• chime bar (Individual percussion plates.) — Despite the name, it is not a chime but instead consists of tuned metal bars each on individual resonator boxes.
  It is similar to glockenspiel.
  For the instrument called bar chimes, see chimes.
• chimes (Arrangement of hanging struck tuned metal rods.) — Bar or pole shaped chimes, usually arranged in a line or circle, hanging free or struck with mallets.
  For the instrument often used in bell towers, see carillon.
  For the instrument used in orchestra, see tubular bells.
• ching — Ching are a pair of small hand cymbals used in Thai and Cambodian music.
• clapper (egyptian ancient clappers) — Made of wood, bone or metal, this ancient instrument is the forerunner to many other struck idiophones
• clapstick (Ancient Aboriginal rhythm stick) — Used by Australian Aboriginals to maintain rhythm in chants and traditionally to accompany didgeridoo. There are also Boomerang clapsticks.
• claves
• concussion idiophone — Generally consists of two completely equal or somewhat unsymmetrical sticks, plates, shells or similar hit together.
• congas
• cowbell (Tuned metal bell) — Metal bell used in various genres, it is often attached to drum kit
• Cristal Baschet
• crotales
• cuíca (Brazilian friction-drum) — Originating in Africa, it is used in carnivals and samba music. Consisting of a wooden or metal barrel, its single membrane has a tuning-stick attached.
• cylindrical drum — A cylindrical drum is a straight-sided and generally two-headed drum.
• cymbal — Various types of cymbal. Also called chũm chọe
• daf — The daf is a large Persian frame drum used in popular and classical music. The frame is usually made of hardwood with many metal ringlets attached and the membrane is usually goatskin.
• daire — A larger version of tef, used to indicate the rhythmic structures (usul) in makam music.
• daluo — The daluo is a Chinese large flat gong whose pitch drops when struck with a padded mallet.
• darbuka — The darbuka is an hourglass-shaped goblet drum from Greece, the Middle East and India.
• davul — Davul, turkish drum
• dhol — Double headed drum from India.
• dholak — dholak, classical North Indian hand drum
• djembe
• dohol — The dohol is a large cylindrical drum used in Iran and Afghanistan.
• doyra
• drums (drum set) (Set of drums in modern music) — Set of drums developed from the 1930's onward, it is used in Jazz, Swing, Rock and Pop music. It consists of snare drum, tom-toms, hi-hats, cymbals and bass drum.
• duggi (indian clay kettle drum) — made of clay with two layers of goat skin, it is used as a rhythmic accompaniment to shehnai players and is one of the instruments of the Baul community.
• dulcitone (Acoustic keyboard tuning fork idiophone) — Like a piano, but here keyed hammers hit tuning forks.
• dunun — Dunun is a family of West African cylindrical drums.
• electronic drum set
• finger cymbals
• finger snaps
• foot stomps — Percussion performed with feet, such as foot tapping and clogging.
• frame drum
• friction drum
• friction idiophone — Friction idiophones are idiophones where the sound is created by the instrument being rubbed.
• frottoir (Zydeco vest scraper) — Dispenses with the frame altogether, and is worn as a vest, it is played with spoons or bottle openers.
• fundeh (Nyabinghi middle pitch drum) — Middle size/pitch drum, it has a slack goat skin membrane and it is hit with the palms. Important in the Jamaican Burru music and Rastafari movement, it is part of the Nyabinghi/Akete drums.
• gambang (Indonesian wood box-resonated xylophone) — Consists of up to 21 hardwood bars suspended by pins and rope over an oft ornate wooden trapeze shaped box, the two springy beaters are made of buffalo horn.
• gankogui — Gankogui, iron bell
• ganzá (Brazilian samba shaker) — Used in various performances (capoeira angola, caboclo, etc) and samba music, it is usually made of metal and filled with grains, pebbles or the like.
• garifuna drum — Important to the Garifuna culture, it consists of two drums, the tenor, primero and the bass, segunda, each is made of hollowed out wood with membranes of pig, sheep or deer.
• gendèr barung (Middle pitch metallophone used in Javanese gamelan) — Used for elaborate and complex parts, it has thinner but wider metal bars suspended above resonator rods, it is the middle-pitched member of the gendèr family.
• gendèr panerus (Higest pitch metallophone used in Javanese gamelan) — Used for simple ornamentation, it has thick small metal bars suspended above resonator rods, it is the highest pitched member of the gendèr family.
• gendèr wayang (Ten key metallophone used in Bali wayang.) — Special version of the gendèr used in Gamelan gendèr wayang performances. Tuned in Slendro, one to two pairs are played using the same hand to both play and dampen the keys.
• ghatam (South Indian Carnatic percussion)
• glass harmonica (Glass bowls mounted on spindle) — Taking the concept of musical glasses but mounting the incrementing bowls on a turnable spindle, it is played with damp fingers.
• glass harp (Musical Glasses) — Known in Persia as far back as the 14th century, it consists of glass containers, tuned by either being filled with water or later being of different sizes. Played by rubbing dampened fingers on the rims.
• glockenspiel — Common and popular metallophone, usually an arrangement of metal keys or slabs on a wooden resonator box.
  For the instrument often used in bell towers, see carillon.
  For the instrument called orchestra bell/chime in some languages, see tubular bells.
• goblet drum — Goblet drums are single-headed drums with a goblet shaped body.
• gong (Tuned metal discs)
• gong bass drum — A gong bass drum is a large single drumhead which resembles a gong.
• gong-chime (Arrangement of kettle shaped gongs) — Chiefly used in Southeast Asian music, these consist of from only 1 to several dozens of metal (often bronze) "kettles", set in a wide variety of different supports and played with mallets.
• gramorimba
• güira (Dominican metal scraper) — Made of metal with many small notches scraped with a brush or hair pick, it is used in Merengue típico.
• güiro (Latin American gourd scraper) — Made of gourd or wood, it is used as a scraper in Latin American music
• handbell (Open hand-rung bell) — Open in one end, it has a strap to hold while ringing.
• handclaps
• handpan (Tuned metal ufo) — Invented initially as the Hang, it is made of two tuned metal convex pans glued together creating an UFO shape.
• hi-hat — A hi-hat is a typical part of a drum kit, consisting of a pair of cymbals mounted on a stand.
• hourglass drum
• hue puruwai (Māori taonga pūoro shaking gourd) — Gourd (hue) shakers with seeds intact
• hyoshigi (Japanese concussion idiophone) — Used in traditional kabuki and bunraku theatre, it consists of two hardwood pieces tied together with ornamental cord.
• idiophone — Without strings or membranes, sound is created by the whole instrument vibrating.
• janggu — The janggu or janggo is a double-headed hourglass shaped drum which is the most widely used drum used in the traditional music of Korea.
• jegogan (Deepest pitch gangsa used in Balinese gamelan) — Largest and lowest pitched of the gangsa, it has 5 to 7 large metal bars suspended over long bamboo resonators
• jing — The jing is a large gong used in traditional Korean music.
• jublag (Second deepest pitch gangsa used in Balinese gamelan) — Second lowest pitched of the gangsa, it has 4 to 7 bronze keys suspended over long bamboo resonators
  For the sundanese bamboo xylophone also used in gamelan, see calung
• junjung (Sacred royal Serer war drum) — Sacred cylindrical goat or cattle rawhide drum, traditionally it was held with straps or placed on a stand and played horizontally while walking to battle, on special state occasions and religious ceremonies.
• kanjira (South Indian frame drum.)
• kantilan (High pitch gangsa used in Balinese gamelan) — Highest pitched gangsa, it has 10 brass or bronze keys suspended over short resonating bamboo pipes set in an heavily ornate case.
• kartal — The kartal is an Indian percussion instrument with jingles, played with the hands, mainly used in Kirtans, Bhajans and in Rajastani folk music.
• kecer (Indonesian racked cymbals) — Used in both gamelan and Wayang puppet theatre, it consists of two small cymbals sets; the bottom pair affixed in a highly decorated rancak rack, their lose counterparts attached together by string.
• kemanak (Banana shaped bronze slit-drum used in javanese gamelan) — Bent into a ladle or banana like shape, it is a pair of bronze slit-drums hit with tabuh beaters.
• kempli (Singular metal timekeeping gong-chime used in Balinese gamelan) — Singular bronze gong-chime kettle set on a decorated jackfruit-wood box stand. Used as time or tempo keeper, it is struck on the boss with panggul beater, which provides reference point in the pokok.
• kempul (Javanese hanging gong-set) — Set of 6 to 10 smaller hanging pitched bronze gongs with a protruding centre knob struck with tabuh beaters. Higher pitched than the gong ageng, it is often hung together with it.
• kempyang (Small boxed double gong-chime used in Javanese gamelan) — Always used with ketuk, it consists of two bronze kettle-gongs, pitched a note apart. Ached top bossed gongs are sat in the highly decorated rancak frame, beaten with tabuh beaters by the same person.
• kendang (Family of two sided laced drums used in various gamelan) — Used in many Southeast Asian countries, the body is made of woods like jackfruit or coconut, the heads of buffalo- and goat-hide.
  There are 2 main groups:
  
  • The Java/Sunda set of 3 to 4 curve sided drums with heads of different sizes.
  • The Bali set of two pairs of straight sided drums, both heads same size.
• kendang lanang (High pitched cylindrical kendang used in Bali gamelan.) — The smaller and higher pitched of the Bali kendang, it is the follower "male" drum.
• kendang wadon (Low pitched cylindrical kendang used in Bali gamelan.) — The larger and deeper pitched of the Bali kendang, it is the leader "female" drum.
• kendhang batangan (Middle conical kendang used in both Javanese/Sundanese gamelan) — Middle sized kendang, it is used in lively and complex rhythms.
  In Sunda it is known as kendhang ciblon
• kendhang gendhing (Largest conical kendang used in both Javanese/Sundanese gamelan) — Largest or "ageng" of the kendang, it is still smaller than the bedug.
  In Sunda it is known as kendhang gedé.
• kendhang indung (King-Size truncated cone kendang used in Sundanese gamelan) — Played in ensemble with kulanter, it is set at an angle and played with hands or sticks. it has the designation of "mother"
• kendhang ketipung (Smallest conical kendang used in both Javanese/Sundanese gamelan) — Smallest of the kendang, it is has a special two-instrument use with the gendhing.
  In Sunda it is known as kendhang katipung
• kendhang kulanter (Paired truncated cone kendang used in Sundanese gamelan) — Always used together with the indung, dual child drums are divided into the katipung ("besar" or larger) and the kutiplak ("kecil" or smaller).
• kendhang wayangan (Middle conical kendang used in javanese gamelan) — Middle sized kendang, it was traditionally used for the wayang dance.
• kenong (Large high-pitch gong-chime used in Indonesian Gamelan) — Related to bonang, it consists of 3 decorated rancak frames that each hold 2 large arched(jaler) bronze gong-chimes hit by heavy tabuh beater(s).
• kepyak (Metal plate percussion used in Javanese gamelan) — Used in wayang puppetry, it is made of 1 to 4 iron (sometimes bronze) plates hung by strings, The puppeteer uses a small mallet set in the foot to hit the plate(s).
• kethuk (Small boxed gong-chime used in Javanese gamelan) — Always used with kempyang, it consists of a single bronze kettle-gong, pitched deeper than kempyangs'. Flat top bossed gong is sat in a highly decorated rancak frame, beaten with tabuh beaters by the same person.
• kettle drum
• khong wong — The khong wong is a gong circle consisting of a number of gongs in a horizontal circular rattan frame. The player sits in the middle.
• khong wong lek — The khong wong lek is a gong circle used in Thai classical music. It has 18 tuned bossed gongs and is smaller and higher in pitch than the khong wong yai.
• khong wong yai — The khong wong yai is a gong circle used in the music of Thailand. It has 16 tuned bossed gongs and is larger and lower in pitch than the khong wong lek.
• khulsan khuur (bamboo mongolian jew's harp) — used for folksongs, particularly by young girls.
• kkwaenggwari — The kkwaenggwari is a small flat brass gong, typically about 20cm in diameter, which is used primarily in the folk music of Korea.
• klong khaek — The klong khaek is a double-headed barrel drum from Thailand. The heads are different sizes.
• klong song na — The klong song na is a barrel drum from Thailand. It is played with the hands and is used in the piphat ensemble.
• klong that — Klong that are large barrel drums from Thailand. They are played in a pair using wooden sticks and are used in the piphat ensemble.
• klong yao — The klong yao is a goblet drum from Thailand which is usually decorated with a colourful skirt.
• kös — A Turkish drum used in the traditional Ottoman military bands
• kotsuzumi — The kotsuzumi or simply tsuzumi is an hourglass-shaped Japanese drum with cords that can be squeezed or released to increase or decrease the tension of the heads.
• krakebs — Krakebs are large metal castanet-like instruments which are the primary rhythmic component of Gnawa music.
• krap khū (Thai bamboo concussion sticks) — Used in folk music, bamboo is split into a pair of 40 cm long sticks which are hit together.
• krap phuang (Thai wood/brass clappers) — Used in royal ceremonies, played by striking against the palm, it is made of several pieces of wood, ivory and sheets of brass between two larger pieces of wood tied together by a string at one end.
• krap sēphā (Thai bevelled wood rhythm-sticks) — Used in the chant, sēphā, a pair of squared bevelled rosewood sticks around 21 cm long and 3-4 cm thick.
• kudüm — Turkish pair of small, hemispherical drums
• lamellaphone — Lamellophones are a family of musical instruments which have one or more long thin plates - "lamella" or "tongues" - which are fixed at one end and free at the other end. The free end is plucked, causing the plate to vibrate.
• lithophone (Arrangement of struck tuned stone bars.)
• madal — Madal, hand drum originating from Nepal
• maddale — Maddale is a double-headed drum from Karnataka, India. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in Yakshagana.
• maracas
• marimba
• marímbula — The marímbula is a plucked box musical instrument from the Caribbean.
• Mark tree (Mark Stevens' bar chime) — Solid metal (often aluminium) rods hanging on a bar, set at an inharmonic pitch.
• mbira — The mbira or kalimba (also known by many other names) is an African thumb piano.
• membranophone — Any kind of instrument with membranes, usually variously sized drums.
• monkey stick (Traditional English percussion stick) — Homemade combination of a wooden pole with beer bottle tops and other jingles and a hefty boot at the bottom to create thumping bass, it is often decorated with hats, hair or stuffed animals.
• morsing (Indian mouth harp) — Indian mouth harp, played in Carnatic and Rajastani folk music.
• mouth harp (Family of mouth plucked idiophones) — Plucked by the mouth, it consists of a characteristically shaped frame with a metal or bamboo reed (tine). There are many variants around the world.
• mridangam — The mridangam is a double-sided drum from India.
• mukkuri (Ainu mouth harp) — Ingenious to the Ainu, it is made of bamboo with a string that vibrated creates sound.
• musical box
• nagadou-daiko — The nagadou-daiko is an elongated barrel-shaped Japanese drum.
• naobo — Chinese cymbals specially used in the Beijing opera.
• ocean drum
• octoban (racked 4 or 8 tom-toms) — Small but long tom-toms set in groups of four or eight, they are a common addition in drumsets. Originally made of fibreglass, today also acrylic, aluminium or wood is used, and homemade ones of f.ex PVC are not uncommon.
• ōtsuzumi — The ōtsuzumi is an hourglass-shaped Japanese drum, larger than the kotsuzumi.
• pahū (Māori taonga pūoro large signalling drum) — Logs or thick planks up to 9 meters long used as signalling drums, as gongs for both war and peace. Even living hollowed trees have been used as pahū.
• pahū pounamu (Māori taonga pūoro gong made of jade and bone) — Gong made of pounamu; greenstone and pilot-whale bone with a striker made of akeake, a hardwood.
• paiban (Ancient Chinese clapper) — Made of sandalwood or bamboo, 2 blocks are tied together with a string, a third with a ribbon. Part of the drum and clapper ensemble guban, but confusingly, the clapper alone can also be called guban.
• pakhawaj (Dhrupad wooden two-headed barrel-drum) — Used in Hindustani dhrupad, this two-headed barrel-drum is tuned like its descendant the tabla.
• pākuru (Māori taonga pūoro tapping sticks) — Two rods, one is held in the mouth, which works as a resonance chamber while chanting and singing, the other is used for tapping and scraping, creating rhythm.
• pātē — The pātē is a Polynesian slit drum made from a hollowed-out log.
• pemade (Lower pitch gangsa used in Balinese gamelan) — Second highest pitched gangsa, it is deeper than the kantil but also has 10 brass or bronze keys suspended over short resonating pipes set in an heavily ornate case.
• percussion — Very wide grouping, played by hitting directly aka idiophones and membranophones (from drums to xylophones). Use the closest approximate instrument possible for credits, use percussion with a credit if no better can be found and create an instrument ticket if necessary.
• percussion idiophone — Generally consists of one to very many plates, sticks, or other objects hit with (or against) various types of mallets.
• phách — Phách are small wooden sticks beaten on a small piece of bamboo or a wooden block. The sound produced is used to keep time.
• pkhachich — The pkhachich is a traditional shaken percussion instrument of the Circassian peoples.
• plucked idiophone — Plucked idiophones have spikes, nails or flexible tongues ("lamellae") that are plucked in various ways to produce sound.
• poi (Māori taonga pūoro flax leaf balls used in dancing) — Flax leaf balls filled with seeds, swung around to create rhythmic and visual patterns. An important element in the dance also known as poi.
• primero (Tenor garifuna drum) — Tenor member of the garifuna drum group.
• qilaut — The qilaut is an Inuit frame drum which has a handle and is made of caribou skin.
• quijada (Jawbone rattle) — Made of equusine jawbone, it is used in traditional Latin-american music as a rattle.
• quinto
• rainstick
• rammana — The rammana is a frame drum used in classical Thai and Cambodian music which forms one part of thon and rammana.
• ranat ek — The ranat ek is a Thai xylophone which consists of 21 wooden bars suspended by cords over a boat-shaped trough resonator and struck by two mallets.
• ranat kaeo — The ranat kaeo is a Thai instrument similar to a xylophone consisting of glass bars of varying lengths.
• ranat thum — The ranat thum is a xylophone from Thailand consisting of 18 wooden bars suspended by cords over a boat-shaped trough resonator. It is similar to the ranat ek but lower in pitch.
• ratchet
• reco-reco (Brazilian metal scraper) — Originally made of bamboo or wood, it is now metal with springs and is used in Brazilian music.
• repeater (Nyabinghi smaller pitch drum) — Also known as kette or keteh, it is the smallest size/pitch drum. It has a tight goat skin membrane and it is struck with the fingertips. Important in the Jamaican Burru music and Rastafari movement, it is part of the Nyabinghi/Akete drums.
• repinique — The repinique is a cylindrical drum from Brazil.
• reyong (Gong-chime used in Balinese gamelan) — Set of 4 to 12 small metal gongs suspended in a string carriage, played by two to four players.
• Rhodes piano (Electric keyboard tuning fork idiophone)
• rhythm sticks
• riq — The riq is a type of tambourine used as a traditional instrument in Arabic music.
• rōria (Māori taonga pūoro mouth harp) — thin quiet mouth harp like instrument made of wood or bone.
• rototom — The rototom is a drum which has no shell and is tuned by rotating.
• sabar — The sabar is a drum from Senegal which is normally played with one hand and one stick. The body is an elongated cylinder with tapered ends. The head is made of goatskin and is attached to the body using pegs.
• saron barung (Middle pitch saron-family member used in Sundanese gamelan.) — Often called simply "saron", it plays the basic, balungan melody
• saron demung (Penultimate pitch saron-family member used in Sundanese gamelan.) — Called simply "demung", it is the largest and deepest pitched of the regular saron.
• saron family (Family of Sundanese metallophones) — Part of the Sundanese gamelan, these consist of a decorated wood resonator (rancak) upon which is resting six to nine thick, smooth, bronze or iron keys that are hit with mallets of hard wood or buffalo horn.
  
  The saron family consists of the smallest member; saron panerus, the middle pitch member; saron barung and the largest member; sarong demung. Additionally, the largely obsolete slentho (which has been subsumed by the slenthem) is even deeper than the demung and the saron peking, which is a special slendro variant is even higher than the panerus, of which it shares an overlapping range. Finally the saron wayang is used in wayang performances.
• saron panerus (Highest pitch saron-family member used in Sundanese gamelan.) — Called simply "panerus", it has seven bronze keys resting on a decorated rancak box. Keys are hit by tabuh mallet with head of buffalo horn.
• saron peking (Highest pitch saron-family member.) — Similar to panerus with which it has a different but overlapping range, it has 6 bronze keys tuned for the slendro key.
• saron wayang (Special saron used for Wayang puppetry) — Used in the Javanese Wayang puppet theatre, it has nine large bronze keys set in a decorated frame.
• scraped idiophone
• segunda (Bass garifuna drum) — Bass member of the garifuna drum group.
• sênh tiền — The sênh tiền is a Vietnamese instrument which is a combination of clappers, a rasp and a jingle, made from three pieces of wood with old Chinese coins attached.
• shaken idiophone — Shaken idiophone or rattle. Sound is produced by holding or containing usually small concussing parts.
• shakers (Latin-American tube rattle) — Tube made of metal or bamboo, it is filled with seeds, pebbles or sand. Especially used in Latin American music, it is shaken rhythmically to produce sound.
• shekere (Large West African gourd-shaker) — West African gourd-shaker, a net of beads covers it.
• shime-daiko — The shime-daiko is a small Japanese drum with a short but wide body which has a higher pitch than a normal taiko.
• singing bowl
• sistrum (Ancient Egyptian rattle) — Used in sacred rituals, it is made of metal or clay rattle with metal discs which jangle when shook.
  Not to be confused with the West African calabash sistrum or disc rattle (n'goso m'bara)
• slapstick (Hinged percussion) — Often known as whip, it consists of two parts joined together by a hinge, it creates a whip-like sound when clacked together.
• slenthem (Deepest pitch single octave metallophone used in Javanese gamelan) — Used in Javanese gamelan, the 6(slendro)-7(pelog) bronze keys beat by a disk mallet(tabuh) are suspended above individual tube metal/bamboo resonators set in a 75 cm long wooden frame.
• slentho (Obsolete deepest saron-family member used in Sundanese gamelan.) — Unlike the other saron, its six-seven keys are not smooth, but bevelled or bossed, like the gendèr and the slenthem, which has largely replaced it in the modernised gamelan.
• slit drum (Hollow wooden idiophone) — Made of hollowed out wood or bamboo, it has incisions or slits as soundholes. Slit drums are among the most ancient and earliest instruments.
• snare drum
• song loan — The song loan is a traditional Vietnamese instrument consisting of a hollow wooden body (about 7 cm in diameter) attached to a flexible spring with a wooden ball on the other end and played with the foot.
• spoons
• steelpan
• struck idiophone — Struck idiophone are ones where sound comes from striking the instrument and it as a whole vibrates, without the use of strings or membranes. Therefore these are most often made of sonorous material: metal, wood, glass and even stone.
• surdo — The surdo is a large bass drum used in Brazilian music, most notably samba.
• t'rưng — The t'rưng is a bamboo xylophone from the central highlands of Vietnam which is played by ethnic groups such as the Bahnar and the Ê Đê.
• tabla — The tabla is a pair of hand drums used in Hindustani classical music and in the traditional music of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
• tabor (one-handed sidedrum) — Side drum, often with one or more snares, worn by one person and beaten by one hand, it is often combined with tabor pipes.
• taiko — Japanese traditional drum beaten with sticks called bachi.
• talking drum
• tamborim — The tamborim is a small frame drum from Brazil.
• tambourine
• tanbou ka — Tanbou ka or Tambu ka (a small high-pitched drum)
• tap dance — Tap dancing is a type of dance in which the dancer wears special shoes that make a clicking sound as the dancer's feet strike the floor.
• taphon — The taphon is a traditional barrel drum from Thailand.
• tar (drum) — A tar is a single-headed frame drum from North Africa and the Middle East.
• tef — A Turkish version of tambourine / daf, made from animal skin and played with the fingers.
• temple blocks
• temür khuur (steel mongolian jew's harp) — used in folkmedisine and shamanistic rituals
• thavil
• The Great Stalacpipe Organ (electrically actuated lithophone) — Located in the Luray Caverns of Virginia USA, it is made of an electric console wired to mallets striking thirty-seven stalactites producing tones. This is a singular specific instrument, not an instrument type.
• thon — The thon is a goblet drum with a ceramic or wooden body used in classical Thai and Cambodian music which forms one part of thon and rammana.
• ti bwa — ti bwa, percussion instrument made of a piece of bamboo laid horizontally and beaten with sticks
• Tibetan water drum
• timbales
• timpani — Timpani (Kettle drum)
• tinya — The tinya is a small drum used in the traditional music of the Andes.
• tōkere (Māori taonga pūoro castanets) — Castanets of wood, bone, bivalve shells or even flax leaf.
• tom-tom — A tom-tom (or just tom) is a cylindrical drum with no snare, commonly found in a standard drum set.
• triangle (Tuned metal shape) — Tuned metal bar, bent into triangle shape.
• trống bông — The trống bông is a wooden Vietnamese drum with a single drumhead which is played with both hands.
• tubular bells (Orchestral chimes) — Larger orchestral version of chimes, closed top hollow metal tubes are set in a stand with a damper operated by pedals, they are tuned at a definite pitch and played with mallets.
• tubulum (PVC pipe instrument) — Invented (or atleast made popular by) Blue Man Group, it is made of alternating length PVC pipes and hit with sticks or flaps. It is popular with street musicians.
• tumutumu (Māori taonga pūoro ancient struck idiophone) — Made of resonating stone, wood or bone with a striker of stone, bone or hardwood, this ancient instrument was used for rhythm during chanting.
• txalaparta (Traditional Basque idiophone) — Traditionally consisting of two long wooden planks with corn-husks attached for vibration and hit with long, thick sticks called Makilak, today the planks are shorter and can be made of many other materials like stone, wood or metal and are hit with shorter, lighter sticks.
• typewriter — Besides being used for writing, it has also been used in percussion.
• udu (Nigerian clay jug idiophone) — Played ceremonially by Igbo people, it is a clay jug beaten with hands to create sounds.
• ugal (Deep pitch gangsa used in Balinese gamelan) — Even lower pitched than the pemade , it also has 10 bronze keys suspended over tuned bamboo resonators that the player hits with a small hammer, often in a theatrical manner. It is the leader of the pokok melody.
• vibraphone
• vibraslap
• washboard (American scraped idiophone) — Typical metal ribbed tool used for washing, still in it's wooden frame, often has is additional noisemakers attached, such as cowbell or woodblock. It is played with thimbles as plectrum.
• waterphone
• wind chime (Wind played chimes) — It differs from other chimes by addition of pendulum(s), such to be worked by wind, the sonorous parts can be rods, bells or other shapes of metal, wood, glass or ceramic.
  Often decorated, it is seen as a good luck charm.
• wood block
• wooden fish (wooden bell used in temples) — Highly stylised wooden block-bell, it is used in religious ritual. Its prototype, fish board (gyoban) is more obviously shaped like a fish.
• Wurlitzer electric piano — The Wurlitzer electric piano is an electric piano where flat steel reeds are struck by felt hammers.
• xiaoluo — The xiaoluo is a Chinese small flat gong whose pitch rises when struck with the side of a flat wooden stick.
• xylophone (Arrangement of struck tuned wooden bars.)
• xylorimba (Extended range xylophone) — Member of the xylophone family, it has 5 octaves.
• yonggo (Korean traditional dragon-painted barrel drum) — Used in the traditional Korean music daechwita, it consists of a large two headed wooden barrel painted with dragon designs.
• yu (wooden tiger scraped with bamboo whisk) — From atleast 600 BC, it is made of wood to resemble a tiger with its spine made into notches. Notches are scraped to produce sound, it was used in ensemble with zhu.
• zabumba — The zabumba is a bass drum from Brazil.
• żafżafa — The żafżafa or rabbaba is a Maltese friction drum consisting of a container (made of tin, pottery or wood) covered with animal skin with a long Arundo donax reed attached.
• zarb — The zarb is a goblet drum from Persia.
• zill (Eastern Mediterranean finger cymbals) — Known since ancient times in south-east Europe and Turkey, small bronze finger cymbals are used for dancing and other performances. These are similar to the jingles set in some frame drums.

Electronic instrument

• analog synthesizer (uses analogue circuits to produce sound) — using analogue circuits and techniques to produce sound electronically, the first types where created in the 1920's with thermionic valves and other electromechanical machineries.
• bass pedals
• bass synthesizer — A bass synthesizer is used to create sounds in the bass range.
• chamberlin (electromechanical piano)
• clavioline (electronic keyboard, forerunner to analogue synthesizers) — an early analogue synthesizer, it had a vacuum tube oscillator and high/low pass filtering to produce vibrato
• continuum
• Denis d'or
• disk drive — as using drives for producing music, harddrives, floppy, cd or other.
• drum machine (drum programming)
• Dubreq Stylophone
• ebow
• electronic instruments
• electronic organ
• elektronium (electronic keyboard accordion) — in the form of a piano accordion, the keys control the output, pitch and sound, bellows control only volume. Sold by Hohner since 1952, it has gone through many modernisations through the years.
• EWI — EWI (an acronym for electric wind instrument) is the name of Akai's wind controller.
• farfisa
• floppy disk drive — Floppy Drives configured to produce tones while reading, software is used.
• game console sound chip (sound chip from gaming consoles) — Sound chip from various video game consoles, computers and similar, used for music, chiefly in bitunes and chiptunes
• guitar synthesizer — A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of systems that allow a guitar player to play synthesizer sound.
• Guitaret (electric lamellophone) — small white electric thumb piano with metal tines and an electromagnetic pickup.
• guitorgan (el guitar / el organ hybrid) — Invented in 1966 by vox, and in 1969 by Bob Murrell, it is an electric guitar with electronic organ wiring and knobs added.
• Hammond organ
• hard disk drive — Harddisk configured to produce tones in pattern.
• keyboard (electronic or digital keyboard)
• keyboard bass
• keytar (Shoulder-strapped electric keyboard) — Made portable with a shoulder-strap like a guitar, electric keyboard has soundcontrols on the neck
• laser harp — A laser harp is an electronic musical instrument consisting of several laser beams to be blocked, in analogy with the plucking of the strings of a harp, in order to produce sounds.
• Lyricon — The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument.
• marimba lumina — MIDI controller with a marimba-layout inspired control deck
• mellotron (An electromechanical piano)
• Minimoog
• Moog
• omnichord
• ondes Martenot
• ondioline (early analogue synth with various sounds and "vibrato" keyboard) — one of the first analogue synths, it had a filter bank with 15 sliders for different sounds, and a "vibrato" inducing keyboard based on the ondes Martenot's.
• Otamatone (Toy synthesizer) — Shaped like an eighth-note with a cute face, it is played with one hand fingering the neck and the other squeezing the head to create wavering sound.
• Pianet (electromechanical piano) — Electromechanical piano (not to be confused with electronic piano) designed and produced by Hohner in the 1960 and 70s.
• Reactable — The Reactable is an electronic musical instrument consisting of a round translucent table on which blocks are placed.
• sampler
• string synthesizer (60-80's electronic string-ensemble emulator) — Developed from the 1960's and used mainly in the 70-80's, it was a cheaper and more portable simplification of the mellotron, emulating string ensembles. Its later hybrid development with the electronic organ created "polyphonic ensemble" synthesizers.
• synclavier
• synthesizer
• telharmonium (gigantic electronic organ transmitted through telephone wires.) — considered the first electromechanical musical instrument, an early electronic organ.
• theremin
• trautonium (monophonic electric instrument from 1930's) — Electric instrument from the 1930's with a resistor wire and moving metal plate.
• tubon (analogue electronic monophonic Organ) — electronic bass organ proto-keytar
• vocoder
• voice synthesizer
• wavedrum
• wind synthesizer (synthesizer played like a wind instrument) — wind synthesizer or wind controller, it is connected to a midi controller and is played like a wind instrument.

Other instrument

• bass — Bass is a common but generic credit which refers to more than one instrument, the most common being the bass guitar and the double bass (a.k.a. contrabass, acoustic upright bass, wood bass). Please use the correct instrument if you know which one is intended.
• bullroarer
• effects — Effects refers to devices which enable a musician to modify the sound of an instrument.
• electric piano
• gizmo (Elguitar/bass effect device) — An effects device to be clamped on the bridge, it produces "synthesizer-like" sounds
• hydraulophone ("woodwater" flute made with hydraulics) — Made of tubing with holes that may have everything from none to two reeds, water instead of air comes out of the holes. Sound is produced by covering the holes with fingers, altering the flow of water through the holes.
• kazoo
• lasso d'amore — The lasso d'amore, whirly tube or corrugaphone is a corrugated plastic tube which is spun in a circle.
• musical saw (Bowed metal plaque idiophone) — Regular or specialised saw used for music, held and bent, it is bowed to produce characteristical glissando.
• other instruments — Other instruments. If you can't find an instrument, please request it.
• pūrerehua (Māori taonga pūoro bullroarer) — made of wood, bone or stone it has a long string attached, when spun around it produces a deep, loud whizzing sound that can be heard from far away.
• suikinkutsu — A suikinkutsu is a type of Japanese garden ornament which uses dripping water to create music. Although it is also known as a Japanese water zither, it is named after the sound the koto (a Japanese zither) makes and is not actually a string instrument.
• talkbox — A talkbox is an effects device which enables a musician to modify the sound of an instrument.
• tape
• turntable — Used in turntablism, vinyl records are not simply played on it, instead DJ's perform creating sound.
• vacuum cleaner
• żummara (Maltese mirliton) — Made of bamboo with one end covered with grease-paper, it is a "side-blown" mirliton.
  Not to be confused with the Egyptian/Iraqi zummara which is an instrument similar to a chalumeau.

Ensemble

• chirimía and drum (pair of double-reed and drum. from South America.) — much like the pipe and tabor, the chirimía and drum is a South American cousin.
• gamelan (Indonesian traditional ensemble) — Gamelan is basically split up in 3 traditions: the Balinese, the Sundanese and the Javanese, with each area having several different gamelan ensembles from large to small, each including a variety of instruments.
  Most if not all gamelan instruments come in two scales, Sléndro and Pélog, these are tuned differently and large gamelan orchestras always include at-least one of each scale and often several sets in each.
  Gamelan is an integrated part of Indonesian culture, is used in important traditions and throughout Indonesian life.
• guban (Traditional chinese drum and clapper.) — Important in Yue, Kunkqu and Peking opera, it consists of the drum bangu and the clapper paiban. Drum is played by one hand and clapper with the other.
• piano duo (ensemble of two pianists playing on separate pianos) — Chamber ensemble where two pianists play on a different piano each.
• piano four hands (ensemble of two pianists playing on one piano) — Chamber ensemble where two pianists play on the same piano at the same time.
• piano quartet (ensemble of piano, violin, viola and cello)
• piano trio (ensemble of violin, cello and piano) — Chamber ensemble of three players (one piano, one violin, one cello)
• Pierrot ensemble (ensemble flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano) — Chamber ensemble of five players (flute, clarinet, violin, cello and piano). Originally required for Schönberg's Pierrot Lunaire, it became a fairly common combination for 20th century classical groups.
• pipe and tabor (pair of flute and drum, each played by one hand) — Originally an early European combination of a drum (tambourine) and pipe (fipple flute) were pipe was played by one hand and drum beaten by the other. It was chiefly used for dancing music. It has analogies all over the world.
• saxophone quartet — ensemble of four saxophones, generally SATBar
• Serbo-Croatian tamburica orchestra
• string quartet (ensemble of 1st violin, 2nd violin, viola and cello) — Chamber ensemble of four players (two violins, one viola, one cello)
• string quintet (ensemble of 2 violins, viola, cello and a fifth string instrument) — Chamber ensemble of five players (two violins, one viola & one cello, then either a second viola, a second cello or a double bass)
• string trio (ensemble of violin, viola and cello) — Chamber ensemble of three players (one violin, one viola, one cello)
• taonga pūoro (Māori traditional instrument ensemble) — Traditional musical instruments of the Māori people of New Zealand. Consists of gourds (hue), shell flutes (pu), wooden flutes (koauau), wind roarers and other natural materials.
• traditional basque ensemble — instruments used in the traditional music of the Basque people
• viol consort (ensemble of multiple viols) — Ensemble of multiple instruments of the viol family, usually including at least treble, tenor and bass viols.
• violin octet (New modern streamlined family of violins) — New Violin Family of eight proportionally-sized violins developed mainly by Carleen Hutchins, each based directly on the standard violin and its acoustic properties, thus their sound is at a more homogeneous pitch "near the two middle open strings."

Family

• bağlama (saz) family
• Baltic psalteries (Family of Baltic box-zithers) — Family of related plucked box-zithers from the Baltic area, each hold a strong traditional significance within their respective communities Members include: * Kantele from Finland * Kannel from Estland * Kanklės from Lithuania * Kokles from Latvia * Gusli from Russia/Belarus Additional members include the Russian Mari-people's Kusle, the Latvian Livonian-people's Kāndla and the Sápmi Harpu
• bīn (Family of ancient Indian stick zither chordophones) — One of the two subfamilies of Indian chordophones, the North Indian stick zither used in classical Hindustani music has two (or more) large gourd sound resonators and a stick or tube body.
  Commonly called "bin", "been" or "bean", the representative is rudra veena, and credits to just "bin" are usually that.
• concert flute — Western concert flute is the most common variant of the flute and is commonly referred to as just "flute".
• fiddle — Generally any bowed handle lute with the characteristic "violin" shape belong to fiddles.
• gendèr (Family of Indonesian metallophones) — Uses in Javanese gamelan and Balinese wayang, these range from 12 to 14 tuned bronze keys, all suspended over metal or bamboo resonators.
• guitar family (DO NOT USE) — please help move wrongly credited relationships from this, most if not almost all should probably just be "guitar" with credit (guitars)
• huqin — Chinese family of bowed spike-fiddles, usually with 2, occasionally 3-4 strings, the bodies made of wood and covered with skin occasionally thin wood or made of coconut.
• krap (Group of thai concussion idiophones) — Made of various materials, clappers are struck together to keep rhythm and time for use in ceremonies and rituals and to accompany dancing and singing.
• lute family
• metallophone (Arrangement of struck tuned metal bars.) — Consisting of tuned metal bars, slates or keys struck with mallets and arranged (often on resonators of sonorous material) in various scales. Compare xylophone for the wooden bar equivalent.
• pi — Family of quadruple reed oboes
• trumpet family (Family of the brass instrument trumpet) — Family of the brass instrument trumpet
• veena (Family of ancient Indian lute-like chordophones) — One of the two subfamilies of Indian chordophones, the South Indian gourd lute used in classical Carnatic music has a single gourd music-box (sometimes a secondary small resonator gourd) with an often hollow neck.
  Commonly called just "veena" or "vina", the representative is Saraswati veena, and credits to just "veena" are usually that.
• viol family (Viola de gamba family) — Please use Viola da Gamba with credit "viol" for generic / unspecified viol credits, and not this one. Developed in the 15th century from vihuelists starting to play with bows, viols have frets, flat backs, sloped shoulders, c-holes and are tuned in fourths.
• violin family (Modern violin family) — Developed in the 16th century, these violas da braccio are distinct from the violas da gamba family.
  Modern members are:
  • Violin (little viola)
  • Viola
  • Violoncello (small big viola)
  • Double Bass (replacing the violone (big viola))
  Past members include the violone (now a considered a viol) and bass viol (a forerunner to the violoncello). Occasionally Octobass is also included as a member.

Unclassified instrument

• claviorganum (Fifteenth century organ harpsichord hybrid) — Popular in the fifteenth century, it was a combination of a pipe organ and harpsichord, often with two keyboards, one for the strings and one for the pipes mounted underneath.

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