Musical Instrument Classification: Types and Examples

Idiophones

Idiophone instruments are those in which the sound is produced by the vibration of the instrument itself. They are classified considering the way the sound is produced, that is, how they are played. They can make sounds when hit, concussed, shaken, plucked, scraped, or even rubbed.

Percussion Idiophones

They can be pitched like bar instruments and those we can find in sets like the temple block. They can also be unpitched like the triangle, the gong, the woodblock, or the cajón flamenco.

Concussion Idiophones

Castanets, claves, and cymbals.

Shaken Idiophones

Maracas and rattles.

Plucked Idiophones

The berimbau and the sansa.

Scraped Idiophones

The güiro, the washboard, or the ratchet.

Friction Idiophones

Musical glasses, the glass harmonica, or the musical saw.

Membranophones

These are all the instruments in which the sound is produced by the vibration of a stretched membrane. They are classified into:

Struck Membranophones

They can be unpitched like the snare drum, the bass drum, and the bongos; or pitched like kettledrums.

Friction Membranophones

The best-known example is the zambomba, very common in popular music.

Singing Membranophones

They are generally called "kazoos." They use membranes made of very thin materials, like paper or onion skin. They do not produce a characteristic sound, but they modify the voice of the performer who talks or sings, making the membrane vibrate.

Chordophones

These instruments produce sound by the vibration of one or more strings tightened between two points. They are classified according to the way the string is vibrated: rubbing, plucking, or striking it.

Friction Chordophones

The most common friction chordophones are the violin family, which we saw before. They include the violin, the viola, the violoncello, and the double bass. Other quite known instruments in the field of traditional music are the rebec and the hurdy-gurdy.

Plucked Chordophones

The main instruments are the guitar and the harp. Other very important instruments from former periods of history are the lute and the harpsichord.

Struck Chordophones

The best-known instrument is the piano, which has its origins in the old zither, struck with wooden hammers.

Aerophones

These are all the instruments in which the sound is produced by the vibration of an air column.

Non-free Aerophones

The vibration of air is produced when the performer blows into it. They are classified according to the type of mechanism that generates the sound: fipple, reed, or mouthpiece.

Edge-blown or Fipple Aerophones

All instruments we generically know as flutes.

Single-reed Aerophones

The clarinet and the saxophone.

Double-reed Aerophones

The oboe, the English horn, the bassoon, and other typical instruments from traditional music like the dulzaina.

Free-reed Aerophones

The harmonica and the bagpipe.

Mouthpiece Aerophones

These are known by the traditional denomination of brass instruments: the trumpet, the horn, the trombone, and the tuba.

Free Aerophones

The air column vibrates using a bellows mechanism, without the performer having to blow. The main examples are the accordion and the organ.

Electrophones

These are all the instruments that use electricity to produce sounds. We have to distinguish between:

Electromechanic Instruments

These are conventional instruments that incorporate a pickup or a contact microphone to amplify and modify the sound. The most popular example is the electric guitar.

Electronic Instruments

They produce sound using oscillators which generate alternating electric current and incorporate different devices, also electronic, to modify sound parameters, achieving a wide variety of timbres, registers, and effects. The most common instruments are the synthesizer, the drum machine, and the electronic drum.