Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.
Instruments Guide
Let’s take a look at some different instruments that you may be thinking of using for your song. All instruments belong to one instrument family, which is how they are grouped together. We will be looking at four instrument families so that whether you are writing a song for orchestra, band, or a rock band, you will know how these instruments are grouped together!
String Instruments: String instruments include acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, violin, cello, ukulele, and banjo. Strings add a beautiful sound to a song and they are great for layering and harmonizing. When writing a song, string instruments like guitar and ukulele can be used for melodies as they have such a diverse range and get hit higher notes! String instruments are common for orchestra or most genres of music like rock or country!
Percussion Instruments: Percussion includes drums, piano, cymbals, bells, electric drums, tambourine, bongos, marimba, and xylophone. Percussion instruments are great for rhythm and keeping time. They also add unique sounds and excitement within the song! There are a lot of different genres of music that use percussion instruments, so they are not very limited in their use!
Woodwind Instruments: Woodwinds are a group that contains saxophone, clarinet, flute, oboe, and bassoon. These instruments are all very diverse in terms of their range and pitches, so they all serve different purposes! Woodwinds are normally used for big bands, orchestra and jazz!
Brass Instruments: Some instruments that are included in brass are trumpet, trombone, french horn, and tuba. Brass instruments, like woodwinds, are very diverse in their pitches and are used for different reasons in songwriting! As an example, higher-pitched brass instruments, like trumpet, typically take melody while lower registers, like tuba or trombone, are used for lower harmony. Brass instruments are typically used in orchestra, big bands, and jazz!
When you are writing your song, you can use any instrument you want or that you know how to play! Which instruments you pick may also deal with the purpose of your song. For instance, if you know how to play trumpet, clarinet, and saxophone, you may compose a song for orchestra or band-related purposes. If you know you to play guitar, bass, and drums, you may be writing a rock song!
Another important instrument that is used in songwriting is your voice! Do not forget that you can also get creative with adding lyrics to add some vocals to your music!
