Top 10 Most Beautiful Sounding Musical Instruments

The Top Ten
1 Violin The violin is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use.

The violin is the most complex instrument I've ever played. How do you bow with one hand and finger with the other? But the result is beautiful, once you get the hang of it. Especially with vibrato. If you're a focused, meticulous person, this instrument is for you.

Violins are by far one of the most beautiful instruments. Most people think it's squeaky and annoying, but it's the complete opposite. It is a beautiful instrument, the sound makes me want to cry when I hear it playing. I'm a beginner at it, and simple songs like ode to joy sound so pretty, even though it's easy. Violin is a beautiful instrument, although it is difficult, I highly recommend you play it. We need more violinists!

It's amazing. I have been studying violin for the last two years and I feel it is a very natural and pure acoustic instrument. The violin is a very different instrument to compare with other musical instrument, because there is no clues​ for finding the correct note. It is a classic instrument which I ever heard. I like the violin very much.

2 Piano The piano is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands.

What is there to say? This instrument is like gold. Some of the best classical songs are made for just the piano. Listen to Chopin, Liszt, Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, and Bach, and you'll know what I mean. And the piano's repertoire does not end there. It is used often in modern music too. It takes a whole orchestra to match the complexity of the music on the piano. It's not the sound itself that is great to me, it's intricacy of every chord and arpeggio, tempo and dynamic, harmony and melody, and articulation found in every single piece written for the piano.

The piano is very underestimated. People think it's easy, but it's not. I've been playing for three and a half years (I'm 13), and it is one of the most beautiful instruments I play. I read articles about how it's so easy, and yes, it can be easy. I taught myself it for a year until I was bored of playing songs with one hand. Piano is easy, until it's not. You are using your eyes, fingers, and feet (pedals). To be doing that all at the same time is very challenging. The piano is such a beautiful, misunderstood instrument that I think needs more caring.

3 Cello The cello or violoncello is a bowed or plucked string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths.

Being very versatile, it can have the high notes of the violin, and the deep resonating sounds that are unique to itself. I am shocked by the cello being in 5th place. Also, and this is just my own opinion, the cello is one of the most in tune string instruments because of the larger strings. Whenever I hear a violin, sometimes even at the college level, the cellos are mostly in tune, while the violins and violas are just out of tune. Also, just to point this out, the best classical solos and concertos along with looping creations use the Cello. The Violin is the most widely known because it usually has the melody in classical pieces, but the best and most beautiful instrument is the Cello. If you really want to see for yourself, look up Prelude to Bach's First Cello Suite. This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music in the history of music. Listen and join the Cello Side.

4 Flute The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening.

The flute is so beautiful to listen to. I've been playing acoustic guitar for 3 years, but I want to start the flute. The flute is also good for you. It improves your posture, breathing control, lung capacity, and more. Flute: 100/100! Also, you boys and men out there, there is no shame in playing the flute! (I'm a 12-year-old boy) I have a friend who plays the flute, (she's a girl) and she says that the flute dominates the professional tier in her band! So, ladies and gentlemen, no matter what gender you are, if you want to play the flute, go for it! (Also, flute is shockingly under-represented and underestimated in society, don't let that discourage you!) We all need more flutes out there! Go for it!

The flute... so misunderstood and underestimated. People online say it's one of the easiest instruments to play, like it's a recorder. It's NOT. It took my friend about a week to make sound out of it, and a few days to make sound out of the first piece (It only took me a few days, but I play other instruments. Flute is not a beginner instrument unless you're dedicated to learn it). As for the sound... I cannot begin to express myself of the beauty. Whenever I pick up the flute and play along with my band I think: "Wow, this instrument in my hands is truly magical (my bandmates agree, they nicknamed me "Flute of the Forest")". So beautiful and misunderstood. Please, play the flute! We need more flutes players in this world (I'm the only flute player in my band)!

5 Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers.

The harp reminds me of rain in a way, and the way it can sound both like a rippling curtain of jade when strummed and like individual raindrops when plucked is beautiful. I remember the first live performance I saw on the harp still today: Debussy's Claire De Lune. The already lovely composition seems as if it was made for the harp, not the piano, as the stringed instrument brings out all the delicate yet heavy feelings in the song; as I listened it almost felt as if the harpist was kneading my heartstrings as opposed to the instrument.

The harp is an unassuming, humble instrument. In the midst of an orchestra it adds the perfect glittering beauty that no other instrument could produce. I play the piano but I often wish I had taken up the harp. I listen to harp music almost every night to help me go to sleep and it does wonders for this! I puts me in such a peaceful place, just a gorgeous instrument!

6 Guitar

Guitars are the most beautiful not only for their amazing sound and versatility but the intimacy with it. You hold the guitar close to your body almost like you're hugging it. You can feel the vibrations through your chest and body and you don't get that with any other instruments, they're all away from the body.

The classical guitar not only has a sweet and soft sound to it, but it can be played with thunderous blasts of the strumming fingers or very light strokes of the fingertips, thus giving it a vast range of expression. It is versatile as an instrument gets.

I've played every instrument above this besides cello and violin,and I honestly thing the guitar is one of the most beautiful. If anyone is doubting, just go look up fingerstyle. It's just so calming and it is my preferred playing style, blending in the melody of the lyrics with the rhythm in the background of a song. It's just so breathtakingly beautiful

7 Clarinet

Very velvety, warm, and smooth timbre. Also abundantly expressive. Super versatile. Want a soothing, slow piece? Play a smooth legato passage. Want something exciting and quick? Play a song with arpeggios and/or runs; since the clarinet is more agile than any other woodwind besides the flute, it can play really fast. Want jazz? Just add vibrato to a song. The clarinet is seriously underrated. Difficulty would be a medium. Harder than any of the saxes but easier than oboe, and slightly easier than flute. Out of all woodwinds, I would say this instrument should be first in beautiful sound list.

The clarinet has a nice rich tone on the Chalumeau register, a bright and sweet tone on the Clarion register, and a high and screech-like sound on the Altissimo register. The clarinet has three beautiful sounding registers. The clarinet is very beautiful and has a distinct, calming, and rich tone. The better the player the better the clarinet sounds. The clarinet is my main and favorite instruments out of all the others I play. The woodwinds are the best. The sound of brass is too fat and boring to even dominate the sound of the woodwinds, especially clarinet. From the four instruments I play, this is my rating from the best sounding to worst sounding.
1. Clarinet, 2. Bass Clarinet, 3. Alto Saxophone, 4. Flute

8 Saxophone The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet.

The saxophone is a very good looking instrument... The sound it produces out ways. It can produce various timbers.. From heavenly to shrill alarming when needed.

No other instrument is as versatile. From haunting melodies to rock riffs. The tenor particularly is a fabulous looking instrument.

I love the saxophone's sound and look. It's definitely at least one of my favorite instruments

9 Viola

I play violin, but I like the sound of violas better. They have such a rich and beautiful sound that's not too high or too low. Violas are so underrated! If you want me to be honest, violas are actually my favorite string instrument! It's a shame that violas almost never get the melody. They deserve more moments to shine. In fact, I'm actually learning alto clef right now and I'm planning to restring one of my old violins into a viola because I really want to learn this beautiful instrument!
P.s. listen to Dvorak String Quartet No. 12 and you will hear how beautiful this instrument sounds

The Viola is sorely ignored; it is an instrument that, in my opinion, is far superior to the violin. I feel that it's the younger twin to the cello, both of them having a honeyed texture to their sound, as opposed to the cutting notes of their E-stringed cousin. The low registers are just resonant enough to remind us of the vibrations of the human voice, and so I think that it's beautiful.

10 Trumpet A trumpet is a blown musical instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family.

I don't even play the trumpet myself (I play a few other instruments which are all higher up on this list) but when I hear a good trumpet solo in a band, I feel like I want to cry from how beautiful it sounds. The trumpet has such a bright, pure, beautiful sound when played right, and it's the only wind instrument I think I could listen to all day. It deserves to be higher than ninth place

Trumpet are quite possibly one of the most versatile instruments of all time, and can fit in with many different types ensembles. I have a bias because I play this instruments, but I believe this is the most beautiful and angelic sounding instrument of all time. However, I don't believe it to be the most harmonic or lyrical.

Trumpet is so versatile. It can play anything, from a heroic fanfare to a beautiful arrangement. Their capability, from range to dynamics to mutes to everything else is hardly limited.

The Contenders
11 French Horn

I'm a teen in a high school band who plays five instruments. Piano, French Horn, Trumpet, Saxophone and Baby Tuba. Out of all five, the French horn is my absolute favourite. It Is so mellifluous, and it creates it's own uniqueness to where it pops out of a group of sounds. These beautiful brass instruments may not be as common to play as the guitar or percussion, yet, it deserves to be close to number one on the list in my opinion. Whoever learns this instrument is astounding because it is even known as one of the hardest instruments to achieve!

Wow. This should be higher up. As a french horn player myself, I would say this should be at least 5th. Yet the violin is a beautiful instrument, I doubt it's the top one. And even and AMAZING singer Cody Fry loves french horns. They are amazing. So, Just saying...

I play French horn, only for a year and a half though. I am baffled at why it's number 11 on this list because it is easily the most beautiful brass instrument. And even though brass instruments are so loud and… well loud, French Horn sounds so beautiful it belongs at the top of the list I mean, violin can't be that beautiful. I just don't find the appeal. French horn is so beautiful and it makes the band so much better.

12 Electric Guitar The electric guitar is a type of guitar that unlike an acoustic guitar, is solid body instead of hollow. They use pickups and amps to produce sound that's audible from more than a few feet. They are mainly used in rock and metal music and in those genres are commonly the main instruments. A few notable electric guitarists are Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Jimi Hendrix, and Chuck Berry.

With how many effects and everything you can do on this instrument, it should be on top. The electric guitar can play everything from the heaviest of metal to the softest of beautiful music to chilling, atmospheric minor pieces. The electric guitar is my favorite by far.

This list is a bit senseless because every instrument has some great sounds depending on what kind of music you play. I think that for rock music the electric guitar is the must have instrument.

Depends on what kind of music you're playing. But for most of the time, electric guitar can make all- angry, sad, happy sounds.

13 Bagpipes Bagpipes are a wind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag.

How is this not higher up? Bagpipes are literally a WEAPON that has given so many soilders moral through out the years that it tops any instrument on this list!

Bagpipes are amazing!

Amazing grace people that was amazing played on the bagpipes

14 Bassoon

As soon as I heard the bassoon for the first time, I fell in love with it's warm sound. The wide range of this oboe-adjacent woodwind only adds to it's beautiful sound, invoking images of warm fireplaces and hearths of old.

Just listen to the bassoon in the crops failed track of the Martian movie
Or grizzly hills track from world of Warcraft. Most beautiful instrument in the world, followed by the cello.

The bassoon sounds like a goose if played badly, but so beautiful when actually played well. (I can say that because I play it don't come at me :/ )

15 Drum

Percussion instruments are vital to any band as they help with rhythm, articulation, and tempo. A band without percussion is like a bird without wings.

Drums give so much value to the band. They set the mood and sometimes you can feel your heart beating to the rhythm.

Just Can't believe the drum is so low.

16 Trombone

Trombone at #17? Why? It's such a great instrument. There's so many good excerpts out there: Ride of the Valkyries, Bolero, Hungarian March, Fountains of Rome, or even Imperial March. There's such a wide variety of emotions that can be conveyed on trombone.

Plus, who doesn't love a good glissando?

The trombone's beauty is underestimated. I have a trombonist (I think that's what you call them) in my band, and when she gets her solo sometimes I miss my part listening to her. It has gotten me to want to learn how to play Highly recommend, very pretty instrument.

Has the greatest vocal quality of all the instruments next to voice. Most orchestration textbooks group it in with horn and cello when it comes to tone purity and ease of sound

17 Harpsichord

The harpsichord is probably the most beautiful instrument in existence, at least the most beautiful keyboard instrument (pipe organs are angelic too)! Every gentle pluck comes together to form complex, thoughtful music that reflects both the composer and the player. Many people bash the harpsichord for the fact that it can only achieve one volume. However, is this truly a disadvantage? Perhaps the music of composers that can make emotionally active music on the harpsichord with this single volume would be better than the music of the composers who rely on the tonal crutch of the piano...not that piano is bad or anything...but...

Harpsichords have just as much expressive capability as pianos. Best instrument

Harpsichords are awesome.

18 Oboe Oboes belong to the classification of double reed woodwind instruments. Oboes are usually made of wood, but there are also oboes made of synthetic materials.

It's certainly very unique. Not everyone who hears it for the first time will like it, but it will grow on most people. It sounds very different, even for a woodwind (unlike the string and brass sections, where the overall sound is uniform and very similar, the woodwind sections have very different sounding instruments). The oboe is the hardest instrument to describe the sound with words. It is the best woodwind instrument for solos due to its penetrating but sound. Props to all the oboists for playing such a difficult and beautiful instrument.

I knew almost nothing about the oboe until my band teacher suggested that I should try it. That evening, I listened to many oboe pieces and my the next day, I was completely in love with it. Since then, I've been playing the oboe and it is challenging but completely worth it.

When you just started playing the oboe, it might be the most difficult instrument to play and might have squeaking sound, but when you are good at it, it has the sound that other instruments cannot make, thus making oboe have the most beautiful sound.

19 Organ

The Pipe organ is the most powerful and majestic instrument ever made. It can rival a symphony orchestra by playing the loudest and most powerful thundering musical notes, while at the same time, can play the quietest and most gentle musical notes as well. The sounds offered on the organ are unlike that of any instrument, you get the Strings, Clarinets, flutes, oboes, trumpets, and much more. The pipe organ is a symphony all to itself, and the most beautiful pipe organs are those in Roman Catholic Churches and Cathedrals that are over 100 years old using the ancient gothic designs where insulation is minimal, which really allows the pipe organs to really sing and show off the beautiful sounds they have to offer. Nothing beats a pipe organ. Even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart thought so, and he called the pipe organ, "The King Of Instruments"

I like pipe organ sounds

20 Bass Guitar

Bass lines are definitely the most underrated part of any piece. Being a cellist classically and a rock bassist I am a bit of an expert. Also, LONG LIVE LEMMY! You will be missed.

Why is bass guitar so low? It's the best instrument ever and the best sounding

21 Euphonium

Honestly best instrument ever. I have played the euphonium for 5 years now and I'm starting to learn the piano, I'm 13, it is the most wonderful sound in the world like come on the name legit means beautiful sounding. Please vote for eupho and show it the love it deserves. The violin is definitely not deserving of the top spot although the euphonium is perfect for it. It is deep, mellow, soothing, beautiful and calming but it can also sound sinister, very dark and grand. it harmonises well with a band but is also a gorgeous instrument in a solo. It truly is an epic instrument and it is extremely upsetting that it is overlooked and under rated. The euphonium really is deserving of number 1.

I play some brass instruments like trumpet, trombone, and of course the euphonium. All of them has a special sound to them but what the euphonium produces is a pure, beautiful, mellow, melodic sound and tone. This instrument is wonderful for solos and it can blend really well with the rest of the band. I love the euphonium range and the rich tones it creates. The euphonium is truely a special instrument and it deserves to be number 1.

22 Erhu

The Erhu could be comparable to a violin and a cello mixed together. With similar methods of playing and holding. Except, an Erhu gives off a traditional oriental feeling to it that no other instrument can compare to and it has an exceptionally unique sound to it and is used in nearly all of China's oriental and traditional music. The Erhu in the end, truly is a unique instrument to China's musical history.

Of all the instruments, I'd say the Erhu is the closest instrument to the human voice. Both in sound, and expression. No other instrument can convey as much emotion or beauty.

In my humble opinion, it is the most beautiful sounding instrument ever. Something in my soul resonates with the sound of the Erhu. I know that over-flowerly but I just can't express enough my love for it.

23 Kazoo

The kazoo, while not traditional, is truly more beautiful of an instrument than people give it credit for. I believe that, similar to the french horn, it takes a musician with a skillful ear to be able to demonstrate prowess on this wind instrument. The buzzy vibrations it creates are pure joy, and I think it's almost poetic how such a childhood-nostalgia-invoking instrument allows the player to use their personal skill, and let their voice shine through; it's similar to how, as children, we are pure and untainted by the world, letting our true selves shine. I think that the kazoo allows people to express themselves in that way.

The kazoo shouldn't get as much hate as it does. If the kazoo is so horrible than why did Pink Floyd use it in their album a Saucerful of secrets?

The kazoo is a fun instrument to play. I just can't getting enough of the beautiful sound kazoo makes. Please, vote for it!

24 Ukulele The ukulele is a member of the lute family of instruments; it generally employs four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings.

Easy to learn sounds spectacular better than a clarinet better than a flute better than cello better than a violin, ukulele should be on top after harp!

Ukuleles sound so amazing and they are really easy to learn.

I wonder why this is so low.

25 Sitar

The sitar amazing and in my opinion much better then the guitar.

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