Music
Musical Instruments Quiz
From piano keys to guitar strings — test your knowledge of musical instruments.
From piano keys to guitar strings — test your knowledge of musical instruments.
This musical instruments quiz draws from a pool of 50 questions covering everything from orchestral staples to instruments from around the world. There are over 1,500 known musical instruments globally, and the piano alone has 88 keys spanning just over seven octaves.
Each session randomly selects 10 questions from our bank of 50, so every attempt offers a different challenge. All questions are multiple choice with four options, and you get instant feedback with detailed explanations after each answer. Share your results to see who knows their instruments best.
Questions span string, brass, woodwind, percussion, and electronic instruments from Western orchestras to world music traditions. You might discover that the theremin is played without any physical contact, or that the saxophone was invented by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846 and is classified as a woodwind despite being made entirely of brass.
The piano is generally considered the most popular musical instrument in the world, with an estimated 18 million Americans alone playing it. The guitar is a close second and is the most popular instrument for self-taught musicians. Globally, the human voice is technically the most universal instrument, but among manufactured instruments, keyboards and guitars dominate.
The oldest known musical instruments are bone flutes discovered in caves in Germany, dating back approximately 40,000 years to the Upper Paleolithic period. A five-holed flute made from a vulture bone was found in Hohle Fels cave in 2008. These ancient flutes could play recognizable melodies, suggesting that music has been part of human culture for tens of thousands of years.
A full symphony orchestra typically has between 70 and 100 musicians playing around 20 different types of instruments. These are divided into four sections: strings (violins, violas, cellos, double basses, and harps), woodwinds (flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons), brass (trumpets, French horns, trombones, and tubas), and percussion (timpani, snare drums, cymbals, and more).
Last updated: March 2026