Caribbean Musical Instruments

Caribbean Musical Instruments

Conga drums: Cuban barrel-shaped, one-headed hand drums, played in sets of two to four.

Bongo drums: a set of two small one-headed drums held between the knees and played by hand.

Timbales: a set of two one-headed metal shelled drums played with a stick.

Steel drums: also known as "pans," are made from oil drums heated and hammered into an instrument with multiple pitches played with rubber-headed mallets. Steel drums are often played in bands of many instruments.

Claves: concussion sticks made of Cuban hardwood, which often play a time line, or tempo-setting rhythm. Maracas: gourd rattles played in pairs throughout Latin America Guiro: a notched hollow gourd played with a stick

Tamboo bamboo: hollow bamboo tubes hit or stamped on the ground.

Tiple: In Puerto Rico, a small instrument of the same general type as the cuatro, with four or five single strings

Other instruments used in the Caribbean Islands today include the violin, electric bass, acoustic bass, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, and the six-string Spanish guitar.