Listen to the cuatro
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
How the cuatro makes its sound
In the Hornbostel–Sachs system, which classifies instruments by how they produce sound, the cuatro belongs to the lutes: strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck – the family of the guitar, violin, sitar and oud.
More broadly it is one of the chordophones (string instruments), where sound comes from vibrating strings, amplified by a resonating body.
Players shape its sound through technique and materials; the resonating body filters the raw vibration, boosting some harmonics and damping others.
From Wikipedia
The cuatro is a family of Latin American string instruments played in Colombia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and other Latin American countries. It is derived from the Spanish guitar. Although some have viola-like shapes, most cuatros resemble a small to mid-sized classical guitar. In Puerto Rico and Venezuela, the cuatro is an ensemble instrument for secular and religious music, and is played at parties and traditional gatherings.
Cuatro means four in Spanish; the instrument's 15th century predecessors were the Spanish vihuela and the Portuguese cavaquinho, the latter having four strings like the cuatro.
Other lutes
Frequently asked questions
What does a cuatro sound like?
Listen to 1 recording on this page. As one of the lutes, its sound comes from the way strings run parallel to a soundboard and along a neck.
What type of instrument is the cuatro?
It is classified as lutes (Hornbostel–Sachs 321.322-5).
Sources & credits
- Cuatro llanero by Artesanías de Colombia – CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q507102 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Cuatro (instrument) – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Image by No machine-readable author provided. AVM assumed (based on copyright claims). – CC BY-SA 3.0