Musi­cal instru­ments of Puerto Rican music have roots in the cul­tures of Puerto Rico’s Tai­no, Span­ish, and African tra­di­tions. Musi­cal instru­ments used in Puerto Rican music are well known instru­ments used in present day music. These instru­ments would include such intru­ment as the sax­o­phone, trom­bone, trum­pet, cello and violin.The other instru­ments that are typ­i­cally used in the var­i­ous types of Puerto Rican music are not as well known to main stream music audiences.some where used by the navives of Puerto Rico the Taino indi­ans oth­ers where invented in Puerto Rico and still oth­ers have roots in the african cul­ture brought over to Puerto Rico dur­ing the slave trades. I will try to name and explain the not so well known instru­ments in the folow­ing pages.

Tim­bales:  which are a set of drums con­sist­ing of two drums with dif­fer­ent pitches, and two cow bells,cymbals and some­times also it will include a wood­block.  The two drums are made of metal and have adjustable skins stretched over the heads. The drums are mounted on a stand which also serves to attach cow­bells and cym­bals. The drums are played with dowel-like sticks but may also be played with the bare hand Using the sides of the drum as well as on the drum heads. The sound of the tim­bales is best demon­strated by the famous artist Tito Puente as is in the song: El Timbalon.

Bon­gos:  are a vari­ety of small drums, derived from African roots.It con­sists of a pair of unequal sized small drums that are joined together. The smaller drum is called the “male”, or minor drum, while the larger is the “female” or major drum. They are mainly played sit­ting down, held between the knees.

Con­gas:  The conga is an ancient musi­cal instru­ment not orig­i­nally from Puerto Rico. The conga drum was adapted from Africa where it began as solid, hol­lowed out log with a nailed-on skin. There are four dif­fer­ent sizes of conga drums. The largest is called the tumba, and the small­est is called the niño. Some artists use a set of all four sizes. The conga has an adjustable skin.  Regard­less of its design, this instru­ment is an impor­tant part of the per­cus­sion section

Pal­i­tos:  They are per­haps the most ancient or prim­i­tive musi­cal instru­ment, a pair of “sticks” that are banged together to pro­vide per­cus­sion rhythm.Palitos are usu­ally two cylin­dri­cal hard­wood sticks approx­i­mately 20 — 25 cm long and about 2.5 — 3 cm in diam­e­ter. They are played by lay­ing one stick acoss the palm of the hand so that one end rests lightly on the fin­ger­tips. This makes the sound of the stick res­onate when it is struck by the other stick, which is held between the thumb and first two fin­gers of the other hand.

Güiro:  Tra­di­tional Puerto Rican musi­cal intru­ments are believed to have orig­i­nated with the Tai­no peo­ple. Most note­wor­thy is the güiro, a notched hollowed-out gourd.  The güiro is made by carv­ing the shell of the gourd and carv­ing par­al­lel flut­ing on its sur­face. It is played by hold­ing the güiro in one hand with the thumb inserted into the back sound hole to keep the instru­ment in place. The other hand usu­ally holds the scraper and plays the instru­ment. The scraper is more prop­erly called a “pua”. A rhyth­mic, rasp­ing sound is pro­duced.  Play­ing the güiro usu­ally requires both long and short sounds, which are made by scrap­ing both up and down in long or short strokes.  The size of the güiro can vary widely although it typ­i­cally ranges from 25 — 35 cm long.