Best Free VSTs: Guitars, Harps, Lutes & Zithers
Yeah, pianos and xylophones are cool or whatever, but when do we get to attract girls by playing (free, virtual) Wonderwall? :/
Acoustic guitars
- Bass Guitar
- Sound Magic Sienna Bass. Try “C” for the zip file password. Win VST
- Audio Ollie The E-String offers some bowed articulations and unusual hits on a Takamine G Series. NKI
- Box guitar
- Tobias James’ Cedar Box Instrument dspreset (account)
- Classical/nylon guitar
- audiolatry PlastikGuitar offers sustains and harmonics with 5 velocity layers. VSTAU (email)
- Pettinhouse ClassicFREE has sustains with a few round robins and fret noises. NKI
- Ashley Bates Alhambra Nylon Acoustic Harmonics has, y’know, harmonics. NKI (account)
- Resonator guitar/Dobro
- Steve Barden’s 1937 Dobro has sustains and slides (up/down) NKI (account)
- DSK World StringZ has one… kinda… VSTAU
- Rubber band guitar
- spacedad KiTR Win VST
- Toy guitar
- Rwi’s Booth KonKon Toy Guitar NKI (BOOTH)
Steel-string guitars
- 12-string guitar
- Agus Hardiman’s Monster Guitar’s “12-String Shine” patch VSTAU
- Egor Kurdello’s 12 String Guitar Piano EXSdspreset (account)
- Solo sustains/hammer-ons/pull-offs/mutes/pops
- Ample Guitar M Lite II is a Martin D-41. VSTAURTAS
- Solo chords
- Agus Hardiman’s Monster Guitar’s “Popcorn Time” patch VSTAU
- MSLP Guitar Chords Acoustic for Kontakt and Reason has strums of major and minor chords. There’s 3 RRs and they sound very good! NKISXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist)
- Kralc’s Soft Guitar Chords has gently played major, 7, m7, and sus4 chords. NKI (account)
- Cordaro Rodriguez’s CAGED Guitar in E lets you play strummed patterns based on 5 common open chords. See the readme file for instructions on how to use it. NKI (account)
- Solo mutes/glissandos (up)
- Indiginus Guitar Freepack‘s “DoubleTrack Ac Picked Special” patch has wholetone slides into each note. NKI (email)
- Solo mutes
- Jon Meyer’s Acoustic Guitar Plucks NKI6 (account)
- Solo harmonics
- Spitfire Labs Harmonics VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
- MG Steel String Harmonics is a little stronger-sounding than the LABS option. NKIdspreset (account)
- Riccardo’s Romantic Guitar Harmonics sounds more like a muted snap on the loudest layer. EXSdspreset (account)
- Solo body percussion
- Crypto Cipher Terry & Bells‘s “Terry Guitar Perc” patch includes a variety guitar body hits. NKI (Woocommerce)
- Solo lo-fi + sustains
- Atom Hub Cryptar Free is one of my favorites for moody, almost clean-sounding guitar. NKI
Semi-acoustic guitars
- Archtop guitar
- Karoryfer Samples Shinyguitar SFZ
- Hollow-body guitar
- Eoin O’Dowd’s Plucky dspreset (account)
Electric guitars
- Baritone guitar
- Justin Merdsoy’s Baritone Guitar is a Danelectro. NKIdspreset (account)
Clean guitars
Guitars without excessive distortion/overdrive/crunch.
- Solo sustains
- RJS Classic Electric NKIdspreset (account)
- Spitfire LABS Peel Guitar VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
- Eddie Breeg’s Soft Ibanez is an Ibanez RG. SFZ (account)
- Solo bowed sustains
- Richard McCormick’s Bowed Electric Guitar is a Stratocaster. EXSdspreset (account)
- Solo harmonics
- Klang Guitar Harmonics NKI
- Solo pinch harmonics
- George Svedov’s Pink Harmonics is a synthesized harmonics instrument with options to warp playback speed and drench the sound in reverb! NKIdspreset (account)
Funk guitars
Guitars that go “bow-wow bchow bam wuwewoo wow” and stuff like that (official music terminology).
- Solo legatos/sustains/pops/thumps/glissandos/brushes/fret noises/natural harmonics/ghost notes
- Unreal Instruments The Slapper‘s “EG_Slapper” patch SFZ
- Solo picks/mutes/ghost notes
- RJS Guitar is a Stratocaster. The Kontakt version comes with some clean presets for an out-of-the-box funk sound. NKI6dspreset (account)
- Solo picks/mutes/patterns
- Pettinhouse FunkyGuitar 1.0 is a Stratocaster. NKI
- Solo mutes/slaps
- Pettinhouse Mute&Slap NKI
- Solo chords
- David Bergés’ Twang Guitar Chords features moody strums of 12 major and minor triads on a Stratocaster. NKI
- Solo body percussion
- Muletone Audio Strashed has some body hits as well as the sounds of smashing a Stratocaster with and against various objects. Great if you hate guitars. NKI (account)
Distorted guitars
Guitars for metal/rock with heavy crunch.
- Solo alt picking/hammer-ons/pull-offs/mutes/glissandos/portamentos/brushes/bends/trills/harmonics/power chords (major, minor, 7, M7, m7, mM7, m7♭5, 7sus4, M9)
- Unreal Instruments Standard Guitar is a truly deeply sampled SFZ bank. Don’t bother reading that whole mess of articulations. Just download it! SFZ
- Solo sustains/hammer-ons/pull-offs/mutes/slaps/pops/natural harmonics/fret noises
- Malaclypse the Younger’s Blue Jeans and Moonbeams is designed for guitar players who are also perfectionists. SFZVST
- Solo sustains/mutes/chokes
- Shreddage 3 Stratus FREE is a touch less DIY with a built-in effects console and intelligent (read: keyboard player-friendly) fretting/voicing. NKI (Woocommerce + Pulse)
Bass guitars
- Solo alt picking/mutes/staccato/hammer-ons/pull-offs/portamento/fret noises/scratches
- Unreal Instruments Standard Bass SFZ
- Solo alt picking/tapping/mutes/glissandos/harmonics/fret noises
- Wilkinson Audio ZomBass 2 is an American Standard J Bass. NKI (Shopify)
- Solo sustains/hammer-ons/pull-offs/fret noises/ghost notes/fret slaps/glissandos (up, down, bow-wow)
- Ample Bass P Lite II also offers a cool “buzzing” keyswitch mapped to A4 that lets you get some extra realistic resonance out of a note. The downloads say VST/AU but the installer has options for Avid formats as well. VSTAUAAXRTAS
- Solo alt picking/mutes/glissandos (up, down, bow-wow)
- Wilkinson Audio ZomBass 3 is a 6-string BTB designed for chunky low metal basslines. Its articulations are controlled by velocity. NKI (Shopify)
- Solo sustains/mutes/slaps
- Project16 Rickenbacker 4001 NKISFZ
- Solo alt picking/pops
- Shreddage 3 Precision Free is a 5-string P Bass guitar with a built-in console for effects, making it a good choice if you don’t have your own amp or cabinet sim plugins. NKI (Woocommerce + Pulse)
- Solo sustains/glissandos (bow-wow)
- Gregjazz’s Xmas Bass is very lightweight at around 30 MB. See the Cherry Slides pack for extra glissandos. NKI
- Solo sustains
- Karoryfer Samples Pastabass is a 6-string Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. SFZ
- Solo pops
- audiolatry FunkBass‘ “slap” preset VSTAU (email)
- Solo harmonics
- Orange Tree Samples Free CoreBass Cherry Harmonics NKI
- Solo bowed sustains
- Spencer Oliphant’s Bowed Electric Bass Guitar dspreset (account)
Guitar-likes & lutes
Don’t tell my dad I found a virtual balalaika. He will not shut up about balalaikas.
- Balalaika (large Russian lute that looks like a rake)
- EdgeSounds SF2: Balalaika SF2 (EdgeSounds)
- Banjo
- Uncle John’s 5-String Banjo dspreset (account)
- ニボシ好き’s Banjo F uses Philharmonia’s free samples, but I won’t tell anyone if you don’t… (Ctrl + F “Banjo” and use the last link. You’ll need something like 7-Zip to open the LZH archive.) SF2
- Hunter Rogerson’s Hearth & Hollow Lite includes some half-tone upwards glissandos. NKI (account)
- Bouzouki
- Fred Poirier’s Ideal Bouzouki dspreset (account)
- JustMog’s Bouzouki SFZSF2SF3bwpresetALP
- Achim Gössl’s Baglamas – Greek Mini Bouzouki NKI (account)
- Bowed bouzouki
- Eamon’s Bowzouki NKI (account)
- Charango (Andean guitar)
- Spitfire LABS Charango VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
- Ronroco (bass charango)
- Samplephonics Ronroco NKI (account)
- Cavaquinho (Brazilian guitar)
- João Paulo Alves’ Cavaquinho Waves NKI (account)
- Cittern (Renaissance guitar)
- Soundbytes Cister includes regular and “bass” sustains, as well as basic (4th, 5th) chords. SF2S3P
- Cuatro (Central American guitar)
- matrix12x’s Cuatro Puertoriqueno EXSdspreset (account)
- Bowed cuatro
- Elias Serpa’s Bowed Cuatro NKI (account)
- Cümbüş (Turkish banjo)
- DSK World StringZ VSTAU
- Bowed cümbüş
- Samplephonics Bowed Cumbus SFZEXSSXTALPM5Pvstpreset (account)
- Diddley bow
- Clay and Kelsy’s Diddley ebow is played with an ebow. NKI (account)
- Ektara (Indian drone lute)
- Rajobrata’s The Ektara dspreset (account)
- Mandolin
- MSLP Mandolin Nilsson for Kontakt and Reason has sustains, staccatos, tremolos, and some chords. NKISXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist & Jonas Nilsson)
- Spitfire LABS Mandolin has fingered and picked sustains as well as tremolos. VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
- Oud
- Native Instruments Kontakt Factory Selection has one. NICNT (account)
- Fernando A. Martin’s Arab and Turk instruments‘ “Oud (Bright)” patch SF2
- Soundbytes Ud SF2S3P
- Pipa (long Chinese lute)
- DSK Asian DreamZ has plucks and tremolo. VSTAU
- Ruan (round Chinese lute)
- DSK Asian DreamZ VSTAU
- Sarod (sitar-like)
- DSK Indian DreamZ Win VST
- Shamisen
- yukinisuzume Shamisen as a Kontakt instrument and a soundfont has legato/pull-offs, alternate picking, sukui, and pizzicato. NKISFZ
- Sitar
- Brendan Bonsack’s Abecedarian Sitar NKIdspreset (account)
- Syntar Win VST
- Strumstick
- VCSL‘s Strumstick patch (SFZ mapping and samples) SFZ
- Tanbur
- Fernando A. Martin’s Arab and Turk instruments has a tanbur patch. SF2
- Tanpura (long-necked Indian droning lute)
- DSK Indian DreamZ Win VST
- Tar (Egyptian lute)
- TAQSIM Free‘s “Tar Plucky” patch NKI (newsletter OR account)
- DSK World StringZ includes a Tar patch of questionable quality. VSTAU
- Tzouras (bouzouki-like)
- Demetri Forakis Tsouras EXSdspreset (account)
- Ukulele
- little-scale’s Ukulele SF2
- James’ Ukulele EXSdspreset (account)
- Mike Georgiades’ Sweet Uke NKI (account)
- See ronroco for a decent soundalike
- Ukulele body percussion
- abominable’s Ukebox SFZ (email)
- Ukulele tremolo
- Thrumming Textures: Amped Ukulele is an undulating tremolo-like pad. NKIEXSdspreset (account
- Veena (Indian lute)
- Girish Patro’s Saraswati Veena NKIEXS (account)
- Yueqin (Chinese “moon guitar”)
- Spitfire LABS Moon Guitar has regular plucks and a sort of labored tremolo. VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
Harps & lyres
- Aeolian harp/wind harp
- Quilcom Sim-Windharp models both wind ambiance and air harp string sounds. Win VST
- Bowl lyre
- Eamon’s Bowl Lyre NKI (account)
- Celtic harp
- VCSL‘s Folk Harp patch (SFZ mapping and samples) SFZ
- Subaqueous Celtic Harp – Live Instrument Rack is a physically modeled harp. ALP (email)
- Celtic harp harmonics
- Kalen Smith’s Harp Harmonics NKIdspreset (account)
- Concert harp
- VCSL’s Concert Harp patch SFZSF2
- Vienna Symphonic Library Harp Glissandos features ensemble glissandos in every major/natural minor key. You can go in the Edit tab and turn on the “Stretch” feature to match your host’s tempo. VSTAUAAX (VSL)
- Enanga (Ugandan bow harp)
- Hugo Kant’s Nanga NKIALP (attribution @ Hugo Kant)
- Jew’s harp
- Not actually a harp. See Idiophones: lamellophones.
- Lyre
- abominable’s Lyre lyre, pants on fire SFZdspreset (email)
- Dark Intervals Irish Lyre Harp Lite has some sustains, body hits, and fast glissandos. NKI (FastSpring)
- Bowed lyre
- Mark Reuter’s Kit Lyre SFZ (account)
- Gabriel Visser’s Distressed Bow Lyre NKI6 (account)
- Talharpa (Scandinavian bowed lyre)
- Karoryfer Horse Pulse features pizzicato on a bass talharpa. SFZ
- Toy harp
- Subaqueous (aq) Toy Harp Instrument Rack ALP (email)
- Welsh harp
- Hollow Sun St. David’s Harp NKI (FastSpring)
Zithers
- Ajaeng (bowed Korean zither)
- CATSNU Gugak LE has sanjo and two jeongak varieties. NKIEXSALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)
- Autoharp
- Spitfire LABS Autoharp VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
- Bowed Autoharp
- Joshua Meltzer’s Dusty Old Autoharp NKI (account)
- Bulbul tarang (Indian keyed harp)
- Eamon’s Bulbul Tarang NKI (account)
- Citera (Hungarian zither)
- D. Smolken’s Hungarian Zither SFZ
- Đàn tranh (Vietnamese zither)
- VCSL‘s Dan Tranh patch (SFZ and samples) SFZ
- Epinette des Vosges (old French zither)
- boscomac EPINETTE ENS
- Gayageum (feminine Korean zither)
- 36Play Samhyeon-Yukgak has a sanjo gayageum with sustains, mordents, and glissandos. NKI
- CATSNU Gugak LE has sustains, octave arpeggios, pops, and mordents for sanjo, jeongak, 18-string and 25-string gayageums. NKIEXSALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)
- Geomungo (masculine Korean zither)
- CATSNU Gugak GeoMunGo LE NKIEXSALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)
- Guitar zither
- Woodencup’s Zither includes sustains (plucked/hammered/picked), tremolos, and some aleatoric (read: horror movie) glissandos. dspresetEXS (account)
- Solo body percussion/scrapes
- pumodi’s Antique Zither NKI6EXS (account)
- Guzheng
- SampleScience Nu Guzheng VSTAURFL (email)
- Kong Audio ChineeGuZheng Classic Win VST
- Hammered dulcimer
- Hunter Rogerson’s The Wildmother’s Dulcimer Volume I and Volume II make up a huge dulcimer library with plucked/hammered sustains, harmonics, various designed tremolo patches, bowed tremolos, and body percussion. NKI (account)
- Embertone Arcane‘s “Seance” patch is a dulcimer with sustains and some fun aleatoric glissandos when played at max velocity. NICNT (Cartloom)
- Penelope Atena’s Sufjanwho has some tremelos. NKI6dspreset (account)
- Kantele (Finnish zither)
- MSLP Kantele Persdotter for Kontakt and Reason is a 5-stringed version retuned to get a greater range (B3-C5). NKISXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist)
- Khim (Thai hammered dulcimer)
- FluffyAudio Rarities #3 Khim NKI (FastSpring)
- Koto
- Unreal Instruments 13Strings Koto includes sustains (with and without vibrato), tremelos, brushes, and various slide techniques (notably ato-oshi and yuri-iro) SFZ
- FluffyAudio Koto NKI (FastSpring)
- decent|SAMPLES Banjolele is a decent soundalike ranged C4-C6. NKISFZdspreset (account or newsletter)
- Marxophone (hammered zither)
- decent|SAMPLES Mandolin Guitarophone NKISFZ (account)
- Psaltery
- LEGATONE Psaltery for KONTAKT Free Demo is a functional plucked psaltery with a limited range (C5-C6). NKI (account + LEGATONE)
- Bowed psaltery
- Bolder Sounds Medieval Psaltery NKIEXS (Zen Cart)
- Qanun
- Sika Oriental Scale as a Kontakt instrument or VST has three kanouns. Deselect the red keys on the little keyboard to use Western tuning. NKIVST
- Fernando A. Martin’s Arab and Turk instruments has stopped and sustain Kanun patches. SF2
- Santur (Persian hammered dulcimer)
- Lo-fi Audio Acoustic Unicorn Series – Skimmer String (do Ctrl + F “–>Download<–”, don’t use the cart button) NKI
- Subaqueous Santur — Hammered Dulcimer ALP (email)
- Taishogoto/Nagoya harp (Japanese keyed harp)
- Unreal Instruments Physical 5Strings SFZ
- おとわび Taishogoto has a more percussive, realistic sound, but less range. (Hit the little blue button to download.) NKI
- Bowed taishogoto
- decent|SAMPLES Bowed Nagoya Harp (Taishogoto / 大正琴) NKI (email)
- Valiha (Madagascan tube zither)
- Jan Sutti’s Valiha NKI
- Yanggeum (Korean hammered dulcimer)
- CATSNU Gugak YangGeum LE NKIEXSALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)
Free virtual instrument series
View the main page or learn more about 📕 plug-in formats. licenses and download requirements.
- 🎹 Pianos, organs, & keyboards
- 🎤 Solo vocals, choirs
- 🎻 Orchestral strings
- 🎸 Guitars, harps, lutes, & zithers
- 🎷 Woodwinds & free reeds
- 🎺 Brass & horns
- 🔔 Idiophones
- 🥁 Drums, percussion
- Synths & drum machines – Coming soon! (❛◡˂̵ ̑̑✧)
- DAWs, samplers, & FX – Coming soon! (❛◡˂̵ ̑̑✧)