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, m^M7, m^7♭5, 7^sus4, 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! (❛◡˂̵ ̑̑✧)