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

Audio Ollie The E-String offers some bowed articulations and unusual hits on a Takamine G Series. NKI

Classical guitar

Pettinhouse ClassicFREE has sustains with a few round robins and fret noises. NKI

Resonator guitar/Dobro

DSK World StringZ has one… kinda… VST AU

Rubber band guitar

spacedad KiTR Win VST

Toy guitar

Rwi’s Booth KonKon Toy Guitar NKI (BOOTH)

Steel-string guitars

12-string guitar

Angus Hardiman’s Monster Guitar’s “12-String Shine” patch VSTAU

Egor Kurdello’s 12 String Guitar Piano EXS dspreset (account)

Solo sustains/hammer-ons/pull-offs/mutes/pops

Ample Guitar M Lite II is a Martin D-41. VST AURTAS

Solo chords

Angus 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! NKI SXT (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 (newsletter)

Solo mutes

Jon Meyer’s Acoustic Guitar Plucks NKI6 dspreset (account)

Solo harmonics

Spitfire LABS Harmonics VST AU AAX (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. EXS dspreset (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

Not all libraries list the model of guitar used, so I’ve organized these by sound character.

Baritone guitar

Justin Merdsoy’s Baritone Guitar is a Danelectro. 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. NKI6 dspreset (account)

Solo picks/mutes/patterns

Pettinhouse FunkyGuitar 1.0 is a Stratocaster. NKI

Solo mutes/slaps

Pettinhouse Mute&Slap 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)

Moody guitars

Clean guitars that are a little bit sad…

Solo sustains

Spitfire LABS Peel Guitar VST AU AAX (Spitfire)

Eddie Breeg’s Soft Ibanez is an Ibanez RG. SFZ (account)

Solo bowed sustains

Richard McCormick’s Bowed Electric Guitar is a Stratocaster. EXS dspreset (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)

Metal/rock guitars

Solo alt picking/hammer-ons/pull-offs/mutes/glissandos/portamentos/brushes/bends/trills/harmonics/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 BJAM is designed for guitar players who are also perfectionists. SFZ VST

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)

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 sounds

Wilkinson Audio ZomBass 2 is an American Standard J Bass. NKI (Shopify)

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 NKI SFZ

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)

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 slaps

audiolatry FunkBass‘ “slap” preset VSTAU (Gumroad)

Solo harmonics

Orange Tree Samples Free CoreBass Cherry Harmonics NKI

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

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

Hugo Kant’s Banjo NKI ALP (attribution @ Hugo Kant)

Bouzouki

Fred Poirier’s Ideal Bouzouki dspreset (account)

JustMog’s Bouzouki SFZSF2SF3bwpresetALP

Bowed bouzouki

Eamon’s Bowzouki NKI (account)

Charango (Andean guitar)

Spitfire LABS Charango VST AU AAX (Spitfire)

Ronroco (bass charango)

Samplephonics Ronroco NKI

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. SF2 S3P

Cuatro (Central American guitar)

matrix12x’s Cuatro Puertoriqueno EXS dspreset (account)

Bowed cuatro

Elias Serpa’s Bowed Cuatro NKI (account)

Cümbüş (Turkish banjo)

DSK World StringZ VST AU

Bowed cumbus

Samplephonics Bowed Cumbus SFZEXSSXT ALP M5Pvstpreset (account)

Dan tranh (Vietnamese zither)

VCSL‘s Dan Tranh patch (SFZ and samples) SFZ

Mandolin

MSLP Mandolin Nilsson for Kontakt and Reason has sustains, staccatos, tremolos, and some chords. NKI SXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist & Jonas Nilsson)

Spitfire LABS Mandolin has fingered and picked sustains as well as tremolos. VST AU AAX (Spitfire)

Oud

Native Instruments Kontakt Factory Selection has one. NICNT (account)

Soundbytes Ud SF2 S3P

Pipa (long Chinese lute)

DSK Asian DreamZ has plucks and tremolo. VST AU

Ruan (round Chinese lute)

DSK Asian DreamZ VST AU

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. NKI SFZ

Sitar

Brendan Bonsack’s Abecedarian Sitar NKI dspreset (account)

Syntar Win VST

Strumstick

VCSL‘s Strumstick patch (SFZ mapping and samples) SFZ

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. VST AU

Tres (Cuban guitar)

Jon Griffin’s Cuban Tres NKI GIG (email)

Tzouras (bouzouki-like)

Demetri Forakis Tsouras EXS dspreset (account)

Ukulele

little-scale’s Ukulele SF2

James’ Ukulele EXS dspreset (account)

Pettinhouse UkuleleGuitar FREE demo ranges from B♭3-D5. NKI

See ronroco for a decent soundalike

Ukulele body percussion

abominable’s Ukebox SFZ (email)

Ukulele texture

Thrumming Textures: Amped Ukulele NKI EXS dspreset (account)

Veena (Indian lute/zither)

Girish Patro’s Saraswati Veena NKI EXS dspreset (account)

Yueqin (Chinese “moon guitar”)

Spitfire LABS Moon Guitar has regular plucks and a sort of labored tremolo. VST AU AAX (Spitfire)

Harps & lyres

Aeolian harp/wind harp

Quilcom Sim-Windharp models both wind ambience and air harp string sounds. Win VST

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 SFZ SF2

Enanga (Ugandan bow harp)

Hugo Kant’s Nanga NKI ALP (attribution @ Hugo Kant)

Jew’s harp

Not actually a harp. See Idiophones: lamellophones.

Lyre

abominable’s Lyre lyre, pants on fire SFZ dspreset (email)

Bowed lyre

Mark Reuter’s Kit Lyre SFZ (account)

Gabriel Visser’s Distressed Bow Lyre NKI6 (account)

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. NKI EXS ALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)

Autoharp

Spitfire LABS Autoharp VST AU AAX (Spitfire)

Bowed Autoharp

Joshua Meltzer’s Dusty Old Autoharp NKI (account)

Dulcimer

Embertone Arcane‘s “Seance” patch is a dulcimer with sustains and some fun aleatoric glissandos when played at max velocity. NICNT (Cartloom)

Charles’ Dulcimer offers more mic positions and round robins. NKI (account)

Dulcimer tremelos

Penelope Atena’s Sufjanwho NKI6dspreset (account)

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. NKI EXS ALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)

Geomungo (masculine Korean zither)

CATSNU Gugak GeoMunGo LE NKI EXS ALP (attribution @ Gugak VSTi by CATSNU, see notes)

Guitar zither

Hugo Kant’s Zither NKI ALP (attribution @ Hugo Kant)

Solo body percussion/scrapes

pumodi’s Antique Zither NKI6 EXS (account)

Guzheng

SampleScience Nu Guzheng (not compatible with macOS 10.15+) VST AU RFL (email)

Kong Audio ChineeGuZheng Classic Win VST

Kantele (Finnish zither)

MSLP Kantele Persdotter for Kontakt and Reason is a 5-stringed version retuned to get a greater range (B3-C5). NKI SXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist)

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. NKI SFZdspreset (newsletter)

Marxophone (hammered zither)

decent|SAMPLES Mandolin Guitarophone NKI SFZ (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 NKI EXS (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. NKI VST

Santur (Persian hammered dulcimer)

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. NKI

Bowed taishogoto

decent|SAMPLES Bowed Nagoya Harp (Taishogoto / 大正琴) NKI

Valiha (Madagascan tube zither)

Jan Sutti’s Valiha NKI

Yanggeum (Korean hammered dulcimer)

CATSNU Gugak YangGeum LE NKI EXS ALP (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! (❛◡˂̵ ̑̑✧)