instrumentals
Music without vocals
Instrumentals are musical pieces performed without vocals—the instruments alone carry the composition.
The term appears most often in hip-hop and electronic music, where producers release instrumentals as standalone tracks or for other artists to rap over: I've been looking for beats—do you have any instrumentals?
In other contexts, instrumental serves as the adjective: an instrumental version of the song.
Improvisational American music genre
- classicalOf ancient Greece/Rome
- ambientOf the surroundings
- lo-fiImperfect audio quality, informally
- electronicRelating to circuitry devices
orchestral · soundtrack · fusion · post-rock · downtempo · exotica · smooth · acoustic
Pulses or defeats
- tracksMarks showing passage
- backingAid or sponsorship
- loopsSelf-crossing curved shapes
- producersThose who create goods
hip-hop · sampling · 808s · synths · basslines · arrangements · compositions · karaoke
Single-performer pieces
- improvisationSpontaneous, unplanned creation
- virtuosityExceptional technical skill
- ensembleUnified group or outfit
- concertoSolo-and-orchestra composition
interlude · overture · cadenza · riffs · licks · passages · breaks · vamps
Container or instance
- declensionNoun form variation
- ablativeRemoving by erosion
- dativeCase showing indirect object
- genitiveCase expressing ownership
nominative · accusative · locative · inflection · morphology · Sanskrit · Latin · Finnish
jazz
Improvisational American music genre
electronic · orchestral · soundtrack · fusion · post-rock · downtempo · exotica · smooth · acoustic · cinematic
beats
Pulses or defeats
producers · hip-hop · sampling · 808s · synths · basslines · arrangements · compositions · karaoke · accompaniment
solos
Single-performer pieces
- improvisationSpontaneous, unplanned creation
- virtuosityExceptional technical skill
- ensembleUnified group or outfit
concerto · interlude · overture · cadenza · riffs · licks · passages · breaks · vamps · fills
case
Container or instance
- declensionNoun form variation
- ablativeRemoving by erosion
- dativeCase showing indirect object
genitive · nominative · accusative · locative · inflection · morphology · Sanskrit · Latin · Finnish · Hungarian
- Audio Elementsvocals, dialogue, effects, music, bass
- program insertsliner notes, program notes, tracklist, track listing, cast list
- inflectionsinflections, plurals, conjugations, declensions, verb forms
- Afghan musictabla, harmonium, folk dance music, wedding music, traditional melodies
- music genresblues, pop, jazz, rock, classical
- songssong, songs, tune, folk ballads, melody
instrumentalsvocals
Sung musical parts
vocal tracks · vocal music · ballads · a cappella · anthems
instrumentalsa cappella
Singing without instruments
choral pieces · barbershop · spoken word · poetry readings · rap verses
instrumentalslyrical songs
Musical pieces with poetic text
narrative songs · protest songs · rap · spoken word · recitative
- instrumental musicMusic without vocals
- instrumental versionSong minus the singing
- instrumental soloUnaccompanied musical passage
- instrumental breakWordless musical passage
- instrumental scoreMusic composition without vocals
- instrumental coversSongs re-recorded without vocals
instrumental, instrumentalist, instrumentality, instrumentation, instrumentally, instrumentalism, instrumentalists, multi-instrumentalist