About Music Genres
Genres are useful labels, but music rarely fits perfect boxes. Styles borrow from one another, artists cross boundaries, and the same song can combine traditions from several places and generations.
Classical
Western classical music includes many periods and forms.
Learn MoreBlues
Blues developed from African American musical traditions.
Learn MoreJazz
Jazz emphasizes improvisation, rhythm, interaction, and individual sound.
Learn MoreRock
Rock developed from rhythm and blues, country, gospel, and other influences.
Learn MoreHip-Hop
Hip-hop culture developed in New York City in the 1970s.
Learn MoreCountry
Country music developed from several Southern U.S. traditions.
Learn MoreElectronic
Electronic music uses synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, computers, and studio processing.
Learn MoreFolk and Traditional Music
Traditional music grows within communities and is passed through performance.
Learn MoreClassical
Baroque, Classical, Romantic, modern, and contemporary concert music differ greatly in sound and structure.
Blues
Its forms, expressive techniques, and harmonic language strongly influenced jazz, rock, R&B, and popular music.
Jazz
It developed in African American communities and grew into many styles, from swing to bebop and beyond.
Rock
Electric guitars, bass, drums, amplification, and studio production became central to many subgenres.
Hip-Hop
Rapping, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti, sampling, beatmaking, and community expression became globally influential.
Country
Folk songs, blues, string-band music, gospel, and commercial radio all influenced the genre.
Electronic
Dance music, ambient, experimental, pop, and film music all use electronic tools.
Folk and Traditional Music
Regional instruments, languages, dances, ceremonies, and oral traditions make folk music extremely diverse.