Venezuelan Cuatro

Venezuelan Cuatro is a plucked string instrument that has four tuned orders at the ratio of: la1, re2, fa # 2 and si1, the peculiar tuning -not totally ascending - it is a very distinctive element of other 4 string instruments. It belongs to the family of old Spanish guitars and guitars, is small in size and owes its name to the number of strings it has. It should not be confused with the current Puerto Rican cuatro of five orders and ten metallic strings.

In Venezuela it is performed almost in all the folkloric musical genres: the Zulian bagpipe, the calipso of El Callao, the Christmas carols, the aguinaldos and the parranda, the galerón, the polo, the jota, the malagueña, the waltz, the merengue, the gunboat music, peasant music, the double step, the fulia, the tune, the polka, the orchid rhythm, the emblematic harp joropo, cuatro and maracas, among others.