Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🎼 A Spanish lute 🎸 A Mexican guitar
vihuela

vihuela

9.9
A small Mexican guitar with five strings and a round back used for rhythm in mariachi bands
  • noun
  • /viˈweɪlə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : vihuela
  • The beautiful sound of the vihuela echoed through the streets during the mariachi parade.
  • vihuela player

Examples

  • The vihuela resembles a small guitar with five strings and a rounded back.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The modern instrumentation for mariachi includes trumpet, violin, classical guitar, vihuela, and guitarrón, with one or more players on a part.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The vihuela is often played in mariachi bands, providing rhythmic accompaniment for singers.

  • During the festival, the musicians played lively traditional tunes on their vihuelas.

Surface Forms

vihuela singular
vihuelas plural

Etymology

Vihuela was brought from Spain to Mexico and kept the idea of a 'small string instrument', so in mariachi music it names a small, five-string, rounded-back guitar used for rhythm and strumming.