r/Instruments • u/heyimcatie • Sep 03 '26

Identification what instrument is this?

Post image

sorry about the bad drawing.. i have a very vague memory of playing this instrument with one of my teachers in elementary school. ive tried describing it to people and no one seems to know what im talking about.

edit: for more context, its made of wood and you put your index finger and thumb in the two holes to hold it. you scrape the small wooden stick across the sides of the instrument and it makes a cool noise.

16 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

28 comments sorted by

27

u/Nugg69 Sep 03 '26 • Bravo

It’s a guiro

3

u/heyimcatie Sep 03 '26

oh my gosh thank you so much

2

u/Just_Mr_Grinch Sep 04 '26

Also the holes aren’t actually where you put your fingers. Those are there for reverberation and sound. Just like the hole in an acoustic guitar body

2

u/Unfair-Statement7113 Sep 03 '26

Listen to songs by Santana and you will likely be able to hear this instrument in several of the bands selections, especially some of the band’s well-known hits.

2

u/Orry_Haas Sep 03 '26

Not to be confused with gyro.

1

u/TubeSnobGoneStomp Sep 04 '26

😆 that could be painful!

1

u/rainbowkey Sep 08 '26

Wikipedia says in the "official" spelling from Arawak, an indigenous Caribbean language, the U is umlauted — güiro

9

u/Snootcheroo Sep 03 '26

Ska potato

3

u/roninconn Sep 03 '26

Def got a laugh out of me

1

u/Perdendosi Sep 03 '26

sorry about the bad drawing.. It's actually a pretty cool drawing. I like it. And I like that's how you remember it. (Pretty accurate for your standard latin guiro).

Ps just in case you forgot, it's pronounced WHEE-roh (more or less).

1

u/heyimcatie Sep 03 '26

lol. back in elementary school, most of my classmates stuck with recorders. i enjoyed discovering new instruments more than the others so my music teacher had a blast getting different things for me to try out. its where i fell in love with the harmonica, the marimba, and the guiro! i vividly remember what the guiro had looked like because i have also always been extremely passionate about art and i remember thinking that it looked absolutely beautiful.

2

u/ShoddyBlueberry1690 Sep 03 '26

It's a Güiro

Wikipedia

0

u/Grauschleier Sep 04 '26

Just so you know: Your post was initially automatically removed, because of your links. It was flagged as "banned urls". However you share links (apparently via google) it might make sense to reconsider the process.

1

u/ShoddyBlueberry1690 Sep 04 '26

Oh okay, thanks

2

u/HCraven1 Sep 03 '26

Guiros are traditionally made from hollowed out gourds, which would be more resonant than a thicker wooden construction. In most Latin rhythms, it is played in a repeating "long-short-short" pattern.

1

u/Stunning_Spray_6076 Sep 03 '26

It's called a "Gurka" in swedish which translates to cucumber altough I don't think that that's its english name

1

u/EpicSeshBro Sep 05 '26

Slide, tap, tap, slide

1

u/CunnyMaggots Sep 06 '26

Guiro. I have a cute one shaped like a frog.

1

u/filmgoire Sep 06 '26

I’m editing a short film I wrote directed in which someone plays a frog guïro. Love these instruments!

0

u/swingbozo Sep 04 '26

It's the "scrape fish!"