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97 free Music trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
50 free music trivia questions with answers. Looking for music trivia categories all in one place? This quiz pulls 97 questions from across the whole spectrum of music — classical composers and orchestras, rock and pop hits, hip-hop and country, movie soundtracks, instruments and the stories behind famous songs — so it works whether you are prepping a pub-quiz music round or just testing yourself. Questions are mixed easy to hard and each comes with a short explanation after you answer, so you learn something even when you miss. Every answer has been checked against a real source. If you want to go deeper in one category, BrainPickle also has separate 80s music, 90s music, country music, classical music and music history quizzes.
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What instrument does a concertmaster typically play in an orchestra?
Violin
The concertmaster is the lead first violinist in an orchestra and serves as the leader of the string section and the entire ensemble after the conductor.
Q 02Which band released the album Nevermind in 1991?
Nirvana
Nirvana's Nevermind, featuring the hit Smells Like Teen Spirit, became one of the most iconic albums of the grunge era and is widely credited with bringing alternative rock into the mainstream.
Q 03Who is known as the Queen of Soul?
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin earned the title Queen of Soul through her powerful vocals and iconic hits like Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, and Think.
Q 04Which key signature has no sharps or flats?
C major
C major is the only major key with no sharps or flats, using only the natural notes A through G. It is often the first scale taught to beginning musicians.
Q 05What was Elvis Presley's first number-one hit on the Billboard pop chart?
Heartbreak Hotel
Heartbreak Hotel reached number one on the Billboard pop chart in 1956, becoming Elvis Presley's first chart-topping single and launching him into superstardom.
Q 06Which rapper's real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III?
Eminem
Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, rose to fame with his alter ego Slim Shady and became one of the best-selling music artists of all time.
Q 07In music theory, how many semitones are in an octave?
12
An octave contains 12 semitones (half steps). This is the foundation of Western music's twelve-tone equal temperament system.
Q 08Which 1969 Beatles album cover shows the four walking over a zebra crossing outside their London studio?
Abbey Road
The Beatles' Abbey Road (1969) features the famous cover photograph of all four members walking across the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios in London.
Q 09Which annual California desert festival is one of the world's largest music festivals?
Coachella
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, held in Indio, California, has grown into one of the world's most prominent and profitable music festivals since its debut in 1999.
Q 10Who composed the Four Seasons, a set of four violin concertos?
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi composed The Four Seasons around 1720. These four violin concertos are among the most popular and recognizable pieces in the Baroque repertoire.
Q 11Which country music legend is known as the Man in Black?
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash earned the nickname the Man in Black because of his habit of wearing all-black clothing at performances. He wrote a song of the same name explaining the symbolism.
Q 12What does the musical term fortissimo mean?
Very loud
Fortissimo (abbreviated ff) is a dynamic marking meaning very loud. It comes from the Italian word forte (strong or loud) with the superlative suffix.
Q 13Whose 1984 album Purple Rain doubled as a film soundtrack?
Prince
Prince and the Revolution's Purple Rain (1984) spent 24 consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200 and spun off When Doves Cry and Let's Go Crazy.
Q 21Which alto saxophonist, nicknamed Bird, helped invent bebop in the 1940s?
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (1920–1955), also 'Yardbird', built bebop's fast tempos and complex harmonies with Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s.
Q 22Which rock band is known for songs like Stairway to Heaven and Whole Lotta Love?
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin, formed in 1968, is one of the most influential rock bands in history. Stairway to Heaven is often cited as one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded.
Q 23What is a time signature of 3/4 commonly associated with?
Waltz
The 3/4 time signature is most commonly associated with the waltz. The three-beat pattern with emphasis on the first beat creates the characteristic one-two-three feel of waltz music.
Q 14What is the lowest-pitched instrument in a standard string quartet?
Cello
Two violins, a viola and a cello: no double bass, though in an orchestra the basses often double the cello line an octave lower.
Q 15Which hip-hop group's debut album, Straight Outta Compton, helped establish gangsta rap?
N.W.A
N.W.A's debut came out on Priority and Ruthless Records and is considered a landmark in hip-hop history.
Q 16Who composed The Marriage of Figaro to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Le nozze di Figaro, a four-act opera buffa to Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto, which premiered in Vienna in 1786.
Q 17Which Motown group featured Diana Ross as lead singer?
The Supremes
The Supremes, featuring Diana Ross as lead vocalist, became Motown's most successful act in the 1960s with 12 number-one singles including Baby Love and Stop! In the Name of Love.
Q 18Which type of pickup, standard on electric guitars, senses string vibration with a wire coil?
Magnetic
Magnetic pickups, standard on electric guitars and basses, use a coil wound around magnetized pole pieces; acoustic guitars and fiddles more often use piezoelectric pickups.
Q 19Which singer-songwriter wrote and performed Blowin in the Wind?
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan wrote Blowin in the Wind in 1962 and included it on his album The Freewheelin Bob Dylan in 1963. It became an anthem of the civil rights and anti-war movements.
Q 20The G-clef, which fixes G above middle C on the second line, is commonly known by what name?
Treble
The G-clef is the treble clef: it curls around the second line to fix G above middle C and serves higher instruments and the pianist's right hand, while the F-clef is the bass clef.
Q 24Who first recorded I Will Always Love You, 19 years before Whitney Houston's cover?
Dolly Parton
Parton recorded it in 1973; Houston's 1992 version for The Bodyguard soundtrack became one of the best-selling singles of all time.
Q 25To which instrument family does the saxophone belong?
Woodwind
Despite being made of brass, the saxophone is classified as a woodwind instrument because it produces sound using a single reed, similar to a clarinet. It was invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s.
Q 26Which left-handed guitarist famously played a right-handed Fender Stratocaster flipped upside down?
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix was a left-handed guitarist who played right-handed Fender Stratocasters flipped upside down and restrung. His innovative playing style and use of feedback and distortion revolutionized electric guitar.
Q 27What is the Italian musical term for gradually getting louder?
Crescendo
Crescendo is the Italian musical term meaning to gradually increase in volume. Its opposite, diminuendo (or decrescendo), means to gradually get softer.
Q 28Which British band released the concept album The Dark Side of the Moon?
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the Moon in 1973; it stayed on the Billboard 200 for 741 consecutive weeks, from 1973 to 1988, and ranks among the best-selling albums ever.
Q 29In a drum kit, what is the large bass drum struck by a pedal-mounted beater commonly called?
Kick
Kick drum is the kit name for the bass drum; William Ludwig built a workable pedal for it in 1909, and drummers often stuff a pillow inside to shorten the note to a 'thud'.
Q 30Which Grammy Award goes to a single recording, credited jointly to the performer, producer and engineers?
Record of the Year
Record of the Year honours a single track and is presented to the performing artist along with the producer, recording engineer, mixing engineer and mastering engineer. Song of the Year, by contrast, goes only to the songwriters, and Album of the Year covers a whole album.