Music Quiz is a free online music quiz game you can play in your browser with no download and no account. Each round gives you eight clues — who a musician was, where they came from, what made them famous — and asks who it is, with four names to choose from: Baroque composers and Viennese symphonists, blues guitarists and bebop saxophonists, Motown singers, punk and grunge bands, rappers, reggae and bossa nova stars. After every answer the game shows where they came from and one more fact about them. Eight levels get harder in a way you can feel: on early levels the wrong names make another kind of music in another era, while on the last level all four make the same kind of music in the same era. A second mode, Whose work is it?, shows an album, opera, ballet or symphony and its year and asks who made it. All 204 clues were written for this game, there are no song lyrics anywhere in it, and the facts stick to things that do not change.
How to play Music Quiz
- Choose a mode at the top: Name the act (eight levels) or Whose work is it? (practice rounds with a best score).
- In Name the act, read the clue on the card — who they were and what they did, never their name — and pick them from the four names: tap one, or press 1-4 or A-D.
- After each pick the right name lights up green, and underneath you get where they came from and one more fact about them.
- Press Next clue (or Enter) to move on. A round is eight clues; the dots along the bottom show which you got right.
- Get at least 4 of 8 right to open the next level, the level's mark for two stars, and all eight for three stars.
- In Whose work is it?, the card shows an album, opera, ballet or symphony with its year; pick who made it from four names that make the same kind of music.
Tips
- Place the clue in time first. Courts, princes and opera houses point to classical music; Harlem clubs and swing bands to the 1920s-40s; Motown and Woodstock to the 1960s; MTV and synthesizers to the 1980s.
- Then ask what kind of music it is — orchestra, jazz club, guitar band, dance floor, turntables or country fiddle. On early levels the wrong names are another kind of music from another era, so either question usually leaves one answer.
- From level 5 on the wrong names share the era or the kind of music, and by level 8 they share both. Then the details in the clue — a home town, a bandmate, an instrument, a nickname — decide it.
- Home towns are strong clues: Liverpool, Seattle, Detroit, New Orleans, Kingston and Compton each belong to a sound.
- Read the fact after each answer: the same names come back, and knowing who made what is the fastest way into Whose work is it?.
FAQ
Is Music Quiz free to play?
Yes. Music Quiz is free to play online in your browser, with no download, no account and no in-game purchases.
Which musicians are in the quiz?
There are 204 composers, singers and bands, from Vivaldi and Bach to Kendrick Lamar: classical composers, jazz and blues greats, rock and roll pioneers, Motown and soul, folk and country, reggae, bossa nova, Afrobeat and Latin pop, punk, metal, grunge and Britpop, disco, synth-pop, house and hip-hop. Every clue and fact was written for this game.
Are there song lyrics in the quiz?
No. The quiz names songs, albums and pieces by their titles, but it never quotes the words of a song. Facts stick to things that do not change — where someone came from, who they played with, what they wrote and when, prizes already won — rather than sales or chart records that go out of date.
What makes the later levels harder?
The wrong names. On level 1 they make another kind of music in another era, so a punk band can sit next to a Baroque composer, a Motown singer and a 1990s rapper. By level 8 all four make the same kind of music in the same era. Measured on 1,000 rounds per level, a player who knows only the era of each act or only what kind of music they make gets all eight right on level 1 but about two of eight on level 8.
How do stars work?
Four right out of eight passes a level and opens the next one. Two stars need the level's own mark, which is one more than that era-or-kind guesser's usual score there — 7 on the first levels, 3 on the last. Three stars need all eight.
What is Whose work is it?
A second mode: the card shows one of 262 works — an album, opera, ballet, symphony or other piece — with its year, and you pick who made it from four. It asks about the 112 acts with two or more works in the quiz, from Mozart's operas to the Beatles' albums, and the three wrong names make the same kind of music; for most works they were also releasing music within twelve years of it. It plays in rounds of eight with a best score.
Will I see the same musicians again?
Each new round steers around the last 48 acts you were asked, so repeats only come back once you have played through much of the list. Playing a level again deals a different round.
Does Music Quiz work on mobile?
Yes. Tap a name to answer on a phone or tablet; on a computer you can also play with the keyboard, using 1-4 or A-D to pick and Enter for the next clue.