Kirsten Hurlbut Last updated: 90+ Common Japanese Music Words
In order to get your Japanese-speaking juices flowing, you’re going to need to engage in conversations about things you really care about, with people who care about them just as much.
And now that you have a good base of Japanese, you’re going to want to beef up your vocabulary with a few tasty music-specific words to spark these kinds of conversations.
In this guide, I’ll teach you 90+ music words in Japanese that you can use in your conversations.
Contents
- Music Genres in Japanese
- Describing Your Favorite Songs
- Instruments in Japanese
- Going to See Music Shows
- And One More Thing...
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Music Genres in Japanese
Alternative/Rock/Metal
オルタナティヴ (おるたなてぃゔ) — alternative
ガレージ･ロック (がれーじ・ろっく) — garage rock
グラム・ロック (ぐらむ・ろっく) — glam rock
グランジ (ぐらんじ) — grunge
パンク・ロック (ぱんく・ろっく) — punk rock
サイケデリック (さいけでりっく) — psychedelic
デス・メタル (です・めたる) — death metal
ニューウェーブ (にゅーうぇーぶ) — new wave
ハード・ロック (はーど・ろっく) — hard rock
ブリティッシュ・ロック (ぶりてぃっしゅ・ろっく) — British rock
プログレッシヴ・ロック (ぷろぐれっしゔ・ろっく) — progressive rock
ヘヴィ・メタル (へゔぃ・めたる) — heavy metal
ロックン・ロール (ろっくん・ろーる) — rock ‘n roll
Pop/Electronic
ハウス (はうす) — house
ドラムン・ベース (どらむん・べーす) — drum ‘n’ bass
ヒップホップ (ひっぷほっぷ) — hip-hop
ファンク (ふぁんく) — funk
ダブ (だぶ) — dubstep
テクノ (てくの) — techno
ブリット・ポップ (ぶりっと・ぽっぷ) — Brit pop
ポップ (ぽっぷ) — pop
ラップ (らっぷ) — rap
レゲエ (れげえ) — reggae
アール アンド ビー (あーる あんど びー) — R&B
Folk/Country
カントリー (かんとりー) — country
ブルース (ぶるーす) — blues
フォーク・ロック (ふぉーく・ろっく) — folk rock
Classical/Jazz/Soul
クラシック (くらしっく) — classical
ジャズ (じゃず) — jazz
スカ (すか) — ska
ソウル (そうる) — soul
Distinctly Japanese Genres
民謡 (みんよう) — Japanese folk music/rural music
Hajime Chitose sings an interesting example of Japanese island folk music accompanied only by a shamisen and a male second vocalist.
流行歌 (りゅうこうか) — “popular” music from the 1920s-1960s
There isn’t really a good example of this because it literally means “popular music” and that can span any number of generations, but basically this style in the early 1900s set the precedent for the next genre…
演歌 (えんか) — post-war sentimental ballad music
Here’s a 1960s song by Jun Mayuzumi called “Yuzuki” which is in the typical style, displaying flourishing, emotional vocals to reflect the pain of the post-war years.
ジェイポップ (じぇいぽっぷ) — J-pop
I’m sure you’ve heard of this one before—and it’s hard to pin down, but here’s a chart-topper as an example. Just keep in mind…Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is intentionally as bizarre as possible.
ジェイ・ロック (じぇい・ろっく) — J-rock
This too spans a lot of styles, from X Japan to Asian Kung Fu Generation, but One Ok Rock seems to be popular for the moment. Essentially, it’s anything less pop and more rock from Japan!
ヴィジュアル系 (ゔぃじゅあるけい) — Visual Kei
This is actually not a genre per se, but a “movement” among musicians, according to Wikipedia (which will explain this in much more depth than I can!).
What you need to know is that the focus is on performance (costumes, makeup and often androgyny), and you’ll hear a lot of glam-rock and metal influences in this kind of style. The Gazette are one of the most successful examples—go ahead and look ’em up!
Example Sentences
大体ロックの方が好きだけど、たまにポップの曲を聴きます。 (だいたい ろっくのほうが すきだけど、たまに ぽっぷのきょくをききます。)
Basically I prefer rock but sometimes I listen to pop songs.
パンクが好きだったら、どんなバンドがお勧めですか？ (ぱんくがすきだったら、どんな ばんどが おすすめですか？)
If I like punk, what kind of band would you recommend?
演歌だったら、どの歌手が一番人気がありますか？ (えんかだったら、どのかしゅが いちばん にんきがありますか？)
In Enka, which singer is the most popular?
Describing Your Favorite Songs
Words for Talking About Songs
曲 (きょく) — song
歌詞 (かし) — lyrics
歌手 (かしゅ) — singer
声 (こえ) — voice
コーラス (こーらす) — chorus
バース (ばーす) — verse
メロディー (めろでぃー) — melody
Aメロ (えーめろ) — main melody
Bメロ (びーめろ) — secondary melody
ボーカル (ぼーかる) — vocals
リズム (りずむ) — rhythm
ベースライン (べーすらいん) — bassline
オクターブ (おくたーぶ) — octave
コード/和音 (こーど/わおん) — chord
縦ノリ (たてのり) — “jumping” songs (generally used to describe upbeat or aggressive songs you would “jump” to when dancing)
横ノリ (よこのり) — “swaying” songs (more melodic, relaxed songs you would “sway” to)
ジャカ ジャカ ジャン (じゃか じゃか じゃん) — sound of guitar
頭から (あたま から) — “from the top”
Example Sentences
このコーラスはメロディーがいいね。 (このこーらすは めろでぃーが いいね。)
This chorus has a nice melody, doesn’t it?
この歌手の声は、悲しそうだけど、とても美しいですね。 (このかしゅのこえは、かなしそうだけど、とてもうつくしいですね。)
This singer’s voice is both sad and very beautiful, isn’t it?
ベースラインはすごくかっこいいと思います。 (べーすらいんは すごくかっこいい とおもいます。)
This bassline is really cool, I think.
Instruments in Japanese
Instruments and Equipment
楽器 (がっき) — instrument
ギター (ぎたー) — guitar
弦 (げん) — strings
シールド (しーるど) — patchcord
ベース (べーす) — bass guitar
ドラム (どらむ) — drums
ピアノ/キーボード (ぴあの・きーぼーど) — piano/keyboard
マイク (まいく) — microphone
バイオリン (ばいおりん) — violin
チェロ (ちぇろ) — cello
オーボエ (おーぼえ) — oboe
トランペット (とらんぺっと) — trumpet
サックスフォン (さっくすふぉん) — saxophone
ウッドベース (うっどべーす) — double bass
ハープ (はーぷ) — harp
チューナー (ちゅーなー) — tuner
ハーモニカ (はーもにか) — harmonica
口笛 (くちぶえ) — whistle
タンバリン (たんばりん) — tambourine
アンプ (あんぷ) — amp
Japanese Instruments
琵琶 (びわ) — biwa
三味線 (しゃみせん) — shamisen
琴 (こと) — koto
太鼓 (たいこ) — taiko drum
尺八 (しゃくはち) — shakuhachi flute
三線 (さんしん) — sanshin
Example Sentences
高校生の時、私はドラムを演奏した。（こうこうせいのとき、わたしは どらむをえんそうした。）
I played drums when I was in high school.
楽器を演奏しますか？（がっきを えんそうしますか？）
Do you play an instrument?
ウッドベース担当はうまいですね。（うっどべーすたんとうは うまいですね。）
The double-bass player is really good, isn’t she?
Going to See Music Shows
Words for Talking About Shows
ライブ (らいぶ) — live show/music performance
ライブハウス (らいぶ はうす) — venue/”live house”
日時 (にちじ) — date and time
出演時間 (しゅつえんじかん) — performance time
メンバー (めんばー) — members
観客 (かんきゃく) — audience
チケット (ちけっと) — ticket
サウンドチェック (さうんど ちぇっく) — soundcheck
チューニング (ちゅーにんぐ) — tuning
打ち上げ (うちあげ) — job-well-done party
出番 (でばん) — performance order
発売中 (はつばいちゅう) — being sold
前売り料金 (まえうり りょうきん) — advance ticket price
売り切れ (うりきれ) — sold out
盛り上がった (もりあがった) — energetic/lively
Example Sentences
サマーソニックのチケットは、今発売中です！(さまーそにっくの ちけっとは、いま はつばいちゅうです！)
Tickets to Summer Sonic are on sale now!
今週の日曜日のライブを見に行きませんか？ (こんしゅうの にちようびの らいぶを みにいきませんか？)
Do you want to go see this Sunday’s show?
観客は盛り上がっているね．．．もうすぐ始まるみたい！(かんきゃくは もりあがっているね．．．もうすぐ はじまるみたい！)
The audience is really excited…it looks like it’ll start soon!
If you want to see the above words used in action, you could check out the language learning program FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
Now you’ll be able to use these words as part of your music related conversations!
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you love learning Japanese with authentic materials, then I should also tell you more about FluentU.
FluentU naturally and gradually eases you into learning Japanese language and culture. You'll learn real Japanese as it's spoken in real life.
FluentU has a broad range of contemporary videos as you'll see below:
FluentU makes these native Japanese videos approachable through interactive transcripts. Tap on any word to look it up instantly.
All definitions have multiple examples, and they're written for Japanese learners like you. Tap to add words you'd like to review to a vocab list.
And FluentU has a learn mode which turns every video into a language learning lesson. You can always swipe left or right to see more examples.
The best part? FluentU keeps track of your vocabulary, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. You'll have a 100% personalized experience.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
