The piano The guitar

Question

Hey all,

Why do we use "the" in front of some instruments like 'piano' and 'guitar'?

Thank you

Answer 1

http://www.englishpage.com/articles/advanced-articles.htm

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6635/omission-of-definite-article-with-musical-instruments

English speakers often use THE plus a singular noun when they talk about or make generalizations about certain topics, including:

musical instruments (the piano, the guitar, the flute)

plants (the coconut palm, the saguaro, the baobab)

animals (the leopard, the elephant, the lowland gorilla)

inventions (the steam engine, the plane, the light bulb)

currencies (the dollar, the euro, the yen)

body parts (the head, the eye, the ear)

Examples:

I play the piano/the woodwind/the piano.

The sequoia tree is native to California.

The dolphin is a very intelligent animal.

The Wright brothers invented the airplane.

Right now, the euro is stronger than the dollar.

Cheryl got poked in the eye.

In general, English speakers choose to use THE in this way to give the noun a more abstract or conceptual sound. We choose to say "the piano" to make it sound more like an abstract art form. Similarly, "the dolphin" sounds more like we are referring to the species. Moreover, "the plane" has a more conceptual sound that conveys the idea of invention.

Comments

Very good. I already gave +1.

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More info:

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/play-the-piano-play-piano.1564241/

http://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/63895/why-should-we-say-play-the-piano-instead-of-play-a-piano

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Thanks an ocean.