A virtuoso is a musician who has attained the highest level of skill in a fine art, especially at playing a specific instrument or singing.

Many Baroque composers were also virtuosi on their instrument, most commonly the violin (Pietro Locatelli and Antonio Vivaldi among others), but also on the harpsichord and organ. Virtuosi sometimes compose pieces of music (concertos or solo works) to show off their technical expertise - violinists Niccolo Paganini and Pablo de Saraste and pianist Franz Liszt are among the most notable to do this.

Modern guitar virtuosi include Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Pat Metheny, Jeff Beck, Jason Becker, Robert Fripp, John Petrucci, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Steve Howe, and Alex Lifeson.

Modern harpsichord virtuosi include Hendrik Bouman, Ketil Haugsand, Ton Koopman , Gustav Leonhardt , Trevor Pinnock, Andreas Staier .

Modern drum virtuosi include Bill Bruford.

Modern bass guitar virtuosi include Victor Wooten, Jaco Pastorius, and John Myung.

Modern sitar virtuosi include Ravi Shankar.

Modern fiddle virtuosi include Alison Krauss.

Modern keyboard virtuosi include Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman and Brian Eno.