In addition to solo performance, there are two traditional forms of guqin performance, namely string song and elegant music ensemble.

In the history books, there are records of "Shun plays the five-stringed qin song and the poem of the south wind and ruled the world", "The three hundred poems of "Poems, Confucius all sing with strings", as well as the "Song of Songs" played and sung in the hall by Mrs. Bailixi, etc. , This form of playing and singing with the guqin was called string song in ancient times, and is also called qin song today. Most of the qin songs recorded in Cai Yong's "Qin Cao" are accompanied by lyrics, which shows that string songs were very popular in the Han Dynasty. In Guo Maoqian's "Yuefu Poetry Collection", there are more than 170 "Qin Songs" (four volumes) recorded from ancient times to the Song Dynasty. Although most of the music scores have been lost, we can use these lyrics to understand the expression of the Qin music. The content and emotion, to understand the music and cultural life of the ancients. The "Three Die of Yangguan" and "Eighteen Beats of Hu Jia", which we are more familiar with today, are still very popular in the Tang and Song Dynasties. In later generations, there are folk lyrics in ciqin scores. "Now there are 400,000 words that have been collected and mastered, indicating that the form of qin songs has existed for two thousand years." (Gu Meixi's "Qin Learning Preparation")

Guqin participates in Yale ensembles, mostly in various ceremonial music, Guqin is the main instrument.

After the guqin came to the folk from the Han Dynasty, its playing form has developed from string songs, elegant music ensemble to solo. Since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, solo has gradually taken the lead and has become the main part of Guqin music. Due to the strong expressiveness and artistic appeal of solo, most of the Guqin pieces are created and performed in the form of solo. Such as "Guangling San", "Li Sao", "Xiaoxiang Shuiyun", "Flowing Water", "Pingsha Falling Geese", etc. Among them, there are dozens of famous songs and a dozen of classic works. There are also two or three stanzas in the solo piece, and even one or two short pieces, such as "Introduction to a Good Night", "Autumn Thoughts in Dongting", "Singing in Weibin", "Moon in Guanshan", "Spring Dawn in Yulou", and "Singing in Tranquillity" And so on, the charm of its music and art still makes many bosom friends dump.