The backbone of the berimbau consists of a wooden pole, typically about 1.5 m long and about 1 in. in diameter, called the verga. According to a traditional capoeira song, "Biriba e pau e pau / De fazer berimbau e pau" (Biriba is the right wood / Used to make berimbau). The biriba wood from which the verga is typically made "must be cut from a live tree in the forest on the right day and under the proper moon" (Almeida, 72). The lower end of the verga is carved into a peg to attach the string, the arame, which is then stretched tight over the top end of the verga, bending it. The arame is a steel wire taken from the inside of a car tire; before there were tires, animal entrails were used to string the berimbau. The resonator attached towards the bottom of the verga is called the cabaca. It is a dried, hollowed-out gourd, typically from the fruit of the bottle gourd (lagenaria vulgaris).

Pictures dating as far back as 15000 B.C. of men playing musical bows have been found in caves in France. In Africa, there are many kinds of musical bows: some of them are fixed in the ground, others have multiple strings or bows. When enslaved by the Portuguese and transported to Brazil, the Africans brought their unique musical instruments with them. According to an article in a Brazilian percussion magazine, "some fonts list the first appearance of the berimbau in Brasil in 1739, in Santos port." In 1816, Henry Koster wrote about "a big bow with a cordon, tied to half a coconut or cabaca. It's pressed to the abdomen and played with the finger or a stick." Although the berimbau existed in Brazil in the first half of the nineteenth century, it was probably not associated with capoeira at the time. In 1835, Moritz Reguendas described capoeira as a violent "war pastime" of the blacks (Almeida, 75). The berimbau does not appear in his writings about and paintings of the fighting form. Around the same time, the French artist Jean Baptiste Debret, who traveled in Brazil, wrote about the berimbau as an instrument of accompaniment to African chants, songs, and storytelling. Thus, although the style of capoeira probably developed sometime in the 18th century, it did not include the berimbau until later. The berimbau and other musical instruments may have been added to capoeira later in the 19th century to disguise the deadly martial art as a ritual dance.

Today, the berimbau is essential to capoeira: Mestre Bimba, one of the greatest masters of capoeira, said "it is impossible to learn capoeira without the berimbau" (Almeida, 75). A typical capoeira roda (circle) will have either one or three berimbaus, played by the masters in charge of the roda. In capoeira, two players enter the roda and interact with each other in a complex dialogue of movements. As they play with each other, they perform kicks, dodges, sweeps, cartwheels, and acrobatics. The rhythm of the berimbau directs the actions of the two players inside the roda, telling them to play quickly or slowly, upright or close to the ground, and cooperatively or competitively. Other instruments in the bateria (orchestra) of capoeira include the atabaque (drum), pandeiro (tambourine), agogo (bells), and reco-reco (section of wood with notches over which a stick is rubbed). Those members of the circle who are not playing instruments clap their hands to the rhythm and sing traditional call-and-response songs led by the master of the roda.

Berimbaus come in three sizes. The one with the largest cabaca is called the gunga or berra-boi. It has the deepest sound and is responsible for keeping the basic rhythm. The berimbau medio has a medium-sized cabaca. It also plays the basic rhythm, as well as some variation. The viola or violinha has the smallest cabaca and the highest, sharpest sound. Its role is to improvise, embellish, and play variations on the rhythm.

The low note on the berimbau is produced by simply striking the arame with the stick. When you press the dobrao against the arame and strike it, the pitch raises by about a semitone. This is because the natural mode of vibration of a string is inversely proportional to its length; clamping the arame with the dobrao shortens its length so a higher frequency sound is produced. A third sound can be made by touching, not pressing, the dobrao against the arame and striking the arame. This produces a "buzz" tone - its pitch is the same as the high note, but it contains a distinct buzzing sound from the arame vibrating back and forth against the dobrao.

Finally, the player can play the berimbau either with the opening of the cabaca close to the body, producing a more muffled sound, or with it far from the body, producing a louder, more hollow sound. Some rhythms even call for the player to strike the berimbau while holding it close to the body and then quickly move it away, producing a "wah-wah" sound as the timbre changes. Other sounds that can be made by the berimbau include striking the portion of the arame below the cabaca for a very high-pitched sound, or shaking the caxixi alone and striking the verga with the baqueta for some unpitched percussion.

The different rhythms of the berimbau are called toques. The players of the game of capoeira will perform different movements and play at different speeds depending on which toque is being played. Below are the uses for several common toques. Some toques and their corresponding games may vary from school to school. To see berimbau notation for these toques and others, go to PlanetCapoeira.

Angola - players stay close to the ground and to each other, using floor techniques and observing the rituals and rules of capoeira Angola

Benguela - a medium-paced, cooperative game

Sao Bento Grande de Bimba (Regional) - fast, upright, competitive game

Iuna - special rhythm for advanced students, a beautiful game which uses cooperative flipping techniques known as the cintura desprezada