How to Get Music Discs in Minecraft (All 22)

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: The 12 classic C418 discs drop when a skeleton (or stray, bogged, parched) kills a creeper. The rest are treasures: Pigstep in bastions, otherside in strongholds, 5 from ancient city fragments, Relic in trail ruins, Precipice/Creator in trial chambers, Tears from a fireball-deflected ghast, Lava Chicken from chicken jockeys, and Bounce in sulfur-cave mineshafts.

What you need

A skeleton and a creeper (or a disc farm)
Boats or traps for lining up kills
Jukebox to play them (8 planks + diamond)
Brush for trail ruins
Looting patience for structure chests

Step by step

The classic trick: when a creeper is killed by a skeleton, stray, bogged or parched, it drops a RANDOM disc from the 12 C418 classics (13, cat, blocks, chirp, far, mall, mellohi, stal, strad, ward, 11, wait). Wither skeletons count too, but only via commands since they don't use bows.
Line up the shot: trap a creeper (a boat works great), let a skeleton shoot you, and sidestep so the arrow hits the creeper instead. One arrow between two mobs = one disc.
Scale it: music disc farms funnel creepers and a skeleton into a kill corridor - afk and collect. Bonus trick: TNT ignited by a skeleton's flaming arrow credits the skeleton with the kills, so exploded creepers ALSO drop discs (intended behavior).
Tears (Nether): kill a ghast with its own fireball - deflect it back with a punch or an arrow. It ALWAYS drops Tears. The 'Return to Sender' achievement comes free.
Lava Chicken: kill a chicken jockey - rider first, then the chicken - and it ALWAYS drops Lava Chicken.
Structure treasures: '13' and 'cat' appear in monster room, woodland mansion and ancient city chests (~16-22%); Pigstep only in bastion remnant chests; otherside in stronghold and dungeon loot; Precipice in trial chambers vaults; Creator in ominous vaults; Creator (Music Box) in trial chambers too.
The broken one: disc '5' is never found whole - collect 9 disc fragments from ancient city chests (about 30% chance each chest) and craft them together.
Brush for Relic: Relic hides in trail ruins - brush suspicious gravel for a shot at it (and bring patience).
26.x exclusive: 'Bounce' by fingerspit spawns in chest minecarts inside mineshafts that cut through sulfur caves - the only disc tied to a biome.
Play them: every disc goes in a jukebox (8 planks + 1 diamond). All 22 stack to nothing, so build a display wall - disc collectors are the true completionists.

Java vs Bedrock

Drop mechanics match across editions. Small splits: parched (the 1.21.11 desert skeleton) joined the disc-dropping killers list in 1.21.11 for Java, and Bedrock removed mellohi and wait from buried treasure chests in 1.21.130. Lava Chicken is Rare in Java but only Uncommon in Bedrock.

Versions: The first discs (13 and cat) arrived in Alpha, with 10 more C418 discs in Beta 1.9. Pigstep (Lena Raine) came with 1.16, otherside and 5 with 1.18/1.19, Relic (Aaron Cherof) with 1.20, Precipice/Creator/Creator (Music Box) with 1.21, Tears and Lava Chicken in the 1.21.6-1.21.7 drops, and Bounce in the 26.x cycle.

Frequently asked questions

How do you get music discs from creepers?

A creeper killed by a skeleton, stray, bogged or parched drops a random disc from the 12 C418 classics. The standard method: trap a creeper in a boat, stand so a skeleton's arrow passes through you into the creeper, and collect the disc. Music disc farms automate this by the chest-load.

How do you get Pigstep?

Pigstep is only found in bastion remnant chests in the Nether - it never drops from creepers. Loot every chest type in the bastion, and wear gold armor so the piglins let you work. It's the only disc by Lena Raine and one of three 'Rare' discs.

How do you get the Tears music disc?

Deflect a ghast's fireball back at it - hit the fireball with anything (even an empty hand) so it returns and kills the ghast. The ghast always drops Tears when killed by its own deflected fireball, and you earn the Return to Sender achievement at the same time.