Note coming from small plucked instrument (5)
I believe the answer is:
sharp
'note' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'small plucked instrument' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'plucked instrument' becomes 'harp' (I've seen this before).
's'+'harp'='SHARP'
'coming from' is the link.
(Other definitions for sharp that I've seen before include "Cutting; acidic" , "exactly on time" , "Good cutting edge or acute road turn" , "Quick; pointed" , "Unscrupulous character" .)