What's your favourite musical instrument?

[Saracen999]

I've been trying to decide mine. And y'know what? I can't decide.

I love guitar. no surprise there, as I (used to) play one (badly). But .... what type? Depends on my mood, ranging from Clapton or Carlos Santana (among many) to John Williams (guitarist and member of Sky, not the film score composer) and Segovia dueting Spanish Guitar.

But then, I love violin (used to play that too, very badly) be it the Coors or the violin lead in Bach's Brandenburg 2.

Oh, and a really good church organ playing Bach classics, especially the oh-so famous if disputed in name Toccata and Fugue in D minor, or Rick Wakeman. Used to play organ, too. But typically electric, nit Church. Still got a 80s/90s era Yamaha. When I think of what that cost, back then .... yikes.

And Saxophone? Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Like, oh, the sax solo in Al Stewart's Year of the Cat.

Or trumpet. I adore the solo section from Aida, but the trumpet sections in Branderberg 2 are .... just epic. Especially when done using the original design of trumpet, from Bach's era, i.e. valveless.

But then, I listen to Tubular Bells and the way the magic emerges from layering multiple sounds .... in so many musical works, be they classical, pop, rock, whatever, you can often struggle to pick out bass instruments whether bass guitar, double bass etc, but in fact they're the glue that holds everything together. And that bass rhythm in Tubular Bells is hypnotic.


So ... what's your favourite? 'Cos I'm beggared if I can decide. I love 'em all.

Oh, and talking about layering, anyone see that TV prog about John Williams (the film score composer not the guitarist) when the full symphony orchestra playing the Star Wars theme? That demonstrated it perfectly.

[Spreadie]

Piano.

I love it - I can't play for toffee but I'm in awe of pianists everywhere.

Guitar is a solid second though. Can't play that either, mind - Bert Wheedon's "play in a day" delivered a crushing blow to my enthusiasm by proving, without a shadow of a doubt, that I suck.

I'm pretty damned good at air guitar though...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Wait,John Williams died?? I see nothing on news websites??

[Spud1]

Electric guitar for me...I have a particular weakness for most MIJ Ibanez guitars too, even though im pretty terrible and I can play other instruments better, the guitar is still my favourite.

My Stylophone is a close second though, and if talking favorite instruments I don't (yet) own, the Theremin has to be up there...need to get around to building one eventually.

[kalniel]

John Williams (guitarist and member of Sky, not the film score composer) and Segovia dueting Spanish Guitar.

Perfection

If you are a fan of the other John Williams then it wouldn't be the same without the horn of course, and I maintain that all the best film scores have a great horn call

obligatory opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-GX6Jful3k

[DanceswithUnix]

I play guitar OK, never got further than playing basic scales on the trumpet, I suck at drums.

I find it hard to think of an instrument that I don't like. Possibly the old Hammond Organ given the lack of velocity sensitivity making expression really hard, or possibly just the sort of cheesy stuff that gets played on them. Given the jokes about them in Red Dwarf I'm probably not the only one.

Otherwise, I find it hard not to try and get a note out of wrapping paper tubes etc and find it hard to resist getting some rhythm out of empty ice cream tubs (yeah I'm probably quite hard to live with ) so any real instruments are generally a delight. Wish I had time to be better at playing some.

I'm of an age where the Yamaha DX7 always makes me smile. They said that keyboard was capable of an infinite number of sounds, yet they somehow always sound like a DX7 and therefore of the 80's that they seemed to dominate.

So yeah any instrument is fine, just play it with feeling.

With that talk of Saxophones in the original post I think I'll have to go dig out Hazel O'Conner's "Will You". Gonna be in my head all day now, thanks

[Ttaskmaster]

Been a drummer since I was about 14. So many of my hobbies involve hitting things, and usually with sticks of some kind.
I played in various bands, some professional. Also got a job as a resident session drummer for a London rehearsal studio once. That was pretty good fun!
One of my favourite gigs was playing Kings Cross Station... as in drumming on the actual surfaces of the station, during an impromptu jam with a violinist.

I could, once upon a time, also play one tune on harmonica, and just about manage one other on a mandolin.

I do love good guitarists (not necessarily the ones who utterly masturbate their instrument) and can sometimes be found enjoying decent bagpipes, while generally being open to all kinds of instrument.... But drums are where the real fun is at!

[g8ina]

I cant find any evidence of John Towner Williams having passed either..

Fave instruments ?

Moog, flamenco style guitar, drums.

[Galant]

Ooh! Very tiimely! Let me start with something that isn't my favourite - just this week I discovered (sort of) the Armenian Duduk. 'Sort of' because I instantly knew I'd heard the sound before, I just never knew what it was nor had I spent much time just listening to it. I ended up having it on in the background for over an hour, and I've returned to it. A sad sound maybe, but beautiful.

For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NnvZ7Yb5OE

Guitar is easy to appreciate but I don't think will ever top my list. Lately I've enjoyed listening to classical pieces by Ana Vidovic.

Violin was a favourite, both classical and later in Celtic and country and bluegrass. Loved the sound of the Hardanger Fiddle when I heard it in LOTR during the Two Towers (think of the Rohan theme).

I think in the end though, I keep coming back to wind instruments, particularly the simple ones, like celtic or folk whistles, flutes. I've often wondered whether that's because of the element of human breath that helps to create the sound, there's something organic about them. Classical flute doesn't appeal as much, but other chinese and Japanese flutes too have the same effect for me.

I don't know if that's a cop-out because it's not just one instrument, but those sorts of instruments are my favourites. Violin/Fiddle would be second I think.

[Saracen999]

I cant find any evidence of John Towner Williams having passed either..

.....

It was something I heard, or more accurately, half-heard, on the radio about a week ago. But I can only assume I misheard it. Or, a radio SNAFU. From everything I can see, he's still with us. Thankfully.

[Saracen999]

.....

With that talk of Saxophones in the original post I think I'll have to go dig out Hazel O'Conner's "Will You". Gonna be in my head all day now, thanks

Oooh, earworm.

We aim to please.

Not had one since someone played the Moody Blues "Dear Diary" in a TV prog I watched a couple of weeks ago. Only just got rid of .... Oh, bu...ermm...bother. Dammit. Fishhooks.

Here we go again.

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Wasn't that a song title?

Double bother. Gonna have two now.

Only fair I suppose .... one for each ear.

[Kovoet]

I love the lead Guitar and my favourite Guitarist is Tom Sholtz from BOSTON

[philehidiot]

I have a trumpet next to me.

Generally I just use beans, however.

Full English this morning. Today has been particularly... musical.

[Kovoet]

Piano.

I love it - I can't play for toffee but I'm in awe of pianists everywhere.

Guitar is a solid second though. Can't play that either, mind - Bert Wheedon's "play in a day" delivered a crushing blow to my enthusiasm by proving, without a shadow of a doubt, that I suck.

I'm pretty damned good at air guitar though...

Love "the Way It Is" and it's mainly the piano that makes that song

[Tumble]

I really enjoy playing my flugel horn - for those who don't know, it's a mellow trumpet sound. It can be so expressive, but a bugger to keep in tune..... I also like the cello (although I can't play one) purely because of it's range - it can go higher than the low end of a violin and down into the top end of the double bass. In the right hands it can sing beautifully.

Then of course.... there's the theorbo.... it's a massive bass lute, with 13 strings - 5 of which are about 8 foot long and aren't on the fingerboard, a truly mental piece of medieval engineering that sounds utterly fascinating. I can listen to one of those twiddling away for hours.

[ik9000]

Saracen, check out Gordon Giltap and Martin Taylor's joint album "A matter of time" and Gordon Giltrap's Troubador album. Some great guitar music there.

G8ina what about a good old Oberheim OB-8?
The sounds