late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 26 | |
| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/8/2007 11:08:35 PM |
I can hardly wait until Zamfir masters the didgeridoo.
Gheorghe Zamfir is a hack.
Pan pipes, and other traditional Peruvian folk intruments are spellbinding in the hands of a skilled artist.
I had the privilege of working with Dario Domingues while he was alive.
http://www.dariodomingues.com/
He could make South American wind instruments sound like Hendrix. | |
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macron
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Joined: 8/25/2006
Msg: 27 | |
| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/9/2007 12:27:25 AM | | I have an electric guitar called a northern I tryed google to find more info on it but coul dnot find anything. I know it is not exactly a "lost instrument" but i thought it was intersesting none the less | |
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late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 28 | |
| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/9/2007 1:34:30 AM | Northern
A company from the late 70s, imported Asian manufactured cheap-copies, made for the Canadian market.
They made strat copies with iffy hardware, and "bolt-on" LP copies - iffy hardware.
Their top of the line copies had motifs carved into the tops, some were maple leaves, some were eagles.
....same iffy hardware. | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/9/2007 7:42:03 AM | alpenhorns-
accompanying the hot new yodel meister Ric-ola.
Seriously, where have all the hurdy-gurdy players gone? | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/10/2007 12:27:28 AM | There are so many neat folk instruments...so many, so little extra income...
The bagpipe family alone has a bazillion of them. The uilleann pipes of Ireland are on everyone's soundtracks now so they are not forgotten...but the Northumbrian pipes, one of their small sweet cousins are not often played...gorgeous...
Kathryn Tickell of England plays them...Grit Laskin, luthier and musician played them on "Harris & The Mare" a sorrowful ballad on the Stan Rogers live album...
Myself I like bouzouki and also clawhammer or minstrel style banjo...its a far sweeter and imho more expressive and interesting style of banjo than bluegrass.
Any good list of ethnic instruments or folk instruments will keep you drooling for hours...so many sonic possibilities... | |
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DJJenX
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Joined: 1/12/2006
Msg: 32 | |
| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/14/2007 9:55:03 AM | Considering that my thread on unusual instruments was deleted, I'll post this here.
While these are still in use in one form or another, they're not used as often as they used to be.
I play the talk box, jaw harp and vibraslap in some of my experimentations. :) | |
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Riles
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Joined: 12/23/2006
Msg: 33 | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/15/2007 3:58:58 AM | I went to see the Page/ Plant show in detroit a few years back and watched this indian guy rise up on the stage with a hurdy gurdy under his own light to play an extended solo to open kashmir, All out there by himself to thousands of people and man did that little instrument fill the place. I want one of those things !!!
Hell it's even a fun instrument to say ...say it with me !! Hurdy gurdy yeah!! | |
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late™
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Joined: 1/9/2005
Msg: 36 | |
| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/15/2007 4:45:14 AM | | One of the reasons you don't see Hurdy Gurdy being used a lot, ...very expensive. There are few who build them, and buliding them is very time and skill intensive. A good one is probably around $10,000+. | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/19/2007 12:03:53 AM | I heard a bouzouki today...cris spedding played one on harry nilsson's albums...thought i found one that hadn't been mentioned...but the madfiddler beat me to it!!! But, just because it sounded so cool and this thread came to mind...i'm gunna submit it just the same! Bouzouki's Rock!!! | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/22/2007 10:39:14 PM | BT has a guy in his (current) band, Ben Grossman, who plays the Hurdy-Gurdy. He used it on tour for This Binary Universe, as well as the movie score for the movie Monster. I got to see BT's tour for the former... the sound was indeed amazing (now, granted, BT had the instruments being mixed into 5.1 AT the show, so I don't know how much that influenced the sound. Still... very warm, full, but still pretty.
Theremins are great! I saw a local band around Penn State, called Spider Kelly, use one, as well as the live PA / performance electronica act Rabbit in the Moon. | |
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| Well that's easy...
Posted: 1/22/2007 11:10:57 PM | | For forgotten instruments galore, just listen to any o' the classic Captain Beefheart albums, like SAFE AS MILK and TROUT MASK REPLICA! A veritable goldmine of instrumenta arcana! | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/24/2007 8:04:03 AM | Here's one for ya....
Stroviols Instruments
These fantastic instruments are often believed to have been the source of John Dopyera's resonator concept. They were invented by John Matthias Augustus Stroh, and were at their most popular in the early 1900's. They are the subject of two British Patents, No.9418 dated 1899 & No.3393 dated 1901.
http://www.notecannons.com
check it out! | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/24/2007 12:19:46 PM | Ah yes, I have seen a few archival pics of these being used on the odd occasion by ceili band players in Ireland...the Stroh fiddle...bizarro!
Have to see if they have any recordings off a wax or acetate of one *scritchity* *poppity* | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 1/26/2007 9:19:10 PM | | How about a dulcimer? I have one that I got as a gift from an antique dealer but it needs some repair...and then i'd have to learn how to PLAY it...I've heard the sounds of a dulcimer before and its beautiful...but where would I find an instructor?? | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 2/5/2007 10:27:40 PM | | The sax...you still hear it, but not as much as you did in the 80s. It was like the signature instrument of an 80s pop song. | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 2/6/2007 6:05:02 AM | | LMAO...dont tell the guy that I play gigs with five nights a week LOL | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 2/7/2007 6:21:47 AM | | ahhhhh jazz....that silly little notion that just never goes away....lol | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 2/9/2007 11:23:45 AM | None of you have mentioned the bassoon! 
But then again it's not forgotten coz I play it everyday!  | |
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| forgotten instruments...
Posted: 2/10/2007 4:44:16 PM |
How about the Banjo.
It was used a lot in early Jazz as it could stand up to the drums and horns. But with the advent of Electric gutiars it has faded away to the land of Blue Grass.
Ever hear of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones ? 
I saw a set of theirs on PBS, which I still have on tape, from years ago. Seeing how a banjo could work as a lead/rhythm instrument in a modern group completely changed my opinion of the instrument. I have a five string banjo, and suddenly....it wasn't "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" anymore...
It's hard to even describe their music to anyone that hasn't heard it. It's like some strange Martian fusion jazz at times.... with a banjo. The amazing part is that it totally works.
Back on topic, I just find most of the digital synthesized instruments too "clean". They don't have the variation you find in analog/acoustic instruments. Things like wire resistance, voltage , and other factors made for some interesting variations in sound.
I've got an Electro-Harmonix Micro Synth pedal that can produce some rather interesting sounds, but it can also produce some horrid ones. It's best used selectively, and kept low in the mix.
I've seen some great guitar players totally ruined by getting a fuzz pedal....
What I miss the most are those "real" instruments, where you actually have some soul to them. The digital ones are good for songwriting, where one can quickly put together a sketch of what things should sound like.
Like Late says, it's all a matter of lazy ears.
If you take something like a talk box, you can use it in a different way...or just be Peter Frampton.  It's not so much the instrument, but more your ability as a musician to use it in a way that's not overpowering, and in a way that serves the song. I've always been more of a fan of a very limited use of effects. Just because the pot goes to ten, doesn't mean you have to keep it there all the time.
That's one of the great things about world music, is that is allows you the chance to hear some instruments that just make you go.....hmmmm.
Even when recording at home, one can do some really interesting tricks with simple objects. I once did a guitar track with two microphones, with a friend of mine. We hung both off off hooks on the ceiling, suspended by their cords. My friend used a drumstick to make both swing slowly while I recorded.
The final track, in stereo, had an interesting (almost flanging) type of effect. It was so subtle that you almost couldn't place it, but it did make the track work. Because of it's flawed acoustic nature, and not being "perfect" digitally, it was a far more interesting texture to listen to.
Ever hear Tommy Emmanuel play guitar? Check him out on YouTube. You can actually take a six string acoustic and turn it into a drum kit.
"Tommy Emmanuel - Interview, Mombasa & Percussion Solo", on YouTube, if you want to see how those "lazy ears" can be totally avoided. Watch the end of that clip, and you'll see what I mean. Who needs a drummer, anyway ?
So it's not so much the instrument , as it is the approach used to play it in a fresh context. That's where the musicianship comes into play. | |
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