Instruments that are Overlooked and/or have Bad Reputation

Mandolin. When I told someone I bought one, she asked, "Oh, are you getting ready for the renaissance fair?" I jokingly replied, "No, the bluegrass festival." Seriously though, they're pretty cool. Especially if you're like me and suck at guitar.

I think it's about time this thread was bumped.

I'll nominate tenor banjo, and any four-string banjo for that matter. They have more possibilities than the five-string; you can play one in many, many genres and it will always fit. (And this isn't just because I play it...)

Oh, and musical saw, too. Those things have a perfect ethereal sound.

edited 18th Dec '14 1:11:54 PM by Aldo930

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

I've played a mandolin-banjo a couple times. It's tuned like a mandolin (8 strings) but has the body of a banjo. Unfortunately it was $1,000 so I couldn't buy it for my own.

Sitars are also underrated IMO, but they look difficult as hell to play.

Speaking of ethereal sound, theremin. It's not exactly obscure, but it's got an incredible range of tones, and can create both thin and very rich sound. It's rarely used seriously, and the rare time you'll potentially hear it is the standard 3 note snippit for alien invasions in cartoons that B-movies have a hard-on for.

It seems only the virtuosos and early experimental composers of electronic music grasped it's potential.

"No will to break."

Speaking of which, I know a luthier out in California who makes mandolins out of bedpans! He calls it a "commodium." I wanted my own, but they go for $800, so no deal...

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

One of my favorite musicians plays an antique banjolo: a five-string banjo's neck and strings on a mandolin's body.

I didn't write any of that.

Only five strings on a mandolin body? That reminds me of those basitar/guitbass things that The Presidents of the United States of America use.

One more I just thought of. The jug, which is a terrific bass instrument in the right hands.

The problem is it's stereotyped as a hillbilly instrument - which it isn't, its origins lie with black music - and people play it wrong. You don't blow over the top, you blow into it like a tuba.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

Thanks to the 13th Floor Elevators, I've heard an 'electric' jug. Which sounds kinda cool.

The late Nash the Slash played a five-string electric solid-body mandolin:

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

Analog synth. Frankly I feel outdated synths like Yamaha's various 70s ventures did a far better job of sounding like real instruments.

David Bowie 1947-2016

The kazoo and the slide whistle. Hey, Paul Mc Cartney played the kazoo on some songs and Deee-Lite's "Groove is in the Heart" features slide whistles rather prominently. These rather silly instruments can be used to great effect.

edited 27th Dec '14 2:16:23 AM by Odd1

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

This is a pretty good use of the kazoo:

To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."

Agreed on the kazoo. You can use the instrument very well. Take the Memphis Jug Band singing about the cocaine habit:

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

The tanpura. It really doesn't require that much skill to play (it is a drone instrument, after all), but the thing sounds absolutely wonderful.

simple as

I think I heard about this one in the news or something, once… isn't it an instrument that has only a handful of players left in the world? Or I'm mistaking it for something else… It can surely make for some beautiful atmospheric music, but it gets a tad annoying to listen to after a few minutes. —'.`—

By the way, does anyone know what's the name of that hissing instrument that starts at 00:10 in this song?

I think I've heard it only in traditional Japanese music, but I have no idea what it is…

Flippé de participer à ce grand souper, je veux juste m'occuper de taper mon propre tempo.

I think you are confusing it with something else, because the tanpura is quite a common Indian instrument. It's like a sitar, only it's used exclusively for droning rather than melody.

Also, here's an example of the instrument being used in popular music.

edited 27th Dec '14 10:38:41 AM by MrLavisherMoot

simple as

I think it's a Sho. I'm admittedly not super well versed in Japanese folk instruments but that's the closest one it sounds like to me.

Personally, I tend to prefer it when people use synths to make unique sounds instead of trying to imitate other instruments.

Nevertheless, whether it's because of the success of contemporary artists that use analog synths like Boards of Canada, the growing respect for "classic" electronic music like Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, or the "comeback" of analog sound in general with more people starting to listen to vinyl, analog synths have actually been selling quite well in recent years compared to the past couple decades. Sure, in most EDM genres, pop music, etc., digital synths are still very much the norm. But in other genres like ambient or psychedelic influenced music, many artists swear by analog.

Edit: Wait, we really don't have a page for Tangerine Dream? Someone, get on that already.

edited 27th Dec '14 4:38:59 PM by FingerPuppet

When it comes to outdated synth, I love the Moog. A ton of Game Show themes in the 70s were composed by noted Moog player Edd Kalehoff. (For instance, he wrote and played on The Price Is Right theme.)

The digital synths of the latter part of the 80s have aged far worse than the original analog synthesizers. Couple that with the tendency to use drum machines/electronic drums in lieu of the real thing makes late 80s/early 90s pop sound really cheap. The Stock/Aitken/Waterman sound that was favoured at the time has dated very badly!

Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883!

Says you, the 80s and early 90s were a great time for R&B. Behold.

Anyway, I think a lot of people see the saxophone as "cheesy", but it can and has been put to really great use.

Like so:

To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."

If anyone thinks the sax is cheesy, they clearly haven't heard any of the booting tenor saxes of 50s rock 'n' roll, nor even the sax's considerable role in jazz from Frank Trumbauer to Charlie Parker...

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."

The sax is the aural equivalent of what you'd get if you changed the vowel in the word to the next letter in the alphabet.

I'm glad to see some original synth love here. Check dis out, yo:

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

And this, while you're at it:

Insert witty 'n clever quip here.

Except for the bass sax, which despite its great power as a bass instrument, gets you nowhere with the ladies.

"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."