I want to learn to play an interesting instrument. Any suggestions?

[patman?]

I'm thinking of learning to play some kind of instrument, but I'm not sure what I want to play. I want it to be something sort of out of the ordinary, and inexpensive.

I want to try the singing saw, perhaps, but I've no clue on how to choose one, and whatnot.

I'd also want to try the theremin, but that seems relatively pricey. Too pricey.

So, any other suggestions? If any of you know anything about musical saws, please give me some tips on how to select them, etc. Or just tell me some other instruments I can consider playing.

[Freakboy]

get a guitar, and develop a unique style.

[patman?]

HOT CRAP, your sig freaks me the hell out. I've seen it several times before, but for some reason, it wasn't animating then.

And a guitar? Meh, that takes a lot of effort and money.

[the hurdy gurdy man]

get a sitar.

[laughtagravity]

just build a hill harp that way you dont even havee to play it

[auxiliaryoctopus]

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to play with other people, singing saw or melodica would be great.

But if you want to write and play your own songs, you may want something you can accompany yourself with, like a guitar, mandolin, banjo or keyboard. or accordion.

[bosco]

I would recommend the Bodhrán or Didgeridoo. I play both and they are not that difficult to pick up and relatively inexpensive too.

http://www.bodhran.com/index2.htm

i learned both of these myself, so if i can do it, you can.. great for crackin out at a session too.

[DrinkTeaEatBooks]

A balalaika

http://www.russianfolk.com/Images/cd2000big.jpg

like the gentleman at the front has.

A beautiful instrument.

You could also try the ukelele, or perhaps the lute, though the latter tends to be rather expensive.

[DOWNTHERABBITHOLE]

try a serge synthesizer. u can put it in a suitcase so it looks like ur carrying a bomb around but really its a musical instrument!!! thats so rad i think. they were origianlly developed to provide people with an affordable synthesizer cause mellotrons and moogs are exxpensive

heres a picture
http://www.swiss.csail.mit.edu/~bob/serge.jpg

[tackledspoon]

Learn to play the Theremin... that's unusual and can be had for less than a hundred bucks.

[Figglyduff]

Freakboys signature is animated? I can't see it move :( But I think thats for the best.

How about the spoons or bottles/ glasses of water? They're both cheap unless you insist on classy silver spoons and cut crystal. Melodicas are cheap. Or an ocarina? That's be sweet-as.

[sashwap]

ukulele. they're fun and cheap, and if you get a nice baritone one it won't feel like a toy.

[auxiliaryoctopus]

Oh yea, uke! They're really great and cheap, and easy to play.

Also, Autoharp.

[thinkingthinking]

oboe. not cheap, but pretty interesting...

[patman?]

Well, I used to play clarinet, so oboe would probably be relatively easy for me, I'm guessing.

As for the singing saw, I'm actually going to get lessons from a guy that's in a cool band that lives near me. And I think maybe over the summer, I'll get guitar lessons.

[Zachy]

saw's soo easy to master by just messing with it...

[cpanighetti]

ukuleles are fun.

i play soprano and baritone. i recommend baritone; they're louder and make me feel like i'm playing music more than a soprano uke does.

[phil]

sitars are really fun, and a lot easier to play than you might think. I played one a few months ago; the guy at the store taught me a few things about it. I really wanted to buy it, but couldn't afford it.

accordions are a barrel of monkees too. a lot of people make fun of them, but they're one of my favorite instruments.

a friend of mine is learning banjo. I wouldn't really have thought about the "indie" possiblities, but Half-handed Cloud uses it a bunch, as does the Danielsons if I recall correctly.*

dulcimers. those things are fun too. I even saw one that was made to be played like a guitar. very cool.

just a few suggestions from your friendly neighborhood indie geek.

* a glance at several of my recent posts makes references to these two bands frequently. I'm obsessed.

[DrinkTeaEatBooks]

Yeah, as long as you can play a little piano, you'll have no problem picking up the accordion - all of the bass buttons are easier than they seem, and you'd be surprised at how diverse it can really sound, so long as you get a reasonably good one. But then, they're fairly expensive. Concertinas are fun.

[charrrddddd]

i feel like soprano ukelele (i don't know if the tuning is different for baritone) is a very awkward instrument, just the way the chords are shaped and the way it's tuned, but i guess i haven't played it enough to develop the muscle memory or whatever.

[The_new_improved_Kirk]

Originally posted by Zachy
saw's soo easy to master by just messing with it...

You obviusly have no idea what you are talking about.

[Zachy]

Originally posted by The_new_improved_Kirk
Originally posted by Zachy
saw's soo easy to master by just messing with it...

You obviusly have no idea what you are talking about.

Zing...


So you play then?

Maybe it's not soo easy, but I really don't think it was hard to learn; though, I might have just been lucky with the saw I found. I read an interview with Julian Koster (http://citypaper.net/articles/072398/music.nuetralmilk.shtml) and I guess some saws are easier to play than others.

EDIT: This picture of Julian's too big to load. (http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7455/62/1600/IMGP1061.0.jpg)

I learned it by watching that video of Aeroplane Over the Sea and by looking at the pictures I took at the OTC concert, but that wasn't really how to play it, that was more like how to hold it. The best way to learn is by just messing with it: bowing it enough times till you get a feel for it...A viola bow works well, by the way, though this musical saw site (http://www.musicalsaw.com/) (which says that "saw is just about the easiest musical intrument to master") will tell you that you need something bigger and more expensive.

So yeah, I'm really glad I asked my dad if I could borrow his saw...it's an instrument that really adds to my music (http://mp3download.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=bandprofile.downloadSong&bsid=2747832&song_name=MilfordsCe&fid=14248007) sometimes. And yeah, try it out, especially if you have a friend who plays viola or cello or something and you can borrow their bow + rosin.

[Edited on 11-14-2005 by Zachy]

[i.am.superman]

i had a dream last night that i was playing a theremin. the theremin in my dream was shaped like a book, and the sounds it made changed depending on what page you were on. also all the pages were made of different, beautiful, art papers. some of them were like textiles.

[phil]

this discussion is making me wanna play the saw.

[Zachy]

Yeah, go for it phil. And here's the link the pic I tried to put up:

Nevermind...I should figure out a free picture-hosting so I can put up random e6 pics...

[Edited on 11-15-2005 by Zachy]