# Unusual Instruments



## ~secret~ (Jan 30, 2011)

So lately I've taken an interest in Russian folk music, and got myself a balalaika to learn some of it myself. Also splurged a fiver on a dizi (because Â£40 for a Irish flute? Screw that).

So, FAF, do any of you have instruments that most people would find 'unusual'?


----------



## ukbeast (Jan 30, 2011)

A Didgeridoo.
Still can't play it properly though.


----------



## Namba (Jan 30, 2011)

A theremin... those things are damn hard to play.


----------



## Jude (Jan 30, 2011)

I own a Stylophone.

Its like the most useless instrument ever xD.


----------



## Kivaari (Jan 30, 2011)

Jude said:


> I own a Stylophone.
> 
> Its like the most useless instrument ever xD.


 
I totally want one. 

I was going through a box of old stuff today and found the recorder I had in 2nd grade.


----------



## Icky (Jan 30, 2011)

A marimba, if that's considered weird.


----------



## inc (Jan 31, 2011)

luti-kriss said:


> A theremin... those things are damn hard to play.


 Honestly, when you get the hang of it, they're bloody brilliant though ;D


----------



## Kit H. Ruppell (Jan 31, 2011)

I have an Indian drum called _naal, _Turkish flute called _kiz ney_,Chinese flute called _bang di_ (alto dizi), Arab lute called _oud_, Turkish lute called _baglama _or _saz, _and Indian flute called _bansuri._  I haven't figured out how to get sound from the ney yet.
OP, have you been able to get the proper sound from your dizi yet? The _dimo _is hard to get the right sound from. I end up with too much buzz.


----------



## Aden (Jan 31, 2011)

I don't think a djembe is that weird, but what the hell

can't really afford the weird stuff


----------



## ~secret~ (Jan 31, 2011)

Kit H. Ruppell said:


> I have an Indian drum called _naal, _Turkish flute called _kiz ney_,Chinese flute called _bang di_ (alto dizi), Arab lute called _oud_, Turkish lute called _baglama _or _saz, _and Indian flute called _bansuri._  I haven't figured out how to get sound from the ney yet.
> OP, have you been able to get the proper sound from your dizi yet? The _dimo _is hard to get the right sound from. I end up with too much buzz.


 
Getting the dimo right is an artform in itself I hear. I've had no luck applying it right, and think I'll wait til I get the basics down before trying it again. Without the dimo it makes a pretty good substitute for a western flute though.


----------



## Citrakayah (Jan 31, 2011)

I've always really wanted a sarangi, but I know I would never be able to really play it without an instructor.

[yt]gVTyYTTnPEI[/yt]


----------



## Slyck (Jan 31, 2011)

P. D. Q. Bach could edumacate some of you on this topic.


----------



## GatodeCafe (Feb 1, 2011)

Theremin
Stylophone
some other stupid shit I can't remember right now

TBH I adore weird ass musical instruments, I just have no money!! D:


----------



## Corwin Cross (Feb 3, 2011)

I'd like to get a theremin sometime in the future. In the meantime, I'll just use my 1976 Yamaha keyboard


----------



## M. LeRenard (Feb 3, 2011)

I have a fife, but I don't think that's considered all that unusual.  I also have an Albert system clarinet, which is only unusual because it's a system that's no longer in use due to it being pretty much impossible to tune properly.  And I have a Jew's harp.
What I really want to get (and to learn how to play) is a crumhorn.  But man... getting one of those runs you an average of about $900, so I guess it'll have to wait.

Edit: I forgot.  I also have a shawm.  Bought it when I was in Morocco.  It's awesome.


----------



## Kit H. Ruppell (Feb 4, 2011)

M. Le Renard said:


> Edit: I forgot. I also have a shawm. Bought it when I was in Morocco. It's awesome.



You mean a _ghaita_?


----------



## M. LeRenard (Feb 4, 2011)

Maybe.  Mine looks very different.  Way more detailed.  But I don't know; I bought it in a souk in Marrakesh for around 200 dirhams, which at the time was about 30 bucks, and didn't really ask all that many questions because the guy only spoke Morrocan Arabic and broken French.  So I just call it a shawm.


----------



## xiath (Feb 6, 2011)

I guess my penny whistle could be considered unusual to some.  That and from time to time I get the "wtf? That's not a bass!  it has 5 strings and bass guitars only have 4!"  But by far my most unusual instrument is my bowed psaltery.

But I've always wanted to get either a hurdy-gurdy, a Chapman stick, a baritone 5 string mandolin (mainly because it basically has the same range and similar sound to an electric guitar but it's tuned like a mandolin [or, more importantly to me, like a violin since I've had a few years of lessons]), or a 5 string electric violin (all though I don't find it that unusual considering there are 9 string electric violins out there).


----------



## Delta (Feb 6, 2011)

The Uilleann pipes and the Chinese Pipa
I want both.


----------



## Rebel-lion (Feb 15, 2011)

I really like the sound of the Berimbau, and the Hang drum   

Berimbau
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dIiBq4p0CI&feature=related

Hang Drum Solo 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXn5ba0aT8


----------



## Spatel (Feb 17, 2011)

Peter Schikele is famous for inventing the *Tromboon*

It takes a Trombone and a Bassoon and combines all of the mechanical disadvantages of the two instruments.


----------



## FoxPhantom (Feb 22, 2011)

My Pendent Ocarina, since where I am from, it's never heard of.


----------



## Deo (Feb 22, 2011)

ukbeast said:


> A Didgeridoo.
> Still can't play it properly though.


 I can play a didgeridoo. But I want to learn to play sitar.



Rebel-lion said:


> Hang Drum Solo
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXn5ba0aT8


 fucking awesome.


----------

