I started playing guitar when I was 8, but pretty soon after that, I realized I didn’t want to be a guitarist; I wanted to be a musician. Of course I still feel at home on the guitar and consider it (along with drums) to be my “main” instrument, but over the years I’ve learned to play a lot of instruments. Along the way I’ve picked up a number of instruments that aren’t really intended to be “professional” instruments, but which have odd or unique sounds that I love to use.
Pictured above are:
- Symphonica
- Yamaha PortaSound keyboard
- Glockenspiel
- Theremin (which I built from a kit and installed into an old piece of luggage)
- Casio SA-5 keyboard (belonged to my wife when she was a little kid)
- Melodica
- Slide whistle
- Stylophone (named for the stylus used to play it)
- Toy piano
I’m not claiming that these are the craziest instruments in the world. You’ve likely seen quite a few of them before. Many are intended to be toys or children’s instruments. But the symphonica (the green, sparkily, oddly shaped one) is probably the most peculiar. I’ll share the story behind it in another post.
I feel like lately my recordings have gravitated back to traditional rock instruments like guitar, bass, drums, and electric piano. I think sometime soon I want to record a song that uses all the untraditional instruments I’ve collected.