which solo instrument would you rather hear?

[pres2032]

Poll question: which solo instrument would you rather hear?

[Bertha Venation]

1. guitar but not a la rock & roll . . . classical guitar. eom

[Orsino]

10. Guitar...acoustic or electric, and just about any style. n/t

[progmom]

2. right now I'm in a cello mood

But piano is nice too.

[TahitiNut]

41. Cello ... by Yo-Yo Ma (just fucking AWESOME!!)

[Squatch]

3. Highland bagpipes...

Ever hear somebody try to sing along with those?

[ProfessorGAC]

4. I Always Would Rather Play Piano, If Doing Solo

I want to play guitar in a band, but if i want to play just a solo piece, i'd always pick piano. But, just for listening, i think it'd be a tossup between the two. I could listen to guitar music all day (anything but country, except for Junior Brown), or piano, as long as it was classical or jazz.

I get tired of solo instruments in which chords can't be played. After a while, i get bored.
The Professor

[Misunderestimator]

11. I agree with the chords thing...

when it's done on bow string instruments it just sounds like histrionics and bravura... I tire of that REAL easy.

[pres2032]

42. you gotta love solo trumpet though

especially when done very well.

[sundog]

5. depends on the mood of course

If I was stressed, I would pick piano.

On the other hand, if I was feeling smoky & loungy & kicking back with a red wine, I'd have to pick trumpet.

[pres2032]

8. i hear ya

small trumpet fanfares are great too

[Richardo]

6. French horn

I'm a former player. Beatiful sound, if done right.

[pres2032]

7. yeah, definitely

french horn cords are magnificant

[tjwmason]

12. To quote Mssrs. Flanders and Swann

To the tune of Mozart Concerto K.495, movement III

I once had a whim and I had to obey it,
To buy a French horn in a second-hand shop.
I polished it up and I started to play it,
In spite of the neighbours who begged me to stop.

To sound my horn,
I had to develop my embouchure.
I found my horn,
Was a bit of a devil to play.
So artfully wound,
To give you a sound,
A beautiful sound,
So rich and round.

Oh the hours I had to spend,
Before I mastered it in the end.

But that was yesterday.
And just today,
I looked in the usual place.
There was the case,
But the horn itself was missing!

Oh where can it have gone?
Haven't you, hasn't anyone seen my horn?
Oh where can it have gone?
What a blow, now I know,
I'm unable to play my Allegro.

Who swiped that horn?
I bet you a quid somebody did.
Knowing I found a concerto,
And wanted to play it,
Afraid of my talent at playing the horn.
For early today to my utter dismay,
It had vanished away like the dew in the morn.

I've lost that horn!
I know I was using it yesterday.
I've lost that horn, lost that horn,
Found that horn gorn.

There's not much hope of getting it back,
Though I'd willingly pay a reward.

I know some hearty folk,
Whose party joke's pretending to hunt with the Quorn.
Gone away, gone away.
Was it one of them who took it away?
Will you kindly return that horn?
Where is the devil who pinched my horn?
I shall tell the police!

I want that French horn back.

I miss its music more and more and more.
Without that horn I'm feeling sad and so forelorn.

I found a concerto and wanted to play it,
Displaying my talent at playing the horn.
But early today to my utter dismay,
It had totally vanished away.
I practised the horn and I wanted to play it,
But somebody took it away!
I practised the horn and was longing to play it,
But somebody took it away!

My neighbour's asleep in his bed,
I'll soon make him wish he were dead,
I'll take up the tuba instead - WAA WAA !

[BuckeFushe]

9. You forgot skin flute :=)

[TahitiNut]

45. It's not really a solo.

:evilgrin:

[silvermachine]

13. Although I've played guitar...

...for 40 years, I've always loved the sound of an oboe. French horn is a beaut also....

[no name no slogan]

15. Andy MacKay from Roxy Music is an excellent rock oboeist

I quite like the turns he's taken on a number of Roxy tunes. It's rare to see an oboe player in a rock band (although to be fair he does play sax much of the time).

PS is your handle related to the Hawkwind tune of the same name?

[silvermachine]

20. Dig Andy MacKay for sure...

...early Roxy is great. "Sea Breezes" has some nice oboe IIRC. Yep, my handle Silvermachine is a tribute to Hawkwind. I've been playing bass for Nik Turner on his US tours for the last couple of years. This year I'll be recording and touring with former Hawkwind keyboardist Harvey Bainbridge. :smoke:

[no name no slogan]

23. WOW!!! That TOTALLY rules!!!!

I've actually been hitting the early Roxy stuff pretty hard the last couple of weeks. In fact I was just listening to Country Life when I posted the first post. Although to be honest the first two are my favorites, the ones w/ Eno on them.

Touring with Nik Turner? Damn, that's great! And recording/touring with Harvey Bainbridge too? Sounds like a decent gig to me! :D

[silvermachine]

24. Where are you located?

This past year with Nik, we (Spaceseed) played Atlanta, Athens, Washington D.C., Baltimore, NYC, New Brunswick (NJ), Boston, Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland (with Harvey guesting), and Chicago. We recorded a CD with Nik called "Future Cities of the Past"

On the tour we played mainly Space Ritual era Hawkwind songs, a few Robert Calvert solo tracks (Ejection, The Right Stuff), and a few Nik solo tracks from more recent years. Live, Nik played sax, flute, and did lead vocals of course.

Our tour with Harvey Bainbridge will commence at the end of September with the CD (working title "The Empire of Night") hopefully ready for the tour. Maybe we'll be heading your way. Feel free to private message me.

Best,
John (silvermachine)

edit for sp.

[Squeech]

28. Damn!

I'm also a bass player, and the band I play in (Tim Mungenast and his Pre-Existing Conditions) played on the bill with you guys in Boston. You guys were very powerful (which is not *just* to say LOUD, although that was certainly part of the deal).

And I also think oboe rules. (Actually I was going to vote for bassoon. The wind quintet is probably my favorite chamber ensemble.)

[silvermachine]

30. I remember you guys...

...we had a blast playing there. There is a soundclip of us doing "The Awakening" from the Boston show on Nik's page.
http://www.nikturner.com/events/2004.shtml#mon04oct

[silvermachine]

25. kick

n/t

[Blue-Jay]

14. saxOphone.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. I'm Shocked, SHOCKED, That You Would Say That

Should see you guys in a couple of Sundays! I can make it this time, at least for a little while.
The Professor

[Blue-Jay]

19. Should be fun. I hope you can make it!

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

17. Locking.

No sax threads.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Fiddle or tin whistle

[grace0418]

21. I remember the time Neil Finn played my request of

"Walking on the Spot" with just his voice and the piano. One of the best things I've ever heard in my life. I still get chills thinking about it.

[silvermachine]

22. Kick

n/t

[B Calm]

26. I love hearing someone who knows how to play the Sax

[qnr]

27. oboe - it can be haunting, and I can hear the others almost any

time I want.

[slutticus]

44. I love the sound of an Oboe.

It's one of the only woodwind instruments that I like. I also like Bagpipes.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. What about harp?

Or cello...nothing like Bach Suites for cello. O8)

[Osamasux]

31. Cello.

Solo cello is one of the most beautiful things man ever came up with.

[FuzzySlippers]

32. I can't believe no one said the flute

until I came along. As a flutist, I'm wounded to the very depth of my soul.:cry:

[Blue_In_AK]

38. I hear ya, Fuzzy

I'm a flutist, too.

[MuseRider]

33. The clarinet

why does nobody ever say the clarinet?

[pres2032]

34. i had it

but replaced it with the violin

[MuseRider]

35. No way!

YAY clarinet.

[Ramsey]

36. Cello

Yo Yo Ma doing the Bach cello solos. Too divine!

[ContraBass Black]

40. Seconded.

I'm a former cellist.

[TahitiNut]

43. Yo-Yo Ma is just incredible! I could recognize his play in a crowd of 100

I'm not a musician, but I'm blown away by how much better Yo-Yo Ma plays than any other cellist I've heard. I enjoy the cello, but Yo-Yo Ma makes it transcendent. I'll be damned if I can put m finger on why he does, though. I can only call it "expression."

[Huckebein the Raven]

37. Piano...n/t

[Wapsie B]

39. Sackbut. n/t

[BrewerJohn]

46. Solo guitar

Classical or country/folk/ragtime fingerpicking or whatever.
Both because of the sound and because, having noodled and banged on one most of my life, I have a full appreciation of just how hard it is to play the bugger properly.