Non-Rock Instrumentation
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Forum Name: Prog Music Lounge
Forum Description: General progressive music discussions
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29848
Printed Date: August 20 2025 at 18:18
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Topic: Non-Rock Instrumentation
Posted By: Atavachron
Subject: Non-Rock Instrumentation
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 18:49
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Which 'non-rock' instruments do you favor in prog and why; Vibes, brass, strings, percussives, World instruments, etc?
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Replies:
Posted By: Philéas
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 18:58
| Brass! |
Posted By: el böthy
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 19:02
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Violin, viola, cello... all that crap
------------- "You want me to play what, Robert?" 
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Posted By: sleeper
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 19:11
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I particularly like the Cello, Saxophone and flute, for some reason these instruments strike a chorde with me , the flute and cello especially in dark and/or melenchollic music. ------------- Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005 
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Posted By: KoS
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 19:18
| I like strings in my prog. |
Posted By: DarioIndjic
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 19:26
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didgeridoo
sargija
sitar
flugelhorn
contrabass
harp
flute
gong ------------- Ars longa , vita brevis |
Posted By: Fassbinder
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 19:29
| Brass instruments, mostly. Why? Cannot explain. Listen to David Jackson on sax or to Ian Anderson on flute -- that's the answer. The matter, however, not in "which instrument", but in "how to play" and, even more important, "what to play". This is right about all the instruments. So, I said saxes, flute, oboe, trumpet, clarinet. Violin and cello may be very interesting. Lute. Sitar. Didjerido. Anything you want. But I think "World instruments" are nice, not more, whereas, say, flute or cello may really contribute the music, instead of just adding the specifical exotic taste. |
Posted By: Phil
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 19:34
| brass intruments. Vilon and strings too. |
Posted By: Catholic Flame
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 21:29
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tabla
------------- “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” ~Jack Kerouac |
Posted By: alias10mr
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 21:34
| A good example of a band using various non-traditional prog instruments is Godspeed who utilise string instruments among others. Ozric Tentacles also do this. |
Posted By: Mellotron Storm
Date Posted: October 14 2006 at 21:34
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FLUTE ------------- "The wind is slowly tearing her apart" "Sad Rain" ANEKDOTEN |
Posted By: Harry Hood
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 00:27
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Vibraphone!
And of course, vacuum. ------------- 
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Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 02:14
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Saxophone, vibes/marimba/xyolphone/etc, flute, clarinet, bassoon...any woodwind instrument really.
and of course the donkey jawbone.  ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: fuxi
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 05:59
Man with Hat, that's exactly the right kinda list! Think of how good Ruth Underwood's vibes sound among all the synths, guitar solos, trombone (if I remember it well) and Chester Thompson's exuberant drumming on Zappa's ROXY AND ELSEWHERE! Other great combinations: - Rock instruments, vibes AND violin on Gong's Expresso II; - Canterbury band enriched by flute, clarinet, cello and bassoon (I think it was) on National Health's OF QUEUES AND CURES! |
Man With Hat wrote:Posted By: the icon of sin
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 06:40
| Flute and congas for the win! |
Posted By: spleenache
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 11:53
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I enjoy music from the perspective of texture, tone and complexity. Standard rock instruments (Power trio type) are very limited in those areas and as a result do not interest me much regardless of melody lines. When instruments like Cello and viola added to the music, they provide a rich texture and darken the tone and the feel of the music immensely. if this is supported by complex rhythms by various percussive instruments then you are getting to the point where I can enjoy the music. I am not too hung up on the melody line and structure. I can easily listen to music that is totally non-melodic. If we are going to have a melody then I prefer linear, evolving melodies to the simple circular (or spiral) melodies.
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Posted By: yesfan88
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 12:19
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Anything, really, as long as it fits the music. I especially like bands with violins or flutes. Full orchestras are also awesome. I particularly enjoy the bassoon solo in Scheherazade. ------------- "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"- Evelyn Beatrice Hall |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 14:54
   Love that album. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: Scapler
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 14:55
don't you ever dare call the Viola crap you uncaring fool! Everyone knows the Viola whoops the Violin anyday!! But, I agree with you, string orchestra does wonders in music ------------- Bassists are deadly 
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Posted By: Arrrghus
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 16:07
Those are wind instruments, not brass!!!!!!!!!!!  ------------- 
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Posted By: BePinkTheater
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 16:20
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Vibes ( and other mallet instruments) and cello.
but really any organic instrument sounds cool. ------------- I can strangle a canary in a tin can and it would be really original, but that wouldn't save it from sounding like utter sh*t. -Stone Beard |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: October 15 2006 at 17:16
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BR(ASS) - tuba, trombone, trumpet, cornet, french horn, mellophone, contrabass, brass ensembles WOODWIND - flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bari sax, tenor sax, alto sax (soprano sax sometimes, only cause some jazz muscians make it sound gay), piccolo, oboe
MISC. - marimba, vibraphone, china, woodblocks, cello, upright bass, viola, violin, string ensembles, lute, harp, steel drums, drumlines
and of course, the kazoo!
yea, was in marching band, concert band, jazz band, wind ensemble, musical pits, brass ensemble and such for 8 years so far so ive been exposed to a lot of different types of music and instruments, and i like almost all of them in my music too, which i find comforting. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm 
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Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 07:10
Call me a pedant, but brass instruments include trumpet, bugle, flugelhorn, french horn, tuba, sousaphone. Reed instruments including saxes, oboe, cor anglais, clarinet, serpent plus those originally made from wood recorder, flute, ocarina, piccolo are woodwind. However, such precision got knickers in twist wrt If, who didn't play brass instruments so could they be a brass rock band
 ..... |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 10:07
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I'm a sucker for a good trumpet solo. ------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: Badabec
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 10:43
Violin, Trumpet, Saxophone, Flute and Vibraphone... 
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Posted By: Fassbinder
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 12:30
I'm never against some pedantism. What I've written was my fault, I wasn't aware of such a difference (after all, I have no musical education). I may remember the two lists, yet I still don't feel the difference. In my original post, I meant mostly the instruments themselves rather than precise musical terms.
By the way, I also thought of If who, as far as I remember, was classified as "brass rock", with saxophone and flute, when posting my first reply... well, confusion...
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Posted By: Progmanus
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 15:08
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Harp and Harpsicord, a flute here or there and a good string section. ------------- Master of Images, Songs Cast the Light on You... |
Posted By: Syntharachnid
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 18:25
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I'm a trumpet player, meself, so I love some good trumpet in prog. Frances has some cool mellow trumpet in it.
Also, the THEREMIN!!!
  ------------- 
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Posted By: Syntharachnid
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 18:26
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Oh! And I'm a sucker for sitar. And other Indian instruments. Indian music's bleedin' awesome. -------------
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Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 18:38
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Syntharachnid; the Theremin! Oh yeah, baby, that is weird and wild stuff.
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Posted By: Toon
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 20:24
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I like brass and woodwind instruments. ------------- 
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Posted By: Soul Dreamer
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 22:53
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Allmost anything already mentioned goes with me. I don't know if anybody allready mentioned harpsichord? Church organ? Grand Piano?
On another level: I love operatic and choral vocals used as instruments. ------------- To be the one who seeks so I may find .. (Metallica) |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 23:04
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Yes, chorals are great...most emotional. And church organ- heck YEAH, sometimes I wish all organs were these mammoth aging wonders. Soul Dreamer: have you ever seen what's required for the maintenance of those things? Unreal...
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Posted By: Soul Dreamer
Date Posted: October 16 2006 at 23:24
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Atavachron: Yes I saw it..the costs involved must be enormous. But the result of all that hard labour can be (when put in the right hands) incredible: multi-layered soundscapes with great depth and overwhelming grandeur..(thinking now of some Bach organ concerts I attended, and ofcourse Yes & Wakeman...) ------------- To be the one who seeks so I may find .. (Metallica) |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:21
The Theremin is way cool! I can't think of any prog featuring a Theremin though, can anyone help? ------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:29
| Oh gosh, it would take a little listening but I know it's there somewhere. Page used one often, though he's not prog. Eccentric Orbit, fantastic synth-prog from Mass., does a 1950s sci-fi type of music and I think they use theremin *sounds*. |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:33
I need to look out for Eccentric Orbit, sounds cool! Thanks!  ------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:35
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Absolutely- eoband.com
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Posted By: N Ellingworth
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:41
| The theremin is a wonderful instrument, I've got a simple single aerial one, really fun to play. |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:43
| That's amazing-- is it old, new? Did you search it out or what? |
Posted By: N Ellingworth
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:48
| It's new and quite cheap I bought it in kit form from a company called theremaniacs. |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 04:50
| I see- good to know there are such companies. |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 05:27
| Go on a websearch and you almost always hit an entry "Play Jimmy Page's Theremin" - hence Led Zeppelin. Psychedelia of Lothar & The hand people (Lothar being the band's Theremin). And can somebody tell me - on Les Claypool's DVDshowing action with Stu Copeland and the lead guitarist of Phish - the latter flips his guitar and does a Theremin-like solo with an antler(?) fixed to the end of his guitar - is this a modified Theremin or something different?. |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 05:31
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I remember reading in a guitar magazine about Matt Bellamy from Muse having a Theremin-style device built into one of his guitars. ------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: N Ellingworth
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 05:47
It is probably a single antenna theremin installed in the guitar. |
Posted By: Goldenavatar
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 11:32
| Mandolin and Accordian!! These should be required instruments on every album. I don't know if these count as non-rock since J-Tull uses both to great effect, and I've heard them both used by other bands as well. Of course other instruments in the same consorts would also be acceptable, e.g. bouzouki and concertina. |
Posted By: N Ellingworth
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 12:15
| The mandolin has been used by a lot of rock bands, personally I'd like to see more use of the Octave Mandola (tuned one octave below a mandolin). |
Posted By: Dick Heath
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 12:40
| Said it before, Sid Smith in his Krimson-related blog, compiled a list of harmonium related prog tunes - I wonder if we can get him to list here? However, thinking of different musical genres - Taj Mahal on one of his live albums had three tubas, which gave a warm farting sound at the bottom end. And pioneering jazz saxophonist Adrian Rollini was renown (once upon a time), for giving the bass rhythm to band's music playing the bass saxophone, e.g. with Bix Beiderbeck and his own bands - and solos were storming. Apart from RIO groups where virtually anything goes, any straighter prog group using such instruments for the bass end? |
Posted By: drain-o
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 12:46
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You would be astounded so that you can make with objects of household,
as elastic bands of and pots.
------------- Jacques Brenier\ realizer of sequence\ |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 17 2006 at 15:37
| Yeah, drain-o, a homemade instrument is wonderful, and then one truly becomes the mother/father of invention. |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: October 19 2006 at 04:10
I once went to see Consolidated (a rap act, but bear with me). They played short videos between songs and one of them was of a woman playing the riff to Iron Man on a tampon applicator!  ------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 19 2006 at 04:20
| Thank you for giving this thread an ugly turn, A B. |
Posted By: A B Negative
Date Posted: October 19 2006 at 04:27
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Before anyone's imagination runs away with them, she played it like a swanee whistle. It was making a point about female empowerment (Consolidated were a partricularly "right on" group...) but it was one of the funniest musical performances I have ever seen! ------------- "The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time." |
Posted By: Atavachron
Date Posted: October 19 2006 at 04:35
Oh yeah, that helps clear things up immensely 
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Posted By: Neil
Date Posted: October 19 2006 at 04:48
I saw Wild Willy Barrett with his band at Cropredy one Saturday afternoon. Willy had a wierd box of tricks with a simple theramin, several springs and other silly noise effects and one of his band was playing a Walkers crisp box (and was credited as such in the program). They actually made quite a good sound. ------------- When people get lost in thought it's often because it's unfamiliar territory. |