Instruments you possibly dislike or hate

A friend of mine asked me the other day if are there any instruments I don’t like or more accurately don’t like to listen to. After some thought I came up with the following list:

1) Pan flute
2) Harmonica
3) Steel guitar
4) Steel pans (sorry, but I’m honest )
5) Accordion
6) Bagpipes

In my case the instruments mentioned above correlate quite heavily with the type of music I particularly don’t enjoy that much, for instance blues and country.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Any instruments you cannot stand?

Kind regards,
Anders

That's a good question, Anders, one that I've never really given much thought. At the moment, I can't think of any instrument that I actually dislike as I can actually dislike any given instrument at a given time depending on how it's played and the tone it produces. As much as I love the trumpet, I can hate the instrument when Randy Brecker palys it. Not because he can't play it, but that shrieking, searing, tone he seems to always use. It's like somebody pulling my fingernails out... Eeeshhh Sometime the saxophone and pick my last nerve a bit also.

Maybe your dislike for the harmonica may not be so much the instrument itself but rather how it's played. Check out this clip of Toots Thielemans and tell me what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yrbIk8hwe0

Slam.

Anders wrote:A friend of mine asked me the other day if are there any instruments I don’t like or more accurately don’t like to listen to. After some thought I came up with the following list:

1) Pan flute
2) Harmonica
3) Steel guitar
4) Steel pans (sorry, but I’m honest )
5) Accordion
6) Bagpipes

In my case the instruments mentioned above correlate quite heavily with the type of music I particularly don’t enjoy that much, for instance blues and country.

What are your thoughts on this subject? Any instruments you cannot stand?

Kind regards,
Anders

Actually, from among your list I cannot name one that I either dislike or outright hate. They all have their place in the broad context of music and cultures.

I will say this though: a bad tamborine player almost made me dislike the use of that instrument many years ago. Somehow the instrument is so accessible that if it's not being played, someone who doesn't know how to play it might just pick it up all out of time/meter.

Yes Don, I agree with you. In this context the harmonica sounds quite different from what I’m used to hearing. It’s how the instrument is played and also by whom like you mentioned. Mr Thielemans is apparently a master of this instrument. On for instance Close To The Edge by Yes a harmonica or an accordion wouldn’t fit that well though. The effect might actually be somewhat surrealistic

Suss, you made a good remark about the use of the tambourine. Especially in live settings some musician might just pick up the instrument because he or she needs to do something with the hands instead of just standing on the stage. In this case hitting the tambourine doesn’t always serve the music or enhance the performance.

Kind regards,
Anders

Anders,

When a sax player I used to work with would have nothing to do during a particular space and time within a song, he would pick up a cowbell and start playing it. Rather than just play quarter or eighth notes with it he would try and mix up the rhythms. It was horrible! I hated the cowbell everytime he played it.

Slam.

A good player can make an old rusty can sound good. However, the saxophone should be abolished.

woofus wrote:A good player can make an old rusty can sound good. However, the saxophone should be abolished.

What? Abolish the saxophone Woofus?

Are you sure? I seem to remember that from among all of the reed instruments, the saxophone is the closest one to the human voice. But then maybe your dog Chispa might do a better job with it!

"We're talking Jazz "and you wanna abolish the saxophone, Woof? ;-)

I don't have a single instrument which I don't like. It's just more that some instruments have the possibility to sound more annoying than others just because of their kind of sound and range...it's all depending on the context and the player! For example a context where I was annoyed be a harmonica lately was on Mike Stern's latest Cd...couldn't listen to the tunes where there was a lot of harmonica going on...in my eyes the sound of the harmonica was out of place in that context.

Hi Niki, I had the same experience when I heard Mike Stern's latest cd "Who let the cats out?" the first time. Luckily the harmonica is present only on two tracks out of eleven. Otherwise I like this cd a lot.

Kind regards,
Anders

I'm currently paying scrap value for all saxophones and starting up a new factory to manufacture composting toilets.

Jazz harmonica player on the scene in Washington, DC:
http://www.fredyonnet.com/index.html