Which is the best musical instrument?

[Rick Albertson]

http://moreintelligentlife.com/conte...cal-instrument

"What draws us to play, or to love hearing, some instruments above all others?"

[Phil Goodson]

Don Stiernberg has been answering that question for years.

[John Flynn]

Cow bell. No question about it.

[Pooh]

It's the one that gives voice to the song in your heart. You know it when you hear it.

[OldSausage]

Well, don't forget the spoons. They really stir me.

[Pete Summers]

I vote for piano. It is, at least, the most versatile. Nothing wrong with a mandolin, either.

[Shelagh Moore]

I don't think there is a best. Just the one you prefer.

[mandocrucian]

[resophil]

Cow bell. No question about it.

Absolutely! It's a very mooo-ving experience, playing the cowbell...

[Denny Gies]

I'm with OldSausage, nothing quite beats the spoons, for fun and hatred.

[resophil]

Errr..., "nothing quite licks the spoons..."

[JEStanek]

To quote the kid from The Matrix "There is no spoon." I can't say there is a best instrument other than the brain that dreams the music up. All the others are just tools to realize that sonic idea that started in the brain. For versatility I'll say the voice.

Jamie

[Barry Wilson]

The best one is the one that makes you want to play and practice, no matter what it is...

[SincereCorgi]

The Mighty WURLITZER.



This is like watching somebody pilot a 747 down a slot canyon.

[Paul Busman]

The one in your hands at the moment. Or none: you can sing, whistle, bang out rhythms, etc.

[Mandobart]

For me personally, it needs to be portable, sound great, capable of playing lead, melody, fingerpicking or chord accompaniment for other instruments or voice. Other neat to have but not required items are looking nice, balanced and easy to hold/play all night, and be a little out of the mainstream. Also a major plus if it can be owned for less than a paycheck. The instrument that meets all these for me is my Tom Jessen Octave Mandolin.

[Tim2723]

As an organist I appreciate SincereCorgi's viewpoint. The organ (essentially an acoustic synthesizer) is widely recognized, even across cultural lines, as the greatest instrument.

But be that as it may, I regret to admit that the best instrument isn't, to the great chagrin of the collective company assembled, the mandolin. Practically no one recognizes it, even in our own culture. We are, at least, the last bastion of the mandolin's power and beauty.

(BTW Corgi, that isn't the true 'Mighty' Wurlitzer, but certainly one of their better attempts.)

[neil argonaut]

If voice counts, then I'd agree wit JEStanek and go with that; it's certainly the most played and owned instrument.
Apart from that, I think most have got their pros and cons, and are suitable for different things; the idea of a piano being "better" or "worse" than a fiddle is quite bizarre imo.
I've got a feeling I know which instrument would be voted worst though


Oh and as for the poll its self, it confirms further my impression that IL is one of the most misnamed magazines around; It's in no way a fair contest when 5 instruments are given as pre-made choices with the rest required to be written in, and how they chose for example french horn rather than drums, I don't know. Also, it seems bizarre to include the brand of organ but not of anything else (I realise the Hammond has been a very influencial organ, but I don't see the need to put all other organs in a seperate category, or indeed individual categories).

[JeffD]

It's the one that gives voice to the song in your heart. You know it when you hear it.

I have seen x-rays, and I am pretty sure there is no song in there.

[JeffD]

Well, don't forget the spoons. They really stir me.

Maracas. They are shaken, not stirred.

[catmandu2]

Well I read the article, and the only thing that made any sense (although I didn't notice any particularly glaring deficiencies or errors in judgement--with the possible exception of the premise of the article itself) was the comparison with the act of sex, however I would have chosen, myself, for a more apt comparison--epicurean delights of the digestable variety (Jeff probably would use spirits...or fish )

But fwiw, I'll mention that I have a peculiar (and I wonder if I'm alone in this--probably certainly among this forum) avocation of entertaining with banjo, accordian, and hurdy gurdy (substitute for bagpipe, as its caterwauling potential is most certainly equivalent)...often the most notoriously reviled of instruments, yet for me they are "best" in many regards. D'oh

[JeffD]

often the most notoriously reviled of instruments, yet for me they are "best" in many regards.

I don't think those two things are unrelated, actually. A part of the charm of many avocations is their "outsider" status.

The same is true with musical taste, to some degree. There is something that strokes our self image to know that our taste in music run towards obscure.

It all helps us portray ourselves as iconoclastic. We see things clearly for what they are and are not influenced by other peoples options. Woo hoo.

There are folks, even in this forum, who hope the mandolin does not become too popular or mainstream (as if), lest we be perceived as following the crowd.

"Spoken as a true Frank Zappa fan" I hear you say.

I can think of no better explanation for folks who play the ukelin or the tremoloa.

[catmandu2]

Well it's nothing I aspired to for any reasons (the music I like to listen to and play) of affectation. Both banjo and accordian came to me for different reasons, but became my primary solo performng instruments because they are loud, and I don't have to bring an amp for medium-sized rooms. The hurdy gurdy just came on because I like its sound, and it is interesting.

I mention their "outsider" status merely for light-hearted irony; on other forums, of course they're not perceived as outsider at all. It's all just stereotyping, so it shouldn't be taken with any seriousness

I like the mandolin, and would use it more, but for solo entertaining it's generally not versatile enough for my requirements. If I feel like it, I'll pack a fiddle for a few tunes, but otherwise what I would play on mandolin I play on tenor banjo

I've gone all around with music, but I must say I've never considered any of it in those terms--of being motivated for any "non-musical" reasons

[SincereCorgi]

Oh and as for the poll its self, it confirms further my impression that IL is one of the most misnamed magazines around; It's in no way a fair contest when 5 instruments are given as pre-made choices with the rest required to be written in, and how they chose for example french horn rather than drums, I don't know. Also, it seems bizarre to include the brand of organ but not of anything else (I realise the Hammond has been a very influencial organ, but I don't see the need to put all other organs in a seperate category, or indeed individual categories).

Yeah, I thought the article was garbage... hopefully the writer used the check to put a new roof on an orphanage or something. I always think the candidates for 'best instrument' are the piano, the violin, the organ and the human voice (I know the last one is kind of a cop-out). My criteria are a) variety of expression, weighed against b) the music they've inspired (i.e., no mandolin concertos yet that compare to a Beethoven piano concerto).

[JeffD]

I mention their "outsider" status merely for light-hearted irony;

Well I settled on the mandolin by and large because it wasn't a guitar. The idea of me becoming yet another lonely/serious looking 5 chord strummer singing Neil Young or James Taylor in order to get a date, really disgusted me. (Neil Young for hippy chicks, James Taylor for the co-eds and intellectual types.)

on other forums, of course they're not perceived as outsider at all.

We live where we live. When I tried to convince my wife that wearing snake skin cowboy boots (so cool) was not beyond the pale in Texas, I was informed that we did not live in Texas.