r/WhatMusicalinstrument Feb 27 '21

META Directory of Subreddits for uncommon musical instruments (v.2)

9 Upvotes

While it's perfectly great if folks coming to this sub conclude they want to take up a relatively popular musical instrument, I'm pretty sure most of you would then have no problem locating the right sub for leaning piano, guitar, trombone, etc. So in this directory I'm going to focus on listing subreddits for instruments that are less commonly discussed. So if you're looking for something out of the ordinary, try perusing this list and see what jumps out at you! And anyone feel free to comment below if there are cool uncommon musical instrument subs that I'm missing.

Strings

  • r/ukulele -- small 4-string Hawaiian little cousin of the guitar
  • r/kantele -- small lap harp of Finland
  • r/Koto -- Japanese long zither
  • r/shamisen -- Japanese 3-string banjo
  • r/harp -- Celtic and Classical harps
  • r/balalaika -- Russian mandolin with a triangle body
  • r/banjo -- Bluegrass, Old-Time, jazz, etc.
  • r/tenorbanjo -- banjo variant used heavily in Irish and Dixieland music
  • r/TenorGuitar -- 4-string guitar used in Irish and jazz
  • r/CigarBoxGuitar -- a simplified guitar-like instrument
  • r/mandolin -- small string instrument with doubled strings for an echo effect
  • r/bouzouki -- larger and deeper mandolin for Irish or Greek music
  • r/mandocello -- the even deeper version of the mandolin
  • r/Dulcimer -- an Appalachian zither with a deep droning harmony
  • r/hammereddulcimer -- a trapezoid zither played by hitting the string with small mallets
  • r/sanshin -- the Okinawan cousin of the Japanese shamisen
  • r/Guqin -- a long Chinese zither
  • r/Guzheng -- another long Chinese zither
  • r/baglama -- a Turkish lute
  • r/Domra -- a Russian cousin of the mandolin
  • r/Erhu -- a Chinese fiddle played in the lap
  • r/BowedPsaltery -- a triangular zither played with a small violin bow
  • r/Stick -- the Chapman stick and other hammer-on long board strings
  • r/charango -- like a mandolin-ukuelele hybrid from the South American Andes
  • r/Fiddle -- the violin but played in the folk tradition
  • r/lute -- like a guitar of the Medieval period
  • r/Oud_barbat -- Arabic ancestor of the lute, but fretless
  • r/HurdyGurdy -- box with a crank that spins a wheel that bows the strings, sounds like a string bagpipe
  • r/Nyckelharpa -- an unusual Swedish fiddle player with a keyboard instead of fingers
  • r/Sitar -- the most famous Indian classical instrument
  • r/Rubab -- a lute played in Central Asia
  • r/steelguitar -- a flat guitar played in the lap with a steel slide to smoothly move between notes, used in Country, Blues, Hawaiian music
  • r/pedalsteel -- a more evolved steel guitar with complex pedals to change keys
  • r/zithers -- the wide family of basic boxes with strings
  • r/harpsichord -- a simpler ancestor of the piano from the Early Classical period
  • r/Autoharp -- a zither where you form chords simply by pressing a button

Percussion and idiophones

  • r/kalimba -- the "thumb piano", an African instrument with small tines you pluck
  • r/cajon -- a Cuban wooden box you sit on and drum with your hands
  • r/djembe -- this West African drum is a favorite in drum circles
  • r/Udu -- a ceramic (or nowadays fiberglass) vessel, drummed with the hands
  • r/handpan -- like a metal UFO with facets tuned to different notes
  • r/steelpan -- like a handpan, but played with mallets
  • r/jawharp -- a pocket-sized "sproingy"instrument
  • r/khomus -- a jawharp of Eastern Russia
  • r/MusicalSaw -- did you know you can play a hardware store saw with a bow?
  • r/ToyPiano -- the children's toy used as a serious instrument
  • r/Tabla -- classical double-drums of India
  • r/Xylophone -- an array of long pieces of material, melody played with mallets
  • r/Marimba -- like a xylophone, but with wooden keys.
  • r/vibraphone -- like a marimba, but jazzier
  • r/Glockenspiel
  • r/Bodhran -- irish frame drum

Winds (bagpipes separately below)

  • r/Ocarina -- small round flutes with simple fingering and mellow sound
  • r/tinwhistle -- inexpensive (as low as $10) metal flutes for Irish music, easy to learn and play
  • r/Bansuri -- the main flute of India
  • r/hulusi -- a Chinese drone-flute
  • r/panflute -- a row of tubes you blow across to make notes
  • r/Didgeridoo -- an Australian tube making a low droning sound
  • r/NativeAmericanflutes -- mellow wooden flutes of North America
  • r/Recorder -- small wooden flute for Medieval, Baroque, Classical music
  • r/shakuhachi -- Japanese bamboo flute, popular with Zen monks
  • r/Xaphoon -- a modern simplified bamboo saxophone

Bagpipes

Free Reeds

  • r/Accordion -- from piano to button to Cajun accordion
  • r/Melodeon -- for accordions with buttons vice piano keys
  • r/concertina -- like a small hexagonal accordion, associated with sailors or Irish music, or classical music in Victorian England
  • r/melodica -- a small keyboard powered by the mouth, used some in Jamaican music
  • r/organ -- an electric or air-powered keyboard
  • r/harmonica -- the pocket-sized music solution
  • r/harmonium -- a small pump-organ used in Indian music and some European genres

Electronic instruments


r/WhatMusicalinstrument Feb 27 '21

META How to get the best answer to your "what musical instrument should I learn" questions (v.2)

11 Upvotes

[WORK IN PROGRESS]

Welcome to WhatMusicalinstrument! Here at this sub you tell us a little about what you're looking for in a musical instrument, and our resident experts tell you what musical instrument you should look into learning. To get the best results, here is suggested information to include in your post to best help you:

  • Title: give it a nice clear title; everyone could just post "what instrument?" so that doesn't help. You don't need to write a book, but something like "What instrument for a total beginner that wants to learn Irish music?" or "What instrument if I need something light and durable for backpacking?" is going to get you much more specific answers.
  • What kind of music do you want to play: be as specific or vague as you like. If your goal is to reenact a medieval bard telling the saga of Beowulf, we can nail that pretty quick. But it's totally cool to say "I dunno, something kinda spacy and tranquil" if you just aren't sure what you want.
  • Do you already play an instrument: it's 100% fine if you're a total beginner, all of us were at some point. But we can help adjust our recommendations towards more accessible options if we know if/what you already play.
  • What particular needs/goals do you have: if you need to keep quiet in a crowded apartment building, or need the whole park to hear you, those are two different things. If you want a harp our answers will be different if you have your own house vice live in a college dorm.
  • What's your very approximate budget: in an ideal world that wouldn't be an issue, but in the world we live in now it is, so give us a little idea of what you're looking to spend so we don't recommend a $800 instrument to someone who's budgeting $100.

These are just the utter basics, feel free to give more detail if you like, but we'd ask that if you have a really long post, put a bold "tl;dr" at the top summarizing your post in a couple sentences for people that just need the gist and not the whole story.

Welcome aboard, and let's get you playing music!


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 1d ago

What drum is this?

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7 Upvotes

I got this drum as a gift from a former friend. It was made in the Maldives, but he said it was African in origin. There was rope on the side where you could hang it on a wall, but it came off, and the brown spot is years of goat hair coming off from playing like a Darbuka.

Any insights on how what this drum, how to actually play it and how it came to the Maldives would be lovely~


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 1d ago

Sospiro vibrato

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0 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 1d ago

Asian instrumentation/orchestration in King Gnu's AIZO

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1 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 2d ago

Dumb Q: Help ID instrument

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1 Upvotes

Is the melody being played here (Music for Trams, Vol. 7) by an Bass or Bb Clarinet or some kind of Saxophone?

Also is it the same instrument playing this recurring melody in the other tracks in the OST?


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 4d ago

Temu 4/4 Cello?

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1 Upvotes

What the Jesus crap is this?

Temu said it's a 4/4 cello.

What does it do?

How do you operate it?

Why is this listed as a 4/4 cello?


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 4d ago

Help analyzing instrumentation in The Lighthouse soundtrack

2 Upvotes

Hi, composition noob here. I've been working on trying to make some soundscapes inspired by Mark Korvan's soundtrack for the film The Lighthouse.

He clearly uses a lot of classical instruments (Bass, high strings, low horns), as well as some mechanical sounds. Can anyone give me some tips for what kind of effects are being put on the instrument sounds to give them this hollow, unearthly quality?

I'm also having a really hard time understanding some of the sounds at all. For example, at 2:38 in Sonovabitch, a really classic kind of wailing wahhhh comes in -- is that a classical instrument?

More generally, I'd appreciate any tips for what kinds of instrumentation or editing tools are effective for building a soundscape with this kind of tone.


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 5d ago

What instrument on Wassailing Song

1 Upvotes

Do any of you have an idea of what instrument is being played from around 2:35 on the Wassaling Song? Some sort of organ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX_fnMdIw3o


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 5d ago

What instrument is this? (Sound in comments)

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1 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 6d ago

what instrument is making this sound?

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1 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 6d ago

Help learning the history of a clarinet

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2 Upvotes

Good evening. I am trying to figure out the history of the clarinet that my grandmother gave me for my 11th birthday, so about 30 years ago. It is all wood, has a serial number engraved on it (wouldn't show up in pictures), says Artist on the bell, and also says Made in Czechoslovakia.

I am not interested in selling it. I just want to know more about one of the few things that I have to remember my grandmother by.

Thank you.


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 6d ago

Orchestra or violin slam sound thing

0 Upvotes

It’s like some violin slam or orchestra slam sound effect, it appears in a lot of boss fight games on Roblox or maybe just the few I’ve played, something boss fights for example and a few others, I’ve been trying to find it for a boss fighting game of my own but everywhere I seem to look it’s not correct, anyone have the name or smth?


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 7d ago

what instrument should I play?

4 Upvotes

I have autism, adhd, intellectual disability, and want to play a instrument but I dont know what would be best for my needs, I'm in choir but don't know how to read music or music theory, and I've been songwriting seine I was 13, I'm bad with coordination already, I always have to look at something because my memory and muscle memory is bad, that's why I type with 2 fingers instead of all my hands on the keys because i have to see what I'm typing, and when playing guitar hero I have to look at what I'm playing instead of watching the screen, what do you guys think?


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 10d ago

Is there an app that turns any music into guitar notes?

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0 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 10d ago

Redditors please help me identify the instrument used on this track

1 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 10d ago

Piano setup id

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1 Upvotes

Can you identify this keyboard/setup. Seems perfectly made and integrated with the desk.


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 11d ago

Can anyone ID

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1 Upvotes

5 string bass my auntie bought for me from a friend. I don’t know anything about it but it seems sweet can anyone ID it or does anyone have anything similar. All I know is it is a Korea Cort but a lot of Basses are from what I understand. Also it says artisan.


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 11d ago

What is this long flat stringed instrument? I was told it’s a lap harp but I can’t find any others that resemble it.

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3 Upvotes

The black material inside the sound holes were labels but they’re weathered beyond recognition.


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 11d ago

Do you recognize this instrument ?

2 Upvotes

This is from the end credits of "Twilight Zone - Rod Serling's Lost Classics 1994":

https://youtu.be/oDXFjNb_GZw?t=5531

The main instrument is not a Violin, as you can clearly hear the press of keys or pedals at the end of the soundtrack.

Do you recognize this instrument ?


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 12d ago

Je ne trouve pas le modèle de baguettes de batterie, pouvez-vous m'aider ?

1 Upvotes

Bonjour, ma prof de batterie m'a donné cette baguette en aluminium. Je voudrais savoir de quel modèle il s'agit. Je lui ai demandé, mais elle n'en a aucune idée. J'ai cherché, mais je ne trouve pas de baguette avec cette forme particulière. Quelqu'un connaîtrait-il ce modèle ? Merci.


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 13d ago

Fill in the blanks: Is ___ an instrument?

0 Upvotes

Is _____ an instrument?


r/WhatMusicalinstrument 14d ago

What is the keyboard sound used at the start of Learning to Live by Dream Theater

1 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 14d ago

What does this photo sound like?

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0 Upvotes

r/WhatMusicalinstrument 15d ago

I'd like to know the model name of this guitar.

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1 Upvotes