# Bands where the lead singer plays a non-traditional instrument **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 8, 2025, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715 "2025-01-08T04:07:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/81 "2025-01-09T10:49:29Z")
Heywood Banks plays a toaster while singing. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/82 "2025-01-09T14:50:57Z")
In what world are harmonica and piano non-traditional? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/83 "2025-01-09T19:49:41Z")
While it wasn’t the lead singer who played the clarinet, the perennial Canadian prog/power pop band Saga included a solo in this song. I always think of it whenever there’s a disaster of some kind. > **[Saga - No Regrets (Chapter Five)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYA6ZXjkow%2F)** > > Chapter Five in Saga's The Chapters series, from the 1981 album "Worlds Apart". ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/84 "2025-01-09T21:41:29Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > I haven’t seen _Jacob Collier_ mentioned. I was interested to see recently that he came up with his own guitar configuration because he couldn’t connect with the traditional guitar. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WknTbYOet4c/maxresdefault.jpg "How Jacob Collier Reinvented The Guitar") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WknTbYOet4c) ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/85 "2025-01-10T03:54:09Z")
When Geddy Lee played keyboards while singing he also played bass lines with pedals. Jesse James Dupree is the lead singer of the band Jackyl. He also plays lead chainsaw. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/A52p9jc-gOo/maxresdefault.jpg "Jackyl - The Lumberjack") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A52p9jc-gOo) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/86 "2025-01-10T12:57:40Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > When Geddy Lee played keyboards while singing he also played bass lines with pedals. IIRC, Sting did something similar on at least one of the tours with the Police, where he played bass, but some synth-sounding thing with his pedals. (I really hated the sound of the damned thing, at least in the live concerts I’ve seen on YouTube.) A little research shows it was the Moog Taurus I. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/87 "2025-01-10T17:21:35Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > keyboard. Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull being a flutist would count. Peter Gabriel of Genesis played flute fairly regularly as well, although definitely not as well as Anderson ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/88 "2025-01-10T19:22:55Z")
The (presumably) lead singer of the [Climax Blues Band](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRVSSwJYqh0) apparently plays the saxophone. Like the announcer, I would have assumed that they were American and not British. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715/89 "2025-01-10T20:34:43Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Peter Gabriel of Genesis played flute fairly regularly as well And a bass drum! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-where-the-lead-singer-plays-a-non-traditional-instrument/1012715.md?page=4)