# Instrument you like the least
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 23, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847 "2011-05-23T02:28:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/1 "2011-05-23T02:28:05Z")
Any musical instrument you just don’t like hearing? My vote is the vibes. Every time I’ve heard it, it’s just this annoying plinky sound. Play it fast, it’s plinky. Play it slow, it’s plinky. Plus isn’t it kind of pointless to have an electrical instrument that can’t distort or be played loudly?
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### Author:  [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/2 "2011-05-23T02:42:15Z")
I can live without bagpipes.
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### Author:  [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/3 "2011-05-23T03:22:01Z")
Bagpipes and most instances of saxophone. Harmonicas aren’t very pleasant, but they get a pass since my dad plays.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/4 "2011-05-23T03:26:19Z")
Guitar
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### Author:  [@Kim\_o\_the\_Concrete\_Jungle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kim_o_the_Concrete_Jungle)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/5 "2011-05-23T03:29:43Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> Guitar
_Removes gloves_
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/6 "2011-05-23T03:33:22Z")
flute. Hate it.
Like the recorder, though. Go figure.
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### Author:  [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/7 "2011-05-23T03:42:30Z")
My husband’s hurdy-gurdy. He put it together from a kit.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/8 "2011-05-23T03:55:05Z")
I hate rock saxophone. Jazz, fine. But it ruins almost all rock, Springsteen included.
Joe
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/9 "2011-05-23T03:58:03Z")
Brass. Played solo, I like them fine, but when it’s a whole section, I want to wrap my head in soft thick batting.
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### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/10 "2011-05-23T04:01:40Z")
Saxophone unless:
For Jazz, Paul Desmond can play all day long. And for R&B/Rock, King Curtis is God. The rest of them can screw off.
One more exception - the guy that played on “Baker Street”
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/11 "2011-05-23T04:08:37Z")
> [@installLSC](#):
>
> Any musical instrument you just don’t like hearing? My vote is the vibes. Every time I’ve heard it, it’s just this annoying plinky sound. Play it fast, it’s plinky. Play it slow, it’s plinky. Plus isn’t it kind of pointless to have an electrical instrument that can’t distort or be played loudly?
No, you just haven’t [heard enough of them at the same time](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYWaK-3cdw).
> [@Helena](#):
>
> My husband’s hurdy-gurdy. He put it together from a kit.
Your husband is an authentic _ **Evil Genius** _. A regular, run of the mill evil person would just buy a hurdy-gurdy in a store or on-line. It takes a special sort to build one from a kit.
Does he have a newsletter, and can I subscribe?
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/12 "2011-05-23T04:09:24Z")
For me, the sitar would be pretty high on the list.
Don’t think I’ve heard anything on a Theremin that appeals much, and that includes the Good Vibrations intro.
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### Author:  [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/13 "2011-05-23T04:12:45Z")
Steel drums aka steelpan
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### Author:  [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/14 "2011-05-23T04:14:21Z")
Fuzztone or solid-state distortion on a guitar. Either one will make me want to take an exploding chainsaw to my eardrums.
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/15 "2011-05-23T04:21:33Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#):
>
> For me, the sitar would be pretty high on the list.
>
> Don’t think I’ve heard anything on a Theremin that appeals much, and that includes the Good Vibrations intro.
I would vote Theremin, but I’m not even sure if it’s a real musical instrument. More like sound effects. Really annoying sound effects.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/16 "2011-05-23T04:36:34Z")
> [@Arrendajo](#):
>
> I would vote Theremin, but I’m not even sure if it’s a real musical instrument. More like sound effects. Really annoying sound effects.
No, it is a real instrument, [played by real musicians](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U), and written for by real composers.
You may not like it, but it is definitely real.
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### Author:  [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/17 "2011-05-23T04:46:04Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> Your husband is an authentic _ **Evil Genius** _. A regular, run of the mill evil person would just buy a hurdy-gurdy in a store or on-line. It takes a special sort to build one from a kit.
>
> Does he have a newsletter, and can I subscribe?
Ha! (He may have to come up with one, just for that. 😃 )
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/18 "2011-05-23T05:23:58Z")
> [@gaffa](#):
>
> No, you just haven’t [heard enough of them at the same time](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCYWaK-3cdw).
Aren’t those rosewood marimbas, rather than aluminum vibraphones?
Personally, almost every post here makes me think of music I love with that instrument.
[Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlXWX7wp_T8) is a track I like with a theremin (not shown; the radio is a joke). [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mW0B1sipLBI) may be for some a more familiar and more overt demonstration of what a theremin can do.
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/19 "2011-05-23T05:30:24Z")
Drumming… just a high bass beat. No melody or rythym to accompany. Drumming is useless, and drummers are hacks. Don’t get this modern bass beat econo9my of rap. That’s a drium and somebody speaking… not melodious… not music.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/instrument-you-like-the-least/582847/20 "2011-05-23T06:53:06Z")
Definitely bagpipes. Not a musical instrument, but an instrument of torture.
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