Musicians playing instruments in unusual ways

Cafe Society
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Dizzy Gillespie played trumpet with his cheeks puffed out. Most instructors will tell you NOT to do that.

In 1953, he dropped his trumpet, and had to play with a bent bell. He got it repaired the next day, but he liked the altered sound so much, he had a trumpet custom-made with an upturned bell, which also became a trademark.

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Gaelynn Lea plays violin in an unconventional way because of her disability:

See her play here

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This fellow plays music via a machine fueled by marbles.

The Wintergatan Marble Machine

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I barely consider what this guy does to be making music, but he does experiment with ways to get just about every conceivable noise out of his instrument. Some really weird stuff going on around 10:30.

Not at all my cup of tea.

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ELO has really hit the skids. :wink:

The one noise he hasn’t made is the one I’d like to hear the most: smashing that bastard into a thousand pieces.

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Two people playing Tico Tico no Fubá on one guitar:

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Married couple Mike Watt of the Minutemen and fIREHOSE, and Kira Roessler of Black Flag, both bassists in their respective bands, released at least one album under the name “Dos” which was just bass duets.

As a cruddy amateur guitarist myself, I was always admiring and a bit envious of guitarists who had such an affinity for their instrument that they could use bizarre tunings to compose great songs. Not just talking about drop-D like Keith Richards uses a lot. I mean like Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” being in CGCFCE with a capo at the second fret (Cadd9, I think, but I’m not sure), or Dallas Green’s “Save Your Scissors” being in EBDGC#E. Or the mother of all tough pickings, Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lighting” which is I think is EBGDGC. How the hell does a person’s mind work like that?

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Hendrix is famous, of course, for playing guitar at times with his teeth

Jimi Hendrix Plays Guitar With His Teeth (youtube.com)

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Frank Zappa

  • Chunga’s Revenge: Ian Underwood plays sax through a wah wah pedal. Mildly interesting.
  • Yellow Shark: “…there’s an awful gurgling sound. That’s Catherine Milliken, the Australian horn player, sticking a Didgeridoo into a spitoon full of water with Vermiculite floating on the surface.” Result mildly funny visually and sonically.
  • Steve Allen Show 1963: Young Mister “Zoppa” plays a bicycle like a musical instrument. To his credit, Allen doesn’t diss it as cheap humor, ends up participating.
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C add4 (or add11). C add9 would have a D instead of an F in the tuning. I’m not really a guitarist —- keys are my instrument — but alternate tunings are so much fun to play with. Just lay down some shapes on the fretboard, go up and down trying different things, see what works what doesn’t.

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copycat

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Ritchie Blackmore “played” his guitars all kinds of ways at the end of Space Truckin’ at California Jam.

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Of all the things to compare :wink:

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Leahy used to do that back when they were at full touring strength. 7 brothers and sisters, and every one of them except maybe the drummer played at least 4 instruments. They’d usually do an extended medley where everybody rotated instruments so that they all had a fiddle solo.

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It should be called “playing musical instruments.”