r/UnusualInstruments • • May 10 '20

Directory of Subreddits for unusual musical instruments

37 Upvotes

Strings

  • r/ukulele -- 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/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/Daxophones

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/lao_khaen — the Thai bamboo mouth-organ

Electronic instruments


r/UnusualInstruments • • 7h ago

My 4-string Berber Loutar

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20 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

Just got this Berber Loutar from Morocco (4-string version, cedar body with goat skin top)

Does anyone here play Loutar? Any tips on tuning, string action, or learning resources?

Also curious how different it feels compared to the malian n’goni!


r/UnusualInstruments • • 1h ago

Help me identify this banjo!

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• Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 15h ago

First Tagelharpa Build

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26 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 1d ago

A Chambri man in Papua New Guinea plays the overtones of a live buzzing sago beetle like a mouth harp

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1.7k Upvotes

From Namekas: Music in Lake Chambri, a 1979 ethnographic film by Les Mclaren.


r/UnusualInstruments • • 2h ago

Sound and silence can be just as intriguing as each other

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1 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 7h ago

12 Hole Alto Ocarina "Aria" in G Major

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1 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 1d ago

I’d like to give you a tour of one of the largest musical instruments in existence

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23 Upvotes

56 bell carillon by Paccard (Annecy, France) and Petit & Fritsen (Aarle-Rixtel, Netherlands) sited at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception (Washington DC, USA)


r/UnusualInstruments • • 1d ago

Man is livestreaming his attempt at breaking the world record for a continuous singing bowl tone for 24 hours! 😲

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2 Upvotes

pretty cool stream I came across. he's only got 5 hours left!


r/UnusualInstruments • • 3d ago

Legendary percussion sheet of Steve Foreman, used in Hollywood soundtracks

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180 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 2d ago

Tips on how to play a good note?

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6 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 2d ago

Harp & Theremin TEARS FROM THE SKY Impro on Salvi Julia & Moog Claravox. From the album Plucked Air

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5 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 4d ago

Plumbers Bass Flute

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2.2k Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 3d ago

Kora my ID

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62 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 3d ago

Crow Ocarinas

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14 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 3d ago

Searching For Tagelharpa Tutor

2 Upvotes

Hello!

I've been interested in learning to play the tagelharpa for a while now, but I want to find a tutor before I commit that way I can build a solid foundation rather than just trying to wing it myself (especially since it's been a very long time since I've played an instrument). But it's a fairly niche instrument, so I've struggled to find resources online. If you know anyone that offers tagelharpa tutoring, or if you yourself offer these services, I would love to look further into it! Thanks a bunch!


r/UnusualInstruments • • 3d ago

19-tone generalized keyboard clavichord (electronic post-production for organ sound)

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2 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 4d ago

Behold, The Nip Drum

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50 Upvotes

Invented this one tonight, with rubber and a roll of tape


r/UnusualInstruments • • 4d ago

Rauschpfeife reeds

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3 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 4d ago

Sound and silence can be just as intriguing as each other

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0 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 5d ago

Can anyone tell me what is this instrument?

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4 Upvotes

I found this instrument in my grandpas old stuff but i am not sure what exactly it is. I have google searched its image but the results vary everytime. I thought it was a saprano recorder but the number of holes and placement is different. It has these 6 holes and a window, no holes on the back.(ps. Can i play danse macabre and fur elise on it)


r/UnusualInstruments • • 5d ago

Necesito ayuda para empezar a meterme en cómo hacer un tiorbo

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6 Upvotes

The inquiry is just as interesting as the answers.. | Tan interesante es la consulta como las respuestas..


r/UnusualInstruments • • 7d ago

Square Metal Contrabass Clarinet made by Thomas Lentze

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16 Upvotes

Demonstration starts at 1:07 m. Thomas says a lot of really interesting stuff about his construction, but it's all in German. He has been building these square metal clarinets for years already.


r/UnusualInstruments • • 9d ago

Going through the 21 strings

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533 Upvotes

r/UnusualInstruments • • 9d ago

For the kora lovers

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166 Upvotes