~*~Playing spoons for the masses~*~

esa · Post by **esa** » Tuesday Feb 24, 2004

So I was sitting around and thinking about nothing imparticular when I picked up my "training spoons" and started playing with them. Yes, there are actual things like this that teach you how to play the spoons. Woo hoo. (Yes, the VHS is in my drawer as well...)
Anywhos.

I started thinking about all the non musical music things we use in our bands. Wash boards. Rice shakers. Talk boxes. Sirens. Morse Code. Bending saws. Breaking shyte. Tambourines. Lighters (personal fave). etc. When I mean non instrumental.. I mean obvious things like guitars, basses, pianos, drums, etc.

And it really got me curious: What are the most beloved non instrumental music making thingiemajigs out there? Any opinions on that? Or any neat tips/tricks you want to share?

Post by **Ron** » Tuesday Feb 24, 2004

If you live outside of the city and have a gas stove, the propane tanks make some of the coolest percussive sounds. Especially when they are running low.

daveb · Post by **daveb** » Tuesday Feb 24, 2004

The squelch feature on old walkie talkies makes a really cool industrial sounding noise burst when you push the button. Also soame said walkie talkie can be used to broadcast your voice to another walkie talkie (no shit, huh) if you put a mike in front of the recieving walkie talkie you can get some useful AM radio effects. Good for vocals and guitar. Fun for kids of all ages, races and creeds.

Post by **Ron** » Tuesday Feb 24, 2004

Here's another one. You know how a crystal glass will resonate when you rub the top? My mother has a very thin crystal bowl that is shaped like a giant brandy snifter. It's about 10" wide at the mouth, and tapers out to about 12" at the middle, and it has about a 1" stem.
It seems that every holiday we get that thing out, put a few inches of water in it, and get it to resonate. It is really cool... the tone is very deep, loud, and eerie, with a lot of cool harmonic overtones. While it's resonating, the mouth of the bowl flexes in and out about 1/4 of an inch. The water inside also gets really freaky looking. It gets tall peaks in it that stay in one spot if you can keep the tone really steady, like it's defying gravity (though it's just the pressure wave through the water keeping it peaked).
I should sample that sound one day before the bowl shatters from us making it resonate.

witchhunt · Post by **witchhunt** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

Ron,
I think you better have Father Merrin say a little prayer over that bowl.

Post by **Jim Price** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

I don't know if it could be applied to musical purposes, but "plucking" the bars on the side of my bird cage yields some interesting tones, varying with the length of the bar being plucked. And it weirds out my parakeets, too.

esa · Post by **esa** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

witchhunt wrote:Ron,
I think you better have Father Merrin say a little prayer over that bowl.

Who is father merrin?

I think that's cool. I've done wine glasses like that. Get a few of them together and go to town. The cats don't like it though, hurts their ears.

Also, I've loved the sound of gas tanks. As a child I would whack the hell out of them to hear the deep echo reverb with a low note. Then the fear of God was put into me by my grandfather. "Yeah, and it will sound pretty when you hit it the wrong way and it blows you up with it." Ah.. like telling a child you'll beat them if they fall out of that tree (that you told them a million times not to climb) and break their neck. ::chuckles::

Cool ideas. Keep them coming.

I will have to try that walkie talkie one too.
My favorite is an elec guitar, distortion pedal and a zippo. I thought I was the shiznit the first time I did it. Then I found out that some guy named Floyd did it on an early album. Le sigh. Oh well. Discovery is learning to play true to yourself. That is great knowledge...and knowing is half the battle. Yo Joe!

witchhunt · Post by **witchhunt** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

Father Merrin was the old priest in "The Exorcist". Probably my favorite movie of all time. Scared the hell into me when I was 13.

April · Post by **April** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

most of the women out there can probably agree on what their favorite non-musical "intrument" to play is. and you can create some pretty interesting "sounds" if you play it correctly. HA!

(sorry, mind's in the gutter. I just couldn't resist.)

daveb · Post by **daveb** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

I wasn't going to post this but since you opened the door. Once, I was watching an adult movie showcasing the talents of two fine looking lesbians. The one girl (the red head) was using a vibrator on the others "instrument" (no hair) . She was moving it in a stirring motion. (are you getting the visual?) The sound was very musical. Kind of like an Austrailian dijeree do (sp). Now, put the visual with the musical....Yeah! Baby! I've also seen some cool "non instruments" played on Hee Haw. But I fear describing them in mixed company would be too graphic>

MOONDOGGY · Post by **MOONDOGGY** » Wednesday Feb 25, 2004

To get away from the porn side of things!, I think the drilll near the pickups (ala EVH on Poundcake i think) is an awsome home-made effect. Ive yet to hear/try it on bass.

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Thursday Feb 26, 2004

Just watch the group STOMP! All of their music is made by regular things, also it's very coordinated. I saw them live in Williamsport, very nifty. Also the Blue Man Group uses PVC pipe for all kinds of neat sounds. It's really amazing.

Pure Evil · Post by **Pure Evil** » Thursday Feb 26, 2004

Remember the old tv show "Sonny Spoon"?

WAy way waaaaaaay before "spoonman" was popular

witchhunt · Post by **witchhunt** » Thursday Feb 26, 2004

I used to play the forks. Tried to do some Over Kill one day and damn near lost my eye.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Thursday Feb 26, 2004

I play drums and percussion with my teeth. Unfortunately, I'm the only one who can hear it. My dentist says its hell on the bridgework.

Post by **Jim Price** » Thursday Feb 26, 2004

Do you remember Adam Sandler's novelty hit from a few years ago, "Ode to My Car?" My favorite radio edit version was when they used various car, truck and bus horns to bleep out the curse words. It was pretty cleverly done, with louder horns used for the angrier parts of the song, etc.

I told Mike from Emily's Toybox that I'd like attempt to do a similar car horn radio-friendly version of ETB's "Road Rage" to play on the "Backyard Rocker" sometime.

Jawwge · Post by **Jawwge** » Thursday Feb 26, 2004

I was watching a Bela Fleck show once, and he had a guy on there from somewhere in siberia, named Kangar Ol Andar, I'm sure I fucked up the spelling, Any way this guys culture had a tradition of whats been described as throat singing. This produced some really off the wall sounds. The really amazing part was this guy could sing in three voices simultaneously. I've never heard anything like it.

PLAY GUITAR!!!

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Friday Feb 27, 2004

That's called Tuvian throat singing... it originated in the steppes of Mongolia over a thousand years ago. I watched a documentary about it... they train from childhood, and even though they explained how to do it, it still seemed pretty impossible to me. You do a low growl, a long drone note, use your sinus cavity as a resonance chamber, and the melody consists of just a few notes made secondarily in your throat... kind of like fretting a chord, strumming near the bridge, then picking notes BEHIND your fretting hand on the neck. High-pitched and hard to control, and full of harmonics. It's really eerie-sounding and haunting. I'm surprised nobody's used it in a metal song... they used it in the Conan movies, though.----->JMS

Post by **Ron** » Friday Feb 27, 2004

I've seen/heard the throat singing before in a music diversity class. It does seem quite impossible, and the sound is simply chilling.
I thought the same when I first heard of circular breathing, the mechanics are unhuman. That still baffles me.

ZappasXWife · Post by **ZappasXWife** » Friday Feb 27, 2004

Then there was that thing Peter Frampton used, didn't it have a keyboard with it? He would make his voice sound distorted...I know, doesn't count cause technically thats an instrument I guess. Anyone know the name of that? I have a cool thing called a Vibratone (no it wasn't that thing in the porn movie with the lesbians) that is a tuning fork that plays like a Wah Wah, it is cool...

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Friday Feb 27, 2004

That's a Talkbox. It has a driver (speaker, sort of) in it that puts the sound into a tube that goes in your mouth. It basically replaces the sound your vocal chords make with the sound of the guitar, simplistically speaking. Say hi to Zappa for me!----->JMS

esa · Post by **esa** » Friday Feb 27, 2004

ZappasWife wrote:Then there was that thing Peter Frampton used, didn't it have a keyboard with it? He would make his voice sound distorted....

songsmith wrote:That's a Talkbox. ----->JMS

Woo hoo! I got termanology right for once! That was up in the original paragraph. ::beams:: I'm so smart. Wow.. if I can keep that up, maybe someone ::coughs the name "metalrules":: would take me on as a protege.
::grins::

Danette · Post by **Danette** » Sunday Feb 29, 2004

Years ago for our 6th grade commencement ceremony our music teacher made our class perform a song called "Pop Bottle Hoedown". The class did this by blowing across the opening of a glass soda bottles filled with different amounts of of water. I don't know which was worse - that or the a cappella "Silnet Night" solo, in chinese. lol

esa · Post by **esa** » Sunday Feb 29, 2004

Danette wrote: "Pop Bottle Hoedown". The class did this by blowing soda bottles filled with different amounts of of water. I don't know which was worse - that or the a cappella "Silnet Night" solo, in chinese. lol

::giggles:: That has to be some of the funniest stuff I've ever heard. We were made to do Accapolko (a cappella) Silent Night in German once, so I can extend my sympathies. However... Soda bottles. That tops it.

Do we have any Jug Bands in the area still?

Post by **Ron** » Sunday Feb 29, 2004

esa wrote:Do we have any Jug Bands in the area still?

It depends on what kind of jugs you're talking about. LOL.

ROCKPAGE

~~Playing spoons for the masses~~

~~Playing spoons for the masses~~