'Other' acoustic instruments

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TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349
..as in "other than acoustic guitars"

I've been developing a real hankering for getting to know some of the other folkier instruments.

I've decided that over the next 12 months I want to have got my mitts on at least:
- a Mandolin
- a Banjo
- a Resonator

other inklings include some kind of 3-string didley bow/cigar box kind of thing and a lap/weisenborn kind of thing.

I'm sure there are folk here who dabble in this darker side? 
Red ones are better. 
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Comments

  • I can knock out a few chords on a charango.
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349
    I had too google that!



    sweet sound 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15475
    currently fiddle and mandolin. 

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • Try a Double Bass.
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  • VimFuegoVimFuego Frets: 15475
    Try a Double Bass.
    I'd love to, but they're a bugger to get under the chin.

    I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.

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  • Brucie was a virtuoso! :)
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  • mgawmgaw Frets: 5239
    banjo and mandolin
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  • BasherBasher Frets: 1198
    Irish Bouzouki?
    Somewhere twixt an octave mandolin and a guitar. Generally used for drones, chordal strums and counter melody in trad music. Most popular tuning seems to be GDAD and the bass strings can be either unison or octave pairs. ADAD is a bit "dronier" while GDAE (mandolin/fiddle tuning 1 octave down) leans more towards tune playing (although the scale length can make this a challenge, unless you capo into friendlier keys).
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  • Chris_JChris_J Frets: 139

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  • I don't play one, it terrifies me but I consider the Oud to be the king of guitar related acoustic instruments. 

    Even if one doesn't consider it to be the king, it's the father for sure.  

    Here's a video of a legend of the instrument


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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11788
    first choices:
    Tenor guitar
    Wooden bodied resonator or preferably a Weissenborn

    Also I bought a mando-strat
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  • JerkMoansJerkMoans Frets: 8774
    I’ve got a Sitar. Purchased in India, no less. 

    Bugger to tune, and the only thing I can play on it is the James Bond theme.

    my daughter and I are seriously considering re-tuning the main strings (let’s forget resonators for now) to Guitar pitch and let rip.
    Inactivist Lefty Lawyer
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  • AliGorieAliGorie Frets: 308
    edited November 2017

    A uilleann chanter <> 100 yr old 4 keys making it fully chromatic, wonderful sound and feel, 's why I bought it. Must get of my a*s and get a new bag made for it - got the bellow. Then a few months getting back to where I was before the bag gave out.and take up from there 'learning'.
    Because these earlier ones are individually made there was no 'standard' dimensions - so you really have to have the reed made for each chanter - something I intend to grt into - given time and health.
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349
    Tune it in fifths for some power chord action! 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349
    AliGorie said:

    A uilleann chanter <> 100 yr old 4 keys making it fully chromatic, wonderful sound and feel, 's why I bought it. Must get of my a*s and get a new bag made for it - got the bellow. Then a few months getting back to where I was and take it up from there.
    Because these earlier ones are individualy made there was no 'standard' dimensions - so you really have to have the reed made for each chanter - somthing I intend to grt into - given time and health.
    Pardon my ignorance - this is the blowy bit from a bagpipe? 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • TimmyOTimmyO Frets: 7349

    first choices:
    Tenor guitar
    Wooden bodied resonator or preferably a Weissenborn

    Also I bought a mando-strat
    There's a great local band here where the front fella plays a (copy of a) Weissenborn on a bunch of their songs - sounds great 
    Red ones are better. 
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  • AliGorieAliGorie Frets: 308
    edited November 2017
    It's a stick wi nine holes for fingering tunes on - basically, but the Irish did only what they can do - fashioned the reed to cover two octaves and added keys to cover the half notes.
    Oh and they added three 'tenor' drones with more keys so you can accompany ur'self like this -
    oops - that did'nt post the video - try again -



    http://https//youtu.be/OAtEnKBvmbM

     


     


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  • Balrog68Balrog68 Frets: 100
    Tenor guitar, Mandolin and Octave Mandolin
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  • I play mandolin, CBG and lap steel as well as "normal" guitar. 
    I had a banjo, but in 6months of concerted effort I only achieved being bad rather than awful. i was learning Scruggs style picking and it was SO hard! Sounded great in the few moments I got it together, but they were too few.
    its surprisingly loud too!

    Resonators are great but also VERY loud by design- I loved the tone, but didn't love my children being woken whenever I got carried away and started digging in. 
    Instead I bought a lap steel, which is great fun- you needn't spend a fortune on one. The tone is in the heavy strings and heavy bar. So long as the instrument can take the tension and the pickup is ok it's all good. 

    Its worth building a three string cigar box (CBG) if you want to dabble in fun instruments but don't want to shell out: I built mine for £20 (& I had money left over). I've got a piezo in it and have even gigged it once or twice. I couldn't be bothered with frets, so I play it slide & have it tuned DGd. Simple fun. 

    Mandolin is huge fun, if a very cramped space to work in. I mainly play it at folk jam sessions where we have too many guitarists & not enough other instruments. A mandolin is an excellent travelling instrument too- even with two small children filling the car with their accoutrements I can sneak the mandolin and its hardcase in there. 
    Watch Chris Thile & be amazed. 
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  • SporkySporky Frets: 27569
    edited November 2017
    I'd say cello, but mine's electric.
    "[Sporky] brings a certain vibe and dignity to the forum."
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