Misc instruments What other instrument could you just not...

[mizmar]

... get along with?

Lots of folks double or dabble; but have you ever fancied adding an instrument but just could not come to terms with it (or them)?

Myself, I fancy a harp/mouth organ. I just don't get it. Luckily, trying costs little in that case.

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[Grumps]

About thirty years ago I bought a trumpet off the wall at Ted's in Baltimore for twenty-five bucks and taught myself how to use it. I was between gigs at the time, but figured I wasn't doing my saxophone playing any good by focusing on another instrument and I abandoned the project after less than a year. Still have the trumpet though.

 

[JayeNM]

flute.

I love flute in jazz and Latin. In all other places I have lived, sax players doubled on it...but oddly not here is SW...and it is reputedly the most common (Bb) sax double, and for sure the fingerings are familiar....but for the life of me I cannot get a consistent tone/sound out of it....cannot keep a steady embouchure...

 

[ghostler]

Similar to @JayeNM , I bought a 1960's open hole Artley C flute. Intended to learn to play it. Never did get a good tone on it.

Remains am unfulfilled project.

 

[skeller047]

I worked as a saxophonist in a casino showroom for about a decade (and freelanced the decade before), so clarinet and flute are required. I have, and have used in shows, flute, piccolo and alto flute, as well as clarinet and bass clarinet.

But at one point it became obvious I needed to play oboe. OMG. Just no. I mean, I did, and I could make a decent sound on it (and English horn), but I hated it. When I left my casino position it went into the case and has stayed there. I have no interest in bringing it out again.

To be fair, what I really played was "show-boe"... I would not call myself an oboe player. I know lots of other players who love it, and they are welcome to it. In the right hands (or mouth...) it sounds lovely. It's just that, well, to paraphrase - "They're writing songs of reeds, but Not For Me".

 

[ghostler]

But at one point it became obvious I needed to play oboe. OMG. Just no. I mean, I did, and I could make a decent sound on it (and English horn), but I hated it. When I left my casino position it went into the case and has stayed there. I have no interest in bringing it out again.

I played oboe during my senior high school year early 1970's for concert band. Think it was a Linton. Never touched it after.

Surprised they didn't transcribe the part for sop. IMO, its haunting timbre is very oboe-like, makes a good substitute for oboe.

 

[Wade Cornell]

For me the duduk has that sorrowful singing quality. So I jumped in and found that it's kind of easy to play since it's a primitive instrument, however the large double reed is an embouchure killer and the back pressure will eventually blow your cheek muscles out (Dizzy style). I'll pick it up occasionally for a special recording, but don't want to kill my cheek muscles or my sax embouchure, so it's very infrequent.