Forget guitarrons

[Annoying Twit]

This is what we need to get a decent acoustic bass tone.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3W3mRs4ULQ[/media]

Edited September 3, 2015 by Annoying Twit

[EssentialTension]

I like the melodica entrance.

[lowhand_mike]

that blokes thumb must be rock hard to get that sound off the top of that er... guita....bas.... thing, must have a raspy right hand too
i can barely play the 5ver that i have let along somthing that size - ooh err missus

[Annoying Twit]

It's about the same size as a double bass, isn't it? Albeit a six string double bass.

This video has given me melodica gas. It's given me giant guitar gas too, but that's no problem as I can't buy one.

BTW: If anyone wants to see it without watching the whole video, the melodica enters at about 2:02.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Annoying Twit

[Happy Jack]

[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1441222098' post='2857115']
... This video has given me melodica gas ...
[/quote]
My son's band feature regular interludes of [i]dub pipe[/i] or [i]Jah pipe[/i] (as they like to call it). It is a great and effective but cheap little instrument.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1441222517' post='2857124']
My son's band feature regular interludes of [i]dub pipe[/i] or [i]Jah pipe[/i] (as they like to call it). It is a great and effective but cheap little instrument.
[/quote]

I'm tempted. I want one of the ones with a tube so that I can play it with it sat on a table (or something in front of me).

Walk off the Earth show what you can do with cheap ukulele basses so that you can afford more than one of them.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgD5p1XiVT0[/media]

Edited September 3, 2015 by Annoying Twit

[tauzero]

I don't think I've ever seen a strumstick on a music video before.

[BassTractor]

Love the sound design/orchestration/production on this track. Luvverly.
Sadly it wasn't on iTunes.

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1441222132' post='2857117']
[url="http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg.html"][/url]
[/quote]

It's a Flying Dairylea.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1441369301' post='2858330']
I don't think I've ever seen a strumstick on a music video before.
[/quote]

I wasn't familiar with a strumstick. It's a bit limiting being in one key, unless you do the harmonica thing and buy 12 of them. When If first saw them, I assumed that they would be a three string guitar tuned to a power chord. They are (generally) tuned to a power chord, but they don't have a full set of chromatic frets. Surely a three string guitar would be similarly easy to play, but more flexible.

[gapiro]

[quote name='lowhand_mike' timestamp='1441221730' post='2857109']
that blokes thumb must be rock hard to get that sound off the top of that er... guita....bas.... thing, must have a raspy right hand too
i can barely play the 5ver that i have let along somthing that size - ooh err missus
[/quote]
I thought it was a guitar-cajon maybe? (so a Guitarjon?)

[jazzyvee]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1441222132' post='2857117']
[url="http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg.html"][/url]
[/quote]
This is a balalaika and i've seen quite a number of these being played at WOMAD in the past in a band where all the musicians were playing three stringed instruments like these of various sizes and tunings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balalaika

[EssentialTension]

I recommend the Terem Quartet ...

[media]http://youtu.be/msedLtGEgrk[/media]

[tauzero]

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1441376494' post='2858454']
I wasn't familiar with a strumstick. It's a bit limiting being in one key, unless you do the harmonica thing and buy 12 of them. When If first saw them, I assumed that they would be a three string guitar tuned to a power chord. They are (generally) tuned to a power chord, but they don't have a full set of chromatic frets. Surely a three string guitar would be similarly easy to play, but more flexible.
[/quote]

They're pretty much the same as Appalachian dulcimers, except that Appalachian dulcimers are played from above (cf. guitar vs. lap steel). It's not so much a power chord as a melody string and two drones. With my old ceilidh band, the dulcimer player had two, one in D and one in G, and the melodeon player's melodeons were in D and G, so that was handy.

[Annoying Twit]

Surely a three string guitar could do both. You could play it as a melody string plus drones, but also play power chords with one finger. The strumstick doesn't have the full set of frets, which would make it harder to play some useful chords (e.g. would bIII bVI and bVII be available in the 'open' key) and also playing in different keys.

[tauzero]

Just think of it as a string version of the Highland bagpipes.

[RandomBass]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1441222132' post='2857117']
[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[/quote]
So that's what they did with the decommissioned Vulcan bombers...

[Norm]

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1441222132' post='2857117']
[URL=http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/h4ppyjack/Just%20Stuff/Music%20and%20Musicians/leonid_bruk_balalaika_contrabass_sm.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
[/quote]

played one of those a couple of weeks ago. Interesting!
A work colleague plays one in a mandolin ensemble. He wanted a mando bass but couldn't find one he could afford so opted for the balalaika. Sounded right woody in a good way!

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1441619138' post='2860204']
Just think of it as a string version of the Highland bagpipes.
[/quote]

I saw and briefly played a Seagull Merlin SG today, one of these:



Very easy to play, but it would be frustrating to not have all notes. A chromatically fretted version would be very interesting. But, even though some chords could be played by fretting fruitlessly between the frets that are there, I would think that the limitation to diatonic chords would be frustrating.

[tauzero]

It's not about chords though, it's melody and drones (also cf. sitar).

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1441834203' post='2862252']
It's not about chords though, it's melody and drones (also cf. sitar).
[/quote]

I would prefer to be able to play both. I tried both styles, the melody + drone, and fretting all strings to play power chords. I'd like an instrument like this that can play more notes.