What's your favorite instrument to listen to?

Pro musician here.

There are so many, but a hurdy gurdy has gotta be up there. Played by someone who knows more than the basics, it sounds like something a medieval king would demand played to relax.

(They’re also among the most expensive instruments out there, as the only makers today are extremely talented individual ones; no big company like Fender or anything makes them. If you see one, you know it was handmade by a master.)

I also love the sound of the Crwth. It’s from Wales, and is sort of like a regional spinoff/precursor to the violin.

Dual-rectified electric guitar.

Strung Out - Bring out Your Dead

Foo Fighters - Everlong

Tool - Forty Six & 2

Just love a heavy well produced guitar riff. Might be a boring answer but that’s the one for me.

I'm also fan of a particular type of guitar riff that I can only describe as "crunchy" with my limited music vocabulary.
The best example I can give is Spirit in the Sky. The lyrics are cheesy, but damn the guitars are fine in that track.
- You might be thinking about a sound with a lot of distortion
- To this day, nobody knows how they got that unique guitar distortion sound in that song. It's been long-forgotten, even by those that were at the session.
- I feel like Moist does amazing crunchy but melodic riffs personally
Eric Shenkman from Spin Doctors is the cool riff King for my money.
Sometimes stuff is just popular for a good reason. I love loads of different styles of guitar, but I think my favourite heavy riff is probably the chorus one starting at 2:02 in Saor's Children of the Mist
Or maybe Flying Whales because, I mean, it's Flying Whales
- The intro to Power by KMFDM and the intro to Sold by Imperanon are two of my favourite riffs, but I love all kinds of heavy/death metal and industrial and hardcore punk rock and classic rock. Just gets my testosterone going. Makes ma ballz buzz.

Piano or Violin for solo instruments, but I love a good concerto or symphony.

I love a good piano piece.

One of my favorites: https://youtu.be/zucBfXpCA6s

Her Hungarian Rhapsody performance is my favorite!
- Ooh.. I will have to check that out! Thanks for the suggestion.
That was a lovely performance! Great pick, thanks for sharing it

IDK why, but the hurdy gurdy has a pretty alluring sound, in my opinion. So I'm probably going with either that or acoustic guitar.

Edit:

I really like this song using hurdy gurdy because to me it kinda sounds like a soundtrack piece for some prison action film.

I am also a fan of the hurdy gurdy. Here's my entry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypuaJLHK_LQ
- Damn! That hit hard! Thank you for that one.

Drums - pretty much any single by Street Drum Corp

Probably acoustic guitar tbh, I love acoustic covers, but Piano is amazing too, and electric guitar.

Acoustic covers are just so raw and nice to listen to.

Oboe. Anything from the Dream Academy albums would qualify. It has a nice pure sound almost like a vocal.

In second place would be the sitar, or the Hammond Organ if someone is rockin out. The Peddlers, or Fanny would be good examples of excellent Hammond.

Oboe was my choice as well.
I'm biased bc I played oboe in school band but it's true, a really great sounding oboe goes totally unappreciated. I was asked to do the solo to "Kiss from a Rose" or w/e by Seal and that had probably one of the only mainstream music oboe solos. Sadly the singer went with a different song before the show.

Vibraphone and marimba

Very close, steel drum

Like as the main or only instrument in a song? Probably Spanish guitar. See "Vamo Alla Flamenco" from Final Fantasy 9. I wanna say Diablo 2 had a good Spanish guitar track too, but no idea what it's called.

I believe the song in Diablo is called "Tristram". Excellent classical guitar song!
- It's also a really fun song to play. I used to know how to do the intro when I was younger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2evIg-aYw8
Ooo you might like “Desert” by SoundTEMP from Ragnarok Online!

Electric guitar.

Not a single instrument, but I love a horn section, too.

Drums in music. I always zero in on the percussion patterns.

Here’s one I enjoy a lot.
https://youtu.be/wgDZrFG8Ku4
I also recommend checking that whole album out. It’s great.
- This song is awesome, thanks.
Tell us one of your favourites so I can look it up
- The first thing that pops into my head (because I recently watched it) is Chad Smith just winging a song by 30 Seconds to Mars. https://youtu.be/HMBRjo33cUE when he played it, he just felt the music.
  A bonus song that I just love listening to because of the layers is like an opera heavy metal song called Awakening the Centuries - https://youtu.be/VvYRYCIAKZo

The hurdy-gurdy is so pleasant to listen too. I love the drone notes it can play.

Saxophone

I like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrD05HVGVIQ

Hurdy Gurdy

ESSENTIAL Hurdy Gurdy watching
Holy shit I didn't know a hurdy gurdy could go that hard.
- It is an electric one, so a bit of an advantage over wood and string. The drone string is also doing a lot of lifting. Drones make almost any instrument better
Ever listen to Eluveitie?
- Gave them a shot, but they're just not my genre. Thanks for the recommendation though! My partner is more into metal and stuff, so I'll pass it on.
That's my favorite instrument's name to say.

Pipe Organ

I would love to learn to play the organ if I had time.

Roland TB-303. It's the synth that launched so much electronic music. Examples are legion, but one of my favorites is Psychic TV "E-male:" https://youtu.be/o2U3joQ9oFI

Generally considered among the penultimate 303 examples are:

"Higher State of Consciousness" by Josh Wink (https://youtu.be/NdaqXjDtXkQ)
"Acperience 1" by Hardfloor (https://youtu.be/Un4CeV_l3pI)

I was just going to say synthesizer but if we’re being specific the TB-303 is the king, especially with some real dirty overdrive

Piano. Supertramp, "From Now On".

And the sax in that tune is pretty great also.

The Cello, loved it so much that I started learning to play it at around 30.

https://youtu.be/7_8yPpCjK_w

Man, I love me some guzheng nowadays.

There's a YouTuber called Mo Yun who does wonderful guzheng music, including some frankly mind-blowing covers of popular songs. Every so often I just let her entire channel play in the background while I go about my day.
Any song in particular that you'd recommend?
I also love the erhu like the Butterfly Lover's Concerto.

oboe, cello, violin...

I'm big fan of pianos (but not all piano genres) and I have learned that I really like piano run through a phaser and doubled with a Japanese koto

Gawd I love koto…

Piano. Chopin, especially Raindrop.

https://youtu.be/6OFHXmiZP38

If I said guitar, I'd point you to this song, which is actually a piano song performed on guitar. Lately this is the song that makes me feel things.

https://youtu.be/fnymlUUomKI

Bassoon or oboe... Maybe it's the double reed?

El Camino Real by Alfred Reed has a nice oboe solo.

When I think of a classical instrument, I think cello - specifically this piece Shadow of Doubt by Yoko Kanno, where it has such a brooding tone and power.

Being a synthesizer nerd, I like those most, but they have such varied tones among them and even on the same synth; 4x Atlantis by Aphex Twin probably captures one of the tones I most love, and the entire "Orphans" piece hits much of the range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuoFVatL6lQ
- Damn, when he hit stride around 2? Active stankface. That was gnarly af.

If you just keep it to the basic instrument drums probably.

If we are allowing it then a heavily distorted guitar tuned stupidly low. But is it the instrument or the various electronics that make the sound?

I'm not so well versed in music, so any examples of music that you like that have this distortion you mentioned?
- Any heavy metal uses distortion, at least I think that is the English term.
  If you're asking specifically i like meshuggah - bleed style guitar.

Yamaha DX7

I love the theremin! This is one of my favorite duets.

Oh wow, I don't think I've seen one played for real before! This is cool, thanks for sharing

Love me a steel drum. No other instrument can instantly transport you to a beach

Same with me. They just embody relaxation and good times. Makes me smile when I hear steel drums.

Who doesn't enjoy some good theremin

https://youtu.be/9qYndeST4aw

I dunno about favourite but Kamancheh sounds pretty lovely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6D_3sBN3FM&t=224

Violin! Especially when they are used to imitate the sound of wind. My current fav examples of this: https://youtu.be/U0TXIXTzJEY https://youtu.be/NqAOGduIFbg

Saxophone. But not always because it's smooth. Because sometimes it ROCKS...

https://youtu.be/7QFNAtnUDJ8

...Or because it's crazier than anything you've ever heard!

https://youtu.be/BARAHLk-8dk

Piano.

Violin is up there for me, such rich notes and emotion can be pushed through it.

After that a didgeridoo played well is awesome. I like to play mine into the bath tub so I get the reverberation and can really hear it

And the bubbles are nice too.

I love horns in music, especially the trumpet. It's why I'm a big fan of Cake, they have a prominent role for the trumpet in a lot of their songs. The best has to be the trumpet solo in Italian Leather Sofa (starts around 2:10) but they have other great ones too.

Cake is such a unique band. Thanks for mentioning it!
Their covers are amazing for a cover junkie like me
- Yeah, I love their covers too, and I'm normally not much of a cover fan.

My actual favorite is electric guitar followed by violin, and I'll gladly expound, but those have already been mentioned.

So for this comment I'll go with handpan drum. Those sound so amazing and soothing to me.

Damn I've been trying to find out what the hand pan drum was called for so long, thank you haha.
I would call it the 44 gallon xylophone

Hammond B3. Mmmmm.

Classical guitar, here's Nocturne by Chopin.

Sitar!

Ugh looooove me some sitar.

Accordion, dammit Accordion!

Hang drums sound beautiful

Trumpet. I think it's cause that's the instrument I first learned music on in elementary school.

I love a lot of different instruments, but I fell in love with the Erhu after ATLA. Second to that, the orchestral strings like the violin, viola, cello, etc. Scores from Halo and Elder Scrolls franchises.

Finally, the collective vocal cords of choirs.

Harpsichord. Its just such a nice and unique timbre

Stylophone is very nice. The abrasive overtones are an acquired taste, but I've acquired it. It has a nice, rounded sound while not being generic like a sine wave.

Bamboo flute!

Native American flute.

There's nothing that makes me chill out and vibe faster after work.

A cozy EP, one that you can usually hear in jazz, fusion, and r&b.

An 8-string guitar with a clear heavy djent tone, like Meshuggah, Tesseract, and Animals As Leaders.

I'm not normally a big flute fan, but the flute solo in Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull is fire.

I really like the duduk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubg7AI81VsQ

The most well known piece is probably the gladiator music.

I appreciate a good bagpipe. Especially when they share a lot of tonal similarities with violins like this nightwish instrumental. https://youtu.be/yOxGlXmPusI

Chainsaw (bfg division)