What instruments MUSICALLY turn you on?

[Zaia]

Woodwinds are nice though. Fuck, I LOVE bassoons and oboes. Notably bassoons. Love bassoons.

Do you know "The Rite of Spring" and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," then? Great bassoon solos in those.

[Drewcifer]

Those electronic voice thingies...

A vocoder? They are cool. Interesting history as well. Neil Young (Trans) and Laurie Anderson (O Superman!) did some cool things with vocoders. You hear them a lot in modern dance music too, with drums triggering a melody. Plug-ins abound for this effect these days, and you can even build your own!

For me, it's guitar/bass/drums, esp gtr. Don't get me wrong, from keys to strings and brass to reeds, I love it all. I was in choir, marching band and symphonic band in high school. But it always comes back to guitar for me. Strat through a Twin. Les Paul through a Marshall. An ancient Martin. That's it.

On a related note, there's a song on the Bill and Ted soundtrack by Extreme called Do You Want to Play? which includes some Excellent bits of Beethoven on electric guitar.

That is one fantastic piece of showboat guitar work. That was a fun time for hot-dog guitar playing. What was that guy's name? Nino Bettencourt? Or am I mixing people up?

...Hendrix...

Have you heard "Little Wing" yet? Go listen to that a few times, and get back to us

[aerius]

I've listened to his greatest hits album (which had AAtWT) and it was just good. I can't really hear any difference between his playing and most other good guitarists. He's good, but no where near the masturbation level that people raise him to IMO.

Not that big a fan of that song either, Hendrix has much better stuff out there, and a lot of it ain't on the greatest hits album. Personally I think he was at his best playing the Blues, his Blues album is IMO his best work, and him playing blues live is just unreal.

Personally I don't have a fave instrument that really does it for me, it all depends on how its used. On some songs guitar is perfect, on others it's piano, on some it's electric bass, and so on. If I had to pick something I'd say it's the female voice, gets me every time.

[Dalton]

On a related note, there's a song on the Bill and Ted soundtrack by Extreme called Do You Want to Play? which includes some Excellent bits of Beethoven on electric guitar.

That is one fantastic piece of showboat guitar work. That was a fun time for hot-dog guitar playing. What was that guy's name? Nino Bettencourt? Or am I mixing people up?

Haven't the faintest, bro

[Exonerate]

Electric guitars just for the sound of it, and a well-played violin.

[Saurencaerthai]

As a percussionist, almost any percussion does it for me. Steel drums, tabla, taiko, drum set, conga, Sikiyi drum ensamble, marimba, you name it and chances are I love it.

[Petrosjko]

Guitar is hands-down my favorite. It's the instrument that can carry a solo piece the best for my tastes, although I do like violins for that purpose as well.

For mixed pieces, I do love strategically placed cello accompaniment.

[Hawkwings]

oboe and F horn, when played well, have such a wide variety of tone, colors, "emotions" basically, that I just love 'em. Gives me the shivers

Mallet percussion is my second choice, that marimba there looks so sweet... That is a whole freaking lot of mallets...

[Lord Pounder]

It's a tie for me. I live big stringed insturments in them. Recently i've noticed that all my favourite songs have major strings in them. The Verves Bitter Sweet Symphony, Oasis's Wonder Wall and Bush's Glycerine being big examples.

The other side of the coing being I love hearing heavy base in a song. Wheather it's from a guitar or electronic it just seems to pulse through me and like the strings it gives me chills to my very soul.