By Thomas Sellers Jr.
I have no musical talent at all.
My voice is used to announce the arrivals of tornadoes and the only time I hold a musical instrument I am using it as a weapon.
Despite my lack of skills in the world of music, I’ve always had a deep appreciation for those who have great talent in the industry. Music is the soundtrack of our lives and can make special moments better. The right arrangement could help you process tragedy better.
Music is vital to the quality of life. My appreciation for music has grown in the past three years through watching the development of my Goddaughter Taliyah. Recently graduating from Millington Central High School, she was a member of the Choir and Band.
Through countless practices and conversations, I know more music terms, how to identify sounds and even what is missing in a song.
I am no music expert but I do know what I like on the radio, playing from my cell phone and what I stream on TV. This week I want to use my platform to breakdown my top 10 musical instruments excluding the voice. Vocal cords deserved their own rankings and close examination in the various genres.
But those devices that accompany our favorite singers over the decades will be ranks below.
10. Synthesizer/Keyboard
TEXTBOOK USAGE: “Jump” By Van Halen
This piece of technology is an electronic musical instrument, typically operated by a keyboard, producing a wide variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies.
This device was the foundation of 80s music. Since I was born in 1981, I have a special place in my heart for this electronic creation.
You can change your voice, add some pop to a traditional instrument or create entire song with this keyboard machine.
Icons of the synthesizer are Jordan Rudess, Dave Greenfield and Vangelis. My person favorites are Herbie Hancock, Stevie Wonder and Thomas Dolby.
Keyboard
TEXTBOOK USAGE: “Bohemian Rhapsody”
By Queen
The keyboard is an instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. Or some describe it as a piano you plug into the wall. Minus all the bells and whistles of a synthesizer, a keyboard challenges an artist to be more creative. There is no pressing of a button to manipulate the sound. You have to bring some skills and a musical ear to the studio. Once again Stevie Wonder is a master at this. He knew when to dial down the electronic sound and let the keyboard be a modern day piano.
9. Clarinet
TEXTBOOK USAGE: “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant”
By Billy Joel
A clarinet, part of the woodwind instrument family, is a single-reed mouthpiece, a straight, cylindrical tube with an almost cylindrical bore, and a flared bell.
This instrument goes back hundreds of years. Some think the clarinet was invented in 1698. And some of the greatest to ever play the device date back to the heyday of classical music.
I love the clarinet because it has a clean, peaceful song. I describe it as the professional flute. It takes skills to play it and clarinetist has the power to boost a song or take it over.
Able to stay in the backdrop, the clarinet has the power to be the feature star.
8. Harmonica
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“Never Give You Up”
By Raphael Saadiq featuring Stevie Wonder
A fixture in Southern Blues, the harmonica is also known as a French harp or mouth organ. It is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres.
Now I hate the Blues. Being a native Memphian, I know that statement is sacrilegious. You might be asking yourself how did the harmonica crack your top 10 and you don’t even like the Blues?
One man is responsible for my love of the harmonica, the legendary Stevie Wonder. Go listen to some of his best songs and wait for his harmonica solo or breakdown.
And I love when Stevie makes a guest appearance on a colleague’s song with his harmonica.
7. Trumpet
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“I Want You”
By Marvin Gaye
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet to the natural trumpet. Toss in a baroque or slide trumpet and you have an instrument with range.
This instrument has made legends in the music industry. Some of the icons of the trumpet are Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown and Herb Alpert.
The trumpet is easily identified with Jazz and will steal the show in the right hands. It had a resurgence in the 1990s with rap groups in the alternative hip-hop genre like De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Queen Latifah.
6. Violin
TEXTBOOK USAGE: “Kashmir”
By Led Zeppelin
In the deep South it is known as a fiddle. But to the rest of the world the instrument that is a wooden chordophone is a called a violin. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use.
We can go back to the 1600s to find the best violin player of all time. The list is long and the genre of music that feature this device is just as long. Whether you like the violin in its natural home of Classical music or sped up in a Country song, the violin is vital to enjoyable sounds.
5. Drums
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“Heat of the Night”
By Phil Collins
A parent’s worst nightmare in the house… drums are a percussion instrument sounded by being struck with sticks or the hands. Drums are typically cylindrical, barrel-shaped, or bowl-shaped, with a taut membrane over one or both ends.
From the bass drum to the traditional set that accompanies a rock band, this instrument is the heartbeat of a song.
I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole of best drum players of all time. You name one guy and a fierce debate begins. From Neil Peart to Ringo Starr to Keith Moon to Chad Smith, let the pounding of words start.
4. Electric guitar
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“National Anthem”
By Jimi Hendrix
Plug it in and define an electric guitar as a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes. Maybe the most used instrument of the 1980s, I’ve learn to appreciate the skills it takes to master this device. Some of the icons to pluck the cords are Jimmy Page, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Angus Young and the Godfather Jimi Hendrix.
If the drums are the heartbeat of a song, the electric guitar pumps the blood to the rest of the body. Pure energy but in the right hands, an electric guitar can be the backdrop of your wedding song.
By the way an underrated player was Prince. Just go listen to the end of “Pink Cashmere.” He makes a smooth transition from acoustic to electric guitar by song’s end.
3. Saxophone
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“Careless Whisper”
By George Michael of Wham
The instrument of choice by Taliyah, my personal best song played on a saxophone was her version of “Happy Birthday” for me. But thanks to copyrights, I won’t be playing it here.
The saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass and in the bridges of 1980s songs.
Before the saxophone became mainstream in the 1980s, Charlie Parker was the face of the instrument. Then the man most associated with the brass instrument is Kenny G.
To appreciate the saxophone and its hidden amazement, go search on YouTube best saxophone solos. You’ll quickly notice how many of your favorite songs had a saxophone interlude.
2. Piano
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“Your Song”
By Elton John
Maybe the most difficult instrument to learn how to play and most expensive, the piano should be in everybody’s top 5 because of those two factors. The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. The complicated device is the foundation of all music once it is mastered. The legends behind the old-fashion keyboard go back to Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There is actual footage of modern day masters like Billy Joel, Lang Lang, Elton John and Stevie Wonder.
1. Bass guitar
TEXTBOOK USAGE:
“Smells Like Teen Spirit”
By Nirvana
Simply it is an electric guitar with bass. This device is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family and the best instrument in music history. From greats like Flea to Bootsy Collins, the bass guitar takes all the best elements of the other instruments on this countdown and make them cooler. The bass can dominate a song but you won’t be mad at it. The bass can hide in the background and do it’s job well. The bass guitar is a great tag team partner to all the other instruments featured. From “Another One Bites the Dust” to “Rom Whom The Bell Tolls” a bass guitar riff is musical gold and a gift to the ear.
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Magic Valley Publishing. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to [email protected].
