How many musical instruments do you know exist in the world? You can probably count 20-30 at best, maybe. The real question is, did you count in your thoughts any of these 28 unusual instruments? We kinda bet you didn’t right? Because most people don’t even know half of these instruments, we sure didn’t before writing this article.
We maybe knew about 1o of these, and that’s also a stretch, everyday you learn a new thing right? And this time we learned about music tools such as the octobass violin and the pikasso guitar which is really freaking cool btw.
Let’s see how many you can recognize and if you can say how they work
1. The octobass violin
It looks like a giant contrabass
2. The Kalimba “Thumb Piano”
Not sure what to make out of this unusual instrument
3. The Serpent Tuba
It seems like you need powerful lungs for this one
4. The Pikasso Guitar
You need some 6 hands and 5 brains for this instrument, or so it seems
5. The Sharpsichord
It looks like an evil machinery. What does it do? It is actually powered by the sun. It contains a cylinder with 11,520 holes into which a musician puts pins to create musical notes.
6. 12-Neck Guitar
Did I have a few too many drinks?
7. The Auditorium Organ
This looks badass!
8. Worlds Biggest Bass Drum
What sort of studies do you need to play this one?
9. The Chapman Stick
So, it’s some sort of guitar that got some budget cuts
10. The Subcontrabass Saxophone
It looks like it demands a lot of skills
11. The Mondo Accordion
The musical instrument of friendship and bonding or at least so it seems
12. The Piccolo Trombone
What does that little guy do?
13. Contrabass Balalaika
This one is a Russian folk instrument that dates back to the late 17th century. Apart from other stringed instruments, this one has a triangular body that makes it quite difficult to play it
14. Stylophone
Introduced in 1967, this is an analog synthesizer that is operated by a stylus. Definitely one of the most unusual musical instruments on this list.
15. Glass Harmonica
This is an instrument composed of several glass bowls or goblets that are placed in a gradual order in order to create a range of musical tones through friction
16. Crwth
As ancient as the 11th century, this instrument is believed to have been played in Wales many centuries ago
18. Jew’s Harp
It is part of the group of instruments known as plucked idiophones. It’s got a bamboo tongue that you can attach to a frame. The performer places the bamboo tongue in his mouth and touches it with his finger to make a note
19. Hardingfele
Originated from Norway, this instrument has twice as many strings as a normal violin
20. Singing Ringing Tree
Just some steel pipes of various lengths and orientations that produce a distinctive sound
21. A Real Holophonor
Well, to be honest, it looks like a little toy. It actually was, until someone turned it into reality: a musical instrument and hologram projector in one. It is, actually, an old clarinet turned into a futuristic musical instrument that not many know how to play
22. Hydraulophone
An organ powered by water,this musical instrument produces sounds as the performer covers one or more water jets
23. Cajon
It came from the hands of African slaves in Peru. It consists of a wooden box with a sound hole and one side made of thin plywood.
24. Lur
Of Viking origins, the Lur is a wind instrument that dates back to the middle ages
25. Friction Harp
The Friction Harp can be played by rubbing it with a pair of rosined gloves
26. Branching Corrugahorn
Made from the the flexible corrugated pipes that you find in the pulmonary care ward of a hospital. This might be a little too weird for me
27. Zeusaphone
It is quite a shocking instrument as it produces sounds thanks to some Tesla coils
28. Didgeridoo
Probably the oldest aerophone in the world, dating back some 40,000 years, from the aboriginal people of Norther Australia
Now that you’ve read all of them, be honest, how many of these weird musical instruments did you actually know?
