What Are Your Favorite Prog Instruments?

[Squids]

What are your favorite Prog instruments? You don't have to be a musician to answer (if you know the instruments... or even just point out a part in a song you like if you don't know what instrument it is).

I love ALL Prog keyboards naturally (Mellotrons, Arps, Moog, Hammond etc.). But, I also love the old Rickenbacker 4001 bass which Mike Rutherford, Chris Squire and Geddy Lee used. I'm not much of a bass player personally although I like to have certain instruments around in the studio for others to play. I had a Ricky 4001 in 1994 which I sold to Stan Cotey so he could play the ideal bass sound when we did "The Lamb" with Giraffe. I never should have sold it though! Glad to say I just picked up a 1973 Ricky 4001 for a really good deal. Ahhhhhhhh. That clunky chunky mofo is back in my life!

I saw Kerry Kompost playing one in a Heliopolis video earlier. That 4001 is a Prog staple I tell ya. What instruments do you like in Prog?

[bob_32_116]

I'd probably go for keyboards, synthesised or otherwise. but really it's the music that's important to me rather than what it's played on.

[3LockBox]

I like prog snares

[Squids]

I like prog snares

Bruford's snare on "Close To The Edge" is one of my faves as is Collins' snare on "Selling England".


Another staple is the Mellotron choir. I just added some to a tune I'm working on now and it just lifts it up into the heavens that sound. I had a debate with Tony Banks once about that sound. He said he really didn't like it at all. He thought it sounded like an organ and much preferred the choir in something like a Korg. He said "I had to put it through all sorts of echo boxes and volume pedals to get it to sound good" and my point was "Yeah, and it DID sound good! Even BETTER through those old Space Echo tape delays" but... I wasn't going to convince him. He did say he like the Mellotron string sounds though at least. Also the Chamberlin Flute. I think, for me, I like almost ALL Mellotron and Chamberlin sounds. They just have a certain character to them. Funny thing about the Mellotron choir though. I co-created a software instrument called "SampleTron" which does a lot of these sounds. Somehow I ended up with a copy of the master tapes (it's on the reels actually that way) and you can hear the choir coughing in between takes. It's pretty bizarre hearing such a classic iconic sound and then all the preparation before the notes... with them having no idea their voices would be on CLASSIC Prog tunes!

[Digital_Man]

Mellotron
Synthesizers
woodwinds
flute
violin
Sax

I would mention the electric guitar but it's not an instrument that is unique to prog the way the others are. Yes I realize they are common in other music forms but not so much in rock.

[GuitarGeek]

I like analog synthesizers a lot. Electric guitar as well, especially if there's lots of solos.

12 string guitar is also another thing I'm quite enamored with. I went through a phase as a teenager where I bought records based on whether or not a guitarist is credited with playing 12 string. That's how I chose the Genesis, Rush, Anthony Phillips and The Church albums I bought first. I also remember borrowing Ralph Towner records from the library because I was aware that he played 12 string, and it taking me awhile to get into it.

Then I bought a late model John Mayall's Bluesbreakers album (Behind The Iron Curtain, I think it was called) that had this picture of him playing a Rickenbacker 450/12 on the cover, and realized that was the wrong reason to buy a John Mayall record. I should probably dig out it and put it on, it's probably a pretty good record (he had both Coco Montoya and Walter Trout in his band at the time).

If we're talking particular makes of guitars, I like Telecasters and Stratocasters (maybe that's why I like Relayer so much, because Howe's main axe on that album was a Tele), so I always dig when I see progressive guitarist using either of those.

For synths, I'm less picky about what they use, so long as they're using good patches and are using the instrument well, ie not Emerson on Works or Wakeman on Tormato. I don't think I've ever met an analog synth I didn't like (other than maybe the GX-1).

[Zeuhlmate]

cowbell...

No, I really dont care. Its what you do with them.
Some instruments in prog has a sound I like particularily, Some synth sounds, B3, Bassoon, some bassguitars

[trurl]

E-bow!

[Scrotum Scissor]

Triangle, tympany and kazoo for me.

[walt]

Air guitar.

[Squids]

Ebow definitely. Electric 12 String is another one. You don't often hear that in too many other styles really. Well, maybe but arpeggiated electric 12 just takes you back in time for some reason.

[Squids]

Triangle, tympany and kazoo for me.

Timpani.

[trurl]

Electric 12 String is another one. You don't often hear that in too many other styles really. Well, maybe but arpeggiated electric 12 just takes you back in time for some reason.

Well, apart from The Byrds and Tom Petty And Led Zeppelin.

[noisynoise]

Yamaha CP-70 electric piano, adds a very distinct atmosphere, sort of melancholy.

[AZProgger]

I like the trumpet and the style used to play it by After Crying.

[BobM]

I play keyboards as well, so it must be a keyboard or synth of some kind. I like the old analogue synth's because that's what I grew up with. The old composite boards with patch cords were really cool and forced you to learn how to construct a sound, but are totally impractical for stage performance or live playing.

[markwoll]

electric guitar with creative processing and mind bending solos

[Dedatolo]

Prophet 5

[taliesin]

Zither.

[Facelift]

Guitar
Bass
Drums

[Halmyre]

Mellotron
Rickenbacker 4001
Flute
Hammond C3
Double-neck Guitar
Roto-Toms
Vachalia
Taurus Pedals

[GuitarGeek]

The old composite boards with patch cords were really cool and forced you to learn how to construct a sound, but are totally impractical for stage performance or live playing.

YOu mean modular synths? I dunno if I'd say they're that unpractical. People like Keith Emerson, Klaus Schulze, and Tangerine Dream certainly seemed to make them work in concert. Course, Emerson had the preset box, plus a Minimoog onstage, and Tangerine Dream had lots of custom gear for their modular rigs (I read one time it took Peter Baumann something like two weeks just to figure out how to use the Projekt Electronic "rhythm controller" that he's credited with using on Stratosfear and Encore).

I'd rather have a modular synth with a sequencer where you can switch the stages in and out, the reset values, etc, in other words "play" the sequencer, over having a laptop where you can't do that. You could probably create a sequencer program on a laptop where you could do that, like a virtual version of the old Moog 960 sequencer, but with more features that the original never had, but to my knowledge nobody does that (except for the Arturia modular program...er, I mean app, but the user interface on the sequencer is a pain in the ass in comparison to what I imagine could be done with that).

At any rate, there's still a lot of people who use modular systems (albeit relatively small ones) for live performance, and if I had the money to buy one and the means to get on a stage and perform music in front of 10 people (trust me, in this town, that's about what you're gonna get at a show, unless you're somebody like Steve Hackett or Tony Levin), I'd use one too in that environment. For the kind of music I would want to play in concert, in terms of synthesizers, I think a real modular (or even a couple real pre-patched synths) would be more to my liking than having just a laptop with a couple MIDI controllers, for live performance.

[GuitarGeek]

Double-neck Guitar

Then you must reckon Xanadu is the best song Rush ever did, huh?

[Sputnik]

I love the Tron (strings in particular), and the 4001/4003 is great (though my days of playing them are over). There's all sorts of great synths, I lean towards the Prophets and the Oberheims over the Moogs, but they can all produce fantastic sounds. The Fender Rhodes is also one of my favorite sounds.

When all is said and done, though, I gravitate to the Hammond B3 (or other Hammond models). I think the organ is particularly important in Prog, both as a link to classical/church music, and as a vehicle for soloing that incorporates elements of jazz. For me, nothing beats a Hammond solo, and many of my favorite moments in Prog feature that instrument.

Bill

[cannygoodlike]

Triple neck bass.