10 Popular Musical Instruments

Can you imagine how dull life would be if we did not have the wonderful sounds of music to enjoy? All the different musical instruments which makes beautiful sounds which when combined together is nothing short of magical. Music can be used as a way to learn, a form of communication, to express ones feelings of love, joy, anger, sadness or excitement. Kudos goes out to the great inventors of various musical instruments as well as the talented persons whom many were simple born gifted to play these instruments and tingle our ear with sounds we simple can't resist moving to. There are however some musical instruments which are much more widely used and loved over others. Some of these instruments have had the pleasure of being played by many musical geniuses. Lets take a look at a list of ten musical instruments we simply just love to hear.

1. Saxophone

Talk about having a good pair of lung. The Saxophone is a member of the woodwind instrument and it's unique sound is heard flowing through any genre of music. Whether it be pop, rock, soul or jazz, you can be sure that the "Sax" will pack the stacks. Not only does the saxophone have a nice sexy look to it, some say the instrument is alive! That once you have taken up a saxophone you can never put it down. It seeps into your body and turns you into a walking saxophone demon. Blasting out soul ripping tunes every time your play.

How The Saxophone works
The sax has keys or buttons attached to leather pads. Once these buttons are engaged or pressed,they cover and open tone holes. If you press different combination of these keys, the result would be different sounds or pitches. The Sax also contains a mouthpiece and a single reed.

2. Violin

Next to the piano, this is one of the most romantic musical instruments. How many movie have you seen where a woman is being serenade by the romantic music of the violin? This is another musical instrument which can bring out the pulse in a players feelings. The violin is part of the string instruments and is accompanied by the bow which has a ribbon of horsehair, The violin is placed on top of the shoulder and is held down by the chin. The player then simply slides the bow across the violin strings creating variants of sound and pitches. Even though the violin is quite a "serander", it can get real wild and erratic at times and may even bring pulse to the old dead.

Violin, Viola and Cello Differences

Both the violin and the viola are played under the jaw, the viola being the larger of the two instruments, with a playing range reaching a perfect fifth below the violin's. The cello is played sitting down with the instrument between the knees, and its playing range reaches an octave below the viola's

3. Piano

Many musicians have become famous because of this musical instrument. We are talking about great pianist such as Willie Hall, Sergei Rachmaninov, Alfred Cortot, Myra Hess, McCoy Tyner and Arthur Rubinstein, just to name a few.They have used the piano to create classical, jazz and party hits that will outlast time itself. One could consider the piano to be both a chordophone and a percussion instrument. A chordophone is any musical instrument where the strings produce sounds by means of a resonating chamber, percussion is any musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater.The piano uses hammers to hit the strings. With that said, the piano itself is one of the more loved musical instruments and many millions of people across the world take piano lessons simple because they are inclined into music or fell in love with playing the piano. The piano is very attracted to your fingers and when they both meet, you can never tell what magic will be produced.

4. Drums

Drums are not just used in rock bands and cracking heavy metal bands. They are used in the compilation of many songs. A drum is like the backbone of music beats, it commands that distinctive flow which simply jives. The drum is part of the percussion instruments, sounds are created by beating the drums with bare hands or the traditional drum sticks. Drums have been used in parades such as military, and high school music bands. Drums represent symbols of unity, strength and sometimes freedom. The drum is one of the most used musical instruments in Africa, where native people of that beautiful land beat music for enjoyment, carrying out traditions and for religious purposes.

5. Trumpets

Is the trumpet the holy grail of music instruments? The trumpet has played its way into being one of those musical instruments which is just pure and simple loved to be played. The trumpet can be played over all musical genres, but when it comes on to jazzing to the music of this horn, you can be sure jazz takes the cake. You cannot talk about trumpet and not mention great trumpet players such as Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and many other great trumpet players. These were the God Fathers of Trumpet Jazz. One thing to also note about the trumpet is it's biblical ties. If you believe in the bible, it mentions a lot of trumpet blowing, both on earth and in heaven. In Med-evil wars, the trumpet was either used as a sound of war or victory. The trumpet is a member of the brass wind instrument family.

6. Guitar

A beautiful string instrument which when played with the right hands, is capable of producing some of the most melodious sounds. The guitar is another well loved musical instrument that many would agree would outsell any other instrument. The guitar is not a hard instrument to earn to play, but many great guitarist are simply born talented and have improved upon their talent over time. The guitar is one of those musical instruments which has evolved over time. Many older guitarist will definitely go for the acoustic guitar over the electric guitar. What's the difference you ask? Well let me give you a brief description of the two:

• The acoustic guitar is much like the classical, your play your strings and the sounds are amplified to in the body of the guitar and outputted. The neck of the acoustic is slimmer than that of the classical guitar which also makes it easier to play. Plus the acoustic guitar designs are quite stylish.
• The electric guitar must use power and is a bit easier to play than the acoustic. The electric guitar can use amplifiers and if you want to keep things down to yourself when practicing, the electric guitar comes with headphone capability. The electric guitar needs to output to a sound system.

7. Flute

A flute is part of the win instrument group. It has a joyous, happy and young tone when played. A good piper when playing can make you believe you are in an enchanted garden surrounded by mystical creatures and fruit trees in abundance with golden walkways. While streams flow magical healing waters and massages your feet. I maybe have gone too far with my imagination but the flute does have a little bit of magic about it. Have you ever heard the tale of the pied piper and his magical flute? Well, let me give you a brief synopsis of the tale. The pied paper of hamelin ( a German town) was hired by the citizens to drive the rats which were causing havoc. They agreed on paying him a certain amount of money. The pied piper played his magic flute and drove the rats in the river and all the rats drowned. When it was time to collect his pay, the people double crossed him and paid him half of what the deal was. The pied piper then gave them an ultimatum, either pay up by a certain time or loose your kids. The people laughed and jeered him. The ultimatum had been reached as the citizens did not pay. The pied piper played his flute to a different tune and all the citizens of the town followed him into the forest and into a magical cave, they were never to be seen again. The people of the town vouched never to double cross a man and his flute again! A good lesson to learn.

8. Tambourine

A very famous percussion musical instrument. Why i say famous is that the tambourine is one of those musical instruments that is so easy to make, almost every kid worldwide who have attended some sort of kindergarten school has had the opportunity of making a simple tambourine. (well, sometimes the parents take over the kids projects and make it themselves!) One of the most basic ways we used to make tambourine back in my days was to collect metal bottle stoppers, beat them down to make them flat and round, use a nail to bore holes in the stoppers, get a nice thick wire, put the stoppers on and bound that wire. Voila! you just made your first tambourine. The tambourine is quite a spectacular instrument even with its simplicity. While some tambourines are open, others are covered and form simple drums. You can beat and shake the tambourine at the same time and give it a different tone. The tambourine is a used in many cultures as part of their musical ritual and dance. It is one of those instruments which commands the movement of your feet, or the clapping and swinging of the hand.

9. Harmonica

Who doesn't love this little guy. There is no limit to the notes you can blow through this tiny musical instrument. The harmonica is small, easy to play and produces rocking sounds. The harmonica has experienced some of the fastest lips in history, go ask harmonica jazz player Carey Bell. The distinctive sound of the harmonica is a spirit lifter and will make anybody want to move their feet to its sounds. The harmonica can be played in many dynamic ways, from jazz and blues, pop, souls and many other genres. But one thing for sure, when the harmonica plays it will definitely grab your attention.

10. Sea Shell

How many of you knew that the sea shell is widely used as a musical instrument? When i speak about sea shells, i am not talking about all sea shells, the one that is mostly used is the cone shells. Those shells which when you put them to your ear, you can hear the ocean. I wonder if mermaids used these shells to play in their under sea parties? Depending on the size and inner coiling of the sea shell, it is capable of producing different tones. when you listen to the sea shell, it has a mellow easy going tone to it. Larger sea shells when blown can sound like a battle call by aqua-man, the king of Atlantis. There are good sea shell players out there and many people come to concerts just to hear these wonderful musical sounds.

Bonus - BagPipes

One of the Scottish most loved musical instruments. Bagpipes are part of the aerophone musical instrument family. The bagpipe has been used for centuries and is still widely used in mostly European nations such as Turkey. The bagpipe has played its way into the hearts and culture of the Turkish people. Its wonderful sound resonates freedom and hope.