Music & Instruments News
News: 'Darth Vader's Theme' from Star Wars Masterfully Played on a Plastic Coffee Stirrer
If there's one thing you'd never think to play music on, it's probably a coffee stirrer, right? But that didn't stop this guy from playing one of my favorite theme songs on one — "Darth Vader's Theme," aka "The Imperial March."
The Gun Guitar: A Fully Functional Three-String Shotgun You Play & Shoot
If you really want to end your next big guitar solo with a bang, consider giving this shotgun guitar a try.
News: 4 Famous Songs Played Perfectly on Glass Bottles
Take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles on which to play classical music? As someone who has studied music extensively, I've seen many interpretations of famous pieces of music played on glass bottles, but hearing these four interpretations of famous pieces (not all classical) completely blew my mind.
News: Girl Plays Super Mario Bros. Theme on Ancient Chinese Instrument—& It Sounds Exactly the Same
Super Mario Bros. is one of the most renowned games in history. It helped resurrect a dying video game industry in the mid-'80s and still remains one of the best-selling video games of all time—one reason why the new NES Classic Edition is so popular and impossible to get these days. Its simple story of a plumber trying to rescue a princess resulted in a video game empire for Nintendo.
News: NEYO "So Sick" Covers by Ferb Huynh (Acoustic)
hey guys check out my acoustic cover of 'so sick' by neyo thank you
News: Cool Song with Delay Trick
Video: .
Wheels of Steel: A Virtual Turntable in Your Browser
Wheels of Steel is a virtual browser-based turntable emulator created by Scott Schiller, a Canadian developer who works on Flickr at Yahoo. This project will appeal to those who A) dig turntablism and B) are knowledgeable in web development. I know nothing of the latter, but from what I can tell, Wheels of Steel appears to be significant because unlike its predecessors, it employs CSS3 instead of flash. Since I'm not familiar with the topic, here's Scott on the history and technical details o...
News: Va Va Voom! 22-Year-Old Electric Uke Virtuoso Is... Electrifying
In a word... WOW. 22-year-old Taimane Gardner, a Honolulu native, stuns the audience with her electric uke rendition of Bach's Toccata. Forget the fact that Taimane's skill level is incredible... her stage presence is insane! Taimane has been performing and winning ukulele contests since the age of five. Says Taimane: “I remember the day I got it. It was lying on the table and the first thing that popped into my head was ‘rock star’. I picked it up and played in front of the mirror until I br...
Off the Wall: "Flight of the Bumblebee" Played on 101 Bottles
What does one do with one hundred and one bottles of beer after taking them down and passing them around? Why, one gathers a couple of friends and plays Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" on them, of course! As one commenter puts it, "The Greek system has been exonerated!"
News: Beauty Queen Displays 3 Talents (1-Normal, 2-Weird, 3-Super Creepy)
Ok, #1: Beauty. (Duh- your standard Miss America staple). #2: Yodeling. Um, yeah, you read right. #3. Ventriloquism. Yikes. What the hell was her pageant coach thinking?
News: Playing the Boogie Woogie With a Cactus
And I bet you thought a cactus was only good for stinging. Presenting the dueling musical cacti, the Sting Boogie: AND... the Cactus Crackling Klangspiel: Ouch.
News: If Shaq Can Conduct an Orchestra, You Can, Too
Doesn't look too hard, right? Step 1: Perfect your basketball skills. Step 2: Reach Shaq fame so the Boston Pops will request you as guest conductor. Step 3: Just a brief primer in conducting and you're ready to go.
News: 14-Year-Old Kid Shreds on Ukulele With His Teeth
14-year-old Siuta Veaila is the champ of the world's first Ukequest (New Zealand's contest for teen ukulele talent). Siuta was trained by master ukulele player, Sione Aleki, who passed down his pearly white picking talents.
The Art of Farting: Extreme Jedi Anus Control
Nearly all humans (admittedly childishly) admire the ability to emit uncannily musical armpit or hand farts, or even rarer- mouth fart motor engine aping. However, it is the rare occasion that a performer's gaseous-sounding melodic notes are indeed truly gaseous (meaning literally discharged from the butt-hole).
News: Dueling Mutant DJ Hoodies
Incredibly bizarre, Mika Satomi and Clemens Pichler have designed a pair of DJ hoodies to theatrically visualize a DJ battle. Unfortunately, for me at least, Human Centipede is evoked (damn, I shouldn't have seen that movie).
News: This Baby Faced Kid is a 7-Year-Old Rapper Named P-Nut
You can never start 'em too young. Chinese kids are raised on the violin or piano. Brazilian kids play soccer from birth. And then there's P-Nut. He's only 7-years-old and he's been working at becoming a household name in the Memphis hop hop scene since the young age of 4.
News: Five-Arm Turntable Has Got It on Lock
If you have a fear of needles, you may want to sit this one out. Billed as an "analog answer for the digitalized DJ," this five-arm turntable plays an ode to the lock groove. What's a lock groove? Glad you asked. Whereas normal grooves lead the stylus in toward the label of the record, lock or "locked" grooves form a perfect circuit, looping around on themselves forever and ever. Throw in a few extra tone arms as London-based artist Yuri Suzuki has done and you've got yourself a full-featured...
Drumssette: A DIY Drum Machine
While digital samplers have their merits, they're predictable in a way that can cause them to sound stiff or sterile. The solution? A return to the analog, tape-based samplers of yesteryear, which, with their inherent mechanical noise and euphonic distortions, offer a more musical take on the sampling process.
News: Weezer Represents! Unofficial World Cup Theme Song
Weezer's frontman Rivers Cuomo is one devout soccer fan, so as a homage to the World Cup, the band composed this seriously passionate fight song: Unadulterated World Cup love or marketing/PR stunt? (Let's not forget about the infamous Weezer snuggie.)
News: Where Would YouTube Be Without Dudes Like This?
Teppei Okada performs a live violin soundtrack to a real time game of Super Mario Bros. Gee whiz, that's some true fan dedication (and perhaps a waste of prodigious talent... you tell me).
News: Blow That World Cup Vuvuzela!
Happy UK vs US World Cup Day! Says Metafilter:
News: Try to Refrain From Making Out With Your Monitor, Please
Via WonderHowTo World, Luv and Music: When I was kid it was Ringo... but now that I've grown up... hm, I'd DEFINITELY have to go with John (if he was living, of course).
News: Don't Worry, Be Happy. Let Bobby McFerrin Screw With Your Mind
The World Science Festival's "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus" asks: Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined?
News: Oh Shnap. Beat School 101 With Xaphoon Jones of Chiddy Bang
If you partake in the mashup/remix/sampling mania, you may be familiar with Philadelphia's Chiddy Bang. Their beats are a sweet marriage of their own original hip hop + sampling of bands like Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Passion Pit, and MGMT.
News: Holy Mother of God, This Kid's Mouth is a Muffler
MY god, this kid has got range! Watch as he imitates a crap load of different vehicle sounds. (The good stuff starts about 23 seconds in). My personal favorite would have to be his dirt bike impression, around 1:57.
News: Meet the New Justin Beiber, Greyson Chance
WonderHowTo World, Luv and Music, features the latest YouTube sensation, Lady Gaga-killer, Greyson Chance:
News: The Amazing Upside-Down Guitar Playing Woman
A super cool anonymous woman rocks at playing the guitar... upside-down. I don't know about you, but I have yet to see a style quite this unique. That hand rolling move is awesome. Previously, 13-Year-Old Guitarist Wows Guitar Pros... and Yoko Ono.
News: May the Fart Be With You
Performance by WonderHowTo's beloved hand manualist, Gerry Phillips, in honor of Star Wars Day. (Compare Gerry's song with the original scene, second video in the gallery below). Previously, Happy Star Wars Day! Naked Stormtrooper Life Drawing (NSFW).
News: Taiwanese Boy Wonder Belts Out Whitney (Better Than Houston Herself?)
That's up for debate... Maybe Li Yu Chun isn't better than the legend herself, but damn. He is amazing. I'm moved. Transported me right back to The Bodyguard.
News: 597 Crystal Glasses + Insane Skills = Superb Symphony
Forgive me, I am posting an ad. But Czech glass musician Petr Spatina is incredible. He achieves amazing range with just crystal glasses, water, and his extremely deft hands. He is really that good, check out these two vids shot on the street, not the best quality but amazing.
News: Make the World a More Peaceful Place: Play the Ukulele
Another TED speaker featured today: Ukulele guru Jake Shimabukuro shares his thoughts and incredible skill in the videos below.
News: Old Jeep Cherokee Makes Techno Music
We've seen the talented Diego Stocco's music from a tree and experibass. YouTube's Julian Smith now brings us something equally unusual. The combined sounds of an old Jeep Cherokee (slamming doors, pushing door locks, revving the engine, setting off the door alarm, etc) make a techno song.
News: Merry Christmas From Japanese Beatbox Boy
A Merry Christmas beatbox medley, courtesy of 19-year old Daichi, YouTube's favorite Japanese beatboxer. Daichi also makes some fabulous looking HowTo's, but unfortunately they're in Japanese only.
News: Lady Gaga Goes Uke
Here we are again. This time, however, it's not Britney Spears that's being uke-d, but the delightfully infamous Lady Gaga. The wicked (we-can't-help-but-look-watch-listen) Lady Gaga.
News: Fierce and Unbridled (Vocal) Thunderstorm
Perpetuum Jazzile: a Slovenian choir that performs both jazz and popular music.
News: Guinness World Record Holder Trumps Deliverance-Style Dueling Banjos
"Dueling Banjos" - we've all heard it, we've all seen it - that famous scene from Deliverance where a young inbred banjo player outplays the guitar with incredible speed and accuracy.
News: Japanese Guitar Prodigy Performs With Ozzy Osbourne
Yuto Miyazawa kicks ass at electric guitar. Seriously, this kid is out of this world. What other nine-year-old is invited to perform Crazy Train, on stage, with Rock-n-Roll God Ozzy Osbourne?
News: DIY Musical Maven Cannot Stop Creating Instruments
Musical instruments are lots of fun but boy, they sure ain't cheap. Dennis Havlena (the internet's true DIY instrument king) demonstrates some dedicated yankee ingenuity with his homemade alternatives (aka poor man's instruments). Dennis has created hundreds of hybrid, folksy instruments including bagpipes, banjos, psalteries, didgeridoos, hang drums, and dulcimers.
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