Greatest InstrumentalsMusic 

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i listen to a lot of different styles of music. I've got tons of rap, a bit of rock thrown in here and there, trance, jazz, classical. You name it, I have it on my iPod (other than country :eek: )

Anyways, just the other day, I was listening to Santana - Victory is One. The solo is just incredible and is one of my favourites. Another song I came across was Santana - America. The (i think it's 3) guitars combined beautifully and the lyrics made the song all the better.

Class let off at 6:00 today so when I stepped out of the building, all the city lights were on, it was dark & it was just one damn nice setting. I put my ear buds on and turned on my iPod and it started playing the song Alabama by John Coltrane.

With that setting/scenery, and the sax solo with the occasional piano/drums coming in as support, the song sort of just sounded perfect. The song itself was incredible as it was my first time ever hearing it - and all without lyrics.

Do you guys have any favourite instrumentals from songs? Doesn't matter really what type of music it is, just the instrumentals matter this time 'round since in many cases, those determine whether the rest of the song will be worth continuing to lisen to.
 
I absolutely love rock instrumentals. I wish my friends would do more of that, but it's hard to tell them, "Just shut up and play" without being offensive (:
 
I wish hendrix songs had fewer lyrics. not that they're all that bad, but for the great guitarists, I prefer that the lyrics be left out.
 
Originally posted by emad
I wish hendrix songs had fewer lyrics. not that they're all that bad, but for the great guitarists, I prefer that the lyrics be left out.
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He made "Little Wing." Did you listen to that? Stevie Ray Vaughn did a great copy of that song.

"Hocus Pocus" by Focus isn't bad. Or "Frankenstine" by Edgar Winthers.

I like "Cathedral" and "Eruption" by Eddie Van Halen are jaw droppers, but those are more of a solo, and not a true song.

Of course, I like Joe Satriani. He makes just a few songs that have singing in them. "Crystal Planet" is just an amazing song.

Classicly, I like the "1812 Ovature" and "Blue Rhapsody" the most, but there are a lot more that I like.
 
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Blue Ronda A La Turk and Take Five are both brilliant in my books.
 
I love instrumentals.
My favorite:

Metallica - The Call of Ktulu


-Mark
 
Apocalyptica have a whole album entitled "Plays Metallica on Four Cellos". No vocals, just pure cello-Metallica-cover-awesome-ness. 👍
 
Originally posted by Cobraboy
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Blue Ronda A La Turk and Take Five are both brilliant in my books.
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Seconded. As a bit of trivia, Brubeck's Take Five is the most popular song ever written in 5/8 time.

Lifters, the Hendrix original Little Wing had lyrics. Stevie Ray always intended to record a vocal track, but was killed before the recording could be completed. It's the only good thing to come out of his untimely death, because the song is much better and his guitar says things words never could.

On an SRV note, I'll nominate Stang's Swang, the opening track to his Couldn't Stand The Weather album.

Probably the coolest thing I have ever seen, musically, was an instrumental played live at the Newport Jazz Festival. Jimmie Vaughn, Stevie's older brother and guitarist of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, walked out on stage with a double-necked Strat. He sat down and started into the Chantay's surf classic Pipeline, which opens with a fairly quiet 4-note riff. After a few bars buildup, Stevie walked up behind him, reached over his shoulders, and filled in the lead part on the upper neck of the same guitar. They went on like this for about 7 or 8 minutes, with a soaring surf lead played over the wavelike rhythm part. As the song wound down to the original 4-note riff, Jimmie slipped out from under Stevie's arms and walked off stage. Somewhere in the middle, they had switched parts, with Jimmie taking over the lead and Stevie the rhythm, but it was totally seamless.

On a surf note, I'm a huge fan of Man... Or Astroman?

I'm also partial to many of Camper Van Beethoven's instrumental tracks, like Border Ska, Mao Reminisces About His Days In Southern China, and Waka.

I'll also put in a nod to Jeff Beck's cover of Ravel's Bolero.
 
Check out some Miles Davis or even John Coltrane. Alabama was good but it's hard to describe it.

I'm partial to Van Halen's 5150 only because it was the first of his I've heard. I haven't heard enough to be able to pick out an absolute favourite though Panama was also a great song.
 
Originally posted by neon_duke
Seconded. As a bit of trivia, Brubeck's Take Five is the most popular song ever written in 5/8 time.

Lifters, the Hendrix original Little Wing had lyrics. Stevie Ray always intended to record a vocal track, but was killed before the recording could be completed. It's the only good thing to come out of his untimely death, because the song is much better and his guitar says things words never could.

On an SRV note, I'll nominate Stang's Swang, the opening track to his Couldn't Stand The Weather album.

Probably the coolest thing I have ever seen, musically, was an instrumental played live at the Newport Jazz Festival. Jimmie Vaughn, Stevie's older brother and guitarist of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, walked out on stage with a double-necked Strat. He sat down and started into the Chantay's surf classic Pipeline, which opens with a fairly quiet 4-note riff. After a few bars buildup, Stevie walked up behind him, reached over his shoulders, and filled in the lead part on the upper neck of the same guitar. They went on like this for about 7 or 8 minutes, with a soaring surf lead played over the wavelike rhythm part. As the song wound down to the original 4-note riff, Jimmie slipped out from under Stevie's arms and walked off stage. Somewhere in the middle, they had switched parts, with Jimmie taking over the lead and Stevie the rhythm, but it was totally seamless.

On a surf note, I'm a huge fan of Man... Or Astroman?

I'm also partial to many of Camper Van Beethoven's instrumental tracks, like Border Ska, Mao Reminisces About His Days In Southern China, and Waka.

I'll also put in a nod to Jeff Beck's cover of Ravel's Bolero.
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I heard just parts of the original Little Wing, and I never realized it had lyrics. Gotta here it sometime. VH1, and VH2 plays SRV version all the time and I never tire of it.

Is Man...Or Astroman? the band that had a "hit" song a few years back titled "9 Volt" or is that a different group? I love that song, but never got one of their albums. Which one should I get?

BTW, I want to add Steve Vai's "For The Love Of God" as a great instrumental.
 
Originally posted by Solid Lifters
Man...Or Astroman? the band that had a "hit" song a few years back titled "9 Volt" or is that a different group? I love that song, but never got one of their albums. Which one should I get?
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Yeah, that's them. The only album I'm truly familiar with is Destroy All Astromen, which is their second full-length and has to be pushin 10 years old at this point. But the other stuff I've heard is great too.
BTW, I want to add Steve Vai's "For The Love Of God" as a great instrumental.
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Or The Attitude Song from his Flexable EP, if you like that sort of thing! Gotta love that Floyd Rose with the stops ground off so it wobbles all over when you smack it one...
 
Originally posted by Solid Lifters
Of course, I like Joe Satriani. He makes just a few songs that have singing in them. "Crystal Planet" is just an amazing song.
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I like his music too, there's one song (can't remember the name) that it sounds like music during sex though especially with the lights dimmed.:odd: That's all I can think of at the moment.

Nick:rolleyes:
 
Speaking of porn music, I'll nominate the Beasties' entire The In Sound From Way Out! album as some of my favorite instrumentals.
 
I'm a huge rock/metal instrumental fan. I've been playing electric guitar since 14.

The music of Joe Satriani is the closest thing I have to religion :p (for those of you reading the religion thread in Opinions)

I'm also a big fan of Vai and SRV. I also have a bit of Steve Morse and Eric Johnson in the CD collection.

How about Rush as an instrumental band? They don't do very many, but when they do, they're always great. Villa Strangiato is one of rock's great epic instrumentals.

originally posted by VipFREAK
I like his music too, there's one song (can't remember the name) that it sounds like music during sex though especially with the lights dimmed. That's all I can think of at the moment.
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:odd: You must be thinking of 'Borg Sex' off Engines of Creation?


///M-Spec
 
Check out just about anything from Maze or if you just want some serious mellow instrumental jams,
Phil Keaggy,
Acoustic Alchemy
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
 
Originally posted by ///M-Spec
You must be thinking of 'Borg Sex' off Engines of Creation?

///M-Spec
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No, close... it's the next track until we say goodbye. I had played it at school and then while a classmate was showing off a lamp project in the dark, one of them said it sounded like "porn" music. I just like it because it's relaxing like now.

Nick
 
Listen to Chris Impellitteri's version of "Somewhere over the rainbow", pretty cool, and there is a couple of instrumental tracks on Gary Moores "After the war"
Also Dreamtheater had an Album called "Instrumental before they found a singer
Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and the Metallica instumentals are great also
 
If you like Aphex twin, then check out Arpanet.. Awesome instrumental songs..
 
i nominate "Marc Antoine" latin guitarrist of the radio

"fattburger" for that matter, great jazz
 
Originally posted by Shannon
Apocalyptica have a whole album entitled "Plays Metallica on Four Cellos". No vocals, just pure cello-Metallica-cover-awesome-ness. 👍
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Yes that album is very good. I was surprised when I heard it.

But Metallicas instrumentals are sweet. Orion is by far my favorite one.
 
Orion is a sweet song!!! Back when Metallica MEANT something!!!!

Some of my favorite instrumentals:
ELO - "Fire on High"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "Black Star"
Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
Nokturnal Mortum - "Black Moon Overture"
Beethoven - "Moonlight Sonata (D minor)"
Delerium - "Mecca"
Bone TNH - "War"
 
Frank Zappa anyone? (:
he is an absolute genius. also, may I recall Mike oldfield? his tubular bells have been wth us for 30 years and are still an amazing array of themes. also, Jean Michel Jarré does some coooool stuff with instrumentals, playing on a single song some 27 instruments at times. yeah, himself.
also, you cant leave mr miles davis out. his trumpet is just out of this world. well, many jazz musicians like the mentioned coltrane, thelonius monk, cannonball adderley and many more have made AMAZING historic instrumental tracks. and speaking of jazz, the Dixieland big bands made awesome dancing jazz.. tose are cool too.
as for the rockers, may I say Pink Floyd? their instrumentals were astounding. how about Interstellar overdrive? that song's complexity is unreal. also, Paco de lucia's clasic guitar is incredible. you just have to hear him live to really aprecuate him. of course, I cant ignore th eafore mentioned Vai, Satriani, Vaughn, Johnson, and I'd throw in Ingwie malmsteen, whose poor composing capability is more than made up for with his incredibly fast guitar. anyone remembers moby dick, by led zeppelin? 13 minutes of THAT drumming make history. they did.
and now, some instrumentals that are cool are created for soundtracks. how about the star wars score -all of it? or the back to the future main theme? we all remember those. movies, TV series and anime all those have amazing instrumentals. I HAVE to mention Cowboy Bebop's complete OST, wich has everything from jazz to rock in just instrumental form. if anyone knows what Im talking about, you wont let me lie, this ost is awesome.

Cano
 
xysorra, do u know which album the song War was in? It doesn't seem to be in any of mine 👍 - I DID however, see the video @ launch.com. That was REALLY cool.

I'll also add St. Germain - So Flute to the list. the entire song is done by flutes and the occasional drum. The concept may sound corny but it's a REALLY good song.
 
Originally posted by emad
xysorra, do u know which album the song War was in? It doesn't seem to be in any of mine 👍 - I DID however, see the video @ launch.com. That was REALLY cool.

I'll also add St. Germain - So Flute to the list. the entire song is done by flutes and the occasional drum. The concept may sound corny but it's a REALLY good song.
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No.....I just d/led it and it ended up being an instrumental. I liked it so I kept it.
 
I will also add anything Henry Mancini.

Can't forget Mark Knopfler either
 
My first time hearing it, but Van Halen - Feelin'
 
Miles davis- Summertime
Miles Davis- Sketches of spain
John Coltraine- Favorite things

Some stuff by Redneck Manifesto is pretty good aswell
 
I never though I would hear the names of Miles Davis, John Coltraine and Redneck Manifesto in the same sentence. :lol:
 
Van Halen - Ultra Bass (from Live- Right Here, Right Now )

:drool:
 
Eddie Van Halen - The tune at the end of "Twister"
 
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