Opinions of best instruments ever created.

[Neb Maro]

Name the instrument(s) and why you think it(they) is(are) the best.

I would go with a piano. SO much beautiful music has been created with it and it is used in so many different aspects of making music. Also, it was the instrument of choice (along with harpsichord and clavichord) for some of the greatest composers in history. (Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Lizt, Chopin)

[Skel]

I love the piano Some classical music is goofy, some is great. The violin and sax are very emotional instruments. One of my personal favorites is the classical guitar.

[Neb Maro]

I think the guitar ranks as the second greatest instrument to be created.

[Minger]

Piano maybe. I regret stopping playing.

[keb]

This is perhaps heresy to state on a bassist site, but if I was stranded on an island and I could only have one musical instrument with me, it would be a classical guitar.

[bongomania]

Bongos! The national instrument of Cuba, bongos express all of the zest for life and intellectual creativity of a people who have to create what they can with very little resources. After bongos, the second-best instrument is the cowbell.

[Neb Maro]

Cowbell... that's a load of bull.

[Neb Maro]

I must say that the drum is a great creation. So much can come out of a round piece of wood with a skin stretched over it. Just drum beats alone can make you dance or fill you with fire.

[Jumbotron]

Violin. Such a beautiful tone, and as a string instrument, inherently expressive. The most romantic of all the instruments.

[lemur821]

The horn is clearly the greatest. After that come the snare drum and the electeric bass, in no particular order. I can't really get into pianos and violins like most people. The piano tone seems so dull and muted to me (harder hammers would work wonders, I think), and violins just sound like what they are: hairs being squeaked on a wooden box with strings. Which is cool in its own way, but far from favorite-making to me.

[Neb Maro]

What horns Lemur? If I was to chose the greatest horn ever created, I would say it was the french horn followed by the euphonium.

[Phat Ham]

The cello has always been the most expressive, rich, and well voiced instrument to me.

[Neb Maro]

The cello is my favorite stringed instrument. (I consider the piano to be a combo instrument as it is both percussive and stringed)

If I were to break the best down into categories: (2 at most in same category)

Combo: Piano followed by the Drum Set
Stringed: Cello followed by the Guitar
Brass: French Horn followed by the Euphonium
Woodwind: Flute followed by the Bassoon.
Percussion: Timpani followed by the Marimba

[Sneckumhaw]

Gotta be the organ; Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Liszt, Chopin can have their precious piano. It's all about Bach anyway!

OK, Beethoven's the bomb too.

[bongomania]

Although I was perfectly serious about both the bongos and the cowbell, those of you that go for the cello or violin should, if you ever get the chance, listen to some Turkish classical music. They have a solo instrument called the "klassik kemenche", which is like a violin that is held upright between the knees. It is the most beautiful, heart-rending, expressive bowed instrument I have ever heard.

[Neb Maro]

Good idea Bongo. I noticed that the instruments I'd chosen were of European descent.
I really liked that instrument that the old man played in the movie Hero. It was beautiful.
There is also some persian music that is really beautiful. I need to figure out what types of instruments were used.

[Otso]

Violin family and the double bass, the violin most of all. Bowed instruments have the ability to shape the sound so much with dynamics (wind instruments too) and accentuation and all sorts of different bowing techniques can create very different tones. The violin stands out the most to me, it is such an expressive instrument, but why does it have to so difficult to play!

[Mark Perry]

I'm quite fond of vibraphones, at least played in a jazz setting (as opposed to stereotypical elevator music). I watched a video of Lionel Hampton playing vibes, one thing i noticed was that vibraphonists have drummer faces. I really like the idea of a pitched instrument that can be played in a percussive way. But as far as western music goes piano has pretty much defined it for hundreds of years. I'd have a hard time picking my favourite instrument, let alone the all time best, theres too many good and different sounds.

[need4mospd]

No instrument is more important to music than the human voice. Every one is custom made!

[Bob Clayton]

i like the lute