The Most "Aspie" Instrument?

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I forgot to mention what I did play. I started on alto sax and later tried guitar and later synth. I was never very good at any of them. I was able to play by ear, however. I am told I am good at whistling.

I know of at least three lead singers who are (publicly acknowledged) AS: David Byrne, Gary Numann, and Craig Nicholls. It seems surprising. One might think they would shun the spotlight. I wonder about Jonathan Richman.

Drums may be great especially with hypermotoric comorbidity? And it may be a great way to "act out" stress.

Growling some blues choruses through my alto sax is great in that respective. At least it help getting physically exausted at my will.

Oh, my gracious. Six votes (including mine) for the drum set already?

I'd love to get my hands on a theremin. It's definitely on my list of things to buy once I have all the important things are out of the way.

That's the thing - you DON'T get your hands on it! Seriously - a few years ago I went to a Theremin symposium just outside London - it was called "Hands Off"!

I'd love to buy one and marvel at how bad I am when it comes to instruments like that, I should say.

I'd love to place one through effects and what not. Does it have a bass setting/varient? I'd love to hear that.

All of them.

Computers, guitars, drums, keyboards, horns, woodwinds...

All of them.

I hear music in everything, everywhere I go. Some of it's rhythmic, some of it isn't.

Anything that makes a sound is music.

All music, IMHO, is "Aspie."

Well, I just got this obsession of guitars when I was 13, now I'm extremely good. But maybe it's just my Asperger's that's doing that. I would honestly say a piano and a guitar. And a bit of a computer.

up to 7 on the drums now...........

Uniquely among all instruments (except for synthesisers and, arguably, the largest pipe organs), the Theremin's range covers the entire frequency range of human hearing, from subsoinic (<20Hz) to ultrasonic (>20kHz if you're young; more like 15kHz if you're 49 with 35 years of playing in rock bands under your rather large belt).

So, yes - you can play bass Theremin, and in fact it's probably easier than playing treble melodies, because the notes are physically further apart, just like the lower frets on a guitar or bass. Regarding effects, I once did a gig with rave DJ Matt Black (ex-ColdCut) where I ran the Theremin through a borrowed ElectroHarmonix BassBalls envelope filter. The sound was phenomenal...

Interestingly I can't play the drums at all. My hand-foot coordination just doesn't work that way. I can't dance either, which may be related. I am pretty good at rhythm programming, and I even play occasional percussion (vibraslap and shaker) in my band The Skanx, but I can't play a kit.

The other instrument I've been struggling with recently is electric violin - I'm a newcomer to the fiddle, and trying to teach myself to play blues and funk on it, but my fingering isn't very accurate yet. I'm considering buying a self-adhesive fretboard made by D'Addario to add to my violin.

I'm thinking of getting one of those as well, I have too much trouble staying in tune on such a small instrument. I can play double bass and cello fine, but give me a viola or violin, I get POed at how out of tune I play.

I think I'm just used to and prefer lower frequencies. I'm terrible at improvising anything beyond the contrabass, bass and middle C clefs.

But I would agree that of the conventional instruments, bass guitar is up there. It gives Aspies (even unknowing ones) a foot in the door of rock music.

I started with a nylon-string guitar when I was about 12, built a horrible plywood electric guitar when I was 14, found that I could pick out bass lines by ear, built a bass (a copy of a copy of a Gibson EB-3) when I was 15, and suddenly I was a bass player and I could join or form bands! I finally had a social life...

Punk happened around that time - 1977 or so, and I took a back seat and taught myself to play piano. By 1979 I was in demand as a bassist AND keyboardist in school bands. I worked hard that summer and bought a Hohner Pianet T electric piano and a Roland Cube 60 bass amp.

32 years on I still play bass, even though in my current band The Skanx I play keyboards. Last Saturday I stood in on bass guitar and electric upright bass with a Blues Brothers tribute band (their regular bassist couldn't make it, and I know all their material). I have never been interested in non-musical aspects of the rock scene - fashion, drugs, groupies (I've got a wife - why do I need groupies?) but I still get a buzz from being there on stage, doing what I do best!

That statement made my day!

I think that definitely classical instruments, and definitely ones that do NOT have strings (so that leaves out the violin; cello; etc. they are just too complicated.

Piano is an awesome one because it has its defined notes, keyboard and organ are a bit iffy. Keyboard because its electric and that means you can't really "feel" the notes (on piano it vibrates). Organ because the line of finger keys is separated and you also have extra foot keys.

Clarinet, trumpet and flute are great instruments because they have defined notes and are not too difficult to play - just get your mouth in the right position. (If you've played the recorder as a kid, its that sort of shape for the clarinet).

Why do you think that assburgers has anything to do with music? Relating to what I've read here it rather seems, that it's just a matter of taste and talent.
I didn't want to play for example in a hardrock or (conventional) metal band, since the lead guitar plays nothing but trashy highspeed solos and cheap riffs, and I'm not interested in showing of my fast-playing-skillz since I want to make music. And I actually don't like the stress of being afraid of making a mistake each second of the song till it's finally through. Who could enjoy that?

And though I really enjoy groovy basslines (listen to the one in Bill Withers "just the two of us"- awesome!), I also wouldn't play only bass or rythm instruments, I would feel too separated as songwriter.

Every instrument that you can use for composition is good.
I actually only play guitar, bass and a littlebit piano, but I've been making music only for a short time now. The next instrument I want to start with is a violin.
I think that the composer should have the right of being the middlepoint of his work.
It's enough to just tell the vocal and text based emotional message while an orchestra expresses the melodical harmonical emotional part.
Haha, since I don't believe that I'll ever get a whole orchestra, I of course make this with a sampler program. And since I've got no contacts in business for I'm autodidactical, I just load it on youtube to share it with friends. Ok, I don't load everything up there, just the stuff of the last few weeks^^
so the computer is my friend too.

Me, as it happens. Touché...