any instruments that cant be replaced when playing live? for example, at the mtv awards a while ago outkast performed with live horns. nothing else was live, just the horns. and it was great. they cant be replaced with some canned version on tape, they have to be live. so, what instruments have the greatest effect when played live?

I'd say slide guitar.

strings, big time.

I'm kind of pissed whenever I hear an instrument I can't see, unless the music is largely electronic by nature.

i totally agree with this. if i hear something and don't see someone performing on the instrument, i get all sorts of upset. i really feel cheated. although, it sometimes turns out that i'm just not looking at the right place.

cowbell

Um...I'll go for the most forgotten one about now...

Live Vocals on TV Shows.

For sure. Or some kind of pedal steel or anything like that.

And turntables, in the scratching sense. At a hip hop show at least. I hate when rappers go on stage without a live dj, and just play a tape. It sucks.

Me three.

The theremin is really cool to see live. This is just the first one to come to mind, really. I just like the way someone looks when they're playing it.

how many bands actually use a theremin live? i always think of man or astroman because they made a performance out of it. i still don't know how people even get specific sounds from one of them, but they sure look cool doing it.

I've seen Fishbone and the Polyphonic Spree use it and it was a-w-e-some

I've never seen one live, but I imagine it's one of those all-or-nothing instruments.

Yeah probably but you're talking to a guy who loves the musical saw. Now you know where I'm coming from.

drumitar.

Seksu Roba are MPC, vocals, and live theramin. Theramins (the stand up kind) look rad when played by someone who knows what they're doing...

seeing the flaming lips without a drummer was one of the worst shows i've ever seen. ever.

i was so mad at them.

I didn't know what you guys were talking about til I Googled a picture...the Deathray Davies have used this at every show I've seen...they didn't seem to get much out of it but random squawks, but it was only once or twice per show so it wasn't too annoying...plus, it was the guy who only plays the tambourine and the maracas, so I guess he likes to throw in some theremin to mix it up

Cornelius also plays the theremin onstage.

Junior Brown was awesome live, playing that mutant guit-steel contraption.

<---------------avatar change. let's celebrate the theremin!!!!!!!

I'd say just about any instrument will sound better live; narrowing the focus a bit, if it cannot be plugged into a source of electricity, you will never know what it really sounds like unless you hear it live. Think cello, harmonium, tympani, etc, etc............

The triangle? Ohhh, the castanets! And nothing beats a great tambourine! Though, Charli's got it down...definitely, the cowbell.

The laptop!