Favourite Instrumentals

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One of the great guitarists of the instrumental era passed away today, so I thought I would start an Instrumental thread to honour the "Master of Twang", Mr Duane Eddy.



One of my favourites is his appearence with Art Of Noise on their cover of Peter Gunn.
 

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Some of my own favourites off of the top of my head:
  • Flint Hill Special - Flatt and Scruggs
  • Rumble - Link Wray
  • 95% of Aphex Twin's catalogue
 

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I love lots of instrumentals, especially those from the late 1950s and early 1960s, and I was thinking; when was the last time an instrumental topped the popular music charts, or even made the Top 10?

Some instrumentals remind me of Simpsons episodes, like 'The Entertainer' where I always imagine Homer Simpson as a teenager getting chased, beaten up and robbed in a montage of scenes from where he visited New York in the 1970s. Or Jaspar Beardley entering a singing contest singing 'Theme from a Summer Place'.

Although there are some songs that were hits as instrumentals and actual songs. 'Dance On' is one of the best examples, which in the 1960s was a massive hit for The Shadows as an instrumental, and then with lyrics for Kathy Kirby.
 
the classics...




Love me some surf guitar. The Ventures came to my college town and played in the high school's auditorium. :thumbsu:


Lonnie Mack and some guy


Just about anything by Jeff Beck for this thread.
Many blues songs by Freddie King, Booker T, and friends, covered and made popular by the 60s rock gods.
Allman Brothers,
 
I've been a James Bond fan since I was about six years old and I've always loved the original 007 theme.



I also loved the 1977 version used during the opening sequence from The Spy Who Loved Me

 
Canadian all-girl surf band the Surfrajettes have been making a name for themselves over the last couple of years.

They have recently released their debut album Roller Fink, which I quite enjoy and are currently touring the States with the UK to follow.



 
I'm trying not to just post a whole heap of jazz tracks, but this one is one of my absolute favourites. I've been trying to learn how to play the solo for years. I might never get there, but it's still a helluva lot of fun to play:



Could load up with lots of funk and soul too, but will just limit it to this one. Nate Smith's an absolute badass on the drums - his groove is absolutely amazing.



Although when I saw this band, I was completely underwhelmed, their songs are still pretty fantastic. This was the first one I'd ever heard of theirs and it sounded like The Strokes playing Nintendo:



I've always loved Cake and the lyrics to most of their songs are incredibly important to why they're so great, but this instrumental is under 2 minutes long, but always grabs me. Plus, it got sampled onto a Jay-Z track too:



And to finish up with, here's a super-cool cover of Hey Ya that I reckon owes a lot to the first track that I linked up top:

 
I love lots of instrumentals, especially those from the late 1950s and early 1960s, and I was thinking; when was the last time an instrumental topped the popular music charts, or even made the Top 10?

Some instrumentals remind me of Simpsons episodes, like 'The Entertainer' where I always imagine Homer Simpson as a teenager getting chased, beaten up and robbed in a montage of scenes from where he visited New York in the 1970s. Or Jaspar Beardley entering a singing contest singing 'Theme from a Summer Place'.

Although there are some songs that were hits as instrumentals and actual songs. 'Dance On' is one of the best examples, which in the 1960s was a massive hit for The Shadows as an instrumental, and then with lyrics for Kathy Kirby.

could be the grand-daddy. there's two words though.



slight tangent being in this thread, but the closest i can think of more recently is songs that use samples instead of actual vocals / can't be replicated by band members





 

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Favourite Instrumentals

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