The Unsung of Heroes of Acoustic Rock

Literally, they are the unsung heroes of many of the rock and pop songs we have heard throughout the years.

I’m talking about the rare or unusual acoustic instruments that don’t get talked about much, but have added special or unique touches to various recordings.

Most are fairly inexpensive, while others are a bit pricey.

Let’s start with the often ignored Jew’s harp. Its twang can be heard throughout The Who’s “Join Together” (1972) and the intro of Jigsaw’s “Sky High (1975). Retail prices for the instrument run from $5 to $24. Normally made of iron, the key-shaped instrument is held near the player’s face and played by plucking a projecting flap the causes a steel tongue to vibrate.

Then there’s the long-forgotten kazoo. Originally considered a toy, the kazoo made a prominent appearance in “San Francisco Bay Blues” on 1992’s “Clapton Unplugged” and Dion’s 1962 top 10 hit “Little Diane.” A kazoo is a 4-inch tube that contains a membrane that vibrates when the player hums into one end. A metal model costs about $2, but a plastic one can be had for a buck and a half.

How’s this for a strange twist – there was a hit single that featured an imitation kazoo! On Ringo Starr’s version of “You’re Sixteen” (1973), Paul McCartney rendered a spontaneous vocal part that sounds just like a kazoo.

Have you ever wondered what made those clicking sounds on The Who’s 1968 hit “Magic Bus?” Those are claves (KLAH-vehs) – wooden bars about 2 inches thick and 10 inches long that are struck together. They retail for about $9 a pair.

Another member of the Latin percussion family is the guiro (GWEE-roh). If you ever heard an instrument that sounds like someone running a thumbnail over the teeth of a comb, that was the guiro. It is a foot-long piece of wood with many notches cut into it, played with a stick that is rubbed over the notches.

Quite a few rock hits have featured the guiro, among them Eric Burdon’s “Spill The Wine” and Santana’s “Evil Ways” (both from 1970). The instrument costs about $36.

“Be My Baby” by the Ronettes (1963) featured a maraca and castanets, both simple Latin percussion items. Castanets are concave hardwood shells played as a pair by looping a connecting cord over the thumb and clicking the shells together. A maraca is a hollowed gourd that contains small pebbles or seeds. The gourd is sealed with a handle, and the instrument is shaken rhythmically. Castanets retail for about $25 a pair, and a maraca (or its cousin the cabasa) costs about $30.

Steely Dan’s “Do It Again” (1973) has the sound of a maraca shaking from beginning to end.

“Under The Boardwalk” by the Drifters (1964) was a showcase for both guiro and castanets. Listen carefully and you will hear castanets on Ringo’s “Photograph” (1973).

What instrument went from the pasture to the recording studio without missing a beat? That would be the cowbell. The metallic cone that gets beaten with a drumstick looks much like the one the Bossy wears down on the farm – only the clapper is missing.

The cowbell has graced songs such as “Honky Tonk Women” by the Rolling Stones (1969), “Mississippi Queen” by Mountain (1970) and “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk (1973). Cowbells run about $24 and up.

What kind of sound would you hear if a rattlesnake with wooden rattles were places inside an echo chamber? It might sound a lot like a vibraslap.

Also known as the mandible, the vibraslap consists of a thick piece of wire bent in the shape of a handle, which connects a wooden ball to a block of wood with metal teeth inside. When a percussionist holds the handle in one hand and strikes the ball (normally with the palm of other hand), the metal teeth vibrate against the wooden block which results in the distinctive rattling sound. “Feelin’ Alright” by Grand Funk (1971) and “Fame” by David Bowie (1975) are among the songs in which a vibraslap can be heard. It will set you back about $35.

Now here’s where the cost of our unsung heroes begins to get a bit steeper.

Listen closely to the Eagles’ “New Kid In Town” (1976). Is that a bass in the background? No, it’s Randy Meisner playing the guitarron. The instrument, which looks like a guitar with a large body and relatively short neck, has six heavy gauge strings and enhanced the Mexican sound of “New Kid.” The heartbeat of mariachi music, the guitarron is not manufactured in the United States and must be imported from Mexico. Prices start at about $325.

The Beatles visited India in 1965 and brought the sitar home with them. When George Harrison played the sitar on the recording of “Norwegian Wood” that year, it was the first exposure of the guitar-like instrument in Western popular music. The following year the Rolling Stones used the sitar extensively on “Paint It, Black.”

An electric sitar was played on the instrumental break of the Steely Dan song “Do It Again.”

The sitar typically has six strings and a neck that is longer than that of a guitar. When a string is plucked, additional strings resonate to create a unique sound. A sitar can retail for up to $1,250, but a good Internet sale can cut $250 to $500 from that price.

If you think the harp is too elegant to be included in rock music, think again. With the help of the 46-string instrument, the Moody Blues continued their string of gold records on the 1969 album “To Our Children’s Children’s Children” and the song “Eyes Of A Child” in particular. Harp also graced one of 1975’s biggest pop hits, “Fallin’ In Love” by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds. Even The Who’s Pete Townshend got into the act by inviting harpist Raphael Rudd to accompany him for “The Oceanic Concerts,” a live 1980 acoustic session at London’s Eel Pie Studios that was released in 2001.

However, fledgling artists thinking of incorporating the angelic instrument into their recording sessions might want to think twice about the price. A 51-inch-tall harp that spans five octaves retails for just over $1,000.

One of the most affordable instruments was also one of the most commonly used on rock’s classic recordings in the 1960s. That decade was the heyday for the acoustic instrument that is largely forgotten in today’s music. The image of the Mamas and Papas on stage is burned into my memory with Cass Elliot and Michelle Phillips swaying and shaking – you guessed it – tambourines.

The tambourine is a circle of either wood or metal studded with jingling metal disks, and it optionally can be fitted with a drum-like parchment. It was so popular that a song was written about it: “Green Tambourine” by the Lemon Pipers (1967). Of course, “Mr. Tambourine Man” is the title of one of Bob Dylan’s most famous songs (also recorded by the Byrds). Nowadays a tambourine costs about $30.

But perhaps the tambourine-shakingest song ever recorded was by a band that loved the instrument – the Beatles. “Hey Jude” (1968) features the sound of a tambourine throughout most of its 7 minutes and 6 seconds.

It’s rather ironic that, with a limitless array of elite instruments at their disposal, rock’s most creative band would choose to embellish many of their records with a low-tech, inexpensive instrument like the humble tambourine.