There needs to be a Tenor Saxophone! Sax's kick all other instruments in the butt! Of course... I had a concert recently where I was insane with 2 improved solos! BIOTCH!

It's so hard to talk and play the violin at the same time >.<

No one has mentioned hurdy-gurdies?

"Only while singing" may rule out wind instruments (though Bob Dylan and Ian Anderson might disagree), but not drums. Feh.

It's not only singing and playing at the same time, but playing chords. Wind instruments are lacking in both, as is percussion (unless you really want to haul around a set of timpani).

I'd still like to see vastly expanded stanzas, so I can play it for real instead of using illusions. Illusions don't increase my aptitude.

Or a xylophone, or a djembe, or just congo drums. Or on the wind side, a harmonica.

Of course if they did allow drums, there would inevitably be someone playing a barbarian/bard...

"Do instruments of torture count?"

"Is mayonaise an instrument?"

/spongebob quotes

"Do re mi fa so," you sing, somberly playing a
jar of mayonaise.

What about spoons? People play spoons and sing. And washboards!

I was thinking more just drums. Which is bad, since I was in band for years and my best friend is majoring in music.

How do you play chords on a harmonica, while singing?

Mentioned it earlier, but it's possible to play chords on flutes, just difficult since they usually don't sound very pretty and the fingerings are obscure.

I really don't understand why they don't bend the realism of the instruments or make different messages for the different types of instrument. There's no reason to exclude people since they can't play Winds/Percussion when our game is lacking people as it is. I would think they would take every chance they get to make the game more accessible to a variety of interests.

Presumably you alternate between singing and playing. If you wear one of those contraptions they wear you can even keep your hands free. Now, I don't now if a harmonica can actually do a minor second, but if it could, it would be the coolest minor second of all.

Of course, Ian Anderson (and his forebear Kirk Roland) just sing into and around the flute. I don't doubt for a minute that Ian could pull off a minor second with nothing but himself and his flute... while bouncing around on one leg. (Clearly he's also trans Acrobatics.) Heck, Ian could probably figure out a way to play a minor second without using an instrument.

Anyway, I'm not entirely serious about the wind instruments. But if the real reason for stringed-only is "play chords while singing" there's definitely room for some struck instruments... including quite a few period ones (though with violas next to lyres, really, who cares about "period"?). Heck, why not the dreaded accordion, including the whimsical piano-accordion? (Admit it, everyone wants to dance the Glomdoring Polka.)

Accordions are actually pretty cool.

Also, Vix, how the hell does a flute play a chord? Wind instruments like that make notes by changing the length of the column of air. The only way to play a chord would be to split that somehow. At best, you'd have a very weak chord; it wouldn't match the rest of the song, and just doesn't seem suited to the type of thing we'd use for magical effects.

I'd still love to see hammered dulcimer.

I don't know actually. My flute teacher showed me the only chord she knew several years ago. Did sound icky though. However, it's possible, especially with magic.