So, I've been looking around for a good instrument that has distinct notes that could accompany like a guitar or something well and just be that sweet, higher pitched aspect to a song. I was thinking along the lines of a piano, but that would be far to complicated to make. However, I do know about African Thumb Pianos. I have one in my house. Basically, you play it by striking metal strips that are attached to some type of hollow wood (like a cigar box). The struck metal makes a resonance that plays the tune. Different types of wood and shapes of it make different resonances, and different types of metal and lengths also affects to resonance and frequency. The sound is then released through a hole in the hollow wood.

For my instrument, I want to do an erhu, which is a traditional chinese stringed instrument. It has two strings and is played with a bow. It has a much less solidified system of pitches, as the instrumentalist only has one string to play with. By shortening the length of the string, the frequency is changed and the result is an exotic, metalic sound. For more info:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhu

I am considering constructing a guitar as my instrument of choice for this band. This is played by using either a pick or my fingers to strum the strings which produces the sound. You can change a note by tuning the strings which will be located at the top of the guitar. It will be shaped like a normal guitar. Pretty Square at the bottom and the fret board will be rectangular. I believe that depending on how hollow the wood I use the guitar will produce different sounds accordingly. I feel as though the waves that will be created when I make the guitar will be large waves because I plan on making this guitar about half of the size of a normal guitar.

The instrument I was thinking about creating was an xylophone. I chose this instrument becuase after watching a video I found that it is probably one of the easiest instrument to learn how to play in a short amount of time. The xylophone is played by playing the nots on the xylophone with mallets. You produce sound on the instrument when the metal or wooden bars vibrate and push and pull the air particles around them.You change the sound of the xylophone by hitting the metal bars at different times and hard or lighter. The xylophone has a row of bars that range from different sizes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m2ztt6aI74

Musical Instrument Blog #1

A Xylophone is played by tapping one of the several bars that are arranged by size (longer to shorter) that create different pitches of sound using a plastic, wooden or rubber mallet; the sounds that are made when tapping the bars are kind of similar to the sound that a bell makes when it is rung (depending on the bell). The sound that the bar makes when you tap on it depends on the size (length) of the bar. The longer the bar is, the lower the noise it makes, and the smaller the bar is, the higher the noise it makes. Jazz bands often used the Xylophone in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

​http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHP5xjBP-9I

Musical Instrument Blog #1:

Guitar:

As the strings are "plucked" it makes a sound. Also the person has to hold the strings that are located in front of the guitar as he/she plucks the strings at the end. By holding the strings at the front of the guitar, this produces different sound. Since the guitar has a lot of strings, they all have different sound to it. To change a note, the person has to move to the desired string at the front of the guitar and at the end. This change the note and the sound. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6gPWc_AWVM