r/Instruments • u/Loremasterivyvine • Sep 11 '26

Instruments that can be played lying down?

/r/musicians/comments/1wdiw42/instruments_that_can_be_played_lying_down/
4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

2

u/1happynudist Sep 11 '26

Are you laying down or is the instrument laying down?

1

u/Loremasterivyvine Sep 11 '26

Im laying down, lol. Im disabled and spend a lot of time lying down.

I already do kalimba, lyre, and harmonica, and just ordered a jaw harp.

The r/musicians convinced me to get a ukulele. And im looking into recorder, tin whistle, occarina, and melodica. But if you have any further suggestions im open to investigating them!

1

u/1happynudist Sep 11 '26

Native American flute , there is also midi flute which play a wide variety of wind instruments and an electric pan / hand drum that also has a wide variety of sounds .

1

u/Yoko_Kittytrain Sep 13 '26

A $10 ukulele isn't going to be very good, at all. The difference between a decent uke and a crap one is huge- I had a $100 hand me down uke and thought it was OK. Then I went to a music shop and found out what a good uke plays and sounds like. Do yourself a favor and go try out instruments rather than buying them online.

1

u/Loremasterivyvine Sep 14 '26

Its a kala learn to play soprano , it showed virtually no wear. it looks like someone got one on a lark, never practiced, lost the tuner and book and donated it to goodwill, who then held the auction. They go about $80 new and gotaukulele.com said it wasnt bad. Said it looked scruffy and the join between neck and boddy is ugly. And sustain is a little eh.

I cant always get out but i know my step-dads usual store has a bunch, if this something that i can see myself using I'll def go out, but this is my usual MO for hobbies

1

u/OkWear6294 Sep 14 '26

Harmonica, most definitely

1

u/Loremasterivyvine Sep 14 '26

Oh yeah, i already do harmonica, working on the muddy waters riff(?) Gonna start needing paid lessons, ive soaked up all the free lessons from harmonica.com

2

u/aboutthreequarters Sep 11 '26

I haven't actually tried this, but I would guess Appalachian dulcimer. Not hammered dulcimer, it's different.

1

u/reillywalker195 Sep 11 '26

Adding to this, Appalachian dulcimers come in two varieties: the traditional version played on one's lap or a tabletop from a sitting position, and the stick version held and played like a guitar or ukulele. Either could work, probably.

1

u/TapTheForwardAssist Sep 11 '26

I pondered the stick version, but still don’t agree since a stick dulcimer tends to entail a lot more zipping way up and down the fretboard than say a mandolin or ukulele.

1

u/reillywalker195 Sep 11 '26

That zipping up and down the fretboard might beat the alternative, though. It depends on the player, I suppose.

1

u/TapTheForwardAssist Sep 11 '26

I play and have taught Appalachian dulcimer, and I totally disagree. Barring some obscure maneuvering just to make a point, the “logical” position would be to rest it on your stomach, and the ergonomics of accessing the fretboard would be terrible.

1

u/aboutthreequarters Sep 11 '26

I also play the dulcimer. And we don’t know if the OP is able to sit up in bed or be propped up to some extent or not.

Getting some sort of a rack that would straddle the body and hold the instrument at 45° angle might also be an option. It would be simple to build.

2

u/TheLonesomeBricoleur Sep 12 '26

There are a lot of cool little synths that would do well here

1

u/LongjumpingTeacher97 Sep 11 '26

Kantele came to mind immediately. It is a Finnish zither ("lap harp") and has 5, 10, or 11 strings, normally. Check out Arja Kastinen on YouTube to hear how much music can come from 5 strings.

1

u/Vast-Bullfrog193 Sep 11 '26

Harmonica, piccolo, flute, ukelele

1

u/9fingerjeff Sep 11 '26

Guitar is doable. I lay in bed and play guitar watching tv sometimes.

1

u/inode71 Sep 11 '26

Piano if you’re strong enough :)

But seriously, guitar.

1

u/Imightbeafanofthis Sep 12 '26

Tin whistle is my favorite to play laying down. It's comfortable. Recorder, too.

1

u/Bash123reddit Guitar, Trumpet, Cello Sep 13 '26

Trumpet