What instrument(s) can make you cry?

[FrankHudson]

Most any of the orchestral bowed-string instruments has the broadest chance. Upthread the cello and the violin have already been mentioned, but I'll add the viola and arco bass to the that.

Their sustain, vibrato, and bowed timbral effects are very powerful. Acoustic guitar has other advantages, but it's not as strong on sustain, and even with strong fingers or a bottleneck slide, their vibrato effects are hard to approach. That's one of the major reasons I play electric guitar, and beyond that electric guitar with effects. I'd miss that ability to more closely emulate the effects of a bowed orchestra instrument.

Even with my electric guitar I've used Ebow, Sustainer pickups to increase those capabilities. And with my MIDI pickup I can finally emulate the timbre that instrument family.

Every other instrument is probably capable of driving me to tears too, and many have. Art'll do that to you. For Hecuba, as Hamlet said.

[bfm612]

Listening to cellos/violins/violas can be incredibly emotional: Bach's suites, Pablo Casals's "El Cant del Ocells", and more recently and for me most effectively, Max Richter's "On The Nature of Daylight". "Daylight" is frequently used in movies, but it almost benefits from it in that it's not attached to a single movie or scene (unlike, say, "The Flight of the Valkyries"). "Daylight" is just impossibly emotional to me. I really don't understand it. Check out the live version from the NPR Tiny Desk Concert series.

[Eric S.]

Has to be bagpipes.

[TJN]

For me, the cello used in the musical score from the Game Of Thrones tv series was very moving.

[guitargabor]

Grand piano.

Liszt Hungarian rhapsodies, songs by Eric Satie.Beethoven piano sonatas....

[buddyhu]

To be moved to tears, I usually need words to evoke that kind of strong emotion. But i can feel deeply touched and near tears by many instruments. Stringed instruments are the ones that are moat likely to reach me in that way: in addition to all the orchestral strings, I’d include the guitar, the oud, the lute, the mandocello.

[TBman]

I don't get moved to tears by music, more of a goose bumps kind of thing, but violins or flute with guitar is really at the top of my list.

But some days I just need...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lncr2g9XJHU

[Slothead56]

Originally Posted by Eric S.

Has to be bagpipes.

Yup. Soulful pipes playing across the bogs. Gets me in the feels every time.

[DungBeatle]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuBeBjqKSGQ

~Bob

[frankmcr]

I dropped a Les Paul on my foot once . . .

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by catdaddy

I've never been moved to tears by any musical instrument, but I've been thrilled to goose bumps by great performances on many different ones.

Same here, Cat.

Karen (OP), my initial thought was cello. There are also some beautiful electric guitar solos which can give me goosebumps.

[KarenB]

I'll have to check out the solo cello suites from Bach.

[geewhiz]

This is gonna be a weird answer and it might not connect with some readers of this forum, but Tal Wikenfeld's solo in Jeff Beck's We've Ended As Lovers puts a lump in my throat for some reason. I know, right? A BASS solo? But there’s something about that moment in the performance, the emotion of her solo, the expertise with which she plays it, the energy of the band and crowd, and the bed of pretty maj9 chords she’s playing over. It’s just a very "human" moment for me for some reason, with all those elements coming together.

https://youtu.be/25q8nWZQGaQ

[FingahPickah]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

Any of them, if they're played badly enough....

Hahahahahaha

[thomasinaz]

During the past 30 years I attended many funerals for fallen Officers, where Amazing Grace was played by the bagpipers. Always drew a tear or two, and still does.