SKF NOTE: My friend, Kelly Hamilton Stoddard Cotiaux, introduced me yesterday, via Facebook, to Jano Rix’s Shuitar. Mr. Rix is a member of The Wood Brothers. He plays drumset too — with the largest hi-hat cymbals since Sonny Payne, I think.

Kelly asked, “Have you seen anything like this before?” Not exactly. The first guitar-like percussion instrument I thought of belongs to Roy “Futureman” Wooten: the Drumitar.

Of course, for years musicians have used — still use — objects like suitcases, cardboard boxes, wood boxes, phone books, washboards, and plastic buckets as drums. Still, Jano Rix’s Shuitar is pretty slick. The sounds he gets seem more fluid than Futureman’s Drumitar. Rix won me over with his brush playing on the Shuitar body.

But both the Drumitar and the Shuitar are very cool and musical.

Innovation Onward!