Party Tricks

So everybody is talking about this video of 5 people playing one guitar. I've seen it mentioned on various forums, and it's interesting the first time you see it, but it's not anything new. It's an old party trick.



The first time I saw it, I  was thinking, "Hmmm, I've seen this before." Two other videos came to mind, the first one is fairly recent, and it's 4 people playing one electric cello.

Stringfever playing  Ravel's Bolero on one Cello




But the other one that came to mind was a little older. Back in the late 1920s - early 1930s, the Cumberland Ridge Runners played a song where they switched instruments ... and well you just have to watch the video. Watch carefully around the 1:05 mark.

Cumberland Ridge Runners - Goofus




If you like this kind of stuff, especially the older video, there's a lot of really cool "novelty" stuff from the early part of the 20th century. Most of it was from Vaudeville, but a lot of it was just entertainers going for the "Wow" factor. Some of the people that come to mind are Roy Smeck and Willie Hall. I'm sure there were more, I'll try digging some up and posting it later on.