The Smiley Smile Message Board

Surely there are some here and there, right?

I can't think of any off the top of my head, but there must be some examples?

I doubt it.  No offense meant to Mike but why would he?  I mean I doubt he ever considered himself a "studio level" musician and probably had no interest going at it take after take when there were plenty of other people around who could do the job faster and more efficiently. 

I just would think that even a tambourine or something would've been attempted by him in the studio at some point in 50+ years? Perhaps the Party album?

I would think there'd be some examples, since Mike was utilized on instruments (like theramin + tambourine) in live settings.

But, maybe not?

Mike can be seen playing bongos and tambourine during the collage of clips for the "I Can Hear Music" promo film. Whether his contributions were captured on tape is another matter :-\

Well, this isn't a BB track, but Sharon Marie has said that Mike played the snare drum on her B-Side "Summertime" (recorded in Brian's apartment), in addition to sax on her "Runaround Lover" A-Side. For her next B-Side, "The Story Of My Life", Mike played a stack of records as if they were a drum. No word on whether the records were still playable following Mike's percussive assault.  This info all comes from AGD's great interview with Sharon Marie, printed in ESQ 91 (Spring 2011).

Armed with this knowledge, I wouldn't be surprised if Mike played some miscellaneous percussion somewhere on "Smiley Smile".

And on You're Welcome.

Don't think Mike ever played a Theramin, but he did play a Woo Woo Machine (Moog Ribbon Controller) on stage.  And later a Tannerin.  And also the Skin Flute.