Foo - What musical instrument to take on tour?

I figured I could post this here or in touring but I know more of you here and it seems there are more of you also, so what musical instrument would you take on tour?

I play guitar, mandolin, recorder (tenor,alto,soprano), juice harp, crappy harmonica, washboard, kazzoo, Well maybe not the kazzoo.

I would hate to lose my calluses over the three months I am on tour, so FOO, what say you.

Keep in mind I really don't want to pack along a piano and learn it but I am willing to learn a new instrument if it is quite small and nice sounding. :)

ukulele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

Mandolin FTW.. it keeps the fingers nimble.. and sparks interest whenever you pull it out.. I just wish I played mine better..

http://inlinethumb30.webshots.com/21661/2981096970102801834S500x500Q85.jpg
http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/10914/2784564820102801834S500x500Q85.jpg

Harmonica, if you need backup give someone a set of spoons.
Speaking from Appalachian Trail experience you never see a guitar more than a couple of miles into the trail.

ukulele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

Thought that was going to be a Tiny Tim video.

Thought that was going to be a Tiny Tim video.

When I was a kid, Tiny Tim frightened me. :eek:

I think the harmonica would be the easiest to pack. A few of them, even!

http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/4019/popper4ye7.gif

penny whistle.

EDIT: or a melodica...they are pretty much awesome and quite portable. Or both.

Tuba.

ukulele
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

George Harrison used to carry two ukuleles with him whenever he traveled. One was for his own use, and the other was in case anyone else needed one in an emergency.

Have you ever tried playing a martin backpacker guitar? They're pretty small but, it might be a bit big for touring.
They're pretty cool albeit kind of hard to hold comfortably. Mine spends way more time as a wall hanging.

harmonica

if you suck it at it think of it as a chance to improve

Harmonica, FTW. Guitars are too fragile. You can beat up a harp and it'll keep playing beautifully.

Really no guitar,but the mandolin is still in the running as I have an old beater Kay mandolin that sounds pretty good.

Mostly I worry about it getting to wet (no case).
Also still in the running is my plastic soprano recorder, almost indestructable and I lose about three buck if I really get tired of it and chuck it.

Penny whistle sounds good, I have never played one and this would be a good time to learn. I'll look up that melodica thing, thanks for something I have never heard of. ;0)

Steven

I don't care what any of you say, I still think guitar is the best. More people are likelier to be able to play guitar, therefore when you go around meeting people, you are more likely to get them strumming on your ol' geetar. Of course, you would have to take an old beat up one. Those can be a lot more fun to play on anyway. :)

You'd better have some serious panniers or a trailer with room to spare if you're going to take a full-sized acoustic guitar with ya. :eek:

Well, we might have some room on the bob. But, you can always take the backpacker guitar like someone has suggested.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Indian_bamboo_flute.jpg

Pipe Organ

I can't believe no one has said it yet.... Cow Bell! You need to learn to play the cow bell!!! More Cow Bell!!

I've always wanted to learn to play the saw. Kinda awkward and heavy though I guess.

Actually a theramin and a tiny guitar amp would be the ****.

I've always wanted to learn to play the saw. Kinda awkward and heavy though I guess.

but more useful in camp than the pipe organ.

Harmonica, if you need backup give someone a set of spoons.
Speaking from Appalachian Trail experience you never see a guitar more than a couple of miles into the trail.


Music lover hiking the Appalachian Trail with 30-pound tuba

by Izak Howell
The Roanoke Times/Associated Press

INTERIOR, Va. -- It was a sparkling autumn day along the Appalachian Trail, the silence interrupted only by the clacking of the falling leaves, the ripple of a creek and the deep, brassy tones of a bass tuba.

Trout anglers down the road looked off into the trees, wondering how a symphony had landed in this remote valley.

It was Scott Rimm-Hewitt, standing on the footbridge over the creek and blowing a rendition of "Linus and Lucy" through the hemlock stands.

Rimm-Hewitt is passing through the New River Valley on what is likely the first end-to-end hike of the 2,160-mile Appalachian Trail with a tuba.

The 24-year-old graduate student at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro started heading south from Maine more than four months ago, and plans to finish in Georgia in mid-December.

His bass tuba, named Charisma, adds 30 pounds to his 70-pound load.

"I wouldn't hike any other way," said Rimm-Hewitt, who goes by the nickname "Super Scott the Tuba Man" on the trail.

The music student saw it as a challenge, a way to hike the trail without losing his tuba chops and a way to meld his love of music with the outdoors.

"There's something about the arts and nature that grasps me," he said.

Rimm-Hewitt also credits Charisma with saving his life. Charisma's bell is badly crumpled from a tumble the hiker took from a Pennsylvania cliff in September. He said he fell head-first and the tuba took the blow from the rock where he would have hit his head. He ended up with stitches in his right leg, but he hiked 26 miles the next day.

Charisma, meanwhile, still sounds good.

"If it wasn't for this bell, I think I would have crushed my head," Rimm-Hewitt said.

When it's not protecting his skull, the tuba is the center of impromptu concerts at trail shelters. He said one show in New Hampshire had 50 people doing the Chicken Dance at the Lake of the Clouds. He and Charisma move easily between the swingy "In the Mood" to a ringing "Amazing Grace" and on to Pink Floyd and Bob Marley tunes.

To train for the hike, Rimm-Hewitt ran with a friend while wearing a pack loaded down with phone books, a VCR, a toolbox, anything he could find.

Then in April he ran the Boston Marathon with the tuba on his back. He finished in five hours, 15 minutes, including his stop to serenade the crowd.

None of this convinced the doubters he has met along the trail, folks who insist his idea is quaint but doomed. He won't listen.

"You can do just about anything if you put your heart into it," he said.

He puts his heart in the tuba, as well as his down sleeping bag and his peanut butter, which he crams into the bell. To save weight, he doesn't carry a tent or underwear and he carries only half of his music book.

Rimm-Hewitt still has some frigid nights ahead, pushing through the Great Smoky Mountains in November. But he is far enough along to start thinking about his next adventure.

"I've been told I should maybe do a tuba bike," he said.

Actually a theramin and a tiny guitar amp would be the ****.Sitting out in the woods at night, all alone, playing a theramin. Aww yeah.

A tuba on a bike? Why not just have the bike tubes made so that all you had to do was plug in a mouthpiece somewhere. Example, simply remove the seat and put the mouthpiece in and toot away, would give new meaning to blow it out your bleep. :)

I have a harmonica holder that I could wear as I ride, that may get some looks. :)

Steven

I'd buy a Squier Bullet for $90, cut the body down so it's skinnier and shorter (don't mess with the scale though), repaint it (sand to remove paint, paint remover will also remove the glue that holds the body together), then reassemble and you now have a cheap travel electric guitar....carry a decent cable and a smokey or other small battery powered amp and you're good to go.

By the way, I am going to be doing this myself in the near future...however it will be a Dean Vendetta XM instead since I want a hardtail and humbuckers. Basically it's going to look like a stick with strings....I know the tone will go to hell, but oh well, it's something I cna stick in my suitcase when visiting my folks and not have to pay for carrying a fullsize guitar on the plane.

Sitting out in the woods at night, all alone, playing a theramin. Aww yeah.Of course you'd be all alone. Theremin + the woods + night = everyone else running the other way.

--J

Of course you'd be all alone. Theremin + the woods + night = everyone else running the other way.

--J

Or all the animals getting really pissed off and going on the attack.
I can see it now....all the squirrels throwing stuff out of the trees, the bears sneaking up with claws fully extended, and the owls directing the entire attack.

Obvious choice seems to be the pedal steel guitar. Of course you will have to hear the protests from the pedal aluminum guitar crowd and the pedal carbon fiber guitar contingent. Just remember, pedal steel guitar is pedal real guitar.

Sousaphone

Or all the animals getting really pissed off and going on the attack.
I can see it now....all the squirrels throwing stuff out of the trees, the bears sneaking up with claws fully extended, and the owls directing the entire attack.

music tames the savage beast. just saying.

music tames the savage beast. just saying.

I know. But he was talkin about a theremin....that is not music, at least I do not believe it is.
Perhaps X has some magical power with which I am not aware of, but I will make my claims until proven otherwise.

harmonica

if you suck it at it think of it as a chance to improve


...or as a chance to get 50% more pitches.

Obvious choice seems to be the pedal steel guitar. Of course you will have to hear the protests from the pedal aluminum guitar crowd and the pedal carbon fiber guitar contingent. Just remember, pedal steel guitar is pedal real guitar.


goddamn, that's funny.

Korg OASYS 88 key keyboard.

A small electric guitar, and one of these amps:

http://www.smokeyamps.com/Smokey_Pages/smokey_images/cmltg.png

a french tart.

A small electric guitar, and one of these amps:

http://www.smokeyamps.com/Smokey_Pages/smokey_images/cmltg.png

That's what I was sayin, yo....just get a cheap electric, one cheap enough to cut the body down to make smaller (right low a Les Paul Jr. Epiphone is looking like a good candidate....wrap-around tailpieces are nice for keeping things small). Just keep the leg contour in place, and it should be plenty playable.

I never go anywhere without my skin flute.

oh no you didnt:eek:

oh no you didnt:eek:

Aaaaaah, you're just sore 'cuz you didn't post it first. :p

well, i did suggest pipe organ. just saying

Now lets get back on track here, sheesh...... guys.

I had a friend suggest the Ocarina and that just resonated somehow. I may have to make a tenor Ocarina in my shop and carry it along. Can't figure a clay one will make the trip so in this case wood is better.

Then again, I have three fiddles and one is a 3/4 size, I hate decisions. :)
Steven

This is what you need... Weber Sweet Pea. Sounds amazingly good for such a small mando.. full size scale and nearly indestructible.

http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/6328/2755473950102801834S500x500Q85.jpg

Dulcimer - mountain or hammer, either one.

I had a friend suggest the Ocarina . . . .

Isn't that the guy who won the 1973 Tour de France?

A soprano recorder and van Eyck's der Fluyten Lust-hof.

Well I haven't bought anything yet but my wife is agreeing that the Ocarina sounds like the best bet, and I love the sound. The major drawback is that they have such a short range. Seems like it is just over an octave.

Well taking more notes on a tour would just add weight. :)

Steven

Not going sag. I'd say a flute or harmonica.