gregjones

If you like blues harp check out Adam Gussow on YouTube. He has short, free, lessons on YouTube that will have you honking in short order.

tcs

One advantage a harmonica has as an instrument for cycle touring is there's some scope for playing it while you ride, as June Siple demonstrated in National Geographic (May, 1973). I wouldn't on a crowded path, but if you catch a tailwind crossing the Nullarbor Plain, I say go for it.

It's all relative. A good student oboe will run north of $2500.

Interesting: How playing an instrument benefits your brain.

tcs

Then there's these guys: Royal Netherland Army Mounted Regiments Bicycle Band.

imi

A friend has bought a Yamaha guitarlele. A mini guitar. It blew me away as to how good it sounds and its playability. Tuned like a guitar with a capo at the fifth fret.

I'll still carry a classical guitar with me. I bought a lovely 3/4 one in portugal earlier this year. Brought it home too

martianone

a few years ago, spent some nights tripping in the Algonquin Park in Ontario. Just as darkness and humidity set in late one eve, a lad was playing "ode to joy" on a flute, it created sort of a haunting sound across the water of a lake cove. He also played "greensleeves". I practiced both through the next winter on an alto recorder and took it on my next trip. Never had a chance to hear my own echoes, plus my wooden recorder wasn't too impressed with the humidity - probably a plastic one would have traveled better.

acantor

The plastic Zen-On is waterproof, virtually indestructible, and a better instrument than some wooden models costing 10 times more.

79pmooney

But: the scale you are playing when playing "crossharp" or 2nd position has one more flat in it than the major scale of the harmonica's key. Say you have a C harp. Play it in 2nd position and the key is G but the F# of the G key is flatted to the F of the C key. So, if you try to play major music in G on a C harp, you will not be able to play the G#. Now if you want to play the blues with its flatted 7th, you're in! That flatted 7th is a given.

You can take this a step further. 3rd position. Playing a C harp in D. Now the scale is D in a Dorian minor scale with a C instead of a C# as well, also very good for the blues but quite different sounding from the major scale.

What's fun is that you can play the blues on all three positions. 2nd position is easy but you have to be able to bend notes. 3rd isn't much harder but there are more "wrong" notes you can hit. 1st in the blues is the hardest. You can make the 2nd work on almost any blues song. 1st works on the major sounding songs, 3rd in the minor sounding ones. I often use two harps on the same song, 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd depending on the song.

The fun thing about harmonicas? You can play this simple pocket sized instrument for decades and still hear new things, learn new things. And last, some simple advice for your first harp, especially if it might go bike camping - avoid harps with wood combs. Get ones with plastic or bamboo. Wood combs swell with moisture, either atmospheric or from your breath. The swollen wood is murder on your lips and when it dries, air leaks develop between the wood and the reed plates. Plastic and bamboo combed harps last far longer and are much better for your lips to play. Bamboo shares wood's mellow sound while the plastic combed harps sound more metallic. (I play the plastic combed Lee Oskars. I have and use 20 year old Lee Oskars. One, my favorite all-time, has hundreds of hours on it.)

Careful here. You might get addicted. I bought my first in 1979, now have 29 good ones, a box of dead ones I track by the pound, 3 microphones, 3 amps ... Heard a harp at a jam last night that I want. $145 list.

Ben

tcs

I've seen (heard) plastic Yamaha 300-series instruments used on professional gigs/recordings. Then there's the Mollenhauer Prima: plastic mouthpiece/fipple, wood body/bell.

fietsbob

I have several Mandolins .. My 'Leo', Denver made Pocket mandolin now has Many tour tune memories ..
Irish Pub jams and other Musical get togethers ..

One of my old friends is in Thailand right Now , Touring there with a electronic stage piano and the Bike Friday suitcase trailer
behind his Bi-Fri Tikit.

He is getting Paid.. sitting in with bands in Clubs and entering into Jazz competitions .

Keeps sending Food porn pictures on FB.

Buffalo Buff

Well this thread convinced me to buy a harmonica for touring. I'm sure I'll make a lot of friends on the road this way

sotramk

^ keep playing till all the bad notes are gone

fietsbob

its only what you do next after the accidental note that will make a difference..

gregjones

Easier on a fretted instrument.....slide up or down a fret. Sound's like you meant to slide into it. Neil Young said that's what he does.

tcs

"A harmonica is easy to carry. Take it out of your hip pocket, knock it against your palm to shake out the dirt and pocket fuzz and bits of tobacco. Now it's ready. You can do anything with a harmonica: thin reedy single tone, or chords, or melody with rhythm chords. You can mold the music with curved hands, making it wail and cry like bagpipes, making it full and round like an organ, making it as sharp and bitter as the reed pipes of the hills. And you can play and put it back in your pocket. It is always with you, always in your pocket. And as you play, you learn new tricks, new ways to mold the tone with your hands, to pinch the tone with your lips, and no one teaches you. You feel around, sometimes alone in the shade at noon, sometimes in the tent door after supper when the women are washing up. Your foot taps gently on the ground. Your eyebrows rise and fall in rhythm. And if you lose it or break it, why, it's no great loss. You can buy another for a quarter." The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck, 1939

Well, they cost more in 2015, and why not avail yourself of some free instruction off the internet? But otherwise, still sounds good.




"Excuse me, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice." - old joke

martianone

agree, many plastic instruments sound fine and would have traveled better. Sometimes I have trouble carrying a tune, even in a bucket. From time to time, I try to play a few recorder notes without too many squeaks. Shortly after my Algonquin tripping, I had visited an antique music shop in the Boston area, they had a number of recorders to try, which I did. I especially connected with one neo-baroque model, it came home with me (i had some under used plastic models at home which I gave to the local elementary music teacher). So this is the only instrument I try to use, it only sounds broke when I play it- I keep practicing.

tcs

Word. When an instrument calls, heed. It makes a big difference to the joy of making music (including one's commitment to practice & grow as a musician).

skidder

I've got three ukuleles (2 baritone and one tenor) and a classical guitar. Personally I can't see bringing one along on a trip as I like to listen to the 'natural' sounds around me (whether in city or backcountry). If I'm going somewhere new I want to experience that place, and its unique sights and sounds, and not block them out.

FWIW: I like the baritone ukes so much that I rarely play the guitar anymore. The ukes are just so much more compact and easy to transport to someone's house for a jam session, to a pub, or to just pick up and play on a whim.

veganbikes

I love ukes as well. I have a soprano and a concert, the concert is tuned baritone because that I just how I tuned it when I bought it and never changed it. They are nice to play on tour though I don't disagree about natural sounds but sometimes it is nice to just get your fingers to the movin' after a long day in the saddle or to keep your spirits up.

imi

For those worried about disturbing people with your playing at campsites, I find it a great excuse to take my guitar and wander down to the beach, up the hill, or just down a path to find a place to play in the evenings.
Here's a pic of my rig this winter in Portugal (3/4 classic guitar)

fietsbob

Yes , one of the Baritone Uke Tunings is DGBE, same as the 4 higher strings of a guitar..

My Tenor Guitar friends call that Chicago Tuning..
I'm personally Used to 5ths ascending intervals Tunings : CGDA, FCGD, GDAE, EBF#C#

tcs

If that's what is right for you, cool, and anybody playing in an outdoor setting needs to be sensitive to the thought that maybe not everyone wants to hear you play. (I'm looking at you, guy with bagpipe at that state park campground!) Still, making music has been an integral part of the human experience for a long time and with a modicum of tact it can be a great bridge to new folks you wouldn't meet otherwise.

rawklobster

Great thread! It's made me decide I should learn to play the harmonica!!! Found an online course on how to learn, too!

dashely

imi

How well does your guitar travel, do you have problems from the vibrations and how long until you run into problems with the wood and the glue?
I would like to know as I have a travel harp that I would like to travel with in the same location on my bike?

imi

Vibration is a non issue, however direct sun heat will eventually cause the bridge of a guitar to become unattached. The glue melts and string tension pulls it off.

Thanks to airlines' policy, I usually buy a $100 guitar at destination and give it away at the end of a multi-month trip. About the same cost as new tires, so travel guitars are a "disposable" for me.

On a really hot tour, I'd consider gluing a layer of aluminium survival blanket to the back of the case. The guitar is front down on the rack to protect the bridge from sunlight. I used to carry a hard-case and not bother with this as I had it strapped to the side of the rack (as in my avatar picture).

rawklobster

For anyone who is interested in learning the Harmonica, check out this Udemy Course! You can get it for $10 with the discount code BFEARLY10 (which expires Nov 17th, 2015 at 11:59pm). I just bought the course for myself so I can learn and tote a harmonica around on my tours. Thanks to this thread for the idea, and those who chimed in!