Umm...any engineers want to help with my crazy problem?

[Oddjob]

Someone playing music at a shelter makes me want to re-enact the Animal House scene with Belushi smashing the guitar against the wall. I am probably not the only one who doesn't want to listen to fiddle music while trying to rest.
http://www.vidilife.com/video_play_2...itar_Smash.htm

Of course, if you offer Jim Beam before hand, then by all means play away.
Just ask before you start up. A little courtesy goes a long way. Just think how many people on these boards/ on the trail would be spitting mad and bent out of shape if someone came into the shelter with a stereo / boombox and fired that up for all to hear. It would probably go over like a lead ballon.

[Dancer]

Please make sure you ask your fellow hikers if they mind if you play. Don't impose your hobby on them just because you have a captive audience.

[bfitz]

Plenty of places to play where you won't annoy anyone, and if you're good, no one will mind anyway. I personally feel that a campfire without someone playing and singing is lacking something. And everyone has a guitar or banjo, so a fiddle is usually needed.

I've often felt some people need to be more tolerant of others at shelters, as shelters are social nodes on the trail, and one can always take their tent somewhere quiet and isolated if they so please. The shelter is the public house, if ya know what I mean, Mr. Belushi.

[Belew]

All this talk about the martin backpacker has made me curious about a travel violin...and there is one...but it is kind of pricey...but since we're exploring here...I'd thought I'd post it for those interested...it fits in a tube!

http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/STIX2.htm

anyone got 265 bucks they want to loan me...you know...as a tip for playing wonderful music along the trail?? lol...

A few months ago I found out about the Wiplstix fiddle. I want one but I wonder how it sounds. The guy that makes them lives in Asheville so I plan to go check em out next time I'm out that way. I think it would last longer than a regular fiddle in the weather.

[WILLIAM HAYES]

leave it at home no-one wants to listen to an amateur musician invade their space on he trail

[Singe03]

It could be pleasant at times, occasionally on the trail but especially someplace like Elmer's music room, I'd have loved to have my own guitar there.

If I want solitude, peace and quiet, I sleep away from the shelter.

[Minervan12]

Its interesting to get these random posts form people who sound so very upset and angry about the possibility of music being heard on the trail...

I tend to agree with those that say the shelter is a place for socialization...and if you want solitude and quiet...don't stay there...

The other thing that boggles me is that there is some kind of underlying assumption that someone would play an instrument without being asked...or asking others if it was okay first...

I, personally, would never purposefully try to offend anyone's ears but playing without permission or playing too late...

Has anyone experienced someone who has been this disrespectful? I find that hard to believe...

[Singe03]

Could guitars, bajos and fiddles on the trail become the next dogs on the trail debate?

You must keep your instruments leashed and quiet at all times?

[Gray Blazer]

I've found that claves are the most durable instrument to carry on the AT. They never go out of tune. The moisture and temps are not a problem. You can carry them in your back pocket and whip them out at a moment's notice and be ready to jam in a heart beat. You are kind of limited in the fact that it is not really a solo insrument unless you're playing Burt Bacharach or something. On the other hand, you can really get a nice bossa nova feeling on Kumbaya.

[Jim Adams]

i saw a fuzzy velvet painting one time of DOGS PLAYING MUSICAL INSTUMENTS but the picture wasn't clear enough to tell if it was on the AT at a shelter!
geek

[Gray Blazer]

i saw a fuzzy velvet painting one time of DOGS PLAYING MUSICAL INSTUMENTS but the picture wasn't clear enough to tell if it was on the AT at a shelter!
geek

Dogs playing musical instruments at an AT shelter!?! Sounds like this should go in Lobster's new thread....New Trends on the AT.

[Dancer]

Minervan12,

I have had a bad experience with musicians in the woods. Not on the AT but once at a church camp. Someone's Dad was there as a chaperone and he took it upon himself to break out the guitar every night and play old 70's songs that we the children of the 80's had never heard nor wanted to hear. He wasn't good and despite rolled eyes and grumbling by the kids and other adults he continued to belt it out 6 nights in a row. It was horrible.

I'm sure you are a fine musician. I've just found that there are alot that aren't but think that they are. I like to sing but I won't be doing that at a shelter unless it's a group effort and it's obvious that everyone is enjoying it.

[saimyoji]

Its interesting to get these random posts form people who sound so very upset and angry about the possibility of music being heard on the trail...

I tend to agree with those that say the shelter is a place for socialization...and if you want solitude and quiet...don't stay there...

The other thing that boggles me is that there is some kind of underlying assumption that someone would play an instrument without being asked...or asking others if it was okay first...

I, personally, would never purposefully try to offend anyone's ears but playing without permission or playing too late...

Has anyone experienced someone who has been this disrespectful? I find that hard to believe...

Well, I myself have two rather loud instruments that have indeed offended people. One I have no control over, and tends to get louder the deeper I sleep. The other I have some control over, but, alas, the offense tends to work on the inverse square law: the more quiet it is, the more offensive.

[Gray Blazer]

Minervan12,

I have had a bad experience with musicians in the woods. Not on the AT but once at a church camp. Someone's Dad was there as a chaperone and he took it upon himself to break out the guitar every night and play old 70's songs that we the children of the 80's had never heard nor wanted to hear. He wasn't good and despite rolled eyes and grumbling by the kids and other adults he continued to belt it out 6 nights in a row. It was horrible.

I'm sure you are a fine musician. I've just found that there are alot that aren't but think that they are. I like to sing but I won't be doing that at a shelter unless it's a group effort and it's obvious that everyone is enjoying it.

How many kids out of that church group became professional musicians? I think you found the secret to music on the trail, that is, having a group jam session even if some people are just enjoying listening to it. That's the reason I carry my claves on the trail!

[RockyTrail]

Minervan,

I can't think of any more appropriate music in the southern Appalachians than good ole fiddle and banjo! When in Rome do as the Romans...
So bring it on, if I meet up with ya some day with my banjer we'll pick a few!

ah-one and and ah-two and....(kick off with Sally Goodin')

[Monkeyboy]

www.pelican.com has cases that range from cameras to shotguns....

All are waterproof, airtight, etc.....lifetime warranty.

[leeki pole]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, y'all....I'm feeling better about it. But, you know what it would mean...I'd probably get some trail name that involved fiddling somehow...might be something cumbersome...and Fiddlehead is already taken...

"The devil went down to Georgia"
seems like to me that a good fiddle player's trail name could be Charlie Daniels!