Anyone ever carried a Ukulele?
I've got one, love playing around with it, hate to go 6 months without it.... anyone else have experience on this...Thanks! ........Crawl
Past the dreaming, into the coming true! "Me"
I don't see a problem, as long as you're prepared to be named Tiny Tim.Originally Posted by Crawl
I've got one, love playing around with it, hate to go 6 months without it.... anyone else have experience on this...Thanks! ........Crawl
I carry a small (1.1 pound) mandolin sometimes--especially nice for solo hikes. I strap it on the outside of the pack in its own bag. I guess the main thing is not to assume anyone else wants to hear you--I mostly bring it for off season solo hikes when I may be on my own. For some your playing may have the same effect as someone else playing a boom box. respect quiet. But it has been really nice sometimes.
I've gotten big into making cigar box guitars lately. Alot of those guy made their own ukes out of smaller metal cans and whatnot. Cheap, indestructable, and most importantly, cool. Google for more info, but I know I've seen one made from just an altoids tin and neck. It might be worth it to do that rather than destroy a good wood uke.
For sure. I saw at least two people hiking with one this last year. For that matter saw some people with guitars, half-size and full-size, plus a mandolin in one instance.
People love music in camp, you'll be everyone's best friend, assuming you're any good.
I meet a guy with one a couple of years ago. It was quite amazing what he could do with just 4 strings! Orion had the mandolin last year and was quite good with it. Johnny Thunder was also very good on the guitar. I've also run into a few banjo players.
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instruments I've see or heard about include ukuleles, guitars, violins , mandolins, a clarinet, flutes, harmonicas, a bugle and a tuba. It is always great when you have a musician at your campsite. The exception being when you have 3 guys in camp all "learning" how to play the harmonica.
banjos too. forgot about banjos. Saw two people with em' last year.
not everyone will appreciate being forced to listen to someone elses music.
People love music in camp, you'll be everyone's best friend, assuming you're any good.
I used to carry a clarinet and a wooden recorder out into the woods, pretending I actually enjoyed playing them. Just dead weight to me now. As payback for all the music I have made over the years, I guess I'm now assaulted by airplanes above, motorcycles below screaming down the hiways, and eager musicians on the trail. Don't assume anyone else wants to hear you. It's just noise pollution to me now.
Another good reason to avoid "people in camp", wherever it may be. Camp as far away as possible. This thread is making me seriously rethink about not attending the SORUCK.For sure. I saw at least two people hiking with one this last year. For that matter saw some people with guitars, half-size and full-size, plus a mandolin in one instance.
People love music in camp, you'll be everyone's best friend, assuming you're any good.
After years of full moon drummings in the Black Mountains of NC, Rainbow Gathering musical cluster-mucks in the Shining Rock and the Nantahalas, and long years of street musicians jamming on the sidewalk, I've had a bellyfull of human powered noise and want only to hear the wind, the snow hitting the tent fly and the rain on my back.
The voice of reason. Amen.
Actually, Max raised a very good point.
It is absolutely true that not everyone wants to hear music at a shelter or campsite, and this is certainly true if the sounds are coming from someone who isn't very good or is learning the instrument (this is about 95% of Trail musicians, by the way). There are fewer things more annoying at the end of the day that having to listen to an impromptu harmonica or jaw harp concert being given by someone who dosn't know how to play. Remarkable thing, tho, the musician invariably feels like he's doing everyone else a favor, which asssuredly, he isn't.
Don't assume that folks want to hear you play.
And I can guarantee you (especially those of you packing Trail guitars) that they sure in hell don't want to hear you sing, either.
You sound like you may prefer not to stay at shelter areas. In thru-hiker season there will be lots of people there. Being respectful of others wishes is one thing. I have my rowdy moments but I'm not going to be hootin' & hollarin" at midnight. On the other hand, if someone cares enough about music to carry an instrument with them on their hike and wants to share their gift around the campfire at night, I say play on. Regardless of talent level its a much better sound than the hikers who get up at 4:30am, with total disregard for their fellow hikers trying to sleep, as they pack their gear as noisily as possible. These tend to be the same hikers that would have objected to music the previous evening because they had to get there rest.
My Dad was a professional clarinetist and a music professor and I myself ended up playing the clarinet in the Air Force Band and teaching it at a college for a few years and can tell you, never underestimate the massive EGO hiding within a musician's brain. I've seen them all, heck, I was one of them myself, had the biggest ego too. The musical newbs grab the golden ring just like the bigshot pros, and will squirrel their way into any gathering, eager to produce sound, hungry to express notes and to be heard.
Are the untrained worse? Naw, the well-trained go about it with real vigor just like the newbs, but the untrained slap things around a bit and produce a few incoherent tunes in their own peculiar way which is sort of fun to observe(from a distance). Sort of like watching a small ant carry a big crumb from above. Grab these newbs and throw them into a real-world practice room for 5 hours a day for several years and there will be a rapid readjustment to their musical Five Year Plan.
Huh? We've had people play in the cabins before but you're not likely to hear it camping.
The fact that someone might "care enough about music" to carry around an instrument doesn't mean much if they aren't any good with it. To say that these instruments produce good sounds "regardless of talent level" is simply wrong. Compelling other people to listen to horrible music is unacceptable. I don't think they even do this in Guantanamo anymore, it's considered too inhumane.
Yeah, while I must say that many of the trail musicians I've heard are pretty darn good, some sound worse than a cat in heat.
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I would question your words, "share their gift". Your shelter description makes backpacking sound like a hike thru a tent-village of homeless people set up in the middle of Los Angeles. And back to sharing their gift, what exact gift is it these people are sharing around the fire at night? "Regardless of talent level" might be a redefinition of sharing the gift, so maybe it's not really a gift after all. Another good reason to avoid shelters. But does anyone really need a good reason?
If someone cranked up his boombox at a shelter, or whipped out his bango, what's the difference??
I've hiked with several folks who carried and played guitars and recorders. I enjoyed listening to them most of the time, but they were discriminate where and when they played. Two fantastic places were:
Mammoth Cave, down in the caves - talk about acoustics, several of the tour groups got backed up standing around listening to the impromptu concert.
Another time was on the CDT, several miles north of Wolf Creek Pass. My partner and I heard Will playing, but never figured out exactly where he was, somewhere in the rocks above us. Beautiful sound.
I say take it along, learn to play privately, and be considerate of others at shelters and group camps, ask before indulging.
Now that's funny.
And anyway, what serious musician would dare haul his instrument out into the woods for several days? A good quitar ain't cheap, a violin can easily cost $40,000, and a good wooden clarinet is about $4000. Sure, I hauled my Buffet B-flat out for several weeks in my pack, wrapped in a down vest, but never played it and was stump stupid to even bring it.
For all you Tipper Gores out there, I'm not a musician and never have been but I will be doing some AT sections this year and you've just convinced me to take up the harmonica. You've been warned
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