Musical instruments

[Rollin]

I have played the guitar and the bass (not very well) in the past but will not have room&nbsp;for instruments of that size. I ended up buying a Native american flute and drum&nbsp;because of there size and because I enjoy the sounds. Music has always been a part of my life and music seems to touch a part of me deep within. Although I don't&nbsp;believe&nbsp;I have the gift of music like some seem to possess I still try and will use the time playing as a sort of&nbsp;relaxation/meditation or even&nbsp;worship.<br /><br />Does anyone else travel and play or have plans to? If so what do you play?

 

[fluffabear]

In school I was a drummer, but I also farted around playing some guitar and keyboard. I really love to sing. I have a cheap little pawn shop acoustic guitar that I keep in a blanket in front of the passenger seats that works pretty well when I get the urge to play (even though I play terribly).

 

[oldsoul]

This is some of my work. I hope this link works <img src="/images/boards/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"><br /><br /><br />Music is and always will be a great joy in my life.

 

[fluffabear]

Excellent video, I'm shamelessly jealous <img src="/images/boards/smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle">

 

[SirJoey]

<br /><br /><span style="font-family: 'comic sans ms', sans-serif;"><strong>Good playin, good singin!&nbsp;<img src="/images/boards/smilies/thumb.gif" alt="" align="absmiddle" border="0" /><br /><br />I too, am one of those guys who used to always hang around with musicians.<br />A.K.A.... a drummer...<br /><br /></strong></span>

 

[Rollin]

Excellent oldschool! Thanks for sharing that.

 

[K1ngN0thing]

I used to play drums but that's not exactly ideal for an RV. I briefly tried getting into guitar but I lacked the discipline. It's just too dry going through the chords. Rocksmith looks like a great way to learn and something I could get into though. I've also recently learne that a thing called "hurdy gurdy" exists, which is similar to a violin but uses a wheel instead of a bow, and keys to depress the strings. Search for "hurdy gurdy omen" on youtube for a phenomenal example of what it can do. It gets really crazy about halfway through.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

I play bass guitar in my cover band. Its a great hobby that actually has financial benefits. My bass is going to take up room in the van, but its one of the few luxuries I am going to insist on. Plug into a headphone amp and I am good to go.

 

[Seraphim]

I have an acoustic I carry in the TC.  Decent rhythm player, not a terrible vocalist, but never took up lead guitar.  Thought I'd do more after retirement, but there's always other stuff to do...

 

[Wabbit]

I have a few NAF's myself. I can make noise I like out of them, but it's not near to how great I hear others play them. I really enjoy playing them out in the woods.

 

[cdiggy]

Sing and play in a rock cover band. Lead and backing vocals and lead and rhythm guitar. I have to downgrade from my 4/12 Marshall speaker cab and lose about 3 guitars. Still need to carry two electric guitars because I do a lot of slide guitar/Rolling Stones tunes that require an open g tuning. I am in one hell of a bind. Along with vocal monitor and other stuff the room gets tight in my van.

 

[psytechguy]

RV's and trailers aren't the best environment for acoustic instruments, so I bought a beat up old Seagull acoustic at a pawn shop for $75 to use as a "road dog." If the heat/cold kill it, or it gets stolen, no great loss.

Now I'm looking for a cheap beat up acoustic bass guitar. Lot's of campfire guitarists around, very few bassists that I've seen!

 

[Lumberjake93]

I have played drums since middle school (around 10 years) and I am starting to come to terms with the fact that I won't be able to bring my set with me. In the future I may build a suitcase drumset like one of these: 
I have most of the ingredients for it already. I just need smaller and more compact hardware and some bells and blocks that fit in the suitcase when it's stored. 

In the last year i picked up the mandolin and harmonica. Both of these instruments are excellent for playing and are perfectly "van-sized". 

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

mandolin and harmonica... excellent for playing... perfect. 

Harmonica is the perfect instrument.  They're cheap, portable, and harmonica players have the best pulmonary function of any group of people, better than horn players, opera singers, marathon runners, or breath-hold divers.  I know harmonica players in their 80's and 90's, and they all attribute their longevity to harmonica playing.

Another great instrument is the spoons.  They're cheap, easy to play, and easy to carry with you.  For drummers who don't have a massive van, learn the washboard, you can play with drum sticks.  Hand percussion is great, things like tambourine, cabasa, djembe drum.  My newest instrument is the jawbone of an ass.  Really, I'm not kidding.  look here

Guitars are great, but they're a little bulky and good ones are sensitive to changes in temperature.  There are several ways to deal with it.  One can just get a cheap guitar, or get a Composite Acoustics Cargo , the perfect guitar for a cargo van.  Or, one can take up the ukulele.  Ukulele is much easier to play than guitar, they're cheap and don't take up much room.  

Ok, I'm going to tell you people about the greatest festival you'll ever find.  It's called the Ukulele World Congress.  It's a free festival, the camping is free, there is free food most of the time, and there is FREE BEER the whole time.  People come from all over the world, Australia, England, Germany.  It's in Indiana, they aren't trying to promote it because it keeps growing every year and they don't want it to get out of hand.  I do a harmonica workshop there, it's free of course.

The best $100 I ever spent was for my Yamaha electric keyboard.  It does everything, runs on batteries, and packs up nice to fit in the van.  I have a friend who lives in an older, smaller van full time and he has an electric keyboard set up in his van.

Just to brag a little, I have a Bose PA system, a deep cycle battery and a 300 watt full sine wave inverter.  I built a cabinet that has 4 wireless mics and a Bose "audio engine" (mixing board).  I can open the back door of my van, turn on a couple of switches, and have a wireless guitar, wireless mics for vocal and harmonica.  I don't play in a band at the moment, which means I'm available!   

 

[NWShortyFord]

I love playing the guitar and other intruments. I've been playing the guitar for 15 years and I wish I had room for 20 of them...oh well. My wife likes to play piano and viola...she's awesome at both, hopefully when we get a bigger rig we can have more intruments.

 

[AimlessWanderLust]

One of these days I'll have enough money to put towards a weighted 88-key synth. *sigh* I dunno if it'll ever happen, but I'd like to be able to play whenever I want rather than only when I'm visiting relatives. 

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

One of these days I'll have enough money to put towards a weighted 88-key synth. *sigh* I dunno if it'll ever happen, but I'd like to be able to play whenever I want rather than only when I'm visiting relatives. 

I have something like this.  I paid $100 for it (used) with stand and gig bag.  It's the best investment I've ever made.  I can't believe how cheap and nice they are.  It packs up nice, it has batteries or can be plugged in, and has a million features that I haven't started to figure out.  

My daughter teaches piano in nursing homes, and bought 6 keyboards to use.  I don't think she paid more than $50 for any of them.  

 

[Royce]

Well, I cannot play anything, but I do build them and greatly enjoy listening. Does that count?
Here are a few shots of some of the past production:
http://spearfishcreek.net/index.php...id=3:musical-instruments&layout=blog&Itemid=4

 

[vanman2300]

I used to go mushrooming with a relative that loved to play his harmonica out in the woods. He was a Bohemian and a very interesting person to know and talk to. When he passed we buried his harmonica with him. I used to play flute and oboe years ago....this thread has made me think about taking it up again.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

Well, I cannot play anything, but I do build them

Nice Royce, looks like you build an unusual type of diatonic dulcimer.