Choose musical instrument for cruising

[Scott Berg]

I opted to sell my Martin and buy an old Ovation guitar with fiberglass back

[StuM]

No one mentioned ocarinas yet?

[Deltasailor]

Originally Posted by martinworswick

How about bagpipes.......

There was a guy in The Ionian played bagpipes at night in the harbour, my lad also played Sax when at anchor. Went down well. The best is an acoustic guitar, very portable, no power needed. Just remember to ease off the strings when you leave it for the winter.

[Mozzie]

As a former professional bagpiper, there is an art to practicing where you don't annoy other people. People who don't get that are usually the ones who don't get that they are not very good. Hence you always get disturbed by bad playyers. Also you could get something smaller like small pipes or ullean pipes. They are much smaller and much quieter.

In any case, the humidity would wreak havoc on the wooden parts. You can buy ones that are all plastic however.

Originally Posted by CaptainGrey

Pennywhistle, aka tin whistle, aka flageolet. Tune it once and you're good. Does not suffer from the humidity-related ailments of reed instruments and string instruments. Comes in many keys, if you're so inclined, but a D whistle and a low-D whistle will suffice for almost anything you might want to play.

Susato make some very nice tunable plastic tin-whistles, so no corrosion. As someone else mentioned, cheap, simple, easy and quiet.

[iyamwhatiyam]

I'm learning to play 7 Bar Blues, it's easy and fun, teaches you the basic chords so then you can improvise. Wife bought me a Yamaha digital keyboard for my birthday to take on the boat. Stand folds up for storage. YouTube has a lot of instructional as well as fun blues/boogie woogie videos.

[MamaKube]

You are going cruising?
Invest in a lead steel drum pan. Readily available at Panyard and many other places. Easy to find sheet music.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Mozzie

As a former professional bagpiper, ................

People pay money to hear someone play the bagpipes?

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by ranger42c

.

For a guitar player, there are smaller models... or perhaps try learning mandolin, ukulele, or violin/fiddle... partly for their smaller size... but the humidity could take it's toll on the instruments... so maybe less expensive models would be best on board.

-Chris

I have always carried a guitar Classical, 12 string, Ovation and they all suffered from the sea elements.
The one exception is my national steel Dobro, which is impervious to the elements, stays tuned, great harmonics and really compliments jamming with locals on the beach.

Mine is the same as this Hawaiian etched one and

https://youtu.be/82NKt4QHU_0

https://youtu.be/tB5_XbNA6QI

And the great Mark Knoffler
https://youtu.be/xf2CDT-Y4cc

[Kenomac]

The Hand Pan

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6oremFnbgO0

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The Hand Pan

That is fantastic Ken, never heard one before.

My girlfriend loves drums and now wants one of those

Where can you find them?

[Don C L]

Easy, Hurdy Gurdy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quynEWf4CI4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_kndqOY-pQ

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

The Hand Pan

Wow!
I see on youtube it is also called a "Hang drum"

[mawtty]

I have tried:
Flute...gets corroded
Clarinet....easy to break
Banjo....rusted
Mandolin..... too fragile
Guitar... tooo bulky
Tenor ukulele..with nylon bass string... perfect !!!
Tulku Tim.

[Kenomac]

And make some money on the side....

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EDQgU1CPpis

Going to hopefully try one out tomorrow in Los Angeles, been waiting six months to get my hands on one. They come in a variety of scales. These guys get more youtube hits than the Vagabond couple.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xk3BvNLeNgw

[Pelagic]

Researched where to buy and avoid the cheap fakes.

The good ones are from $1.5k to $3.5k and there is a waiting list.

We will try one next time we are in Hawaii

https://www.sylvainpasliermusic.com/handpans-en