2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Sean Belt
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 02:59 PM

I've got to go with Catspaw on this one. I play several stringed things. But for travel, I always carry my Appalachian dulcimer. I take mine with me on business trips to while away the time in hotels, as well on camping and floating trips in the Ozarks. It's light and compact enough that it fits well in the airlines' overhead bins or under my seat.

Another advantage to the dulcimer is that it's easy to learn to play, while affording a picker the opportunity to get as complicated as he/she wants with chording and finger picking patterns. And best of all, you can tune it to play in the keys in which you most comfortably sing.

What more could a person want in a travel instrument?

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: DonMeixner
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 03:08 PM

Oh all right! I'll relent and agree with Rick on this. For some reason I missed the fact that this was for a novice type traveler. A Baritone Uke or a tenor guitar would be the most versatile. best range for the weight and size of the instruments gathered here. Altho' a tiple does have a certain charm.

Don

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: wildlone
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 04:00 PM

Just a passing thread creep,the pictures of the tiple seem to show an instrument similar to the one the Portugesse luthiers call the English guitar, arn't the late night progs on tv great thats where I saw an interview with a Portugesse luthier.

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 07:52 PM

I like the idea of the strumstick. It is basically an Appalachian stripped down to a tiny soundboard. Like the AD, it is nearly impossible to play one badly if you can tune it. It isn't hard to tune. You can get as complicated as you want with it: alternate tunings, chords, etc.)

I was happy to hit the House of Musical Traditions (local to Washington, D.C./Takoma Park) web site and find a bargain price for it. The price includes a carrying case (more like a carrying sheath). < a href=http://www.hmtrad.com/instr/kids.html>CLICK HERE and look for the strumstick under string suggestions.

Since we're talking about backpacking here, this instrument can stow just about anywhere in the pack. Mine is about 31" long in the case. The widest end is about 6 and 1/2" and quickly tapers to 2 and 1/2". If feels like a toy, but is pretty rugged.

My next suggestion would be the Kalimba. Go to the House of Musical Traditions site and look under Percussion suggestions. This instrument has nice tonal qualities for individual accompaniment. It is pretty rugged and again you can start easy and get complicated later.

You know, it's threads like this that I really like. Where else could you sample so many opinions and so much personal experience. Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: EL Jefe
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:21 PM

Peter T... Melodeon...There are two definitions of Melodeon.. The English...a diatonic button accordion Rest of The World.. A ONE row diatonic button accordion

Concertinas...lots of great web sites..in nut shell English (here we go again) 48 buttons...chromatic... different tone in and out...(like a piano accordion) tenor-treble 56 buttons..great for accompanyment (sp) best known players Allistair Anderson ..Simon Thoumire Anglo...push-pull different notes...20 button..diatonic 2 keys and the relative minors...30 Button...some chromatic capabilities..and there are 36..38 etc.. Irish play mostly C/G (note that is not G/C).and some other pitches...Noel Hill etc...

My vote (having travelled a bit and play a few instruments...NOT a singer... 1. Diatonic harmonics (s) Steinbeck... 2. Penny whistle (s) 3. Ukulele, cavaquinho, Venezuelan cuatro, Canary Island timple (note the M)..in that order.. bag the Tenor uke..too large... Have you checked out the instrument called the "FLUKE" Jim Beloff web site...ukes are cool..and fun and serious if you want to be..however like all stringed instruments.. subject to damage.. Personnaly I'd have a Uke..many great players and versatile.. Check the KAWIKA uke site....get a "concert" size.. El Jefe

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: charcloth
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:26 PM

the appala. dulcimer gets my vote. If you can hum a tune you can easily figure out how to play it. you can chord it or note it. tuning is the easiest of any stringed inst. can learn it quite quickly and yet grow a life time with it. it is lighter than a tenor guitar or just about any of the other inst. listed. the mandoline does not accompany a singer well by itself. A tenor guitar or a uke would be my 2nd choices. A uke is easier to find. but Tiny Tim hurt the image of a uke to badly for me to carry one. It is a shame cause it & Tiny Tim were missunderstood

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: WyoWoman
Date: 03 Jan 00 - 08:45 PM

The human voice is deliciously portable.

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 04 Jan 00 - 01:39 AM

Sure Wyo, but are you willing to stow it in the overhead when flying?

OK now here's another suggestion...and DON'T laugh at me. (well, not altogether anyway). Buy any cheap generic mandolin, remove the strings. Put only four back on. Tune them (from the bass) D,G,B,E. It will finger like a guitar and be lower in pitch, making it better to sing with. OK, NOW you can laugh...but I'm gonna try it tonight and see.

Rick

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 04 Jan 00 - 01:51 AM

Rick, I certainly would not laugh at that idea but I would wonder about what gauges of stings would need to be used. The higher to strings shouldn't cause a problem with standard mandolin strings but mandolin D to guitar G is by my reckoning 5 semitones higher and the G to the G is 7 semitones higher. I'm a bit brain dead at the moment but I think that the mandolin 3rd string would make the 4th string on that tuning leaving someting else required for the 3rd string.

Of course, if you were to use that tuning, there would be nothing wrong in using pairs of strings either as with a 12 string guitar.

Jon

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 04 Jan 00 - 02:06 AM

Yup John. You'd need different guages. Sorry, I'm so used to switching strings around on my instruments I didn't think of it. I'd go: 045, 035, 025, 014. (I think)

Rick

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Peter T.
Date: 04 Jan 00 - 09:54 AM

I know I'm going to regret this, but what is a Canary island timple? (of course you can pick up a cavaquinho on every street corner.... )
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Roger the skiffler
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 06:59 AM

I noticed no-one suggested kazoo (but I can never go back anywhere I've been before so perhaps you're right!
RtS

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Bert
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 02:12 PM

That should be OK Rog, he DID say he was touring;-)

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Bert
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 06:41 PM

Try here

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Pauline L.
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 07:28 PM

I recommend a pennywhistle or recorder. They're small, light, easy to carry, and easy to learn (the basics, anyway).

I have a friend who climbed Mt. McKinley with his recorder in his backpack. When he got to the top, he tried to play "This Land Is Your Land," but he couldn't because he was out of breath.

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: Peter T.
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 09:06 PM

Has to support vocal -- or so he said. I tried Canary Island timple in a couple of search engines without success. Is this a real instrument? yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: 2000 Mudcat Music Question! (really)
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 09:15 PM

How's the "Rick Fielding Implosive Wacko Mando" coming along? Go with the B.Uke/Ten gtr. or the App.....or the above stated mando. I like the strumstick as an App substitute and they're very small. How about I just send the dude a stick dulcimer?

Spaw