Why I bring my guitar everywhere I go
One of the things I have to bring with me when travelling is my guitar. Sure it takes up a lot of space and is awkward to carry, I worry whether it will be damaged on plane journeys and where to keep it safe when I’m staying in shared accommodation. But I can’t go a day without playing, I need it with me. It’s like some kind of drug, and I get withdrawal symptoms when I can’t play.
It’s no coincidence that I make significant improvements in my playing when travelling as a lot of time is spent waiting for trains, plains and buses to arrive and leave. I think every traveller should have a hobby that can kill the down time. Things like hacky-sack, poi or interpretive dance should do. You get bonus points for anything that can involve other people joining in or has the potential to impress a member of the opposite sex.
For me playing guitar is a great way to brake the ice with other travellers and locals because many people can play guitar, while everyone else can make a request. Old Filipino ladies have taught me blues licks and I’ve had Vietnamese teenagers ask me to play ‘Winds of Change’ by the Scorpions. Then there are the other travellers that like to sing along to Bob Marley and Jack Johnson songs.
A couple of nights ago there was a party at a bar near my guest house. The bar owner had set up some microphones, bongos and a guitar amp and invited anyone who was interested to come up and make some music. There happened to be a Swedish session musician present, he had an electric guitar with him so naturally took up lead duties. A Thai guy manned the didgeridoo, while a German played the bongos. I was on rhythm guitar and vocals. We made up some instrumental jams and performed a couple of my own songs. We also performed a cool instrumental version of Superstitious by Stevie Wonder.
Everyone seemed to enjoy it as we received lots of applause between songs and plenty of people took photos of us. I didn’t hear a ‘Booh! You suck!’ at all! I knew it was good when afterwards people asked us how long we’d practised together. The answer of course was not at all, we first met when we got up in front of everyone.
Here’s to all the musicians around the world. Keep jamming together in occasional unison and harmony!
December 6th, 2009 at 10:49 am
I will definitely be traveling with a guitar as well. I am not sure if I am of your calibre, but I hope we have a chance to jam somewhere soon.
December 6th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I’m going in the opposite direction to you. I’m getting annoyed when moving around with my guitar. I’m selling it and will eventually take up the harmonica. Easier to travel around with and can compliment you decent guitar players.
December 6th, 2009 at 11:58 am
@John I’m better at funky rythm than lead… I need to practice more soloing.
@Gordie Harmonica is a good choice. I wonder what other instruments are easy to travel with. Flute, banjo, mandolin?
December 7th, 2009 at 1:44 am
Your guitar is a tool for expressing yourself. Each must do the same practice with whatever tool that fits our interest. Part of the blessing of life is our capacity for expression.
December 7th, 2009 at 5:18 am
@Walter I agree, cool way of putting it.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:50 am
We travelled around the world for a year with a Martin Backpacker guitar, which we found the perfect compromise. It has a much smaller body than a regular guitar, but still sounds great.
It is designed to fit in overhead compartments on planes, so we never had a problem with this. It’s also small enough not to be too much of a pain to carry around.We’ll be taking it with us again when we head off to South America indefinitely in March.
December 9th, 2009 at 4:53 am
Sounds cool Erin.
January 22nd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I’m really struggling to decide whether to take a guitar with me while travelling. Do you find it a pain? Do you take it as carry-on or check it? Fullsize or miniature travel guitar?
I feel pretty similarly – the last time I went more than a day or two without playing was on my last trip last summer and withdrawal is a bitch.
Question is: Do I take a decent travel guitar or pick up an almost disposable cheap instrument whenever I’m in a single place? I know if I don’t do it I’ll wish I had and I also suspect there’ll be times I wish I’d left it behind.
Still undecided.
January 22nd, 2010 at 1:12 pm
Hey Shaun,
I bring a regular sized guitar with me and most times it counts as carry on, usually you get to take 2 pieces of hand luggage. Other times it goes with the surfboards and ski-equipment. In any case I can’t ever remember paying extra to bring it with me.
When I’m travelling around it can be quite awkward but I can’t go without having a guitar to hand. It really helps to fill up the time waiting around for transport.
This time round I’m based in one location so I don’t have that hassle of lugging it around.
You can get very cheap guitars here in Asia, the action is usually horrible and they’re difficult to keep in tune but they serve their purpose.