Nomadic Neil

This is what the dread-locked Thai beach bums listen to.

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!