Musical instruments at sea

[Graham_Wright]

On my predicted long passage, I thought I might try to learn/improve my efforts to play an instrument.

The only one I can entice some sort of recognisable tune out of is the electronic organ. In a 33 foot boat, there is a problem.

I have a choice of a clarinet, a fife, an accordion, a didgeridoo and a guitar.

All save the fife and the didgeridoo seem likely to suffer in the salt atmosphere.

Anyone have any experiences to advise?

 

[DaveS]

I keep a pair of mouth organs on board - strictly for playing to myself in remote anchorages! They don't seem to suffer too badly.

I'm sure I've seen a picture of a flexible roll-up electronic keyboard somewhere...

 

[FWB]

I have a guitar and mandolin on board. None seem the worse for wear, but my ability to play is still poor.

 

[mtb]

I have a guitar and mandolin on board. None seem the worse for wear, but my ability to play is still poor.

must be all that rocking about ;-)

I'd love to take my guitar and amp onto the boat but cant see wells harbour liking the noise .... much

 

[prv]

There's a guitar stowed on the bulkhead in the wardroom on Stavros, which is occasionally taken down and played by musical folk.

An eccentric old chap brought his accordion along on a voyage once, though it was the small hexagonal sailor's type rather than the big chrome kind that straps to your chest.

We once shared a pontoon at Itchenor with a pair of little plywood Lysanders containing four blokes and a swarm of kids. We had a bit of a sing-song and one of the little girls (aged about six or seven) was quite proficient on a bright pink ukelele.

I say go for it!

Pete

 

[KenMcCulloch]

On my predicted long passage, I thought I might try to learn/improve my efforts to play an instrument.

The only one I can entice some sort of recognisable tune out of is the electronic organ. In a 33 foot boat, there is a problem.

Some years ago there was a boat looking for new owners with a built in keyboard instrument of some sort, possibly a piano, maybe electronic. It was AFAIR a Bowman 48.

 

[chewi]

On my predicted long passage, I thought I might try to learn/improve my efforts to play an instrument.

The only one I can entice some sort of recognisable tune out of is the electronic organ. In a 33 foot boat, there is a problem.

I have a choice of a clarinet, a fife, an accordion, a didgeridoo and a guitar.

All save the fife and the didgeridoo seem likely to suffer in the salt atmosphere.

Anyone have any experiences to advise?

consider migrating from clarinet to sax, no wood to mess with. most sax/clarinet players I know do a bit of both, so there must be a lot of commonality.

 

[JohnGC]

An eccentric old chap brought his accordion along on a voyage once, though it was the small hexagonal sailor's type rather than the big chrome kind that straps to your chest.

English concertina invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone of bridge fame (the Germans also lay claim to inventing it).

How about a Theremin? It's probably sensitive to moisture in the air but I reckon it's time to reinvent it with modern electronics. Now there's a YAPP!

 

[Burnham Bob]

i have an english concertina for squeezing out tunes - its a Hohner not a posh Wheatstone or Lachenal as I wouldn't like an expensive instrument exposed to the marine environment. same with the guitar. I leave the Martin at home and have a cheapie Squier that i knock around on the boat. you'll get a cheapie acoustic guitar for around £60 off ebay and as long as you don't play it alongside a good quality guitar it'll be fine for folk song classics like Michael Row the Boat Ashore..........

guitars are great for leading a sing song. they are a sociable instument, things like clarinets etc are virtually useless as party instruments and limited in what you can do without other people

(musical joke - what do you get if you cross Rolf Harris and Anne Widdecombe.........a didgeridon't)

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

A Harmonica is small and can not get damaged easily on a boat; I would not take an expensive guitar onboard; only a half size cheap acoustic from Argos (£15)

 

[markleuty]

Three years ago I bought a really really cheap Acoustic guitar for the very purposes of testing out whether it would fall apart under salty sea conditions, before I dared to bring my "proper" guitar down.

It has lived on the boat for all of those three years and does not appear to have bent or buckled or gone soft.

Definitely need to buy it some new strings now, they're awful, but that's just because three year old strings are!

Mark

 

[NUTMEG]

Son is a professional musician but as said above he will not take any of his good violins aboard. We both play (in my case attempt to play) button accordions. Spent a great night last year anchored in a creek, bottle of rum, and the two 'boxes' playing sea related songs and shanties. Brilliant.

Any of the free reed instruments, concertina, melodeon, button or piano accordions will be fine aboard, no going out of tune and don't take up much space.

Spanish Ladies anyone? Two, three, four...

Oh, and all can be played quietly too.

 

[PabloPicasso]

I took my trumpet on a westeof Scotland trip. Might have doubled as a useful foghorn if needs be and damp does not affect it. But not very poplar wih marina folk players

 

[MM5AHO]

I allowed my youngest son to bring bagpipes once.
Hopefully I'll only make that error once!

 

[Mirror Painter]

If you are at all musical you will probably not need to be told that harmonicas come in different keys. At least the diatonic type do. Having said that £20 ish will buy a Hohner 'Marine Band' in C which is a lovely thing to have.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I wouldn't take an accordion or most concertinas, as they have iron reeds which are hard enough to keep rust-free even in a house. However, there are concertinas with brass reeds around, which should be reasonable durable in a boat.

 

[johnalison]

There are some fairly good plastic clarinets and while they may not reach the quality of a good wooden one, they are light to hold and will probably sound better than some of the instruments of torture so far mentioned.

 

[darmog]

I have an electronic piano I take occasionally on Monsun 31 cruising sailboat when not many aboard, Its an old Roland EP7 - touch sensitive and enough octaves for real piano music -runs on boat 12 volts. Canbe silent with headphones. Standard silver flute also good - can be played very quietly.

Darmog

 

[Ariadne]

We have an electric guitar and amp, and acoustic guitar with amp, a bass guitar with a bloody big bass amp, a harmonica, a flute, a descant recorder, an alto recorder, 7 penny whistles (all in different keys or lengths) and a djembe drum. We also have 2 mikes and stands; and we sold our other acoustic guitar 2 weeks ago. Not bad for 43', 2 teenagers the Mrs and me!!!

I do know quite a few people who have electric organs/pianos on board as well, clarinets and sax's are also popular for some....

There is a huge music scene on the cruising circuit, just go for it!

 

[Bru]

I recently bought a Washburn travel guitar for the paltry sum of £105 and to be honest wasn't expecting much other than something I could knurdle on and squeeze into the available space on our little boat

To my astonishment it's actually a genuinely decent instrument, it's even usable in an acoustic session

Of course, we then went out and bought a bigger boat! Hey ho

Squeezeboxes coke in a whole variety of formats but all have one common characteristic - the bellows are made of cardboard and don't appreciate getting damp. Genuine concertinas, whether English, Anglo or Duet (and the Anglo tends to be the most common) have hand made brass reeds

However, the cheap end of the concertina market (and a good concertina is a frighteningly expensive proposition) usually use accordion reeds which are made of spring steel and held in place with beeswax. Expose those to a salt laden damp atmosphere or a very hot cabin at your peril! I'm still sorely tempted to pick up a cheap concertina though!