If you’re already a musician, you might have found it hard to take your passion on a journey with you. If you aren’t a musician yet, you might have thought it’d be too difficult to carry an instrument and practice on the road. It can be, indeed, but it mainly depends on what kind of an instrument you want to play. Of course, it’s impossible to backpack around with a piano attached to your bag, but luckily there are many small musical instruments out there that are portable enough for roaming souls.
It might sound like a cliché, but it’s entirely true: music connects people. This fact gains additional value for travelers. Wherever you go, music can make it easier for you to meet people and share very special moments with them.Here’s a list of 16 suggestions of small musical instruments. We also include some links to videos, so that you could easily understand how the listed small musical instruments look and sound like.
- Ukulele
Small when it’s about the size, but huge when it’s about the charm, the Ukulele is a perfect instrument for vagabonds. It’s light, handy and fits in a small backpack. Because of its Hawaiian origins, the ukulele brings to mind sunny beaches, colorful flowers and fresh breeze of the Pacific island. Despite its innocent look, the instrument can be quite impressing. To get what we mean by impressing, check out this video of Hawaiian virtuoso Taimane playing Bach’s Tocatta; then, to see the contrast, take a look at this delicate song by James Hill.
musical instruments, it doesn't break easily, it doesn't take much space in the luggage. The harp looks a bit strange, but sounds even stranger, so you must
- Guitar
The guitar isn’t exactly a small instrument, but it’s still relatively portable. It’s one of the most popular music instruments, so wherever you go, you’ll find some fellow guitarists to jam with, exchange tips and discuss techniques. Guitar producers understood it, and right now there are a few unique models available on the market. If standard-sized guitars are too big for your luggage, you may consider getting one of those designed particularly for travelers. Here you can see one of them, the Martin Backpacker.
Take your Guitar on your trips
Guitalele
Can’t decide whether to get the uke or guitar? Guitalele is your thing then. It’s as small as the Ukulele but has six strings and bigger chord possibilities. Some of the music instruments have a built-in microphone, thanks to which you can either use them as an acoustic guitar or increase their power with an amplifier. In this video, you can see exactly how the guitalele looks like (and cry a bit because of the Elton John’s romantic song).Flute
The flute is one of the oldest music instruments in the world, and you can find nearly all around the globe. There’s a lot of types to choose from, but all are relatively small, so whatever you pick, you shouldn’t have trouble with fitting it in your bag. You might associate flutes with mystic sounds of folk songs, but their abilities are way wider. Take a look at this insane Jethro Tull’s performance. As you see, the flute can totally rock the stage.
5- Spoons
We have some inconspicuous musical instruments on this list, but the spoons win in this category. They don’t look like an instrument at all. If you see someone with the spoons, you’d rather expect them to start eating a bowl of soup than playing music. Nevertheless, with a bit of imagination and creativity, the spoons can be useful, even more so since nobody expects them to be an impressive instrument. Imagine you take out a couple of spoons from your bag and start playing Michael Jackson’s pieces like this guy. Shocked audience guaranteed.