Learning how to play an instrument can be a relaxing and rewarding endeavor that brings with it the chance to entertain your friends and family at any given social gathering. However, if you're interested in (or if you play) a larger or relatively uncommon instrument such as the piano or the upright bass, you'll have a much harder time accommodating any request for music – after all, who keeps their tuba in their car at all times? So if you're looking for a few ideas of lovely but portable musical instruments you could learn in order to play for others on the fly, then here's a few that you should consider.
Harmonica
The ultimate in portable instruments, the harmonica is small enough to fit easily in your pocket or purse, but still common enough of an instrument that you'll have no problem locating one and finding either a teacher or how-to guide to teach you to play it. Harmonicas come in a couple of different sizes (along with different types), with the 10-hole being the smallest and the 16-hole being the biggest, but even the 16-hole harmonica is able to easily fit in your back pocket, purse, or even comfortably in your hand for a night of entertainment.
Pan Flute
A slightly more exotic option, the pan flute is one of the oldest instruments in the world, so named for its consistent appearance in sculptures, etchings, and paintings of the Greek deity Pan. The pan flute consists of a series of carved tubes of different lengths, each stopped at the bottom by wax in order to produce different tones. Though it can come in a myriad of different sizes, one of the more (modernly speaking) common sizes is no bigger than an adult hand, such as the kind used by musician Dom Flemons.
Ukulele
Ukuleles are one of the most popular instruments to learn how to play, largely due to their incredible portability; unlike a guitar, which can be heavy and cumbersome, the uke can fit nearly anywhere and produces a happy, bouncy sound that's just a lot of fun to listen to. The standard uke (also called a soprano ukulele) is 21 inches long, but if even that's just a bit big for you, you can consider investing in a pocket uke (or sopranino ukulele), which stands at a tiny 16 inches long. If you already can play the guitar, you can switch over to the ukulele with little modification – but if you're new to the string family, don't worry; the smaller range and amount of frets on a uke make it quite simple to learn. Talk to a music store, like Mike's Brass & Woodwind, for more help.
Share2 August 2016
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