Best Musical Instruments for Protest

Choosing the right instruments to take to a protest may seem like a strange thing to devote 45 minutes videos to (below), but for me it’s the first and most essential thing to sort out. I’ve been in protests where I simply couldn’t play anything usefully because I had the wrong kit. For example, back when I always sang with a guitar, that guitar was too big for me to carry on days when I was drumming (and therefore carrying a snare drum), so I missed out on opportunities to perform. Other times I’ve been unable to play because I didn’t have a waterproof instrument and it was drizzling.

By the way, I should mention at this point that I’m planning for this music in Protest blog to feature a mix of practical posts and artistic ones, and this is of course a practical post.

Trying to find instruments which are:

A: loud

B: cheap

C: weatherproof

…is maybe something of a contradiction in terms. After all, a loud instrument is unlikely to be cheap. An expensive instrument may be louder but probably not waterproof. Meeting the above criteria is difficult before you even get to…

D: sounds good.

Fortunately sounding good on the street is not the same thing as sounding good in a concert hall. Expensive instruments might not have a useful sound because the acoustic of the street doesn’t allowed a lot of high quality detail in sound to come through, and since you’ll often be playing as loud as possible (Unamplified) being able to achieve a range of beautiful tones isn’t as important. What’s needed is a sound that just cuts through and feels life affirming. Sometimes cheap instruments just have that!

One of the reasons for writing this post is that during my last few years of road testing instruments on the streets, I haven’t had any particular pattern or rule of thumb to which was having to workto which was having to work, so I can’t just tell you “buy the second cheapest of any instrument” or anything so simple. For every instrument I tried out, I’ve probably tried at least half a dozen. Sometimes going up in price didn’t help (melodicas) and sometimes it did (guitarleles). Sometimes choosing the synthetic (plastic) instrument was the best choice, and other times the wooden one was the best choice. Sometimes I would be pleased to have found a louder instrument, only to find that it had a dull tone and couldn’t be heard. in fact, probably the biggest difference in volume and tone for guitars/ukuleles came from choosing the quality bright strings and a really loud guitar pic – I tested loads and loads and loads by the way.

Because there is no rule of thumb I know that the anything I can do to help you out is to tell you which instruments I landed on, and how I use them. I’m only able to cover instruments that I personally play, so I’ve not covered keyboard, but I know that a friend very successfully uses the Yamaha Pro mini keyboard PSS A50 with an amp.

Hope the video series above helps you to choose the right instruments for you so that you can practice, compose and have fun with your them knowing that you’ll be able to take your music onto the streets and make a real positive difference to any protest you attend!

BEST INSTRUMENTS – MY FULL LIST:

The new prices are listed, but most instruments are likely available cheaper 2nd hand.

BEST GUITAR(ish) INSTRUMENTS FOR PROTEST

Makala Dophin Soprano Ukulele £50

D’dario titanium strings £10

Rodrigo 3/4 Classical Guitar £150

D’dario Hard Tension Strings £10

You can upgrade to bone bridge and nut if you’re confident to do that yourself – £5 per part

BEST PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS FOR PROTEST

Vic Firth sticks (the heavier and louder the better) £15

Lightweight agogo – generic, mid price point (£20-40)

Any mid range lightweight snare (avoid metal – too much ring) with Remo heads.

Half moon foot tambourine £6

Eggs shakers – any brand £2-4

Atlas 8 inch skinned tambourine £13

BEST FLUTES/WIND INSTRUMENTS FOR PROTEST

Sweetwater diatonic Fife in D £100

Glenluce plastic chromatic fife in C £13

Melodica – Anything by Hohner – they are all the same reeds, and fairly lightweight instruments. Brand new ones rarely need tuning (much), whilst 2nd hand ones, in my experience, need every single note tuned. £40-£100

Harmonica – I tested a number of brands/models and they are all around the same volume once you get above the £30ish mark. A higher key harp might be easier to hear on the streets however.

BEST AMPLIFICATION FOR PROTEST

I personally don’t bring amps, but if you wanted to I’d recommend anything by Roland – best sound quality, lightweightness and battery life.

Pickups – KNA bridge pickups for nylon stringed instruments. Comes with own special lead, but it’s lighter than a standard guitar lead – bonus. £40

Pickups 2nd choice – generic, unbranded stick on tranducer/button stick on pickup. Glue on with superglue to be safe.

Mic (if needed) SM58 of course (not what I’m using in the video). £100

BEST CAPO FOR PROTEST

One that fits. G7th have a good website which can help you find which of their capos will fit your guitar. £40

BEST GUITAR PICKS FOR PROTEST

The thicker the better, for loudness. Recommend testing a range on your instruments.

BEST TUNER FOR PROTEST

D’dario Micro clip on £18

BEST GUITAR STRAP FOR PROTEST

Any that you can securely tie on and lock.

Love and rage x

-Kimwei (he/him)

kimwei.com

PS: finally, if anyone has made it this far I would love to have your feedback on my method of video making.

All I did was use my phone (iPhone 2020), forward facing camera, no extras, barely any edits, no pictures inserted, no text flash ups, no volume boost (because it made it go distorted and I don’t know why). Making the videos in such a simple way allowed me to basically get it done in a few hours. i’m wondering if that method works for you as a viewer and if not, what you might suggest that could improve the viewing experience without increasing the time the videos would take me. Thanks all 🙂