Does anyone walk while playing? or play while walking?

[baconsalad]

I'm quite enjoying it. Get walk and practice in a t same time. I read that it helps force neurons to make connections, so good for learning and practice. And like the ice cream trucks, the music only plays while i'm moving so i don't torture people in any one place at a time for long. Not many want to hear the whole extended play of Alice's Restaurant Massacree.

 

[clear]

I do that a lot at home. But outside the house, I only sometimes do because I'm too afraid of not paying enough attention to my surroundings and... you know, bad things happening.

 

[Mike $]

From the bedroom to the living room to the kitchen and back, but never to the bathroom.

 

[badhabits]

Walk?! I can't even chew gum and play, and you want me to walk too?!

 

[rustydusty]

I like to close my eyes when I play (helps with muscle memory) and since I’m not good with ‘echolocation’, it’s better for me to remain in one place…

 

[ploverwing]

I have done, but I don't often, walk around the house and play. It definitely requires different skills. I wouldn't really like to walk around here outside, too much ... ahhh.. animal deposit material to avoid, I'm concerned that holding an instrument would impede my visual cues to avoidance.

 

[Farkvam]

I do walk around the house and play a bit here and there, but my little sopranos are slippery fish and always end up sliding down my body bit by bit. Maybe if tried a strap...

I kinda like your idea though, sounds super chill...

 

[johnnysmash]

I can play standing and walking but only with a strap on my ukulele, tenor and baritone. I prefer to sit and play with strap on.

 

[kkimura]

I heard Jake likes to walk while he plays.

 

[bbkobabe]

I walk around the playground while doing recess duty as I play... I've also thought about playing on longer walks but I'm also worried about tripping... sidewalks around here are a bit random!

Maybe with a strap... and a helmet... and a plastic ukulele...

 

[Voran]

I always wander around the room while playing. Sometimes I also wander around the bridge over the inlet at Ballydehob and watch the water while playing my uke.

 

[Linnaea]

I like to close my eyes when I play (helps with muscle memory) and since I’m not good with ‘echolocation’, it’s better for me to remain in one place…

I was going to start a thread on the closing eyes and facial expressions. If only someone could take pictures of our expressions... I think it would interesting and quite funny

 

[hands_on_lanzon]

Nothing like walking and playing at a beach! The uke feels right at home with the waves providing background. Brings the aloha to beachgoers and triggers smiles.

 

[emba]

I don’t, and I’ve been gun-shy about walking around with my uke hanging from a strap ever since I was doing that (just for a short distance, between the desk where I was playing and something I wanted on the bed) and knocked into the end post of the bed with my weight behind the uke and cracked it. The crunch was sickening. I got a luthier to fix it, and he did a great job, but “0 stars, do not recommend” for the whole experience. It’s now my official travel uke.

I mean, probably walking while playing is fine for people who aren’t as klutzy as me, though. It sounds cool in theory.

 

[Oldscruggsfan]

I don’t, and I’ve been gun-shy about walking around with my uke hanging from a strap ever since I was doing that (just for a short distance, between the desk where I was playing and something I wanted on the bed) and knocked into the end post of the bed with my weight behind the uke and cracked it. The crunch was sickening. I got a luthier to fix it, and he did a great job, but “0 stars, do not recommend” for the whole experience. It’s now my official travel uke.

I mean, probably walking while playing is fine for people who aren’t as klutzy as me, though. It sounds cool in theory.

Thank you for confirming my gut feeling when reading the OP. Around 3 months ago, at the beginning of our daily 2.5-mile walk at the local public park, I tripped over my own feet and fell forward so hard that I ripped a gash in my knee which has left a scar. I injured, but did not fracture, one wrist in the process. Thankfully, I wasn't strumming my uke at the time because it would have been dashed to splinters and might have caused me even greater injury.

Stumbling along an uncrowded beach while strumming a uke is one thing, but on a public path or walkway? Nope. Not prudent.

 

[badhabits]

I heard Jake likes to walk while he plays.

Taimane does for sure!

 

[Jerryc41]

I'm quite enjoying it. Get walk and practice in a t same time. I read that it helps force neurons to make connections, so good for learning and practice. And like the ice cream trucks, the music only plays while i'm moving so i don't torture people in any one place at a time for long. Not many want to hear the whole extended play of Alice's Restaurant Massacree.

My group has done that several times in local events. We generally play songs we know well enough. The alternative is to have the song sheets taped to the back of the person in front.

 

[Yukio]

Yes, indeed! And dancing, too!

Most notably in the past, I have worked on songs where I was not getting the rhythm and/or phrasing of the song quite right. Examples that come to mind are when working on "Highway to Hell" (AC/DC), "Don't Dream It's Over" (Crowded House), and "Use Me" (Bill Withers). I would go on a walk with my ukulele and an electronic metronome playing through earbuds and step to the beat while playing the ukulele and singing. (I am kind of a metronome nut, as some of you may know by now.) It would help me to literally "embody" the rhythm and phrasing of the song. You let your gait relax into the pulse of the metronome and your whole body; arms, legs, voice, head, breath, etc. all start moving together working to accent and drive the rhythm into your bones. It can be a little like dancing because your body can incorporate extra bounces and pulses between the beats, too.

In the old Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids cartoons on TV, they would often use a little five-second clip of the whole gang walking down the street. The producers of the show would use this clip as part of the narrative whenever they wanted to show the Cosby Kids moving as a group from one part of town to another. The thing that I loved about this little element is that each character was very different in body and in temperament. So every one of the characters is walking with his own unique rhythm, but they are all walking rhythmically together. This is kind of the image I want to convey here. When you are stepping to the rhythm and letting all the little extra bounces and pulses be part of your stride you start to really relax into a sort of a dancing while walking.

I found an example of what I mean at the 10:28 mark in this episode....

 

[ploverwing]

It would help me to literally "embody" the rhythm and phrasing of the song. You let your gait relax into the pulse of the metronome and your whole body; arms, legs, voice, head, breath, etc. all start moving together working to accent and drive the rhythm into your bones. It can be a little like dancing because your body can incorporate extra bounces and pulses between the beats, too.

I think this is a great exercise!

My drumming teacher would encourage us to walk and clap and stomp around the house and up & down the stairs to rhythms, so we'd get used to timing and rhythms with our whole body.

 

[Nickie]

Me? Good grief, hell no! My balance is poor enough as it is, I don't need any help falling down. I do move around on stage quite a bit, but that is limited by my amp cord. Someday, maybe cordless?