How I Travel With A Guitar (7 tips from a digital nomad)

I make music and I’m a digital nomad living in Tokyo part-time — I’m living my dream lifestyle. But as a traveling musician, this also means I need to pack a lot of extra stuff compared to most other travelers.

If you’re reading this, you probably also know the pain of having to lug around your music equipment on top of your normal travel stuff.

So after many airport mishaps and travel headaches, this is my guide on how to travel with a guitar and music equipment.

Let’s do this!

Table of Contents Show

Traveling With a Guitar (pros + cons)

I love making music while traveling. There’s a unique type of inspiration that comes from visiting a new culture.

Plus, going days without playing just sucks. So bringing my guitar with me is a non-negotiable.

Explore more:
➤ Travel Boosts Creativity (here’s how)

Traveling With a Guitar (the pros)

• New locations inspire new and different music

• You can play guitar while traveling — so no creative withdrawal

• You can continue practicing and working on music projects

• It makes travel more fun and unique

• Do busking in new locations and expand your audience

• Meet musicians abroad for unique travel collaborations

• Avoid creative withdrawal from not playing music

Traveling With a Guitar (the lows)

• You have more stuff to bring

• More expensive if you have more checked bags

• Your gear could get damaged

• Guitars increase travel security concerns like theft

• There may be restrictions or extra fees, depending on the airline

• You may not be able to play if it’s too noisy for your destination

• General inconvenience

How to Travel With A Guitar (7 tips)

1. Check Your Airline + Ticket

Depending on the size of your guitar case, you may need to check it with your other luggage.

There are specific size requirements and different airline rules for carry-ons, so it’s best to check your flight details beforehand.

For example, some discount flights don’t offer free carry-ons (at least, not for larger bags). So you may need to pay additional fees for these.

Also, if you’re taking a short trip, the airplanes tend to be quite small. So if you’re traveling with a larger instrument, you may need to pay extra or have it checked.

To avoid any surprises, it’s best to do some research beforehand or reach out to your airline for specific questions.

Part of successfully traveling with a guitar is simply knowing what to expect and planning ahead.

Explore more:
➤ How to Make Travel Easier

2. Get Priority Boarding for Carry-On Guitars

Priority boarding means you’ll be the first group or two to board the plane when at the gate.

This means you’ll have first access to the overhead bins, which often tend to fill up by the time the final groups are boarding.

So if you’re keeping your guitar with you during travel (as a carry-on), then ensuring you’ll have enough space for it is crucial.

The best way to do this is to make sure you’re one of the first groups to board the plane. But even if you’re not able to get priority boarding, you can also try talking with one of the gate employees.

I’ve been able to get bumped up to priority boarding before to ensure I had enough room for my guitar (luckily, the guy was also a guitar player though, so he was more willing to help me out).

3. Use A Hard Case If You Check Your Bag

“If you haven’t invested in a decent case for your guitar, now may be the time.”

Using a hard case for your guitar is a smart move, especially true if you’re traveling or checking your guitar with an airline.

While airlines do their best to protect your gear (they can even add a special care tag to your luggage), they’re also not liable should anything break. This is another reason I always get travel insurance. Many policies help cover expenses from lost or stolen luggage.

If something happens to your guitar or equipment, you may not have many options beyond just accepting the situation and paying for the repairs yourself.

But a good guitar case can help minimize this risk.

There are tons of affordable options on Amazon or you can find some solid used gear at a local music shop.

4. Pack Less

Traveling with a guitar is already extra weight. So let’s save our backs by packing less of the other stuff.

Because priorities, right?

Also, if you’re traveling with other equipment (like mics or MIDI controllers), you’ll need the extra room anyways.

But even without all the music stuff, extra space means you can pick up some souvenirs and things like that.

Either way, when traveling with music equipment and a guitar, having less bags overall will make your life easier as you traverse between hotels, taxies and trains (you’ll thank yourself later).

Explore more:
➤ My Minimalist Travel Strategy

5. Use A Different, Cheaper Guitar for Travel

If you have more than one guitar, it’s helpful to designate one as your travel guitar.

For me, I usually travel with guitars that are less expensive or not as “important” to me.

Because if you’ve got a fancy Martin (for example), you probably don’t want it getting tossed around in transit while adventuring around.

Things happen and guitars are fragile. So to lessen the impact of travel damage, designate one of your older guitars as your travel one and save the newer ones for home.

And if you don’t have more than one guitar, this could be your sign to pick up a cheap used one somewhere.

6. Buy A Travel-Sized Guitar

“Travel-sized guitars are so much lighter and more compact. Now, I don’t sweat nearly as much when carrying around all my luggage in a foreign city.”

If you can swing it, invest in a smaller guitar for travel. It’s an awesome way to explore more comfortably.

I use the Taylor Baby (BT2) and I love it. Since it’s so small, I can easily use it as a carry-on, so I never need to worry about checking it at the airport.

At least, I haven’t run into any issues yet (and can’t see why I would, given its baby size).

I love the Taylor Baby because while the body is much smaller, the neck and playability feel just the same as my regular sized ones (more or less).

So if you’ve been on the fence about buying a new mini guitar, let this be your sign.

7. Consider the Alternatives

There’s more than one way to make music or get a guitar while traveling. So consider your alternatives.

For example, besides guitar, I also love to produce music. And for this, all I technically need is my laptop. So if I’m just taking a short weekend trip somewhere, I usually just bring my MacBook with me.

Writing music without instruments takes some new skills, but it’s a fun way to expand your creativity and try new things.

But if you definitely can’t go with your guitar, you could also research if there are any second hand music shops at your destination. You could snag a cheap guitar while traveling, and then just sell it back when you leave.

You’ll probably lose some money on this transaction, but it could be simpler than having to lug your gear through airports and trains.

Finally, some music shops may even offer rentals. You’ll need to do some digging to see if this is an option though.

Later ✌️

Traveling is epic fun. And traveling with a guitar is even better.

It gives us a unique type of inspiration.

So being able to bring our instrument(s) along for the ride is an awesome opportunity as a musician. Luckily, a little bit of planning can ensure your trip goes smoothly.

But my best advice is to have a designated travel guitar or purchase a smaller sized instrument to make things easier.

Either way, traveling with a guitar is usually not a problem and pretty simple to do (in my experience).

So with that, happy exploring!

(now go make some epic music wherever you’re heading off to)

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