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Hey hangsters,

When I was at the hanghaus Sabina told me they ideally prefer hand direct on the hang rather than gloves, as the sound of the contact of hand to metal is the intention. However, I shared with her that in cold weather it is too painful for me to have my hands directly on the hang and I must use gloves...which she could understand. (Fortunately I live in a climate where it is mostly warm so I rarely have to do it).

What I have found though, is different gloves give very different sounds. Some of them I actually like. A light cotton pair only makes a subtle difference but doesn't appeal to me. A fake suede pair of gloves worked quite well and I would have been happy to continue with those....but I lost them in Spain so I bought a pair that was a furry, soft (fake) material and for the hang they are terrible...very muffled and deadening the sound. I tried them a few times and I can't stand to use them again. I will look for another pair next time I am in a cold climate, and when I do, I was thinking real leather or suede (especially fine, thin leather) would probably be best because it is skin. If that doesn't work then I will look for another pair of fake suede.

If anyone else has any good experience with any type of gloves I would be happy to hear of it.

I was interested in gloves until I watched and heard Sabina play. Her connection with the instrument was such that player and instrument were one. After experiencing that I can see what they mean when they say gloves are not 'recommended'.

On the other hand it is fun to try them out, as you say they change the contact point and give different dynamics.

Hi,

i played the last winter a few times outside my Hang. It was very cold. So i used gloves, but i cut the top of the fingers. (from the gloves, not mine) So my hand was warm enought , but the sound from the Hang changed not much by the gloves.

Greetings
Frank

I don't like to play with gloves because.....i prefer the direct contact with the Hang and his vibrations.
But, for person ahve acid problem with her hands ( sudation ) that was the best solution.
It's very intersting to play ( one of my friend play like that ) with gloves for making different sound and discover a different vibration.
Sabina and Felix don't like the "glove play" because it was not the best way to speak with the Hang.

Thanks for the idea of the gloves without the fingers (glad to hear it was your gloves and not your hands where the fingers were missing!)

I thought I had said it clearly, but perhaps not - I much prefer not to use gloves, and I understand why Sabina said it, but if it is cold and my hands feel pain as a result, it makes it so that I can't play at all. I would rather play with gloves than not at all! It is only in this context that I am exploring what are the best gloves to use.

Hi,

first i seeked gloves made from very thin leather. I thought leather is maybe for the sound ok. But for men i found only very big leather gloves and it isnt possible to play Hang, because you have no feeling. I think for woman are much more thin leather gloves in the market.
Maybe this is an option?

Greetings
Frank

Maybe you can use a big size made for women?

various childs 'stretchy' gloves produce some good warm tones... they are available in 'ribbed', 'extra grip ' 'fingerless' and 'natural' - for her pleasure!

LOL.

I rock a marigold on my left hand and an oven glove on the right.

Hey Sleeping Ed,

If your post is not actually a joke, what is a marigold?

If you play with gloves, they call that "safe singing". Without gloves, "risky rusting". If your gloves break, then I guess you get a new little Hang out the Gu one day. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

We can only wish that it was a way to multiply them! After all, most of us are communing with the hang with 10 unprotected fingers all the time! ...maybe in a parallel universe...

Please give me directions to this parallel universe, I want to go asap!

also, I don't know if you ever got an answer to your previous post, but I believe this is what was meant by "marigold".

yeah you're right... marigolds are those gloves some folk wear to wash up pots and pans.. just a very thin latex glove, would probably work for playing Hang but your hands sweat a lot in them so you'll probably come out of an hours playing with very pruned and sticky fingers.

Driving gloves would be the best I think, driving gloves are usually made of soft leather and even for men are made small and flexible, but tight fitting so as to aid in the grip on the car streeing wheel.

other than that, fingerless gloves as Frank suggests would give multitonal qualities from your playing, finger tip slaps and dampened sound from the lower finger, could work quite nice actually.

A cold Hang will always warm up nicely in the sun, regardless of the cold air! mine gets pretty warm in the sun, and on a particularly sunny day can and has burnt me so be careful there too.