There's a brief blog about the Piedmont Blues on the Hohner Reedology website. Wanted to draw attention to this sometimes little-known Blues genre. A couple of neat videos too.
I like Piedmont Blues, but the harps leave a bad taste in my mouth, literally. I think it's the gold paint.
Forum advertising rules aside, I think you'll find a lot of forum members will get on your case if your first post comes off like you are shilling for something. I think the page comes off heavy handed. Introduce yourself; let people know any connections you have to the product; comment on other videos; encourage Hohner to get rid of the gold paint. :)
I actually use the cases I got with my Piedmont sets. It was actually cheaper to get the cases with the harps than without them. The covers dampen the sound terribly, and they taste terrible for a few days. It seems to go away about as fast as the gold paint. I've got harps with gold writing on them that lasts, so I know it's possible. The plastic actually is pretty easy on the lips. For someone starting out who can't afford all the keys it's not a bad option as long as they buy at least one 'good' harp as well to compare them with.
Cliffy, it starts out about the music, but it finishes with this:
"Experience the feel and cadence of the Piedmont Blues with the HOHNER introductory harmonica set in the keys of A, Bb, C, D, E, F, and G that comes with a custom neoprene carrying case. But it doesn’t stop there–HOHNER carries an array of Blues harmonicas for the beginner, intermediate, and virtuoso player."
It's also the second post in the last week or so that was a post #1 by someone who was basically posting about a product.
Piedmont blues harmonica is one of the most important styles. Anyone skipping over it and not spending some time studying it will be missing out. Just from the perspective of learning rhythm playing if nothing else. The single most well known example of the genre is probably Sonny Terry. However there are many, many more players of note. Also from a guitar playing perspective. Piedmont blues is a real cornerstone of grasping how to play other blues styles. It's importance in the blues world is often overlooked by those obsessed with electric blues. It remains though a rich and diverse part of the blues gene and is for me a very interesting style. One which I constantly delve into, study and utilise.
Last Edited by Kingley on Oct 09, 2016 10:21 PM
Nacoran - is there anything wrong with this, or the other post about Dannecker? I receive the Hohner Reedology articles by email and they are often interesting. Since the poster's name is 'Reedology' a person could assume this comes from Hohner itself.
People are always urging us to support businesses contributing the harmonica community, meaning I think more the one-man outfits that are friends of MBH. But they aren't working in a vacuum - they rely on the Hohner and other manufacturers for the basic instruments that they provide combs for, or customise.
There are regular eulogies to the one-man businesses. I don't object to those either, although (for info) they tend to make me *less* likely to buy when they come across as friends supporting friends with kind words.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Oct 10, 2016 12:16 AM
MindTheGap, it depends. If either post had been made by an established member I probably wouldn't have batted an eye, but since in both cases they were the only post (at the time, at least, by the member posting it) it seemed like maybe they just joined to post an ad. We do have rules about posting advertisements. In general, they are 'If you are launching a new product, you can post once on it, and if it comes up organically in a thread you can mention it'. We try to apply the rule evenly, because when we don't apply it at all the forum gets overrun with ads, and when we apply it unevenly we get complaints from people that they are being singled out.
I've had to email, on occasion, several of the people who share product info on this site at one time or another about similar issues, and with only one exception they've all responded pleasantly.
And I'm not trying to single out Reedology. I noticed that they were getting some negative comments right away. I was just suggesting a better way to introduce themselves. A lot of people on the net post sort of fill in the blank posts on forums to drum up business. One of the things I've noticed about MBH is that people get cranky about that sort of thing.
Thanks nacoran. I can see it's about application of judgement rather than hard rules. And taking the opinions of the MBH members into account. So my own opinion is that I'm happy to hear about/from manufacturers from time to time.
After all these were Hohner and Dannecker, both serious harmonica outfits - not ads for internet dating: 'Meet harmonica-playing singles in your area...'
