First, as I've mentioned before, there is no better teacher on the web of the fact that you need to learn how to play the instrument, you know single holes, bends, tone etc before trying to play fast. He's been a pro (I use the term here in its strictest sense so it doesn't require quotes) for at least four years and the quality of his sound is an object lesson as to the real gifts that Adam, Jason, Chris, Dave Barrett and others are giving, not only us aspiring harp players, but music audiences everywhere.
Point 2: Can anyone identify what is making the not-awful sounds coming out of the amp? When I catch what sounds like amplified harp, I'm hearing what I expect from this guy, but there's another sound.
Has he got an electric guitar or synth Jimi-ripoff playing through the amp as well? I know nothing about the power of various effects boxes, but it doesn't seem to me that there exists an effects rig that can selectively unflatten wheezy draw notes and add power. Weak tone amplified, is just loud weak tone but some of what I hear on this clip sounds OK, until those points where I can actually make out the tragic sound of an abused harmonica struggling through that other sound I'm trying to identify.
Last Edited by on Feb 17, 2009 8:49 AM
i dont think hes doing in/out stuff. I think he's tongue blocking. I think it sounds ok. He's a rocker... you gotta keep that in mind. ---------- ---Go Bears!!! (Richard Dent for Hall of Fame)---
I applaud the use of the word "Douche-bag." It has seemed to have gone out of favor in recent years. I applaud your usage, and I agree with your sentiment. That dude needs to be slapped.
I seem to recall that the world record for fastest harmonica playing was actually set by a harmonica player. His name is Alan "Blackie" Shackner and he set it playing "Flight of the Bumblebee". Can someone confirm? The internets has let me down...
This is not as fast as that, but:
http://www.harmonica.it/calabrone.mp3
The player is Willi Burger.
Last Edited by on Feb 17, 2009 2:15 PM
Speaking of douche-baggery, and again with all do respect and kindness and what not. My favorite thing to watch is when a musician just loses himself in the music (have you seen Sanatana's face when he plays in woodstock?) but this guy 'frederic yonnet' just kinda took that a little too far... the only thing he DIDNT do in this clip was a head-stand and splits.
I realize you followed it up with "all due respect" and what not, but Yonnet is not a douche-bag. I will agree that he gets carried away with his movements to the music, but his talent, tone, phrasing, technique, and sound far overshadow his gyrations, and even make them tolerable. Unlike the other guy.
I'm not a huge Yonnet fan but I don't think he should be in the same thread as this other dude.
Preston, you're right. I do respect Yonnet, I thought I included that in my post. He's a good musician. But like "kingo bad" said above, 'douche-bag' has gone out of favor in recent years -- so I used it in the context of him acting like a douche-bag, which is quite frankly what he was doing.
So to clarify: Nicky Shane IS a douchebag. Frederic Yonnet was ACTING like a douchebag.
I agree Preston. In my eyes, what made Shane a douchebag was the way he treated that girl interviewing him. - eeeugghh! - slimey. It was like she was all but saying "Just play the damn thing and get away from me creep!".
I have a sense of humor and it is freakin awesome.
I just think that it is in bad taste when beginning harp players like you and me who suck in comparison to a professional like Yonnet start poking fun at his videos.
Last Edited by on Feb 17, 2009 4:11 PM
Preston: I was thinking of not replying, and just letting it die. But out of curiosity, how does that logic work? sure we're begging harpists, but does that mean we cant notice mistakes and point them out, or look at something a veteran harpist plays and say 'I don't like it'?? can a beginning actor not poke fun at Pacino's role in 'Revolution' or 'Cruising'? The dude's a good player, he seems to know what he's doing and be comfortable with it. But in his video he looked ridiculous. That's my opinion, how is it in bad taste for me to express my non-harmful opinion? If it makes you feel better, you can think of my opinion as constructive criticism. We good?
Yonnet's slow stuff is great but I can't honestly say that I think he sounds good when he starts playing fast- at the fast parts his tone suddenly goes downhill and it sounds like he's just hyperventilating and moving the harp around at random. ---------- "Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
I think you guys have misunderstood what "Nicky Shane, Guiness Book of Records World's Fastest Harmonica Player" is trying to do.
He notes in his interview on Nebraska TV that he's a stand-up comedian. It's all a schtick. He's burlesquing John Popper, or somebody like him, as the prototypical "modern" player--a fast-as-shit rock guy.
He's only using one hand. He's basically saying, "Look ma, no hands."
It's all a put-on.
He's deliberately trying to get you to call the harmonica player that he's pretending to be "a douchbag." If you do that, you're calling fast harp players douchbags. He's just a comedian trying to get people to laugh at attitudinal harp players.
That's what he's trying to do.
Irony is always risky. Often people don't understand what you're trying to do.
Last Edited by on Feb 17, 2009 9:25 PM
I noticed whilst looking at YouTube that there's a video of the world's slowest harmonica player, but it wasn't quite slow enough or funny enough to post here!
Douche - a stream of water directed onto or into a part of the body, in order to wash it or treat it medically
Irony (figurative) - a means of expression which suggests (humorously or angrily) a different meaning for the words (or in this case actions) used
Irony (wrong result) - a situation in which something was intended to have a particular result has the opposite or a very different result as kudzurunner states
Post-ironic humour, 2 examples:
1. A priest, a rabbi and a muslim cleric walked in to a bar.
What a wonderful example of social integration!
2. A really old man walks up to Reception at the local leisure centre.
Man: "I'd like to join an aerobics class please"
Receptionist, perplexed asks "do you mind me asking how old you are?"
Man: "92"
Receptionist: "Wow, how flexible are you?
Man: "Thanks to a strict macrobiotic diet since a teenager and a regime of yoga and deep meditation, I find I can stretch most limbs as well as I could when I was in my 20s. Also, having never smoked, I have exceptional aerobic capacity."
Receptionist: ''No, I meant can you do Tuesdays and Thursdays''
Last Edited by on Feb 18, 2009 1:59 AM
"He notes in his interview on Nebraska TV that he's a stand-up comedian"
Ah.
Perhaps he has a career in harmonica playing...
Just sayin'.
ETA: Adam, if you waste your time reading about this guy, I think you'll find that he does take himself seriously as a musician when it suits his purpose. He appears to have tried his hand at a lot of things. He's got 'tude and energy and is the world's best promoter of himself, but he's not Andy Kaufman.
Anyway, best of luck to him...
Last Edited by on Feb 18, 2009 11:48 AM
I think that Jason Ricci should investigate what qualifications Guiness needs to certify the world's fastest harmonica player, practice for an afternoon, and then take the title.
It's from "Ripley's Believe it or Not" and supports your argument about Alan Shackner. 1096 notes in 90 seconds = 12.2 a second, which makes Nicky Shane's 104 in 20 seconds (5.2) seems very poor. I bet it was more musical too.
The problem is Guinness only recognise records that they themselves have verified, so Shane's record will stand unless someone else challenges it - To have produce those figures, Shackner's playing must have been recorded and slowed down. I wonder if that recording still exists?
So it wasn't "Flight of the Bumblebee". I was able to find several versions of "Hora Staccato" on harmonica, but this virtuoso demonstration really appeals to the harp geek in me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwNqCTJCNJQ
There is some beautiful precise playing from the lead harmonica in this one. I will say that a lot of the speed seems to come from slide work.
