I saw Joe Filisko use a can for a different bluesy sound and I tried one out last night at an acoustic gig.
Apart from making my playing partner and the audience grin, it felt and sounded good.
So then I tried it with an empty beer pint pot (I had several to choose from!) and that sounded different to the can but great.. I held the harp in standard grip with left hand only and cupped the back of the harp while playing with the can/glass. Cans give a choked,sharp metal edge sound Glass gives round, smooth windy sound Warbles sounded especially good I wonder if the pitch would change if the glass was say quarter full of beer?:-)
Last Edited by on Mar 01, 2009 2:02 AM
Howard Levy does this on "Raga Fantasy" a 6th position track on his "Out of the Box Vol 1." DVD. He uses a big coffee mug. The position and the acoustic shaping with the mug really add to the Eastern flavour.
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2009 2:14 AM
I'm surprised i've never heard of this, i'm going to try it with a coffee can as soon as i post this. ---------- All the best music has already been written by guys in wigs and stuff. -Frank Zappa
Mr VL user name. I play some alternate tunings from Lee Oskar & the Harmonic Minor in Gm sounds truly fantastic using a mug. As you say it does add to the accoustic shaping and enhances a haunting ethnic middle eastern sound.
However I am a bit bewildered as to positioning of a mic to accurately record such sound? Whilst it sounds great to me (ie blasting straight back at me) when I record it I don't get the same degree of effect?
On the Levy video he's using a top-end studio mic which would probably pick up the sound of a frog farting at a hundred paces, but he's playing straight into the mic and it picks up every nuance.
