This is the OFFICIAL thread in which to vote for video submissions to the first (of hopefully many) Harpfriends Playalong Contest!
Below is the official YouTube embedded playlist in which you can see all the videos submitted to the contest. There are 14 videos to vote on--the 15th video is the backing track if you want to hear just that. Use the arrow buttons on the edges of the playlist player to switch the next video. If you want to see the descriptions that submitters wrote about their videos, please visit the harpfriends YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/Harpfriends).
VOTING RULES:
1) You may vote for a maximum of THREE video submissions.
2) Write the name of the two submitters (user name for this forum) in a post to THIS THREAD. Votes cast in any other thread or on YouTube WILL NOT BE COUNTED! Feel free to edit your ORIGINAL voting post as many times as you like during the duration of the voting period, but DO NOT add an additional post.
3) Be cordial! You can write what you thought of each video if you like. You don't have to lavish praise if you didn't like something, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE refrain from comments such as "you sucked big time". Most people will appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE critisism, as long as it is actually constructive. Be aware that submitters are of differing experience levels, and be prepared to judge them against their level of experience.
4) Voting is allowed unitil MIDNIGHT May 8th (your local time, as noted on the post date).
5) I will tally all votes and post the TOP FIVE videos, in no particular order, and post the list on the morining of May 9th
6) Adam and Chris will decide the ranking of that top five, and will hopefully post that here as well.
7) Winners get due respect and bragging rights--other submitters get a satisfied feeling of contributing tot the uber-coolness of this forum! :)
#2 Oxharp All were enjoyable to listen to,added to the total musial composition,unique in thier own way,and well done. I will not go into details as we all have ears and opinions. #3 Patrick Barker
Last Edited by on May 01, 2009 12:07 PM
They were all very good--hard to decide the order here. What is your rig Oxharp? You get a wonderful sound.
Special Honorable Mention to Tuckster--damn hard to decide here.
Honorable mention to everybody who posted. This was a fun project for me--I will be looking back at this thread and stealing licks for a long time!
Last Edited by on May 01, 2009 12:47 PM
Hey People, I've changed my mind. Everyone vote for THREE vids. I thought it would be too much to count, but now I'm afraid we ain't gonna get a "top five"! :) I've edited the instructions above. If you've already voted, please EDIT your original post to include a third vid...
This was pretty damn hard fro me to decide! I had to go with what I thought fit the track best according to what I knew about each individual's skill levels. These three are the ones who i felt connect the most with the track, and who used their abilities as a harp player to the fullest! Others were also very good, but for some reason these three stuck out to me, and I remembered the performances even after going through all the others. GREAT job to everyone! I didn't see one video that was thoughtless wanking, or that seemed like it was up there to show off. It's so cool to see how everyone interpreted the track differently, and to see all the ways that people went with it. This is very cool! Oldwailer, you have so many new jam partners! ---------- -------------- The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
Without wanting to kick up another shitstorm I'd just like to note that making a fair comparison between the acoustic players and the amplified players was very hard. Maybe future competitions could specify acoustic or amplified?
Also could there be a handicap system so that less-experienced players can be judged more fairly against seasoned players?
Last Edited by on May 01, 2009 12:15 PM
I concur with MVL. A friendly suggestion for future competition that might draw more participation: ask each player to self-categorize based on Adam's "What Level Are You" criteria.
I'm working my way through the submissions and I'm really impressed so far. I'll be voting soon.
Excellent contributions from all who took part. Well Done. As for me? As well as not have a decent camera setup, I just couldn,t do it. I'm hoping experience will help me to learn to "wing it" in the future.
1. Tuckster- Simple yet effective; great acoustic tone
2. Holliston Harper- I have to give him credit for actually going out of the way to be creative- he's the only person who didn't play in second position
3. German Harpist- Awesome scat vocals, and if you take the performance seriously it's actually pretty good
I think I just enjoy a creative performance...
(PS: I'm not voting for myself because I don't believe in voting for someone if you have a very strong bias, it isn't because I hate myself) ---------- "Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
Last Edited by on May 01, 2009 3:28 PM
I re-edited my list, because I listened to everybody again this morning, using head phones and I came to different result.
Very tough competition with lots of great entries. These 3 guys came out on top..... but Zihn, Old wailer, Oxharp and all the others are awesome too, very tough, very tough.. ---------- DutchBones Tube
Last Edited by on May 02, 2009 5:31 PM
Good Job to everyone. There were very different ideas coming out of this piece. That's good to see. I think overall it was a very good run for the 1st contest. *Go Bears* ---------- ---Go Chicago Bears!!!---
Last Edited by on May 01, 2009 4:32 PM
Where the hell is Geordiebluesman? He tried to start something similar to this contest back in the first days of this forum--I guess he went out drinking--er, riding his bike?
Yeah OW. Quite a few of the regulars seem to have disappeared. Didn't Chris say that you were once abducted by aliens in some thread? Maybe they've got a thing about harp players. Anyway, I've not had time to listen to them all, so I'll come back tomorrow. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
Hard to choose. One thing I'd suggest is just listening to the audio rather than watching.
I think I still would have voted for JonSparrow even if I hadn't known he's only been playing for 3 months. From reading Patrick Barker's many posts, I assumed he was a grownup(!) and not a teenager, he plays like an adult too. And I thought Germanharpist executed his idea incredibly well.
I actually thought Oxharp was the best but am discriminating against him because, well I dunno, he plays like a pro and he was amplified--unfair advantages!
There were other really strong performances as well. Congrats to all.
I think Adam and I should makes vids and you guys can judge. I'm at a disadvatage because I suck at playing blues but I'm willing to try it for fun and it will give Adam something to gloat over me if nothing else... LOL
Last Edited by on May 01, 2009 8:20 PM
It's great to be able to put faces to all of your names. You're all such handsome devils.
Great playing by everyone.I got to say amplified did it for me which is why I voted for Russ. I wonder what would happen if the entries were played amped and acoustically.?? Would we have voted for the same songs??
i feel like playing amplified is sorta cheating because then it factors in who has a better rig as well as skill. but then again that all part of competition wich is why i voted for some one who amplified.
Hi all, I would just like to say that I am not supprised that the acoustic amplified question has arose. I considered 3rd position and 1st but was not confident enough. I am still playing around with 3rd. I even considered a bit of both but it was a spur of the moment thing from me and I play crap if i have to think about it too much. A question came up about what my Rig is. Ok I am playing through Black Label CM bullit(from Ron Sunshine)this is connected straight into my sound card on my pc with a bit of reverb on the sound card settings. The output is through a pc speaker that came with the pc. I like the sound I get from this set up and would like to reproduce it through an amp any suggesetions of what would do the job would be appreciated. I am happy to answer any and all quetions from you guys. I think we should all give it away just like Adam I have been at it religeously for 2 years now and have a lot to give. You just got to ask the right questions. hope this helps Russ
I just gotta mess around with my computer speakers more! How do you get reverb in the sound card settings--I didn't know a sound card had settings.
Master Buddha--if you and Adam could do vids it would be really cool--not so much for us to judge as to just learn what a master would do with this same thing--that could be a great lesson for all of us!
Look for live audio proceesing software. a decent free one is Kristal Audio Engine. You'll have to mess around witht he latency settings (analog to digitial converion time) to get the lag time down. How low a latency you can get depends on your sound card, processor, and ram. Below 50 milliseconds is ideal. If you go too low for your machine, though, the sound output will be broken up like a cd skipping. ---------- -------------- The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
The last thing in the world I'm interested in is going mano a mano with Chris Michalek--or any other contemporary player, for that matter. The spirit out of which I make music isn't a competitive spirit. It used to be more like that--I can distinctly remember, for example, wanting to blow James Montgomery off the stage when we opened for him in Portland, Maine, a show Jason attended--but that's not where I am now.
On the other hand, I ran a 40:42 master's PR in a 10K today at the age of 51, which is equivalent to an age-graded 35:20 or so. I'm very competitive about distance running. I will destroy you, whoever you are. Or at least that's the spirit I try to cultivate. Today I won $20 at the Corinth Coke 10K for coming in third in my (tough!) 50-54 age group.
I'm perfectly happy to race Chris, or Jason (smoker!), or any other contemporary harp player--members of this forum included--in any mutually agreed-upon distance between 1 mile and 10K and see who the age-graded winner is. Actually, a mile might be the perfect distance, since it hurts so bad (blues = agony) but will fit easily into a YouTube video.
I believe I can run a 5:45 mile, maybe even a 5:40. In age-graded terms, that's right around a 5:00 mile for those of you 30 or under. How fast are you, really? Let's set a date and location, boys. Please bring video cameras. Loser buys the winner beer. If I lose, I'll throw five free one-hour Skype lessons into the mix.
Last Edited by on May 02, 2009 1:24 PM
Some of you may have seen my wife and wonder how a dude like me ended up with a chick like that. We'll before being badass on harp I was a badass in other areas.
15 years ago I would have taken you up on that offer. Pre-crushed pelvis, I was a HS and college athlete who did football and track. I was 205 and ran a 4.46 40yd dash. I never ran a marathon but 5 and 10k jogs were never an issue. My wife is still an avid runner but I'm just not capable of running these days.
Last Edited by on May 02, 2009 1:48 PM
Well competition can be healthy for sure and hopefully raise standards. On the jazz front on Tnr sax been on cutting sessions many times. Sometimes its great and other times not so good ha,
I kind of came to the conclusion over many years that music shouldn't be like that. It took me along time to work that out though.
I am ex Airbourne and ex PTI many years ago now in my early fifties I still train nearly every day.I owe it to the cats who didn't make it through.
The London marathon finished last week check out on the net a British guy who after one week is still running it and determined to finish.
This guy they said would never walk again had terrible injuries I think he struggles along doing about 2 miles aday against all odds from medics etc . Trying to raise money for all the injured forces.
To me as long every one is trying there best irrespective of ability then they are a hero in my book. Well done everyone whos put out the vids,
#1 Patrick Barker - Great tone, imaginative playing and ventures into the top octave.
#2 cm16600 - Pretty much the same comment.
#3 jonsparrow - His tone belies his three months of playing. Has obviously considered throat vibrato right from the start. Never seems to forget that the cupping hand is playing a huge part in thr overall tone.
Loads of other great stuff there.
Thanks for the votes I got, that made my day. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
I never meant to suggest any mano a mano kind of thing--just that it would be cool to see how a couple of pros would approach the contest--I suspect that a decisive decision would be impossible anyway--Adam and Chris are totally different players--some might prefer one--some the other.
in the competition thing, I'm not really into head cutting, though I do not have issues if somebody wants to step on my stage and try to cut my head. There are pro players that many of you worship that I have made cry during such events.
The only reason I suggested it in this case because judging another person's playing is a good exercise because it forces you to listen to every second of the music in a very focused way.
I don't care that Adam can blow me away in the blues that was never the point. What I do care about is how Adam and I are expected to judge you guys yet it seems that we're unwilling to put our own efforts out on a limb to be judged. To me that is fair.
If you guy were forced to judge entries from Adam and I, you all would learn something about how we approach Ray's cosmic musications. I would learn something about what you guys like about Adam's music and he could possible learn something from mine.
My original post was never meant as a challenge to adam. Because if I really wanted to cuts heads with him, I would just show up at a gig and do my best to smoke him. But in the end, that kind of shit is pointless though I have to admit there is considerable joy in crushing somebody who thinks they can outshine you on your own stage. Remember, your stage is your sacred ground.
if anything materializes, at least soemthing that'd be extremely beneficial for us to see a discussion between Buddha & Adam on improvising. Maybe Magic Dick interview style -- chatting + harp demo's when necessary. There's a lot of great software to record (in high quality) Skype voice convos or telephone convos.
Hey dudes, I don;t mean to squash any topics of conversation or anything, but can we keep this thread for VOTING? It would make my life easier as the tallyman if all other topics of conversation, related to the competition or not, were moved to new threads.
Again, I'm not trying to stymie anything, just trying to keep to the point of this particular thread.
If you open one window on your computer with the contest backing track and another with Adam's recent "slow harmonica blues on Missippippi back porch", you can almost get them to sync with each other....
Just digested all the entries. Here's my vote for what it's worth. Great job everybody though. I'm jealous.
#1 Oxharp -- great tone and musicality, sparse and effective #2 Tuckster -- nice repeated phrases and respect for the backing track trills, etc. #3 Hollistonrharper -- for going way out there and succeeding
Last Edited by on May 04, 2009 2:33 PM
I judged according the following criteria (in order): groove, jam structure, general technique, riffs, tone. Another thing I looked for was how much the player (IMO) actually listened to the backing track.
#1 Tuckster #2 Oxharp #3 cm16600
I don't know how often I have listened to the backing track this month...(a LOT)? Untill the end, it didn't get on my nerves. Great job and thanks to Oldwailer.
Thanks also to Isaacullah, for initiating the contest and for 'dictating' ("good job" for all the work...). ---------- germanharpist, harpfriends on Youtube
Last Edited by on May 04, 2009 3:10 PM
Well,this was tough. I thought about factoring in playing experience,but that made it tougher.In the end, I voted on what pleased me the most musically.Kudos to all you guys for having the cahones to do it.It was cool to hear how everyone had their own spin on the track.Great job all! In the order they posted:
Patrick Barker GermanHarpist CM16600
Last Edited by on May 04, 2009 9:34 PM
