Does anybody have any idea who's playing on that track ? Although it seems very simple (I think there are only 4 notes !), that sound haunts me probably since the first time I heard it.
I'm not sure how it is played : maybe on a F harp, beginning with 3 blow... not so easy to play well (at least for me !).
I think Oliver has it right - but try it on a G harp - I think the song may be in A minor. Very haunting!! ---------- If it ain't got harp - it ain't really blues!!!!
Excellent question and clip! The piece is in A minor, so it's either a G harp in third position or a D harp in 2nd. I'm guessing it's a G harp - it saves bending the 3 draw. (I know nothing about chromatics)
Last Edited by on Jun 09, 2009 2:59 PM
@Patrick : On this last score, De Gemini plays chromatic allright, but on "Once upon..." I'm not so sure. He had to be coherent with the scenario, which sees the hero holding the harp between his teeth because his hands are tied. That's why he does only three notes. And it's a diatonic harp of course.
Anyway, today after my job I will try to play the thing on both harps (the chrom and the G) and see what comes out.
It's a chromatic. The only way you can play that on diatonic is with an overblow. That movie was a major reason I started picking up the harp a little more seriously when I was a kid. I tried forever to do that, never could until I got a chrom.
Having reverb doesn't make it not authentic... unless you're talking about how in the movie you can totally tell that music isn't really coming from the harmonica in the movie ---------- "Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
Also, on the subject of authenticity, the part of the harmonica in that movie was played by four harmonicas. 1 chromatic for the sound, three harmonicas in the movie. They keep switching harmonicas... in the scene where his brother is lynched by Henry Fonda and his boys, the harmonica is beat up and bent, then it's brand new. Then they pan back and it's got a different coverplate support. Not sure the order, but there's multiple harmonicas in that movie playing the role of the same harp.
I just watched the movie... that switching of harmonicas was really annoying at the end. I was like "how the heck did that harmonica suddenly get new coverplates?!?" ---------- "Without music, life would be a mistake" -Nietzsche
