I only have MB's and LO's. The most I've ever paid for one is 35. That's not cause I'm poor or not dedicated. My $30 harps give me the sound I want. When I 1st started playing, I'd wear em out, but since I've gotten better, they last a very long time. I rarely have to tune them or replace reeds. I'm a big blues fan, and that's how I got into playin. Like a lot of others I learned by playing along with and mimicking songs from CD's. I'm guessin most of the classic artists I like aren't playing high dollar harps. I agree with what mickil posted - if it sounds good to you, it's bitchen. I like the way my poor man harps sound and that's really all that matters. Just my 2cents.
Well, Skeet, I wish the hell I was more like you--my harps have always lasted well enough--and I loved the sound of the out-of-the-boxers--but I always had to wonder: "Could they sound better?" Or, "could they be easier to play?" I found that the answer is yes to both questions. . .
You're 100% correct I'm sure, but I think judging people based on how much money they spend is ignorant. I play at home, and I do it for myself. Every once in a while I get together w/ a friend of mine and his band and play. Maybe one day I will look into higher end harps, but it won't be because I decided to get "serious" all of a sudden. I believe the hours and hours and hours I've spent and will continue to spend playing show what kind of musician I am. I know the best equipment usually costs the most. I'm sure I'd benefit from what's out there. It doesn't make me a "sorry ass musician" if I opt to stick w/ what I got for now. It just kinda irks me that people worry so much about what others do. Why care about what someoneelse does unless your tryin to gather info? I appreciate your input oldwailer. There's abig difference between giving advise and putting people down because they don't do things the same as you.
I enjoy playing harmonica as much as the next guy, but I can't imagine exchanging harsh words with other members of the board over the question of...gasp...the price of harmonicas.
If your approach to the harp requires you to play extremely fast and use overblows/overdraws, you may benefit from spending a lot of money on a custom harp. For most players, especially those who don't overblow, the improvement in your playing will be small. I view the whole conversation as essentially a diversion from the things that really make a difference, and have always made a difference: practice, study, playing with a wide range of other players, performance in a wide range of contexts, continually challenging yourself to master new repertoire, and then all other the things specific to BLUES harmonica--really understanding and mastering the idiomatic techniques, learning how to leave space in your solos (phrasing), learning how to swing, opening yourself up to the feelings and finding a way of evoking them with the instrument, keeping your balance vis a vis the beat while you're playing with great intensity, etc. Magic Dick gave some great advice when I interviewed him, and you don't need a custom harp to put it into practice: spend a few minutes each day, preferably at the beginning of your practice session, just making sounds on the harp--taking one note, inhaling smoothly, getting a sweet strong sound, listening to it, inhabiting the note. Sound production: find the sweet spot involving your tongue, the shape of your mouth, how you hold the harp. Work on your acoustic tone. 95% of your sound is about you, not your harp. Of course you should, at some point in your career, try some different brands and models of harps and find one that feels like YOURS, but after that, focus, as MD suggested, on YOU: the sound you're actually producing on the instrument. The grass may always seem to be greener on the other side of the stock/custom harp debate, and of course it can be fun and diverting to chatter about these sorts of things, the way that bike racers chatter about alloy handlebars, but a sense of proportion is also good: it's what you do with your mouth, tongue, etc. that really makes the difference, or most of the difference.
Maybe it's just me, but I've found that whole large assortment of issues, challenges, and subject areas so interesting and absorbing that I haven't spent much time worrying about which custom harp or factory-made harp to use. I've used a handful of custom harps through the years; all of them did certain things well but none of them magically transformed my playing to the extent that I felt compelled to spend the big bucks to purchase a whole set.
Of course I'm fine with other people doing that. In this issue, as in others, to each his own. But next to the list of things that really ARE important in the journey towards mastery, spending big bucks on diatonic harps is fairly low. As long as you're playing a professional-grade instrument of some sort, mass produced or not, you're doing fine.
I started playing the harmonica in 1974, when a shiny new Marine Band cost $5.95 in its little cardboard box. In New York in the mid-1980s, when I was learning, I bought two or three Marine Bands a week on 48th Street. I was playing on the street, working them ruthlessly, and blowing them out; even though I knew how to tune them up, I'd still wreck them. $12.95 each seemed like a reasonable price. Now I pay about twice that. They still work for me, with a few minor tweaks.
Last Edited by on Jul 05, 2009 5:19 AM
OK, in complete agreement with Adam, my POV would be that I want to play like DeFord or Rice Miller on the harps they used, not on something designed by NASA. The counter-argument would be "Hohner harps now aren't as good as the ones those guys used." To which I'd say, OK, I'll keep that in mind, but my gapping and embossing are good enough to deal with that.
My girlfriend and I split up after 13 years in November, and we finalised it a week ago, when she gave me back a jacket that had my A MB in the pocket. It plays beautifully, but I don't remember it being that good 7 months ago when I last played it! Conclusion: I've improved. So I wonder how many of the people in the 4 or 5 Brad Harrison threads are people who haven't really been playing that long and are just hoping for a magic harp as the solution to their problems?
On the other hand, I wouldn't deny for a second that a Brad Harrison harp must be a beautiful thing, and if you can afford $2,000 for a set, go for it, but after you've done that, you've got to put your nose to the grindstone finally!
Last Edited by on Jul 05, 2009 5:22 AM
1. Portability/Learning curve. I don't want to cart around a guitar and look like a dweeb cause I won't even be any good for at least 2 years. Here in Jakarta, every traffic light and public bus panhandler has a plywood guitar, which can be had for less than $5.
2. Musical Expression. The endless platoon of guitar-toting posers above make an awful sound known as Indonesian pop music. The vocals follow the out of tune guitar strings, producing notes not intentionally found in any form of music. Imagine making sounds worse than your normal speaking voice, made one beat for one syllable, and never diverge from that, and you have some idea.
Also, I am against "medicating" my mood with i-pod and need a creative outlet of expression. I never played an instrument before but always loved the songs in the blues brothers movie. Never thought I'd be playing a wind instrument!
3. My wife left me, so I got the blues, and two weeks later I had a harmonica in my hand. But since she's Indonesian it's not all that bad. Now that I'm starting to play some local clubs I'm getting out of the house and meeting people (musicians, not bar girls!)
Not only do I love that Charlie Sayles video, but I should remind you guys that Charlie will be opening for Satan and Adam when we play World Cafe Live in Philly on 8/13. And he'll be sitting in on a couple of tunes in our second set. Should be memorable.
