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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
My musical journey with the Harp.
My musical journey with the Harp.
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tookatooka
928 posts
Dec 29, 2009
5:44 AM
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Just under two and a half years ago I started my journey with the harp. I had absolutely no previous musical knowledge and I tried and tried to get to grips with it. I picked up little bits of knowledge here and there (mostly from here) and gradually the fog got marginally clearer. I don’t kid myself that I haven’t still got a long, long way to go.
However, the humble harp has opened a whole new world to me now. First it was the easier harmonica tunes that led me to the Blues, then I had a little dalliance with Celtic (Irish) music, which lead me to get a penny whistle (big mistake) and so throughout my journey, I’ve been exploring other avenues and going off in different tangents.
Although the Blues is my main interest, I get dissatisfied with my lack of progress sometimes and need to follow up other ideas which are still music related to keep me in the zone and to stop me from abandoning it all together.
I have been busy just lately with a new project which I would really like to get some feedback from. I know you guys don’t like doing that. I’m only too aware of watching my posts with sound files attached slide down the forum list without much interest being shown. I understand completely.
However this time I wonder if you could make an exception. I have no-one who can give me the standard of feedback that you guys could offer and hopefully it could be an assistance also to newcomers to the harp to see that if I can achieve something with this little instrument then they can too.
Here is the soundfile. There is NO harp in it. As I said it’s one of my tangents but I’m particularly chuffed that I’ve been able to learn just enough musical theory with the ability to be able to read very simple music now, all through my association with the harmonica. This has enabled me to put this together, and I would encourage any newcomers to keep at it because the fog will clear for you too and you’ll never know where it may lead you next.
Thanks for your interest (if there is any) and a Happy New Year one and all.
Oh! Be as critical as you like. I’d rather the truth than niceties. That way I can gauge where I am. Thanks.
Oh! 2. I used Fruity Loops. It’s called Toss the Feather a traditional Irish Reel with my own slant on it.
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mickil
773 posts
Dec 29, 2009
5:57 AM
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Tooka,
We all get discouraged at times. The frustration, to me at least, is the killer that has to be kept at bay.
From what I gather from your previous posts, you need to start branching out from the comfort zone of the slow stuff you play. I say this with the best of intentions.
I'll have a listen to your file later: Star Trek is just about to start!
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YouTube SlimHarpMick a.k.a. HarmonicaMick
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Kyzer Sosa
58 posts
Dec 29, 2009
6:17 AM
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I listened to it, and thought it was very interesting. I can tell that a lot of thought went into it and your efforts havent gone unnoticed by me...Your delve in to irish folk is evident in it, for certain, and I gather that you'd be pleased to be able to blow that on a harp eh? You've got an advantage. You are able to hear it, and put it out there in some fashion. now it's just a matter of making it happen outside of the computer monitor. Unless you find THAT is your calling. If you had professional equipment at the ready, I'm sure you could bring more life into it, as, to me, it sounds like a ringtone or 8Bit Nintendo game console wavs...
8/10, because I know I couldn't do it. You should try Audacity. It lets you import sound files, real deal instrument sounds. It might give you that fuller, concert-like sound your craving. I used it recently to do a one man band thing ala Son of Dave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGdlAik50lA
Keep it up, no matter what you do musically, it only serves to expand your knowledge base and make you more well rounded...
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JimmyFamous
19 posts
Dec 29, 2009
6:34 AM
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Tooka,
I like the arrangement.
I have never used Fruity Loops, but I have tried sequencing using Sonar. And it's not easy. And it takes alot of patience.
If you are playing the keyboard to get the melody in there in real time you are an awesome piano player.
I also find it hard to concentrate on one instrument all the time. I practiced bass guitar for years and love playing gigs now, but find it hard to pick it up during the week.
I have spent the last 6 months really working on the harmonica and vocal. My New Years Resolution this year is to get a band together where I sing and play the Harmonica.
Happy new year!
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Jimmy Famous
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tookatooka
929 posts
Dec 29, 2009
6:47 AM
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Thank You Kyzer, Yes I'd love to play that with harp. I do know a few tunes but I'm not really up to any great speed yet. My mouth goes to mush when I speed up. Hopefully practice will help. I have audacity but I find FLoops more versatile by far. Thanks.
Thank You Jimmy. No I didn't use a keyboard. I sequenced it all in Fruity Loops, it took a bit of time but once you get going it's not too bad. Fruity Loops is a massive program but once you get to know it, it's great. Good Luck with your New Years resolution. Hope it happens for you.
Thanks Mickil - till after Star Trek then.
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saregapadanisa
17 posts
Dec 29, 2009
7:12 AM
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Well done !
That's a nice little piece that stands on its feet.
I am not much a conoisseur of irish music, but it seems melodically flawless to me.
Still I'll try nevertheless to satisfy your masochistic inclinations :
- Scrap these wind blowing sounds, it just emphasizes the artficialness of frutyloopsy music.
- The drum part is too heavy ; it keeps your feet on the ground while the melody is jumping and dancing. You may try at some point to introduce some soft off-beat drum, or to go da-TA on the beat.
- You may also want to sparsely introduce a different sounding second voice (that's an harmonic challenge) in the second half. That could be only 3 or 4 notes of counterpoint at the end of each phrases. That may give a sense of a piece growing.
That said, I am still thinking hard to find nasty things to say, with no result.
In one word : Bravo !
And I like your insight of what a musical jouney is, too.
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mickil
775 posts
Dec 29, 2009
7:18 AM
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tooka,
I think it's a good tune, though, like with your last piece, I'd be tempted to add something else - or, to be more specific, some counterpoint - once the melody has been established.
There are huge tomes written on the subject - counterpoint, I mean - none of which I think are necessary reading. Most peoples' ears can do the job just fine.
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YouTube SlimHarpMick a.k.a. HarmonicaMick
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pharpo
39 posts
Dec 29, 2009
9:35 AM
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Tooka.....very nice I thought....it is very evident that you are blessed with patience. Your watercolors are beautiful. Some of them remind me of "The Shire" if you know what I mean. Keep it up !!
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Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn. They teach you there's a boundary line to music. But, man, there's no boundary line to art. - Charlie Parker
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nacoran
614 posts
Dec 29, 2009
10:50 AM
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Tooka- I like it. I agree with Kyzer that Audacity might let you get some more instrumental depth. I use it to change the pitch and tempo of stuff. You can make the harmonica sound like totally different instruments. I made a guitar and a harp sound like a bass and a saxophone, and I made a D harp sound like a zither. My next project is going to be to rerecord every instrument on a song using the harmonica. (I've been held up because I don't have a good mic/speaker/headphone setup where I can listen to the previous tracks without the mic picking them up.
http://filesocial.com/2by73ra
http://filesocial.com/x93xqm
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Tuckster
321 posts
Dec 29, 2009
11:17 AM
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Tooka-I don't quite understand how the tune relates to your harp playing. Unrelated to your harp playing,the tune did get in my head with the main theme. I am off put by the "8 bit Nintendo" sound.
After watching Kyser's vid, I've been thinking about the "learning curve". I think it varies hugely from one person to another.I've been playing for 17 years,and it was humbling to see what Kyser has after one.I don't let it bother me,I continue on at my own slow,plodding pace.Eventually a light will come on and I'll "get" whatever I was struggling with.Hang in there,buddy. It'll come to you!
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Ryan
52 posts
Dec 29, 2009
7:09 PM
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Tuckster don't get too discouraged, the youtube video that Kyser posted wasn't actually him, it was a video of Son Of Dave. He was just saying that the song he wrote was in the style of Son of Dave and then gave a video of him for reference. Son Of Dave (aka Benjamin Darvill) is a Candadian musician and is a former member of the band Crash Test Dummies. He's definately been playing harp and music longer than a year. But you're right about everyone having their own learning curve, and it's important not to let the abilities of others bother/discourage you, it often just inspires me to practice harder.
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MichaelAndrewLo
87 posts
Dec 29, 2009
8:10 PM
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The book effortless mastery heavily relates to the "not getting discouraged by other progress" idea. Each person has a specific mastery for their self and it is important to stop the ego from getting in the way of each of our individual mastery. When the ego pushes you to play things you can't, calm down, step away from the instrument, and come back until you can practice slowly and play everything you wanna play every time without errors. Good book.
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wallyns10
125 posts
Dec 30, 2009
3:36 AM
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Good job man, the melody and texture were nice, didn't much like the tone of everything, to electronica-ish for me. Showed a lot of work and and was structured nicely. I know you said you are just getting into theory, but you should start thinking about cool chords to use with melodies like this. If you figure out a base line to your melody and then work the inner voices of the chords out from there, it will be really cool. Also a slightly more complex rhythmic scheme would really make things pop.
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mojojojo
25 posts
Dec 30, 2009
6:05 AM
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Tooka2, I have the same time frame as you and also no previous music experience. However, I jammed with probably the best modern blues guitarist in Indonesia, and he let me lead. He concluded by saying I had the blues and asked me back to practice. A real compliment as I'm really just an advanced beginner due to lack of practice. All self-taught over here, did get a chance to meet Curtis King (Ohio, based in Vietnam) who is cool player and a Swiss player who is good in blues as well. However, I have the guts to go on stage... sometimes it works out well, sometimes not.
I'll get your file now and hope I can reply later. Stay chuffed!
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LeonStagg
70 posts
Dec 30, 2009
6:18 AM
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What does chuffed mean?
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isaacullah
517 posts
Dec 30, 2009
7:18 AM
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"then I had a little dalliance with Celtic (Irish) music, which lead me to get a penny whistle (big mistake)"
LOL! I did the SAME thing! In fact your musical journey sounds A LOT like mine... I had virtually NO musical experience. I used to do a bit of rock drumming back in middle school, but that taught me NO theory at all. Nothing about chords, changes, song structures, notes, scales, nothin'. Just how to make a few beats, read time, and keep time. So I guess that's at least something. Harp (and this forum, and Adam,and al the other internet sources) has given me so much more.
Tooka, I'm still on vacation, so I don't have the time/facilities to give your track a listen, but I will after I get home in a few days...
Cheers,
Isaac
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The magnificent YouTube channel of the internet user known as "isaacullah"
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barbequebob
271 posts
Dec 30, 2009
10:11 AM
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Isacullah, there are quite a few harp players who started out as drummers, as well as guitar players who also started out as drummers, and each of that did, their time was always on the money, and remember, that actually gives you a very distinct advantage over a lot of harp players because on of the the most common, but unfortunately, too often true stereotype of the harp player is that they tend to have god awful time. I also learned a lot about time from hanging with drummers more than harp players and constantly asking questions and advice from them because the groove is so important and if anyone has horrible time on the bandstand, the groove will be crap and ready to fall apart in a nanosecond. A player who started out as a drummer usually has better time and there is often an underlying sense of groove happening no matter what and so their solos tend to make more musical as well as rhythmic sense than those who didn't and never bothered to pay attention to these things.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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oldwailer
993 posts
Dec 30, 2009
10:47 AM
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Very cool, Tooka--I'm not a big fan of this kind of music, but you put it together very nicely. One thing I think it could use is a little space--but I guess that isn't really an Irish thing--since Irishmen apparently don't need to breathe. The pace is just too frantic for my taste.
I went to an Irish jig dance once with my wife--for about twenty minutes I was enthralled with the music (fiddles, drums, whistle--etc). After that time was up, I found myself plotting the demise of the entire band. . .
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mankycodpiece
47 posts
Dec 30, 2009
12:01 PM
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I had a listen tooka,needed a little more bottom end,but it was put together well.
a
About the discouragement,
i thought,having come from chrome off and on over the years,that i'd fly with the little feller no problem.
Nah,no 2 days are the same.
One day i think it's all comong together,the next,where did it go.
I tongue block on chrome but having trouble with the 10 hole.
I just wait for the little victories that make it all worthwhile.
I could go on a bit,but i'll leave it there.
BTW,i play guitar,classical and band stuff,so i'm fine with the theory timing,but still heven't come to terms with the diatonic.it's a little bugger init.
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shanester
34 posts
Dec 30, 2009
6:22 PM
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Pretty f'in' dope! That made me want to river dance on a lunar base in some old school video game! If it makes you move its got a groove!
I think your onto something there, Tooks!
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tookatooka
936 posts
Jan 01, 2010
10:50 AM
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Thanks for all the advice everyone. I was unable to respond earlier due to not feeling well. I will certainly take on board what you have suggested. I'm still trying to get my head around the counterpoint thingy and will certainly work on that too.
Many thanks to all who responded. It is very much appreciated. Back to bed for me now. Sniff. Happy New Year.
Whoops! @pharpo@ thanks for the watercolour compliment.
@LeonStagg@ Chuffed means very pleased.
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Last Edited by on Jan 02, 2010 3:21 AM
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