After listening to Marios vid where he plays into a little tin cup (apparently as used for colors) I was wondering what other cups could be used to alter, maybe amplify the sound of the harp acoustically...
---------- germanharpist on YT. =;-) - Resonance is KEY!
I find whiskey tumblers make good ones, as do small tins, mugs, wine glasses, Hi-Ball glasses, etc.
They all have different resonant properties and all give you slight variations on the sound. I use the playing into the glass trick quite often at gigs. It goes down really well with audiences.
Wide-mouth Mason or Ball jars used for canning work well, too. i've done this before, and it's a real DEEP wah effect-plus a cool visual! ---------- Todd L Greene. V.P.
I have been playing with a cup lately. I was working on miles davis "bye bye blackbird" and I notice on the 3 hole draw bends, playing with the cup sorta evens out the tone.
small tin of Heinz baked beans, washed, after I have gobbled the contents on toast..works well with the number 'blow wind blow' :)
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2010 11:35 AM
MAL, "and I notice on the 3 hole draw bends, playing with the cup sorta evens out the tone." - yeah, that makes sense.
nick, that's a good idea, I gonna make myself an english breakfast ;) (for dinner). ---------- germanharpist on YT. =;-) - Resonance is KEY!
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2010 11:42 AM
You Brits eat beans for breakfast? ;-) Those wide tins, like the ones Dinty Moore beef stew comes in(here in the States), are good to experiment with as well. ---------- Todd L Greene. V.P.
Breakfast as in (full english) is one of the ways tourists survive here, and you can get it all day: beans sausage bacon mushrooms maybe black puddin' grilled tomatoes tinned tomatoes I prefer loadsa toast and marmalade of course! + tea or coffee
Wine glasses, whiskey glasses, coffee cups, all of these can be used much like the way a plunger gets used by trumpeters and trombonists. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I play with a paper bag over my head. I can't hear the sound difference, but the audience seems much happier.
I think there are at least two things going on with resonance chambers. If you've got a hard surface you get more of an echoey sound, but if you use something like a plastic Fluff jar, even although it's pretty big you just sort of get a muddy sound. I'd imagine with certain glass containers you might be able to get the glass's resonate note to ring too.
Kim Wilson,West Helena Woman on "My Blues" Album. I have never asked him,But you guys listen.I think he uses a glass or something.I can get that sound with a whiskey glass.
Big Walter occasionally did that with either a glass or even his harp mic. My good buddy Sugar Ray Norcia always did this with a glass.
Nacoran, a paper bag??? I ain't touching that one! lol ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
just a translation 'bubble' is short name for 'bubble and squeak' Strange name for a vegetable dish, but it's probably so called because of the noises the vegetables make while being fried! Originally made with meat and cabbage only, but at some time in history potatoes were introduced. Remember, potatoes were another thing we 'stole' from your continent Old Wailer (Sir Walter Raleigh).
The dish is usually made from left-overs so sprouts or cabbage should be pre-cooked, added to mashed potatoes to give a cake consistency fried in butter with added onions etc
Fry in cakes and invert and fry again until golden
Yo Bluesharper i just caught your drift sorry mate, Putting The Big F at the end of your cyber name, Bluesharper does look like i am suggesting something other than, HI or Hello my friend Blueharper but this is not my intension,so i guess i should say sorry mate no offence intended..
Last Edited by on Mar 02, 2010 10:44 PM
It's an old technique. I've got this book "How to Play the Harmonica at Sight" by Borrah Minnevitch, from 1923. He's got a whole section devoted to playing with a drinking glass.
It's funny, I read the title of this thread as "Playing into A cups". As in playing into the chest of a woman with small breasts... :) (no offense to the ladies on the forum, it's just what I read! Freud, anyone?)
Check out my videos for my "acoustic reverb" that I made out of a cigar box. I would never use it "live", but it's a really cool, totally "analog" effect to use while recording:
I played for 18 yrs. in an adult age tiered hardball league and I wouldn't have even tempted to step on the diamond without a cup...
On the serious side, I've seen Jim McLughlin play with a porcelain coffee cup doing a train imitation and it was awesome. He simulated two trains passing each other in a tunnel.
