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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Miss the old Forum
Miss the old Forum
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Fil
503 posts
Feb 04, 2025
3:36 AM
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----------Frankly, I miss the conversation, commentary, and information that was a feature of this Forum up until a few years ago. Occasionally there is a good, tho usually short thread, but pauses can be long between them. FaceBook has worked for some, but I guess not for me. And I'm not sure it can be called progress. My issue, no one else's. Whatever floats your boat.
Phil Pennington
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RobDawg
19 posts
Feb 04, 2025
5:37 AM
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Hey Phil,
I'm sorta boring, but what do you want to discuss? Here's a bunch about me: I recently joined a band again and have been working out songs I've never played. I tend to play first position on a lot of the pretty songs and adapted to using gazelle method harmonicas and the suzuki ultra bend in C, A, and D for these purposes.I also choose lee oskar natural minor over 3rd position in most cases when the band is playing in minor keys. I'm a reed tinkerer and have custom harmonicas that I love from Richard Sleigh, 2 Bradical harps, too many from Tom Halchak. I still tell folks Rockin Ron's is the best place to order a new stock harmonica. Yesterday I started wondering why we don't see the B harmonica in low tuning. Also, I fell into a gear hole for a while and made friends with a couple of mic builders. I should have tried each type of mic before I bought but I ended up with a nice collection of mics. A wise comment from the old forum still resonates with me: "how many mics can you play at once?" I've met people from this forum in real life. One event had Annie Raines, Shane Sager, and Ronnie Shellist. Meeting these folks taught me that these are really nice people. And they are great teachers! I live in New England. I ended up randomly working with Ridge, who probably, sneakily, is one of the best harp players I've met - we'd sit in the parking lot of work noodling, me with 100 harmonicas being mediocre and Ridge with his single harmonica giving me pointers about relaxing my embouchure to keep getting better.
Robert
Last Edited by RobDawg on Feb 04, 2025 7:52 AM
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Spderyak
434 posts
Feb 05, 2025
5:11 AM
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After years of resistance I finally started "tinkering"
with some of them.
With the Gazel harps, I removed the 5 blow valve on one of them so I could use it as overblow. So that harp gives me the same as blowing the 6 and bending it down. I like to have the choice depending on the song
Thinking it through I increasingly use paddy tuned harps, esp if I am going note for note with the vocalist for example.
..it maybe a facebook world but life does go on without it rather nicely .
Sometimes when introducing an older song I make a point of telling people that it is music from a time and world before computers or social media.
Older people readily identify with that while younger folks not so much.
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Fil
504 posts
Feb 05, 2025
5:27 AM
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After a few months without it, "rather nicely" describes it rather nicely. Was that adaptation to Gazelle harps difficult? How about to natural minor harps?
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Phil Pennington
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RobDawg
20 posts
Feb 05, 2025
7:12 AM
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I didn't have many issues with natural minor harps and really do enjoy A minor - I can get lost on the top end and shoot a bad note once in a while if I don't rehearse. Seydel has a Will Wilde version that repeats the same pattern for bends on the high end as the low end of the harp, but I'm not as comfortable with those, yet. I prefer lee oskar even though you can get some squealling. If I use minimal breath needed those squeals don't come around, it seems to come from overpressuring the reeds. I haven't given up working on 3rd position and have a couple of "do it" tuned harps, as well - after I watched Isaac Ullah vids a few years back.
For gazelle harps having blow bends everywhere just feels like a super power, besides the clean accurate bends. When I'm working out songs in 1st I sometimes use my chromatic and found that blow bends on chrom transfers to the gazelle harps. I like these in low tunings and paddy richter in G is great. I sometimes miss the way the reeds interact together and still play normal diationic when I'm trying to get a grittier sound.
I'm not going back to facebook. so hopefully some other harpers will come back around here once in a while.
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dougharps
2366 posts
Feb 05, 2025
10:01 AM
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I miss the exchanges of info and differing views on harmonica technique, theory, harmonica brands and models, mics, amps, gear, etc.
I enjoyed the occasional forum challenges, and members posting examples to illustrate the issues being discussed. Occasionally discussions became overheated and needed moderation.
It was nice to see occasional posts of music by members.
Facebook seems focused primarily on showing off for the fb audience. There have been occasional rare discussions similar to what was the norm on the MBH forum.
I think that players seeking info on line go to the harp teachers or YouTube lessons these days. The internet forums are largely disregarded by new players today.
Forums, like the mail lists before them, are now old mediums. Discussions via posting are old school.
I still primarily play standard diatonic harmonicas. On diatonics I will OB the 6 hole. I rarely use country tuned, paddy richter, or Melody Maker harmonicas, reserving them for playing specific lines needed for a song. I keep switching brands depending on where and what I am playing. I prefer Hohners for studio work and lower volume gigs.
I still sometimes play keyed chromatics. Recently I have indulged in buying some Easttop Forerunner 2.0 valveless chromatics after some frustration with windsavers sticking and buzzing while accompanying on stage. The Forerunner 2.0 chromatics were cheap on sale at Amazon. While they don't perform quite as well as my valved chromatics, they are more reliable on stage with my approach.
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Doug S.
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Spderyak
435 posts
Feb 05, 2025
11:30 AM
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For myself it took awhile to get the hang of it. Usually it was a case of trying to hard. Gazell is all about flavoring your notes" Mostly meaning play expressively regardless of the type of harps we use.
On a C harp hitting the 1 blow bend note nice and pretty was a challenge
Playing a few minor harps..then you get into natural or unnatural (humor) tunings.
I make charts for each harmonica and available notes etc..I label every thing in 1st position the same as Hohner does. if I use a different brand I also label 1st position with a referees to cross harp.
I love Mack the knife on an E- minor in the key of G which is actually an Am harp Oskar tuning.. I forget which position that is on that tune.
It can get to be a bit of a rabbit hole.
Some tunes modulate to a different key or from minor to major just for a portion of a song..many times I will just switch harps..again mostly if the singer is making the same transition.
There are times we just want to hit right on pitch and not approximate the note.
In NH here but don't go down to the city these days. Annie Raines is from down around there I believe.
Took many a lesson from Mike Rogers my favorite guy.
..He is in Maine, in his eighties now, still playing.
Last Edited by Spderyak on Feb 05, 2025 11:48 AM
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RobDawg
21 posts
Feb 06, 2025
5:19 AM
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Hey Spyderyak,
I bought the wrong Lee Oskar harmonica a few times for sure - don't see myself using those harmonic minor harps for much except noodling. I am terrible when I try improvising on country tuned harps, melody maker or another seydel tuning i tried called major cross. I use the manji natural minors and hohner natural minors in first postion (A minor double bend on 2 hole is special) and lee oskars strictly in 2nd.
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mr_so&so
1111 posts
Feb 10, 2025
7:05 AM
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Hi Guys, greetings from Ontario, Canada.
I was lucky enough to join this forum early on as a beginner. It was a great ride with lots of sharing of progress, challenge contests, masters willing to share their wisdom, and a number of interesting characters. Overall the vibe was good and we raised each other up. I got into Facebook for a while, but the forum's presence there never captured me. It seemed like less of a community to me.
These days I have less time and energy for harmonica. I still love to play, and I've reached a reasonable proficiency with the blues harp. I gap my harps and play some overblows (mostly 6) regularly. I relearned how to play bends and overblows tongue-blocked, and added tongue switching at the bottom of the harp. Wanting to keep learning, I started getting into chromatic blues a few years before the pandemic. I've had other priorities during and since the pandemic until now, but have picked up the chromatic again, since I tried the EastTop Forerunner 2.0 valveless 12-hole (thanks to a recent discussion on new valveless chromatics on this forum). It plays pretty great without the cost and maintenance fuss of valved chromatics. I have 5 different keys now and will probably get a few more, so I can play in all 12 music keys by learning only a few positions well (first, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 12th). This was an approach I got from DougHarps. The chrom is also a good launching platform for other types of music.
So that's where I am. I'm still keen to learn and still follow this forum. Hopefully it will live on.
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"Just a white boy lost in the blues"
(From Sonny and Brownie 1973)
Last Edited by mr_so&so on Feb 11, 2025 8:54 AM
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Wailing ptarmigan
45 posts
Feb 12, 2025
5:49 AM
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Also from Ontario (pickering to be exact). Been lurking and learning on here for a while. Took up bass about 4 years ago and it’s been great- had some theory knowledge from harp that translated, but a big thing I’m aware of is that you can’t see the notes on your harp! LOL ! On the bass I know exactly where all my notes are, but on the harp it’s definitely a feel/ear thing and learning the notes (and intervals) is very time consuming. Recently started jamming (on bass) with a band that has a harp player, so I get to geek out once in a while. Haven’t tried any other tunings except LO melody maker tuning, which still feels very unfamiliar.
Andy
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shakeylee
766 posts
Mar 04, 2025
1:08 PM
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Time for some revitalization!
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www.shakeylee.com
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Rontana
559 posts
Mar 22, 2025
5:35 PM
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Yup . . . I miss the old forum too. There was a certain, long-distance camaraderie about it that is wholly absent in the Facebook iteration; the FB version just strikes me (usually) as people being performative for “likes.”
But, I guess that’s what social media does . . . it dilutes the human aspects. and feels like it's “sanitized for your protection." It just doesn’t seem real or authentic . . . cheese whiz instead of a block of extra-sharp white cheddar. The substance is missing, at least for me.
I learned a lot here; just from reading the detailed posts of people like Iceman and BBQ Bob (and many, many others), and hearing unique takes on different song genres from players (Grey Owl was always a favorite of mine).
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Ron Marr Music & Wood Carving
Last Edited by Rontana on Mar 23, 2025 3:43 PM
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the_happy_honker
356 posts
Mar 27, 2025
1:39 PM
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I was a beginner when I landed here in 2010, no musical experience. Learned a ton from Adam and everybody and I checked the forum every day for years.
The forum was in decline before (centralized) social media became popular. There had been a huge pent-up demand for knowledge, even among veteran harp players, about how the darned thing produced sound, how bending works and how overbending (and half-valving) works. A lot of people had a lot ideas, many of them controversial or unsound, and that got discussed, ad infinitum.
Gear and genre and tone and who was the greatest harp player ever got chewed over, too. Again, many people wanted to know about it and many people had near-religious opinions to share.
But the forum maxed out its audience and they eventually figured out how bending works, what makes a good harmonica good, whether overbending was for them, what gear they wanted. A consensus formed on many topics and beyond that, it wasn't worth discussing. The forum is a victim of its own success.
I still play every day and I enjoy the blues bands that blow through my neck of the woods. Wouldn't have started down that road if not for the forum. Thanks to everyone, especially Adam and Nate for that!
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bandini
31 posts
Apr 03, 2025
9:52 AM
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When I started playing harp seriously again a few years ago (after a long absence) I too was bummed at what a ghost town the internet had become. I even made a post here titled "where is everyone?"
At the time I had attributed it to the widespread censorship and subsequent herding of everyone into state-controlled social media outlets, prior to 2020, which effectively killed any real community.
However, I've spent a good amount of time reading through the archives of this place and many others and I've since come to see things somewhat differently.
If you explore the archives, you'll see that there seemed to be a peak in what I would call "positive forum activity" sometime around 2012ish, and by 2019 it had pretty much devolved into highly egoic bitching and power plays.
This appeared to happen all over the internet - not just here - which leads me to believe that actually, humanity kinda outgrew the need to live their lives online, bitching and arguing and comparing and complaining, and that the great social media censorship sweep of 2020 was accepted without a whimper largely because everyone was exhausted of online life anyway.
In the end, I'm now seeing the graveyard-like nature of the current version of the internet to actually be a good thing. I think we all went through a period of living our lives online a bit too much, and perhaps some balance has been restored now.
I still VERY much appreciate THIS place and the knowledgable folks here who still take the time to answer questions. It's been super helpful to me in my harp journey.
Last Edited by bandini on Apr 03, 2025 10:19 AM
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