I remarked on Channel 1 that I only reach for a F-Harp when practising as a bit of a worthy chore. But when I hear it played I always really like it.
I've discovered that Taj Mahal isn't everyone's cup of tea on MBH, maybe they don't consider him a hard-bitten virtuoso harp player I don't know. Anyway, I like his harp playing.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Dec 30, 2015 11:29 PM
i can think of a couple songs he plays which i like. i really like his opening on Leaving Trunk...or at least i used to, havent heard it for a while. and i like his contribution to Bright Lights on the Jimmy Rogers' Allstars album
its not great music, but in retrospect i dont regret it..trying to double the keys still seems like the only way to play in that arrangement and the only thing i can think of that would have served the song better was to shut up altogether...which would have been a substantial improvement, granted. it was i think the song where i began to get to grips with the F harp. i think iirc i couldn't bend at all on the F prior to that song. now i play a few things on the F but its true i rarely pick it up in practice outside of repertoire
It sounds like a fun song in the room. But I've got this thing about the harp being tacked on the side rather than having it's own place. Instead of doubling the keys (or laying out!) I would prefer to hear the harp instead of the keys. Sounds like you'd found a perfectly good hook to play, but it's in competition with the loud spacey keyboards thing.
So, even more precisely, I usually like the sound of F-harp when I can really hear it properly :) !
OT - but this is very much the problem I wrestled with around the harp amp size/volume issue. I started with my lovely-sounding-in-the-shed 5W amp, sounded OK to me live but then I was near the amp. Ambient recordings showed the harp sound to be feeble. Perfectly audible but feeble. Like a buzzing wasp I called it, identifiable notes but nothing to indicate it was a harmonica! And all those hard-won techniques wasted. Could have been a cheapo synth playing blues licks. The simple answer was more watts, lots more watts.
Yours sounds like it could be a very loud band in the room (you've mentioned playing with very loud bands) so it might be insurmountable.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 01, 2016 2:24 AM
enormously loud drums and bass. that was the loudest band on occasion...at least that night there was a sound engineer...but also you can see i'm ut the back and on the side yo allow the front to work the room...and my amp is stacked on the bass amp...and that song would originally have had no harp...an early concept was to have me playing cards or reading a book and jjst getting up from time to time, annoyed, to play a fill here and there...but anyway, ancient history...that band defunct since end of 2012...bass player became a father today...front man is samora squid, now globe trotting freak show performer..on the festival circuit...sword swallowing, contortion, suspension, grindcore vocalist...lucy had a baby...bass man and drummer have a band called the dead maggies, a couple of records and a low budget european tour under the belts...playing 'convict folk punk' a self-invented genre
You've mentioned playing with a loud band before, I assumed it was a big blues-rock outfit, nothing like this! It's good to see it now, quite a thing.
I think it was because of your collection of small amps. Shows me something about making assumptions.
I grew up amid an punkish-arty musical sensibility. I was always half fascinated and half appalled by it. I still don't know what to think about it all.
oh..those were my 5 watt amps..i build those for fun and occasionally busk or jam or duo with those, but mainly practice and things to keep me distracted from living a useful existence. there are 5 larger amps...i think you can almost seethe orange grill or chrome knobs of my 30 watt 12" combo on the bass amp...i'll post aphoto of those one day
these guys may think i'm unsupportive asi never attend any of their gigs...i had a bluez band, fronted by me for 2 years with the drummer and bass palyer, and a year before that with some other personnell...i really like them but after a few years in the band i just cant stand the thought of going to those venues and being deafened by music i dont enjoy...i like the antics but the music is not enjoyable to me...the whole scene really...but i did enjot the songs we did in his band...i would still laugh at the silliness even two years into it
