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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players >
Addictive
Addictive
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MindTheGap
992 posts
Jan 15, 2016
12:26 AM
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We are self-selecting sample, but this thing does seem to be oddly addictive. I read Rontana's comment (re self-centred players)...
"I've been surprised at just how deeply this silly little instrument has become a part of my life."
I know I've devoted a lot of time and effort, and some money (not as much as most people it seems), towards learning this thing. I don't have a problem with it - hobbies are self-justifying. But the harmonica - come on!!??? What on earth are we all doing?
I can't rationalise the draw. I like the sound, but it's not the be all and end all. I like the physicality: neat, portable nature of the thing - except that in practice I tote round amp, pedals, microphone, leads...
...and here's my signature I'm going to keep until it wears off, a quote from jinx - always ready with a bon mot...
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mtg - Blaring like a mad farm goose.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 15, 2016 1:24 AM
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SuperBee
3232 posts
Jan 15, 2016
1:05 AM
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yes, i agree. its bonkers really.
i really feel i should take up something else, but i also think...ive come so far, i'm almost getting the hang of it..if i can stay with it another 20 years i might even like the music..
a friend of mine...a bloke i know...a little bit...told me why he took a voluntary redundancy at age 35-ish...he had a well-paying job in the public service...he had done well but at age 35 the only way up was into the very senior ranks, which would require some dedicated study...he told me he thought about it and realised that regardless of seniority and success, he would never be truly happy in such a job, so he took redundancy and went to university, studied architecture for 5 years and at age 40 began a new career he knew would be satisfying.
sometimes i feel like i am hanging on to harmonica because i have so much invested in it, but i dont know if it will ever satisfy me. i might be better to go back to school and study an instrument which could really please me, such as guitar or piano
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Ian
230 posts
Jan 15, 2016
2:50 AM
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Agreed. Its crazy.
For me it is the physicality that gives it that something extra.
I've played guitar and I've played sax, but this is the first instrument that I've played that I feel part of when I play (even if I sound like a honkin goose). It has to be to do with the proximity to the instrument, the way you have to become part of the instrument to play it. It just FEELS good.
And of course it's the only instrument that I can take away with me when I work abroad, so it's always with me.
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Glass Harp Full
81 posts
Jan 15, 2016
3:44 AM
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I also agree about the physicality of the harp. I learnt guitar for a while some years ago (not very successfully and I didn't really put a lot of work into it I admit) and I didn't get that same feeling of connectedness. Harp just feels so much more direct.
I also think it's a coordination thing in my case. I'm not a very coordinated person and struggled with the fingering and strumming of a guitar. Harp is less demanding in that sense, for me anyway. I thought briefly about taking up pedal steel guitar because I really like its sound, but after finding out that it involves both hands, foot pedals and knee leavers, I decided to focus on harp. Maybe pedal steel will be my retirement project. I might even have managed to get good on harp by then....
Last Edited by Glass Harp Full on Jan 15, 2016 3:46 AM
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Fil
93 posts
Jan 15, 2016
5:28 AM
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Glass Harp Full, it's become my retirement project. My wife would say I'm obsessive, though I don't think I'm that far gone. I just listen to blues music all the time, check this site multiple times a day, and carry a harp at all times...pulling it out to noodle at odd times and places. Plateau, advance, plateau, advance. I never played music before, or sang before, and the harmonica has me doing both those things, even in front of people on some occasions. It liberating for someone who has been wrapped as tightly as I think I have been for far too long. I am more than fortunate in one way. My spouse actually likes to listen to blues. Any drive longer than across town, the iPod goes on and randomly plays from the 1000 or so recordings I've acquired over the past few years. Oh, and it costs way less than boats, the other addiction we have.
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Phil Pennington
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Killa_Hertz
243 posts
Jan 15, 2016
9:53 AM
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I know i haven't been playing as long as most of you have, but i could never see giving up harp. EVER. It's in my blood now. I am 110% Addicted. Nothing short of Rehab and/or my Mouth falling off is gonna stop me from playing.
Most of you have played other instruments. While i played drums in band and had a set for a little while in grade school, and also mess with guitar. This feels like nothing else I've ever done. It is the only instrument i have ever been able to really be fully imersed into. Actually able to improvise and make something that's totally Me.
Also The kind of loner, play it on the train tracks sittin with my dog thing, just fits me aswell. I love that no matter where i go i can have a Harp with me. Amped harp is a whole different story all together, but i love it too. I also love working on the harps, improving them, better understanding what makes em tick. I'm an electric freak, and i was a sound and lighting tech for a few years. so i love building amps and mics n tinkering with pedals and different sounds. Making tools to customize harps with. Every aspect of the harp ive become totally wrapped up in.
I love it.
The only reason i bought a guitar was to learn to play blues behind the harp. And to play with all my harp pedals on guitar. I don't really put much time into it.
But i couldn't stop playing Harmonica if i tried at this point. It's apart of me now. And it's gettin better all the time.
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......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 15, 2016 9:56 AM
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Rontana
261 posts
Jan 15, 2016
2:54 PM
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There was a comment from DChurch, the OP on that "self-centered players" thread that I thought knocked it out of the park.
"Playing doesn’t always make me happy, sometimes it makes me sad as hell. It’s that weird kind of sad, like looking at old family photos."
I think that's it. At the risk of sounding like a cornball (I prefer sounding like a mad goose too) the harp somehow lets you express all the emotions and feelings that you can't quite explain in words. That can be the entire spectrum - from ecstatic to despondent. All the stuff deep inside, the gamut of the intrinsic, can often be conveyed by huffing and puffing through those 10 little holes.
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ME.HarpDoc
87 posts
Jan 15, 2016
6:11 PM
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I'm kind of in Ian's camp. I retired two years ago and on a whim decided to try harmonica. It became an obsession, according to my wife, a passion according to me. Now I've got 15 or so harps, practicing regularly, checking this forum a couple times a day and am attending a Gussow Shellist workshop tomorrow. To what end? Who knows. It just makes retirement so much fun. (Oh, yeah, I've got a couple of mics and a couple amps just 'cause I can)
Last Edited by ME.HarpDoc on Jan 15, 2016 6:11 PM
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SuperBee
3237 posts
Jan 16, 2016
12:29 AM
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i only get that 'down on it' deal going from time to time...most times i love it...just sometimes it all sounds awful to me...even the great players sound bad...thats perception for you...
this afternoon ive been thinking about dr ross' "cat Squirrel".
i got a great email from richard sleigh today...are you folks on his mailing list? his message today was one of the best...often i find Richard manages to express the same things i have going on...the difference is that he thinks his way through it and has positive insights...and i'm grateful he shares them...
maybe its not quite the right thread for this, then again, maybe it is...
i spent time the last couple of days trying to work out Lee Allen's sax solo, from Little Richard's 'Lucille', and then to play it on the harp...here is what i came up...the track is in G and it isn't Lucile, but its a pretty fair estimation of the sax solo from Lucille..:
i feel pretty good about that...it wasn't what i thought i was going to practice...but i ran it down...and i learned something, quite a bit actually...
today i started learning the riffs for 'cat squirrel', by listening to Ian Collard play it, and then recording myself and listening and comparing and realising that aint the riff, so doing it again and thsi time i really thought i had the riff...but its not quite right, so listening again, and now i think i have it, but need to practice and record and repeat that process...i think if i keep on this i will definitely nail it...and since the song only has two harp riffs...i can take that to the garage jam tomorrow and it will be a song...
contrast that with my complete failure to progress through the Bluesharmonica dot com level 4 material...i just get stuck on the accompaniment lesson and fiddle around, dont progress...spend the time watching the video and not much playing...too many things going on and forget to do it...spend time fixing a hap or building an amp instead...but if i am to get this stuff down, i just have to focus and do the lesson...chase it down until its mine, and not move on until ive learned the thing. Richard contrasts the guy who just plays and has fun but isnt playing songs, or parts of songs, just playing his guitar and making cool sounds, and in a year he sounds just the same...to the guy who is on a mission, making a list of stuff he wants to play and then working on the song, breaking it down into licks and nailing those licks...and in a year he is playing great...thats the guy i want to be...i'm just frustrated with my lack of real progress, after all these years still at a loss for what to play when put on the spot...oh ive a bag of songs, but they are my songs...i'm frustrated about not being able to play harp i consider adds to other people's songs, when they ask me to play with them...
Dave Barrett has a cool method for acquiring licks which i think i need to really use more...
ok, for a reward for reading my drivel. i am going to share Cat Squirrel with you...maybe see if you can work out that main riff?
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Killa_Hertz
266 posts
Jan 16, 2016
4:15 PM
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It sounds pretty simple to me. (The main riff that is).
The whole jam sounds great. Is that you Bee? I wasnt clear on that.
But the riff to me sounds like 4Twa(4' 4) Blue Third (3'ish) 4' 3' 2 repeat.
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......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 16, 2016 4:21 PM
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Killa_Hertz
267 posts
Jan 16, 2016
4:20 PM
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Try throwin a 5 in there. I found it sounds kinda cool.
Twa4 3 432 Twa4 3 432. Twa4 3 432 ...5.. Twa4 3 432
Obviously left the bends out, but you get the point. A 5 in the middle of the second set.
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......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 16, 2016 4:29 PM
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SuperBee
3245 posts
Jan 16, 2016
5:24 PM
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Ha ha no man, that's Ian Collard from the juke joint boogie album. He's a local harp hero in Melbourne, which is the closest big town to where I am. Plays in this band, Collard Greens & Gravy, also in The Backsliders, and another trio called Three Kings.
CGG won the IBC in Memphis a few years ago.
I can aspire...this is a simple riff but there are subtleties in what he does...
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Killa_Hertz
273 posts
Jan 16, 2016
5:42 PM
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Ya no doubt. It's the subtleties that separate the Men from the Boys on the harp. I find alot of the subtleties come from TB techniques. I'm trying to learn TB, but it's tough. It s hard to go back and learn how to do things over again. Especially when you just got them down to begin with. So its a slow road.
I think I'm going to try for a playing style like Ronnie Shellist. He puckers 1-4 and from 4 up pays TB. He does all his bends pucker tho. If he can play like that and sound that good, it's good enough for me. Sounds like a good way to go.
I Never heard of Ian. I'll check him out. What album would you recommend?
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......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
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SuperBee
3247 posts
Jan 16, 2016
6:03 PM
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albums..i do like this Juke Joint Boogie album...i have another called "More Gravy", and the Three Kings album...More Gravy is pretty good. his work in the Backsliders is good too but its not his band so the material is somewhat different. his version of "I Wish You Would" is a real show-off piece...but you might like this...its from More Gravy...sounds like a lo harp to me...not sure but you may be able to download from this:
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Killa_Hertz
274 posts
Jan 16, 2016
6:08 PM
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@ $uper Bee
Where you been hiding this guy!!??
I just bought Swamp Stomp n Boogie.
And
Mama thinks we re crazy too with Dom Turner.
I had to get swamp stomp off his site tho. The mp3 version on Amazon is cut down to 4 songs. And Cus its an import the CD "hard copy" is like $25.
But dude is Effin good.
What else you Aussies hoggin over there?
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......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Jan 16, 2016 7:09 PM
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SuperBee
3248 posts
Jan 16, 2016
6:13 PM
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glad you like it...hey i gotta run off to a jam but enjoyed the chat...
catch you on the flip side..
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ME.HarpDoc
90 posts
Jan 17, 2016
10:23 AM
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KH
At Adam and Ronnie's workshop yesterday Adam Demo'd a lot of the subtleties you mentioned, all with pucker and great tone. So you don't NEED tongue block to get tone but personally I think it comes a lot easier. I follow Ronnie's style right now, all bends puckered and TB 4-10. I still don't have bending down very well and I was finding it much harder TB ( See Lee Sankey Videos on TB bending).
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Killa_Hertz
281 posts
Jan 17, 2016
1:17 PM
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Im right there with you on most of that.
I think Ronnies Style probably fits how i wanna play. I just gotta get the TB single notes down to the point where i can move around like i can puckered. Then some of the effects i don't really use yet because they just dont work with the way im playin, but its because they go hand in hand with the TB single notes. Such as slaps and pops , etc.
Im jealous u got to go to the workshop.
I wasnt talking about Tone, but more about effects. Pops,Slaps that kinda thing. I do kno what u mean about pucker subtleties, that's what i use now. I have lot of subtleties in my playing. But there are some that u HAVE to TB for.
Ive seen all lees vid s there good.
I got draw bends down just fine, it's the blow bends i need to learn. Maybe I should just learn them TB as that's the style I'm workin for. I can bend TB, but not well.
I think the hardest part of learnin TB is that Im going back to learn something a different way that i just figured out how to do in the first place. That's why its kind of a slow road with that. I'm still enjoying actually being able to play.
I think maybe if u don't have bends down yet you should focus on them first before worrying about other things, but thats just me.
What else happened at the workshop?
I wish they would put it up for sale on video. I Really tried to make it happen this time.
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......." Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?" .......
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MindTheGap
996 posts
Jan 19, 2016
12:05 AM
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Fil - "...and it costs way less than boats...". Good point that, even with ending up buying many harps and amplification equipment, in the scheme of things it's still a lot cheaper than many other activities. Also, the costs are more incremental.
Electric guitars are extraordinarily cheap and good value these days, but all the guitarists I know keep buying new guitars pretty much constantly. And pedals and amps of course. Make harp players look like well-adjusted individuals.
Re Ian Collard, I think he's great too. And he uses a Harp Break, or so it's said.
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mtg - Blaring like a mad farm goose.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jan 19, 2016 12:10 AM
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