MindTheGap
1164 posts
Feb 14, 2016
9:50 AM
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What does a harp player do with their hands when not playing? Pick up a Tambourine of course! I first got clued into this when watching a band with, not a harpist, but a sax player. Each song he played his solo and a bit of comping, the solos often ending with a crazy high note. I don't play sax so I don't know that is, but I guess it's the equivalent of playing a wildy 10 double-blow-bend on a harp.
Anyway, inbetween times, he'd shook a tambourine and it really added colour, and added to the groove. So I adopted this myself - like all these things I then started to notice EVERY song where tambourine appears, which I'd not thought about before. Turns out it's on A LOT of songs. And it's actually a crucial sound in many of them.
Like all good things, it can be overdone. But from what I hear there are a lot of people overdoing it! Like all instruments, it needs some practice to make it any good. No use just hoping for the best.
It's also amazingly able to cut through the rest of the band, no amplification necessary in a smallish room. It's good for your timing too.
If in any doubt, have a watch of the documentary about the Funk Brothers - the house band for Motown and responsible for all those hit songs we know and love. Jack Ashford brought us the tambourine sound.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Feb 14, 2016 9:58 AM
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Crawforde
73 posts
Feb 14, 2016
10:16 AM
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Have you ever tried those foot tambourines?
I'm not sure what they are called but have seen guitar players with them. Strap it to your foot and keep the beat, kind of like Adam does with his drum.
It seems they would be great for buskers and other harp players looking to keep it light and simple.
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Rontana
291 posts
Feb 14, 2016
11:59 AM
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I've got one of those foot tambourines; they can be fun
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2chops
490 posts
Feb 14, 2016
12:56 PM
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I made a foot tamborine of sorts with an empty box of Altoids Smalls mints, 8 whole coffee beans and a piece of nylon strap with velcro sewn on. When I attach the tin to my foot, it has a nice snare drum type of effect. You can tune it my adjusting the number of coffee beans.
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I'm workin on it. I'm workin on it.
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Crawforde
74 posts
Feb 14, 2016
1:19 PM
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I love the Altoids and coffee bean shaker thing! Nice.
I have 2 amps I built in Altoids tins. One is a little 1w attached to a 5" speaker for my kids guitar, the other is 20 watt stereo and is connected to two big old hifi speakers I got at Goodwill and cleaned up. Just plug the iPod or phone in, and jam. Either can run off of a wall wart or batteries. Fun little weekend projects.
My daughter and I built a little pochette violin, it looks really cool but the sound kind of sucks, we are working on the second prototype soon that will be able to accept her regular chin and shoulder rest and will have a piezo pickup on the bridge. We are going to build the amp and speaker into the case so she can use it for busking. A matching Altoids Tim tambourine will be perfect !
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