Here's a little tip for beginners: Watermelon Man is a GREAT tune to practice/jam with. Why?
In an ordinary 12-bar blues, the V chord happens in only 1 measure per verse, likewise the IV/V transition happens only once per verse. If you're working on improving your playing that means this transition and chord get very little attention - you have to wait a whole verse to try something again!
In Watermelon man, the form is 16 bars instead of 12. The first 8 are just like a 12-bar blues, but the second 8 bars alternate between the IV and the V 3 times, just like they do ONCE in a 12 bar blues. This gives you much more opportunity to try stuff against those changes.
This is the only tune I know of with this specific form, though I'm sure there are others.
No go forth and practice those licks! ---------- /Greg
Thanks, Nick. Alan Gross, the guitarist, and I are still in the process of finding our way towards an ideal duo mix. All of our practices and all but one of our eight or nine previous gigs had involved me playing percussion as well. The time before this, playing this same farmer's market, we'd been rain delayed, so when we started, we just left the drums in the car, and we really enjoyed the space created by the absence of drums. So we decided to do the same thing this time.
In this clip, I took full advantage of the space, and of the fact that when the guitar is holding down the groove, the harp doesn't have to. I tend to overplay; here, I quite consciously left space between my phrases--very much in line with my remembered sense of what Freddie Hubbard does in the original. I felt very creative. I hadn't practiced much during the week, so my chops were slightly rusty; there's an almost-flubbed note or two. But I ended up trying a number of new things here, and it felt good. I felt like I owned the harp from bottom to top, and that's a great feeling. I do NOT have that feeling in first or third position. I can't pick and choose my way through the changes with quite the same fluency.
If I cared about pushing myself--and I really should care!--I would learn this song, the complete melody, in both of those other positions.
The other thing about this gig is that it's a morning gig (8 to 10 AM) and the volume has to be moderated. So I couldn't just blast away, as I usually do. I had to find a way of making music in context. Adding to the "newness" of the performing situation was the fact that this was the first time I've played a gig using the tube reverb tank and my Mouse.
Takeaway point: every time you make an adjustment to your equipment or playing situation, new possibilities open up. Sometimes new music happens. Sometimes when you let go of something that you thought you needed--in this case, percussion and a small tube amp--it turns out that you make a slightly different kind of music than you're used to making, and that can be a good thing. It's good to leave the comfort zone, or at least to do things that force you to expand it.
Last Edited by on Oct 04, 2012 10:36 AM
Much better without foot drums for my taste, withot drums you have more rhytmic/phrasing freedom. ---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
As long as you and the guitarist have an internal sense of groove/rhythm and play off it, you do not need drums.
Some of the nicest stuff I've heard you do, Kudzu. Relaxed, flowing, etc etc.
However, my question - (since I always work to eliminate any unnecessary musculature movement that does not contribute to the sound) - what is that little right hand finger flutter you do most of the time? ---------- The Iceman
My fingers just do that thing. I don't try to do it; in fact, I didn't even realize that I did it until I saw myself on video. I definitely can't stop it from happening. It's just what happens when I play. It's entirely natural. Weird.
Re: the footdrums: Hey, I didn't start getting solo harmonica gigs until I added the drums. They've been very good to me. KICK AND STOMP, the pure-solo (just me) album, is still selling well. Much better than SOUTHBOUND, in fact. The drums have been very, very good to me. :)
verry nice! It was right on. That's one of my favorite numbers. Beautiful guitar work and harp improvising. The core was solid. No drummer...good. I love that number, too.
kudzurunner It seems for me drums are very good to your harmonica progress and skills. But your harp is much better than your drums, sorry. And after practicing with drums you harmonica gets much better ((:
---------- Excuse my bad English. Click on my photo or my username for my music.
Nick: Thanks very much for posting the video. As we've seen, one of the unintended but entirely predictable consequences of your posting is that it gives people a chance to share what they don't like about my other work. This is one reason I generally don't post my own videos here. I've learned that the creative process involves a certain amount of solicited feedback--one should always be prepared to hear anything when one asks others "What do you think?"--and a whole lot of following one's own muse, listening to one's own inner call.
I hold Boris and others here in high regard, but the truth is, I didn't ask people here whether they liked my drummer or whether I should fire him. I'm happy that folks liked the results of this particular gig; it's too bad that the desire to say "I like!" finds itself entwined so intimately with the desire to say "I don't like!"
I love playing foot drums and harp at the same time, but (I assume) it takes many hours before you can do both freely. I don't play in a band/duo playing footdrums so I don't practice that much. I'll break it out a couple times a week when my wife isn't home, but I do like doing it. The first time I saw Satan and Adam live it just blew me away! Sterling's foot work was just amazing! I've been chasing that sound ever since! I can't get it out of my head! So I can see how Adam has been drawn to play footdrums! Standing next to Sterling was a once in two life times experience! It would almost be a shame not to! My unsolicited 2 cents!
I disagree somewhat with the comments on foot drums. My opinion only of course. Yes Adam, you do seem to think out what you are playing more without, but with the drums you have a rawer more urgent sound.. seem to be playing more by instinct. I love what you do when you are playing drums. It does sound different, but better or worse, I think not. If you could only do one or the other, I would pick the drums as that is more unique. Both are fantastic!
I've only seen one or two of your "busking" with the foot drums videos. I have alot of respect for your talent. Like Rbeetsme says, do "passer-byers know who they are listening to?". My two cents, on the foot drum.....it tends to be a little distracting, to my ears.. Being a harp player, perhaps I'm a little biased. And, since you're...not asking, let me add..the Watermelon Man clip, was a great great, did I say great?...example, of not needing one...for whatever reason. The drum can be too....bombastic. I lean more toward a whole kit, rather than just one. You and the guitar kept great time without it.
Inspired by Adam's version above I decided to learn the tune too. Here is where I got after practicing a couple of evenings. I played with A harp (MB Deluxe), the 7th draw tuned a half step down.
