Hi folks, it's me again. I was playing around and recording stuff with my Audacity software and ended up making up this track.
The underlying beats are being looped. And I am not using a stomp box on this. The beat is being created from my mouth. This is the kind of stuff that I want to do once I can afford to buy a looper pedal. This is my first time looping, so please bear with. ----------
Pleased you posted this one Brandon. I never knew you could do that with Audacity. I tried it with Vista and got all sorts of complications - hopefully I'll try it in the future when the problems are sorted. You make a nice sound with it and show that Audacity certainly has potential for further investigation. Thanks. ----------
lacks drive and originality. A tune like this need GRIT and you're way too soft with it to do it justice.
OK I listened to it two more times...
you seriously need to change your attitude when you play this type of music. Since you were more or less copying Gussow's version I will point out the difference in the attitude behind the music. It's goes like this:
Somebody comes up to you and says "you're an asshole and you suck". You only speak harmonica and your video is the response...
Brandon: I'm sorry you think that sir, I didn't mean to make you upset with me. Let me try again."
Gussow: "Yeah and I'm a bigger asshole than you so Fuck off and eat this!!"
Adam played his version with emotion and passion that says HERE I AM and THIS IS HOW I DO IT.
You played to hopefully impress others.
You've got all the technique in the world but attitude, passion, originality... you lack it all. If you're going to copy somebody like Adam, you're not honoring his version by posting junk. You have to kick his ass because that's what where the respect is gained.
There are three reasons to copy something/someone. For personal practice, to do it better or because you've been paid to do it.
What I would like to see is for you to get pissed off and re-record this track with some fire. Go kick Gussows ass with your next version or do you own thing.
Last Edited by on Jun 21, 2009 4:27 PM
Hey Brandon, good effort. I can see that you have a tremendous desire to be a great harp player ... don't get discouraged. Work out the rough spots using the constructive comments and good advice from the guys in the forum. Their words are meant to guide you, not to break you down. Let's hear some more of your stuff.
Buddha,
Awesome chops! Great job in creating a delightful flow of sounds with a superior tone and effortless continuity. I can almost see the notes. Please share your secret.
I've got to be honest here. It didn't really float my boat.
I've seen you on YT, and you're an amazing player, but there seemed to be very little musical imagination in that short clip: not much variation for the ear to get excited about. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
Thanks for the comments guys. It was really just an experiment, not the way that I usually play. I will be uploading a new version of the song with much needed improvements. Stay tuned. ---------- Brandon Bailey
superchucker, if that's not how you usually play then why post it? from what I have heard it IS how you usually play unless you mean with self created backing tracks.
It's funny how reactions differ. I think it's the best thing Brandon has done. It doesn't owe much to my take on the song. (Hakan Ehn, on the other hand, copied my version almost note for note, with a few variations.) The lead harp voice is in first position, for one thing. Right away that got my attention.
In fact, that's what most impressed me. Brandon was trying to do something new. He's not trying to be flashy. The piece trends more in the direction of ambient music. But it also has a lot going on with different interleaved voices.
I have to agree with Jason. It does remind me of some of Madcat's stuff. I also think it's a different approach to what is traditionally a rock blues tune. Most folk would just imitate what Adam played but Brandon made it his own.
Harpist, hate to ruin the joke for the other guys, if indeed they were trying to dupe you, but your compliments should be received with the same earnestness in which they've been delivered. The first video you complimented was Crossroads by Adam Gussow, not Buddha. The second video you complimented was Buddha, aka Chris Michalek.
Zack's on his way there, it would seem.
Brandon, I quite liked the direction in which you took this. Clearly the delivery doesn't do justice to your technique, but it's a really innovative approach. I've found Audacity to be a little dodgy with looping -- for example, when I run a noise removal on a track, I've found it moves itself "forward" in the song by a few seconds, thereby completely f***ing my game up.
By the way, can anyone recommend some good harp-loopers? I only know Son of Dave in London and his protege Dave Ferguson in Cape Town.
Last Edited by on Jun 22, 2009 4:52 PM
So, I liked the looping experiment pretty well--it opens up some possibilities, even though this installment wasn't real exciting to me--but the possibilities are really cool!
Now--what is a good looping pedal that can be had for a not-too-indecent sum of money??
I thought it was a very cool test of the water...styling with the image and trying something out on his trusted peers These thoughtful critiques will help us all, I know I've learned from Brandons' endeavor.
I can see that a lot of folks liked that clip so I'll try to open up the conversation a bit more by going into more detail about why it didn't do that mmuch for me.
First of all, I realise it was just an experiement that was put up for a bit of fun. So, I don't want to try to judge it out of that context. My feelings are more about blues harp in general.
When you first become familiar with the sound of blues harp, it can be a very alluring thing. But, as you become more aquainted with the sounds, the cadences, the common riffs that are part and parcel of the instrument and the genre we are using it in, the more it is that you, well me at least, try to veer away from some of those commonalities.
You want to make that sound, but shudder every time you play a cliche. However, it's very hard to avoid those cliches on such an intrinsically limited instrument.
I suppose that what I disliked the most about the clip was the melodic predictability of the phrasing; it never varied that descending phrase that starts on the tonic, or 6 blow. That note, being the tonic and the highest pitch used in the piece really does stand out and, to my mind, needs more attention paid to it.
If I were to offer an antethesis to this sort of playing that most of us would be familiar with, I'd cite Doc Gussow's 'Not A Shuffle Blues'; it does the same thing over and over, but never twice in quite the same way.
Does that make my point more clearly and more constructively? ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
I'm kidding guys, that's Chris! I'm not that good :-D Miles, I have been playing for almost three years now. Just this year I started studying big time music theory. I see it as the most important thing to learn if you want to do what I want to do. I also modify my own harmonicas now.
I can see we have two threads in on here. I'll re-post the comment in a new thread. ---------- 'If it sounds GOOD to you, it's bitchen; if it sounds BAD to YOU, it's shitty' - Frank Zappa
wow, brandon has come a long way in a short time! not sure buddha was right to push him so hard on this thread, but that is what he does. now, look out buckaroo banzai.. hope the med school and the harp works out.
