Here's one from my band last week, an old favorite Dead tune called Eyes Of The World. This song has a lot of personal meaning to me, going back 30 years or so, and though my band plays it, I didn't want to myself until I felt I could do it justice. This is the first time I've played it out with the band, and I'm pretty happy with it. Harp solo around 4:45 or so.
PS. No, we don't normally dress like that. It was a Halloween gig.
update: replaced the old video with one that syncs properly. much better. ----------
Last Edited by on Nov 10, 2012 10:46 PM
Hey there, thanks for posting. The solo was great, meaning it worked. Old school east coast dead here, where the going gets weird the weird turn pro, so "bear" with me: chorus pedal doesn't work, although maybe on the solo is alright. Extra delay here is great. The harp has so much available tonally that I think effects get in the way. Also, and I'll need someone better at theory to explain this for me but what I hear during some fills is a scale being forced where it doesn't quite fit. As far as changes go, some of that really works, but I think it would shine as clean harp chords and straight rhythm support. Brett/Keith/Bruce, and keys in general, are much more about song support as a tapestry of sound. I think harp works really well in the keys role and it isn't often approached that way. I don't quite intend as replacement (of course) but the mindset/approach is absolutely available.
Last Edited by on Nov 05, 2012 3:20 AM
what a great song, and you guys did it justice. the singer really has the voice to cover this tune
i like the chorus on the harp personally
there is that one bit where the chord slides up to a D, and a quick swap in of another harp might accentuate that change better, it is such a key change in feeling in this song
thanks for the comments. i like the chorus sound as well, but on this night the band was loud and i turned up the master volume, vs. the volume knob. since the master controls not just volume but output stage distortion, the overall sound is a little more distorted than i would have liked. i still like it, but prefer a little cleaner sound, particularly on this song.
my amp (vox vt-30) has gain, volume, and master controls (as well as volume attenuator, which i rarely use), and the interactions between them sometimes get the best of me, especially when making adjustments in the heat of battle.
@Littoral: thanks very much for your thoughts on improving it. that's just the kind of thing i hope for when i post my videos.
re: "scale being forced where it doesn't quite fit", i do play a lot of scale stuff. it falls somewhere between style element > cliche > bad habit for me. i'm trying to work in more percussive and rhythmic elements over time. i've only recently developed the chops to play even this well; this band has moved me way outside my comfort zone, which is great.
i have also been working on playing more keyboard sounds, both to expand beyond melody and fill in better on the many of our songs that want keys.
that's the best thing about harp, there's always more to learn. and however good you are today, you can be better in a month, and amaze yourself in a year. you just gotta listen, and put in the work.
" This song has a lot of personal meaning to me, going back 30 years or so" - right there with you Garry - only going back 40 years would be more accurate in my case - Academy of Music 3/23/72 first show. 9/19/72 Roosevelt - first 'drop'. Seen the 'eyes' numerous times - always after sipping the cool aide at Shows.
Anyway - Great Band you're playing with, - I'm jealous. I love that you guys are very 'Dead' but not trying to clone them. The guitar players are excelent - but they aren't trying to be Jerry. Likewise - you are not trying to be Pigpen, nor are you limmiting your'self to playing harp on 'Pig' tunes. (I am the same way.) Your playing is really good. I kind of dig the chorus effect, I used to play through one myself. - though I would expereiment with with less of it and a bit cleaner tone. I know what you mean about finding the right sound "in the heat of battle".
Watched a few or you dfnu's videos on youtube after seeing this - enjoyed all of them.
I refer to one of my loose groups of older jammings buddies a 'the Jerriatrics" ----------
thanks for your kind remarks. my first dead show was englishtown 9/3/77. "Eyes" was the highlight of that show for me; nothing's been the same ever since.
and yes, i am very, very fortunate to have found this band, quite accidentally, as it happened. a month before my previous band fell apart, we played an open mic that these guys also played. they weren't even a band yet, just guys who played together at the jam every week.
dave, the guitarist in prison garb above was someone i'd known 7 years before, when i first started playing, though i hadn't seen him in 5 years or so. i liked his band (they played Eyes that night), and he liked mine, and both of us marveled at how far we'd come in the intervening years. then my band crashed, and his started gigging, and they asked me to join. the rest is history.
goes to show, ya don't ever know, indeed.
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Last Edited by on Nov 10, 2012 10:50 PM
oh, and for what it's worth, we don't just do dead. we do a lot of tom petty, allman brothers, phish, floyd, who, dylan, beatles, etc. great stuff, all of it, the music i grew up on. gonna add some hot tuna as well, maybe start singing some of this stuff.
I think you should dress like this for all your gigs. Looks like fun.
There is a lot to be said for the visual that you lay on your audience. Us musicians sometimes forget that about 80% of our audience really "listens with their eyes".
I've been working on Birdsong on the harp. Have you played that? I've jammed on it with the "Jerriatrics" a bunch on sax, - but hitting the key melody lines and 'head' on harp always seemed too daunting.
Well it is do-able in second position (haven't tried others yet) The key is hitting precise half bends on the lower holes if you want to play the 'head' there. You can play it in the middle and on top too ( I think) .
Lots of fun to jam to - not blues at all - but 'out there' Dead goodness with a beautiful melody & head to come back to when you're ready to come 'back to earth'. Good for working patterns up and down the harp too.
It's a work in progress for me though I may post some snippets later on. ----------
Eyes was after Pig's time. And I very much doubt he would have played harp on it if he where around. They lost a blues core when Pig died - a loss, but I wouldn't call it a step back. Many people feel they reached new hights in the 70's after he died. Incredible stuff from 72, through 77. Jerry is another thing. I go to Further, and Phil and Friends once in a while if one of my old buddies comes to town for a show - but no, it isn't the same without 'the fat man' ----------
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2012 1:58 PM
@laurent2015: no, you were right. after reading your comments i listened more carefully, and dave (the guy in prison garb) shows definite allmans influence in his style. indeed, when we play Franklin's Tower he often works in some Blue Sky licks in his solo.
speaking of Blue Sky, this is one of the few songs the band plays that i sit out (another being Jessica). i can play them, but it just doesn't feel right. i think of these as guitar anthems, and leave them to the guitarist. it's actually kind of nice to go sit for a while and enjoy the band as an audience member.
@bonedog: never played Bird Song for real, though i've messed around with it at times. i tend to treat this like Slipknot, as a useful vehicle for developing dexterity. i can play bits of both, but cannot yet make them sound fluid, or sustain them for long without twisting my tongue in knots. maybe that's where that name came from...
What the F. - here are some snippets of my work on Birdsong - One a longer jam along into the 'head'. Not really for public consumption but for the sake of sharing with another 'on the bus' harp player teh 'head' mid harp
melody
the 'head' lower register - still getting comfortable with the 1/2 bends here -they are hard to hit right on, - but I'm enjoying working on it
Bone, tell me all that you know... That was inspiring. I will work on this. Slipnot would be fun. I have +100 shows, much less road trips, someone in my memory to conjure for this. Thanks
Last Edited by on Nov 10, 2012 10:46 PM
