Scoltx
92 posts
Apr 21, 2013
5:33 AM
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Anyone bought one of these? Lots of styles to choose from, just wondering how good they are. I like jam tracks but not many are for specific songs to practice.
http://www.halleonard.com/search/search.do?menuid=861&seriesfeature=HRMPLA&subsiteid=68
Any feedback appreciated.
Thanks
Scoltx
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SmokeJS
83 posts
Apr 21, 2013
6:30 AM
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The similar Hal Leonard material I use with guitar is quite good. Mimics the original recordings with enough accuacy that few pickup bands can match.The tab can be helpful when your ear needs a little help sorting out a lick or passage. My guess is the harmonica books are similar. Will probably grab one when I'm more avanced and trying to work out specific songs that are common to the blues harp repertoire. Though I do want to try and use my ears as much as possible to work out what's going on.
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Jaybird
290 posts
Apr 21, 2013
10:33 AM
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I have the Hal Leonard "Blues Rock Playalongs Vol. 3. I tried, but never was satisfied with any of the songs presented. Although they are "famous" harp tunes, for some reason, they weren't that much cool to play.
If you really want some great Playalongs, get into the STEVE BAKER PLAYALONG SERIES. There are three volumes of some awesome playalong tunes, complete with Steves's instruction on how to play them.
I have 4 of these Steve Baker Playalongs on my YouTube channel. Click below to watch...
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Watch Jaybird play harp!
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Scoltx
93 posts
Apr 22, 2013
8:29 AM
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Well one thumbs up and one thumbs down, so I took a shot and ordered the Chicago Blues playalong from Amazon for $11 and change. If I like it I'll try some others.
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SmokeJS
85 posts
Apr 22, 2013
8:36 AM
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They're not expensive so I"ll try them as well. Note the other backing tracks recommended above appear to be more general in nature. The ones we're looking at are specific/common songs that you might be asked to play in a jam situation. So I think there's added value here as they come with a transcription. If there's a danger it's relying on transcriptions in place of our ears.
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Scoltx
94 posts
Apr 22, 2013
11:46 AM
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I'm ok without the transcriptions, I understand they are standard notation and I'm not much of a sight reader, more a deciferer! I started learning bass and guitar off of records (no tab back then, I'm old) and still find I really memorize better that way anyway. I can keep playing along with records, but I like the Minus One thing for practicing singing, harp backup/soloing without crutches.
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gmacleod15
202 posts
Apr 22, 2013
4:55 PM
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I have the Little Walter, Chicago Blues, Blues Classics and Blues/Rock and find they are very close to the originals...best backing tracks I have come across. I don't use the books much but they look good, I am just not very good at following written music.
As mentioned above Shoblues.com has good tracks as well
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MBH member since 2009-03-24
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paulbunyn
77 posts
Apr 22, 2013
5:00 PM
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The bonus is they (Hal Leonard Books) come with their own link to Audacity that will let you slow the tune down to learn it.
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SuperBee
1075 posts
Apr 22, 2013
5:49 PM
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Hi Smoke, with your comment about the other tracks which were general in nature, did you mean the shoblues tracks? Because if so, that is not correct. The shoblues tracks are song-specific. There may be some exceptions, but you will find most have jokey names that play on the name of the original: e.g. "Joke", "walter's easy", "just you are a fool" etc
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SmokeJS
88 posts
Apr 23, 2013
2:24 AM
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SuperBee, I didn't figure out the connection between these song names and the originals that inspired them nor did I recognize the lone YouTube example I looked at. Are there transcriptions to go along eith them?
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SuperBee
1076 posts
Apr 23, 2013
6:07 PM
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Hi Smoke, no I think Mr Shoji just records the backing tracks.
I have a few; if you are studying the classics these are very useful, but you need to source your transcription elsewhere.
But I know they are based on original recordings and generally accurate regarding key and structure. Tempo may be a little relaxed in some, but i think thats ok. There are quite a few available now. 7 albums I think, of at least 10 cuts each...but probably some doubling up...you can purchase tracks separately though.
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Last Edited by SuperBee on Apr 23, 2013 6:39 PM
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Scoltx
95 posts
Apr 24, 2013
3:04 AM
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Amazon is amazing, I ordered the Chicago Blues book Monday and had it by lunch time Tuesday and that was with the 4-6 day Super Saver free shipping.
I didn't spend a lot of time on the book / cd yesterday but my initial thoughts are that the jam tracks are pretty darn close to the originals. The only thing missing on the full tracks is a vocal track so timing and phrasing needs to be pulled from an original. The book included standard notation and harmonica tab, which was contrary to what I'd read in a review and was a pleasant surprise.
I think with a couple more of these book/cd packages and some of the ShoBlues tracks you could acquire a couple of good sets of music and have a rock solid "ghost" backup band for practice or solo performance.
Scoltx
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