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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Most unusual mix of instruments
Most unusual mix of instruments
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jpmcbride
28 posts
Mar 02, 2014
10:00 PM
I was just reading through a thread here about jams and remembered an interesting time. I was paying in this band and we hosted a jam at a festival. Before the jam started we played a couple sets and during one of them an accordion player asked to sit in. Now our band had a really unusual mix of instruments anyway, so why not an accordion? There I was sitting in a chair on stage playing harmonica with an acoustic guitar, a tuba, an accordion, and a hand percussionist. I remember looking to my right at the accordion player, then to the left at the tuba, and thinking "I'll never be here again!".

So what are the some unusual mixes of instruments you've played harmonica with?



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Jim McBride
www.bottleoblues.com
SuperBee
1724 posts
Mar 03, 2014
12:40 AM
Bass, mandolin, keys, drums, harp. I guess there isn't too much unusual about that really...
SteamrollinStan
130 posts
Mar 03, 2014
2:46 AM
Saw on some talent quest years ago a father and son duo, son on violin, dad on harp, was really crappy, as the judges told them.
BC
24 posts
Mar 03, 2014
5:20 AM
We had an accordian player at my first jam. He actually had a wireless set up to his amp. We've had a soprano sax, a trumpet player, and a chromatic harp player. We actually did a duet one night. Looking forward to seeing who else may show up in future jam nights.
My son plays violin, but needs more practice. If he sticks with it, maybe he can join the jam when he is older.

BC
isaacullah
2654 posts
Mar 03, 2014
6:50 AM
I have jammed with a djembe player (African hand drum) out on the streets on more than one occasion. I guess that's the strangest combo I've tried, even if it ain't that strange! :) I remember mainly using Natural Minor harps in a very groove-based style, and that it sounded very cool. One day I'd like to really sit down with a djembe (or other hand drummer) and work something out to record.
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rockmonkeyguitars
13 posts
Mar 03, 2014
9:14 AM
I spent some time in a folk group and we had harmonica, mandolin, banjo, accordion, cittern, guitar, piano, bass, fiddle,hurdy gurdy and various percussion. There was 6 of us so we didn't have all these instruments playing all the time but because most of us could play 2 or 3 instruments it meant we ended up with just about every imaginable combination of the instruments in the list.
jpmcbride
30 posts
Mar 03, 2014
11:24 AM
I really liked the sound of that accordian player. Our acoustic guitar player picked a lot of single notes and played relatively complex stuff so his playing didn't outline the changes well enough. The tuba player functioned as the bass and was supposed to hold down the groove and anchor the changes. But he just couldn't seem to understand the role of the bass in the band. The bandleader told him he could take off on runs, play the melody, do anything he wanted ... as long as he hit those anchor notes on the changes to hold things together. The fact that the tuba player couldn't or wouldn't do this is what eventually broke up the band. Long story to make my original point - I liked the sound of that accordian player - his chords helped hold the songs together. I would have liked him to join the band except that he didn't live locally.

I also liked the tuba a lot! But its nearly impossible to find a tuba player that knows how to play like a bass. Most of them we found were formally trained and could only play sheet music.


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Jim McBride
www.bottleoblues.com

Last Edited by jpmcbride on Mar 03, 2014 11:26 AM
HarveyHarp
576 posts
Mar 03, 2014
12:00 PM
Heck, I live in New Orleans, and I have played all sorts of accordians, fiddles, Kazoos, Horns, lap steels, all sorts of hybrid string instruments, Bass Guitars made out of Automobile Gas Tanks, etc. Its always interesting and fun. When I play at a Second Line, I will blow my harp through one of the little Harbour Freight megaphones, and we have a great time with it. It keeps up.

Happy MardiGras.
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HarveyHarp

Last Edited by HarveyHarp on Mar 03, 2014 12:01 PM
STME58
647 posts
Mar 03, 2014
1:23 PM
There is an acoustic jam here in San Diego called the Slo Jam. Instruments are mostly guitar, Mandolin and Banjo but I have had the opportunity to play along with violin, cello, acoustic base, flute, washtub base, washboard, spoons, kazoo etc.

I really like the way violin and harmonica works together.
STME58
648 posts
Mar 03, 2014
1:30 PM
Here is a San Diego group, "Champions" , tuba, mandolin and harmonica, where the tuba functions well as a bass.


Last Edited by STME58 on Mar 03, 2014 1:31 PM
Gnarly
933 posts
Mar 04, 2014
12:18 AM
Hey! Wait a second! THAT'S ME!!! I am the mandolin player in this video! (Thanks Steve!)
We had a gig on Saturday night, night before last--Nathan (tuba) is such a great musician. Dane is also talented, but since he is playing harmonica and singing, and I do that, it's less impressive to me.
I tried playing some of that chord harmonica (SSCH), but we missed the percussion from the mando.
In its own odd way, the three instruments (tuba, mando, harp) blend pretty well.

Last Edited by Gnarly on Mar 04, 2014 12:20 AM
Gaukur
25 posts
Mar 05, 2014
1:20 AM
Great thread!
I've played in some unusual bands throughout the years but the most unusual is definitely a band in Iceland called Atonal Blues: Harmonica, Theremin, Bowed Upright Bass, Guitar, Drums.
It's kind of a odd-time balkan rock blues mix :) difficult to describe so here's a track of the album:


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