Like many I think I'm stuck in a rut in terms of my musical advancement, so I'm looking to solicit feedback from you all on a couple of clips. Both are from jam nights - that's me singing and playing harmonica. I'm after any constructive feedback on specifics of my playing, singing, amplified tone, stage management, stage presence etc
I consider myself somewhere between intermediate and advanced intermediate playing-wise. For this sort of straight ahead 2nd position blues maybe more advanced intermediate. Tone and phrasing ok, but could be much better with some of the subtleties like dynamics or vibrato.
My singing has been a long term work in progress, but I think now is fairly solid. I'll never be a natural singer but I try to get the song across. I think I'm usually a slightly better frontman than these clips represent; to my mind jams should try to spotlight everybody so I tend to back off a little - but any criticism on that aspect welcome (like opening my eyes once in a while).
Where I'd like to get to is beyond the jamming/ weekend warrior level - somewhere closer to a solid semi-pro.
The first clip is a James Harman song - the fellow jammers didn't quite get the Jimmy Reed/ Fab Ts style shuffle at first but it comes out ok in the end. Also featuring some impromptu mic stand dismantling
The second one is a swinging shuffle, loosely based on an old Big Joe Turner song. Excellent guitar solo later on in this one
You're holding proceedings together well, subtleties, honing your tone etc. will come easier when you have a band that can back you & play the kind of music you want to play.
Make it happen, you're pretty solid as it is. ---------- www.myspace.com/markburness
Damn good voice and harp work there GH. 5F6H is spot on, very good counsel. One word though- at least used to be James preferred that his work not be covered. I saw him in Dallas a couple of times and he asked the audience what they wanted to hear. My bud called out "Do some Little Walter James!" Which James replied "Man, I don't do other cat's stuff, and they shouldn't ought to do mine, so what you want to hear from me?" Band I was in circa late 9-0's the bassist wanted to do a couple of his and I had to decline.
Other than that, I dig your stage presence, harp chops, and good voice and delivery! ---------- http://www.reverbnation.com/jawboneandjolene
Rick Estrin - one of my fav frontmen ever - spoke about being yourself, but just a larger version of yourself. Anything else - trying to be something other than yourself - is never going to work.
BTW - LOVE your harp playing. Where is that place?
---------- My YouTube Channel - Any Likes or Comments appreciated. :) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ2_8CnjaiNLcPke4gWQ65A
Actually, take the time and the money to get together with a reputable vocal coach because what they can do for you is often things when you try to teach yourself are often things you're gonna ignore because you may think of as unimportant and the stuff one tends to ignore often times affects the bigger picture of things.
One of the very first things a reputable vocal is going to do is check your breathing and proper breathing and breath support is HUGELY IMPORTANT, not only for a good vocal tone, but at the same time, it will help improve your harp playing as well, and just the breathing exercises alone is well worth it because one of the things you learn is how to project and get the most volume with absolute LEAST amount of breath force necessary to do the job properly.
Another important thing they will first do is that they usually will have a chordal instrument with them, usually a piano, to help determine where your actual vocal range lies and that's also important.
Besides also learning theory, they will usually teach you something that vocalists as well as harp players NEED to learn and that's time as well as helping you develop a strong sense of rhythm.
I did it and have never once regretted it. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
you sound good man, convincing harp and vocals and general front-manning.
I think the swing tune is begging for 3rd pos. major playing on your Ab instead of 2nd on the higher Eb but that's just my opinion.
Otherwise, maybe play a couple staccato notes once in a while (I always forget to do this), let a note decay, leave a little space. I'm really only saying that because you asked for feedback, I found nothing lacking in your performances on either clip, nice playin!
---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
Sorry for the late response - thanks all for listening and commenting
@ 5F6H. Thanks Mark, and you're right, jamming is one thing but I need to get a band back together.
@jbone. Nice compliments, thanks. JH has been a major influence (probably too much) for over twenty years. Though it must be quite ironic that he's recently won a Grammy for a Little Walter tribute album!
@Danny. It's the Coach & Horses blues jam in East London. A really friendly jam - and they video each set for posterity. For harp I use a small 7.5W Marble Max amp which is customised for harp. It's loud for 7kg, and only needed a little extra through the p.a. Re the Estrin quote - totally agree - and I'd be curious if any part of my stage presence/ performance seemed forced or off? At the end of the day I'm a middle class suburban white guy from NZ!
@JInx - thanks for the comments. I agree that singing is the thing, in my opinion most blues bands today focus too much instrumentally rather than the vocals Would you say that the vocals were a bit unmelodic, or my note choices against the scale were off? Note lengths could be improved? Did the singing come across?
@barbequebob - thanks for taking time to listen. Interested that you talked about timing. I think, rightly or wrongly, that my timing and phrasing are generally better than my note quality, intonation, range etc. I'd really welcome more on this. I have had vocal lessons, both general and more genre-specific. I agree that breathing and relaxation is key. I'm gradually finding that I can pull off some of the vocal lines in my head, but as I said it's a long process for someone who's not naturally gifted as a singer
@slaphappy - thanks, and yes good call re 3rd. I use third mainly for slow/medium minor key songs I'm still getting my head around playing 3rd on an uptempo swing song. I've come across a clip somewhere of Steve Weston playing some great swinging 3rd position which I need to study. Staccato - yes I do play this way on other tunes, say something moire funky, but I'll look to incorporate on more straightahead blues.
One of the very first things I learned from a vocal coach was NEVER to suck your gut in on a draw breath because you're actually working totally against yourself and make life much more difficult than it needs to be and what you're doing is shrinking your air passages and even if it makes you look more macho, doing it is straight out macho stupidity and if you're gonna do a vocal where you may need to hold out a note longer than 6 beats (1-1/2 bars), you will quickly get out of breath and the note will completely lack proper breath suppost. Same thing with harp playing as well. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I couldn't agree more with 5F6H. You are at that level when you can easily go in any direction you want just find a good band that can help you to improve your skills. What helped me a lot - was a recording in the studio. A good soundengeneer /producer can show you all your disadvantages and advantages too. This is also a good way to find a good musicians who want to play good music. ---------- Konstantin Kolesnichenko(Ukraine) my music
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