Morning! This isn't a post about Neck-Rack BRANDS, but instead it's a request for advice on the philosophy behind playing harp in a rack (as opposed to cupped in one's hands).
In my hands, I DIG IN on every note - my mind/body/spirit is completely focused on each hole and each variation of sound within each hole.
In a rack, this just isn't feasible for me. Rack playing seems to demand a certain compartmentalization. Even if I am just holding down an E A B Bo Diddly beat on an acoustic guitar, I experience a challenge:
1) I cannot seem to dig in as deeply on the harp when it's in a rack, regardless of how secure it physically sits (and the Hohner Flex does indeed keep it secure). I still try and "go away" in my mind as I search for the tone within the hole. It seems like I need a different way of thinking while playing Rack. It also seems I need to accept the limitations inherent in playing hands-free. It's a challenge for me to approach the instrument in a new way after 30 years of using my hands.
Any thoughts or philosophical tips for me?
(Of course, if venues payed what they used to pay, I wouldn't feel the need to "do it all.") Heath
Good post, I sympthise! Racks are a pain and I’ve never felt completely at ease with them. Some of this is probably to do with the fact that I don’t spend enough time playing with them to get comfortable.
I find them claustrophobic like I’m wearing some kind of dental apparatus and feel I’m reaching for a harp that is moving away from me.
I think the problem is partly due to a basic difference in how we play cupped and racked. When I play cupped I move the harp in relation to my mouth to hit the desired note but playing racked I move my mouth to find the note against a static harp. When I dig in to a bent note I probably hold the harp a little tighter to my mouth but can’t do that with a rack. Also, I hold my harp at an angle which I find difficult to replicate with a rack.
I have tried mounting the harp in a mic boom which works a bit better for me as I don’t feel so cramped but when I dig in to a note I don’t feel the same reassuring resistance as when playing cupped.
A promising piece of advice I’ve never really pursued is to just practice a lot playing the harp in the rack on its own without the guitar over and over again until it becomes second nature.
I am primarily a guitarist (and vocalist) so this subject is one I have pondered. Lately, I try to play handheld harp. The results are better. However, rack playing gives you the two instruments together, tighter than any accompanist. Consider Howard Levy. You will get better results if you have both things down before you try to combine them.
I can relate. For me it's a matter of locking in a groove with a simple melodic device (scale, arpeggio, melody, riff etc) and repeating it over and over. Then, somehow magically, I seem to pop into a zone where I can blow like a freebird. ----------
I still get pretty uncoordinated when trying to play guitar and rack.
But I've kind of accepted the tonal limitations that come with the rack and try to "think Jimmy Reed / Slim Harpo sound" out of the rack. I'd be just fine if I could get that sound and have the guitar on autopilot.
I'm a long ways off :) ---------- 4' 4+ 3' 2~~~ -Mike Ziemba Harmonica is Life!
I don't know if this will help or answer your question, but I use a "Magnetic Duoharp Kwikchange" in my rack. This places the harp at the perfect angle and deeper into my mouth.This is also a great asset for bending notes out of the rack. I use the exact rack combination used by Jimi Lee, which is a combo of a couple harp racks. The upright section with the spring holder is a Lee Oscar. The duo-harp magnet fits perfectly into the holder and at a great downward angle.You can use the magnet to hold two harps at once, but I only use one harp on the magnet. Again: I don't know if this helps, but it helped me to remember and order a backup magnet through RocknRons. ---------- And I Thank You !! KCz Backwoodz Bluz
"You will get better results if you have both things down before you try to combine them."
I think to a certain extent this is true, but at some point you just need to go ahead and combine them. It never stopped Bob Dylan, or Neil Young!
Playing rack harp and guitar (or another instrument) at the same time to me is like playing another instrument altogether. Some fused hybrid, at least that's my goal. I guess you could say the same about singing if you take the voice as an instrument.
It demands a lot more in physical/mental agility than focusing on the one instrument, which can be hard enough when learning.
But there's a point when you make the leap from thinking about playing two separate instruments to playing them together. Still working on that myself, but when you jump into the zone it's great.
One simple way I use to train for this is to start with doubling the harp and guitar, either with chords or melody. That gets your brain working initially on locking in the patterns where they overlap.
Start with simple chord progressions or simple pentatonic melodies, switching the same melody to different positions on the neck and harp as you get more comfortable and start to stretch. Once you get that down you can mix it up a lot more.
Eventually the compartmentalization mensh mentions will fuse into a hybrid. You can also dial the focus on each instrument up or down as you get more agile mentally and physically.
Jimi Lee has it down, as does Walter Tore and others. Pat o'Brien demonstrates some great synergy here:
I actually feel each instrument I play is being done by a separate individual - a drummer, guitarist, and harp, player, are backing my singing as I do my 1 man band. I never think about what I am doing or it will all lock up. It is very meditative to have it all working together with no thoughts. On a technical side countless people complain about the uncomfortable feeling of using a neck rack and spend tons of hours trying to get it to fit right. If they spent that time playing it they would find out it simply takes lots of time to master the rack and other instruments being played at the same time. Enjoy where you are with it is the main thing. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year in the Tunnel of Dreams Studio. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
