man you sure have a wild set up! Here are a couple of mine. Much more conservative for sure. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
here is one from my 1 man band mentor- wilbert harrison. I played harp with him as he did the 1 man band (bass drum, high hat, guitar). I learned a ton about groove from wilbert's sound. I wish there was some video of him as a 1 man band but unfortunately there wasn't hand held video cameras yet. This song was a hit for him (as well as kansas city in the 50's) and later for canned heat. He played the bass drum, high hat with a tamborine on it, harp and guitar on this song. There is also stuff overdubbed. Walter
here is the song he made famous
---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
@Sareg..........well?.........WTF........That was crazy Bad@ss fun! and as always, good stuff Walter
and by the way Walter, I very much admire your profession. ---------- The Art Teacher Formally Known As scstrickland
Last Edited by on Jul 28, 2010 7:59 PM
Joch230: He never grooved IMO. Way too busy - all novelty tyring to show all he knew in one song......... If I was him, I would stick to one set up per song at the minimum. He would be good on the ed sullivan show formant-one song.
Stickman: thanks! I assume you mean my special education teaching job? The musician thing is great, but is just a small time thing in comparision to working with the special needs population. The music is like the cherry on the sundae, but without the icecream, nuts, whip cream, fudge, the cherry is no big treat. But when they all come together, it makes for a very good life! You know what I am talking about being a teacher yourself. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Walter's sort of one-man band is cool--harp as flavoring over a guitar/drums/and/or piano backing--and it has a storied history. Jesse Lone Cat Fuller, Dr. Isaiah Ross, etc. Paul Oscher, too: these days he's playing guitar and harp with a tambourine on the floor. It's a lot of work to keep so many instruments going.
But I'm happy to be part of a new cutting-edge discipline: harp-driven one man band, WITHOUT guitar or other chordal rhythm instrument. Or maybe it's not cutting-edge at all. Deak told me about James Cotton blowing harp while rocking a beer crate back and forth against a juke-joint floor. Maybe my discipline cuts straight back to the earliest days of harp players rocking the juke. Sterling Magee told me he'd seen Sonny Boy Williamson in a juke once, standing on a milk crate and blowing solo harp, and that he'd rocked the house.
Please help me add to the following list:
Deak Harp Adam Gussow Cheryl Arena (she's just started doing this)
If you expand the OMB discipline to include players who use loop pedals and hand-held rhythm instruments, you immediately get the following:
Son of Dave Brandon Bailey Madcat Ruth Brendan Power
I'd be greatly indebted to this forum if you'd help me flesh out all three lists. Call them
1) full-spectrum OMBs (w/guitar, piano, etc., with harp as key flavoring) 2) harp-driven OMBs (drums and harp, but NO chordal instruments or loop-effects behind vocals) 3) harp-boxing, harp-looping, etc (use of effects to produce some chordal/rhythmic continuity behind vocals and/or small hand-held "shaker" instruments rather than drums)
I'm going to be writing liner notes for my album soon and I'm interested in the history and dimensions of thing "thing" that is the one-man-band with harp. I'm also keenly aware, because people have made me aware, that the standard route for harp players in the past has been to include a guitar, or occasionally a piano, so that the harp is not primary in terms of establishing the key center and chord changes. People ask me "Why don't you add a guitar?" or, alternately, "Why don't you add a loop pedal?" I could do either--I play guitar well enough--but I wouldn't be able to focus the same kind of intensity on the harp. I wouldn't play harp as well, frankly, if I were playing it in a neck rack. And I enjoy the challenge of doing neither.
This doesn't mean, of course, that I don't greatly admire those, like Walter and Brandon, who do things slightly differently. I do admire them. I'm just partial to the weird, stark discipline of letting my voice hang out in the wind, unsupported by musical jockstraps of various kinds........
Please help me construct this history. Add names to my three lists. Supply YT videos, if possible.
Last Edited by on Jul 29, 2010 6:26 AM
@Walter. Your are right that the stuff shown in the 1st video was more of a novelty type of thing. But in a market type situation, where people are more or less strolling by, I could see him grabbing the kids and adults attention pretty easily. It was pretty fun stuff even if musically, it didn't groove like some of your stuff. I would think he wouldn't do a whole set in this manner....it was just a demo of his one man band arsenal of instruments.
Yes, I love the dog, That's why I posted the vid :-) Walter, let's give credit to this guy. That's not me playing. His name is Sebastopol, and he plies his trade in the south of France (I think). Just thought it was a good vid to start the thread.
I see that Josh230. I have played the streets for about 40 years and novelity acts, cover songs, fast stuff, highly animated, grabs the average joe more than what I do. Luckily I don't have much in common with the average joe music listener and I am not too concerned with making money or gaining fans with my music. I do it for me :-)
saregapadanisa: that guy has put in a lot of time with his rig for sure and I meant no disrespect, it just doesn't hold my attention because it is jumping all over the place. To each his own!
Adam: I admire your vision. We both are doing what turns us on. If everyone walked blindly to follow their passion - tuned out what the world wants/thinks- the musical spectrum would be beyond our wildest dreams. Walter
PS: I was curious as to what you mean by me being a "sort of one man band"? I play guitar, harp, piano, drums, sing, all at once. What you see is what you hear and what you hear you can see. I think that qualifies as a 1 man band. ---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
here is yet another twist on the 1 man band concept.
---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Adam: Give Dave Harris a email. He is writing a huge book on one man bands. He interviewed me for it and it includes just about everyone on the concept. He is quite a 1 man band himself. Here is one his songs. Walter
here is yet another take- I play drums, harp, and vocals only, but not amplified (I do boogie it as well just don't have any video). I do this alot live. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
@walter: I think you misread Adam's post. He didn't refer to you as "...a sort of one-man-band..". He stated that "...Walters SORT of one-man-band.." where the use of the words "sort of" could be replaced with "TYPE of".
I'm a big fan of all these different types of OMB things but particularly fond of those that that harmonica plays a bigger roll than the other instruments. Aside from Adam's work and Son of Dave I also love a lot of the stuff done by Dr. Ross.
I'll be interested in watching this list and checking out the different performers.
---------- "Take out your false teeth, momma, I want to suck on your gums."-P. Wolf
Walter: If you reread the first line of my post above, you'll realize that I used the word "sort" as a synonym for "type."
"Walter's sort of one-man band" means "Walter's type of one-man band."
You are definitely a one-man band.
I ain't dissing you. I love what you do. And people get--and dig--what you do.
Many of them don't quite get what I'm trying to do. "Harp and drums and vocals? That's it?" I've been routinely getting those sorts of questions for the past 9 months as I've begun to move out into the public sphere. In fact, I have an email that I need to reply to from a marvelously well-intentioned and humane friend/student who suggested--he's the most recent of many--that I needed to explore the joys of loop pedals. That seems to be the hip new thing, and I've made clear that I'm heavily invested in The Modern, and so I don't resent such suggestions. They're just not suggesting something that I'm interested in, at least right now.
This is where you and I, in fact, have everything in common: we want to do it all, in real time, without help from recordings (loops) of any kind. We are both decidedly old-school in that respect. Brandon and Brendan are more new school, it might be argued.
I'm simply trying to get a little more respect for my particular version of the one man band, and one way I'm doing that is by distinguishing it, in its relative rarity, from your much better-known type of one-man band. Of course, to use the word "type" or "sort" when talking about OMBs is silly, since one of the whole points is the radical individuality that the form entails.
What distinguishes you completely from every other OMB in the world is your commitment to an extreme form of creativity that has you improvising fresh songs every time you sit down. In addition, you have added to the basic guitar/drum/harmonica/vocals configuration in a way that adds an element of "How's he doing that??" to the mix.
Last Edited by on Jul 29, 2010 8:41 AM
Let me repeat my request for assistance. Deak Harp has been doing the #2 version of OMB (harp, drums, vocals, no guitar) for at least 5 years. He's the first guy that I ever saw do that. Madcat has been doing his #3 version of OMB (harp, shaker, etc.) for decades.
If you know them, please suggest names of performers who have been doing this sort of thing--along with names of performers who have been blowing OMB harp in the better-known context of guitar and/or piano backing--i.e., Terry Bean, Dr. Ross, and our own Waltertore.
I'd be interested, for example, in hearing about harp players who have gigged SOLO, using nothing more than a tambourine rocked with the foot. (I suspect that Walter can flesh out this particular list.) Whatever. I think that Blind Mississippi Morris has worked like that.
And let me add one additional point: my personal engagement with the OMB format, as I perform it, is framed by my continuing sense that it "doesn't quite work." I'm talking about harp/drums/vocals. It works just great when you've got amped-up harp and drums, actually--as long as you know how to keep a good solid beat and imply the changes in what you play. Riff-based music works very well. But the moment you stop playing and sing, you've got vocals and drums, which is to say, vocals hanging in the wind. Nobody thinks twice about that combo when a guy like Morris sits on the back porch, taps his foot, and alternates singing with harp playing. But in amplified contexts it's extremely unusual, and for good reason: because vocals and drums, with no chordal background knitting them together, isn't quite a band. NQOMB: the not-quite-one-man-band configuration.
Or at least that's one thing that haunts my configuration: wouldn't it REALLY sound a little better if you added something else?
Still, for some reason I'm crazy enough to relish that challenge, and when my album is released in the next month or two, I believe that I will have firmly established the viability of the drums/harp/vocals format.
Actually, Deak released a great album in this format several years ago. Deak, if you're reading this, what's that album called and where can people get it?
Brandon and I are going to be working on an album for him in the next several weeks, and I know from the music he's already recorded that he is going to shock people with the viability of the harp-boxing format. He's doing some great stuff. It's going to be an interesting fall.
I like the harmonica OMB with just harp, vocal, and percussion. I'm finding it quite the challenge, but a heck of a lot of fun. In my opinion what Adam does works very well. At Hill Country all the harp guys loved it AND all the locals that showed up on Sunday night did as well.
I saw this guy at Venice Beach a few years back. Love to hear him try blues. Very imaginative....Jord Peck.
Adam: I took no offense. I was just curious to the meaning. You clarified it - thanks!
I hear you on getting respect. I have been doing the 1 man band solid, for the past 9 years. Man does time fly. I just did a backtrack and thought I had only been doing it for 5 or so. I began the 1 man band back in the 70's after accompanying wilbert harrison much as you did with satan an adam. The problem with wilbert was he was a too deep to recover addict.
Back to the respect angle. I have gotten very little as a 1 man band from the industry, other than to use me as a novelty act on festivals and opening act for bigger clubs. I have gotten a lot of private parties, and small clubs on my own. It is like if you aren't doing a regular band thing, you can't crack the blues scene. I should add I never really cracked it with a real band behind me, but I was viewed with more respect by the industry. You are breaking it down one more step. I at least get the " wow, how do you play all that at once".
Anytime you do something different, you will be shunned. I get if for having the nerve to create all my stuff up as I go along. The world is mostly a follower. they are led to what to listen to by those "in the know". If Clapton deemed you or I a cool thing today, our popularity would skyrocket. I realize this is 99% of getting known. If you can hold a bar crowd, you can someday be a big name. It is all timing and willingness to compromise from what I have experienced. When all is said and done, I can say I had my fun! That is all I really want out of music- to be able to play what is in me the way I want.
If my 2 cents is worth anything I say keep doing your thing. No matter how many instruments you add, as long as you are stomping and blowing, you will never be accepted in the league of just harp players. I can play hand held harp as good as most anyone, but realize that the 1 man band compromises a lot of what I can do with a real band behind me. The coolest thing of the 1 man band is that it forces you to look at things that seem to be missing. For you, it is just a voice and drum. For me it can get that way too because I can't show all my harp/lead guitar skills and my beats are limited by the brain with everything going at once.
By having to look at all this "lack of" stuff, I have surrendered to it and now feel much more akin to my idols. They were simple players that strutted their stuff in such a way that they went beyond any one instrument and created a sound. The most powerful stuff I have heard was done by guys on their own. Guy like Lightning, sonny terry, champion jack dupree, louisiana red, all showed me that firsthand. The 1 man band has gifted me with having my own sound. Playing with others will always be a compromise and because of this, I have no interest in doing it in a committed set up.
Now with almost 10 years as a full time one man band most people have not a clue that I spent 25 years doing just singing/harp with a real band. I added guitar and rack harp with a band behind me around 1982. Now with youtube and stuff, everything is documented. We didn't have than in our younger days!
I have been thinking on guys that just blow harp and stomp and sing. I draw a blank other than the guys you have mentioned. It just wasn't popular to do onstage because no one else was doing it. I know there must have been people doing it, but probably little to no documentation on them. Email Dave Harris. He would know if anyone does. I think Model T Slim might have done some stuff with just harp and drums. He did a 1 man band as well.
For me it is important to feel like I am on a new road. This is living IMO. Keep it up and I look forward to tracking your journey. Walter
We just moved to a new house and my new studio is under construction. My old studio is still at the old house (hasn't sold yet), but I can't seem to bring myself to record anything. It is too sad there. Emptiness. Kind of like a club after everyone has gone home. So, I got lots of time on my hands right now - a teacher with a few more weeks off, no studio, so I am getting more into this net stuff.
---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Adam, what about beatboxing while playing harp with NO loops? Actually, I consider THAT style to be the real "harpboxing" style. I think the style of beatboxing a rhythm track into the looper and then soloing over that is more accurately termed "beatbox + harmonica".
I know of a few folks who can do real harpboxing (Yuri Lane being the most famous, but not necessarily the best among them), and I find myself going further and further down that route although I certainly still can and do use the loops too! ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
Last Edited by on Jul 29, 2010 10:29 AM
Isaac: That's a great question. As befits an academic, you've jumped on a limiting case--or rather, a case that falls squarely between two of the three categories. I'd probably put Yuri Lane in the third category: no loops, to be sure, but also not drums. I think he belongs more with Brandon and Brendan than with Deak and me. But I get your point. I think the reason I'd clearly put him with them, rather than with us, is because Brandon (and probably Brendan) can both do the non-loop thing, precisely as Yuri does it. They just choose to use loops.
Last Edited by on Jul 29, 2010 10:35 AM
MrVery: Wow! That's a fantastic video. I encourage everybody here to watch it. I'm not sure where RM fits in my sequence--#2 or #3--but he definitely fits SOMEWHERE in this whole discussion. He's superb. A true artist in this cut. Absolutely distinctive. Sure, there's some Sonny Terry in what he's doing, but nobody could possibly confuse him with Sonny Terry and that's the whole point.
I should point out that, if I'm not wrong, he's not making all the sounds that are going on in that track, in real time. He's blowing harp and tapping with tap shoes, but there's also a vocalization of some kind that must have been added later, almost the vocalese version of the jug in a jug band.
Adam: I think you are correct to put Yuri and other Harpbox players in with the third group. I was just trying to be a little bit of a devils advocate there! :) Regarding my definition of "harpboxing", give me a little time, and I'll pop off a video tonight to upload here. I'm working on something that's a little different from both Yuri and from Brendan/Brandon, but that still sits firmly within the OMB genre. Still probably in cat 3, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it anyway.
Devontom: The The is awesome! Gotta love Johnny Mars!
Walter: You're right about Dave Harris. I'd forgotten about him, but he is definitely a heavyweight in this whole business. I'd encourage people to check out the following 5 minute documentary.
Adam to answer yur question about how to get my CD Gateway to the blues ... Is out of print ... For the time being ... I need to find a Excutive Producer to re release it ....Know anyone? ...The reason i started my OMB thing is because my steady guitar player could never get down to Helena AR to the Biscuit ... so I went down by myself with a Wine Crate and my Ampeg Gemini II and got a permit ...and i was in ... Had to compete with the veteran street peformers ... they dident like me at first ....But i did it anyway ... See Im from NY .. I dont take no S...t .. after a few hours when I had all the folks surounding me jaming to my set ... I was hooked .. I saw Bill able doing it with a snair drum and he had it standing upright with a make shift foot pedal with a brush in it to hit the snair ...I went home and made my Rig i still use today .. It has been halfway around the world ... and it hasent fallen apart yet ...A little Duct Tape and a few Lead Weights ...nuthing fancy .. But it got a great sound .... I also got the idea straight from James Cotton ... when he was 9 he had enough of the farm life ... And took his harp up to the Comesary Store ... Found a old Coke Case ... and made 36 bucks in 2 hours ... He never looked back ... He asked his uncle to take him to Helena AR to meet Sonny Boy ...The rest is history .... I also like the real time sound ... in fact i was down the street from Little Freddy King .. and he was playing to Jam Tracks .. and had a whole bucket full of money and alot of folks was there wacthing him ....But to me Jam Tracks just dont cut it in the Tradition of OMB ...I also did a few KBBF .. with Rev Robert playing guitar and i played the drums and harp ... that is ok but i cant change time and go into somthing diffrent .. have to stay in the song .... I like the spontanious grooves ... no frills Blues ... and i dont have to pay anyone els .... lol ... I even make jokes while im playing ... How bout it for the Drummer .... i always get a chuckkel .... And the fact that you just dont see this kind of stuff everyday ... makes it unique .... And i also was influenced by Stirling Mcgee .... His drum kit was cool ... ever since i saw Adam And satan in harlem ... i always wanted to do that myself ....So Between Bill Able and Stirling M .. i came up with my sound ....Im glad to see Adam Do it ... And anyone els that wants to .... But it aint easy like adam said when there is no music to sing to you are out there on a wire ....with no Jock strap ... you have to have the drone of the song drilled in yur head to sing with no acompanyment .... But if you got good timing and a mean harp .... Magic Happens ......
I've recently also turned into a OMB player. I guess I would be on category number 3? I sing, play harp, beatbox, and utilize effects with a looper.
I actually took a lesson from Brandon to learn how to do it so kudos to him for being a good teacher!
At the moment I have nothing up yet. Not until I take it out there on the 15th of August here in Malaysia.
I will be representing the harmonica and covering Little Walter songs at the Kuala Lumpur Mini Crossroads concert which is dominated by guitar players.
adam, that documentary was cool.. i just wish it was longer and a bit more in depth.. left me wanting to know more about all those guys... ---------- Marty we're no GOD
Okay, I recorded this late tonight. I had to go out to the laundry room to do it because my wife is asleep. I would have done it earlier, but we spent the evening visiting a friend in the hospital who is recovering from a car wreck. I'm a little zoned out right now, but making music felt good tonight. This cut ain't perfect (a reed blanks out on me at one point), and this song is far from finished, but I wanted to put it up in this thread because I want to use it to ask a question. That question is "What's the difference between Adam's category and 3, and 'Solo Harp'"? For that matter, what's the real difference between Adam's category 2 and Adam's category 3? Does it matter if the beat is sounded out by a foot drum or by beatbox? If you beatbox into a looper and play solo and sing over it, is that significantly (TRULY significantly) different than playing a beat with a foot drum? Or is it more akin to using a drum machine (albeit one that you've "programed" on-the-fly and whose synthesizers are your own mouth, tongue, and lips). What about other vocalized portions to fill in for other instruments? Does that count in the OMB ouvre?
Basically, I'm interested in blurring the lines between "band" (one-man or otherwise) and "solo". I'm trying to move away from playing traditional solo harp pieces (ie. foxchases and trains and stuff). I'm not opposed to using foot drums or playing guitar and harp together (I'm trying to learn to do both right now). I'm clearly not opposed to loopers. I really dig the possibilities of loopers. I'm 21st century digital boy (to quote Bad Religion!), so I feel very comfortable with digital music and with digital tech to make live music. I think looping IS live playing. You have to think of the looper as just another instrument if you really want to make music with it. You have to learn to play it properly, just like you learn to play the harp properly. Just like the harp, loopers are "easy" to make musical-sounding stuff on, but just like the harp, it takes time and practice to get it down correctly. If misused, it can turn out cheesey or worse (just like the harp). So IMO, looping well to make your OMB songs is the same as playing the foot drum well (or whatever). Same for the harpboxing. Looping the beats is one thing. Beatboxing WHILE playing harp is a total other bag man! And with that segue, here's my vid:
So.... IS that OMB (a la Adam category 3), or is that just solo harp? OR what? I'm really quite curious to hear your responses...
Okay, it's late and I'm clearly delirious now. I'm signing off and heading to bed! ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
I think there is a big difference in watching the different types.
The short sprinting involved in looping to create a complex song is interesting. You can create a very wide range of partial to full parts of a whole band. you can add vocal backing, animal noises, whatever... It is great to watch, and I do love it.
-But you can rest and let your sprinted efforts do the work for a while during the process.
I think the beauty of watching the entire performance of music being done in real time has elements of both extreme talent and danger associated with it. It can all come crashing down in a second. Or it can all be fascinating to watch like the Cat in the Hat on a ball balancing everything in the house.
In this case you ARE the music, not just creating it.
The fact that we choose an instrument you have to stop playing to start singing adds an even greater element of precision - or perhaps a greater need for groove and mastery of timing.
What I love about doing everything in real time is the freedom to go anywhere with the beat. These loops and such(I am not sure I have the jargon right- what I mean is anything that you are not actually playing right now) lock you in as much as playing with real musicians. For me the 1 man band concept is all about one having the ultimate freedom to change things on the fly, and control the entire sound from inside, with no need to communicate to another musician or machine. When you stop, everything stops.
It is probably a generational thing why I am not drawn to the looping and such new ideas coming out. I was born before the video game and home computer. We had one phone in the house, 1 car in the driveway, no easy way to photo/video/ record music, and 7 tv channels (NYC stations). I used my cell phone for 23 minutes in the last year, never texted, never will.... We had to use our imagination in different ways than kids do today. To think about using these effects with my 1 man band sounds like an instant headache. I am still fascinated by the sounds I can make/discover acoustically, in real time. I am not saying one is better than the other. Do what inspires you. If you like it, then you have made it.
I don't agree that the harp requires a greater element of precision. I play a lot of instruments and all of them require the same sense of time. More players than not make great sounds but they are stiff with their sense of rhythm. The great players often are simple players that have great senses of rhythm. They know when not to play :-) 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Point taken... I think I was speaking to the timing involved because you have to stop playing to sing.
Having enough command of the space and what exactly to put in it with the only possibility of one music line alternating between instrument and vocal...
I really don't feel that loops "lock you in" in any way. This goes back to what I said about having to "play" the looper just like you "play" any other instrument. Sure you can record a beat, and leave it "locked in" for the duration of the song. But you certainly don't have to. You can pause and break away for any amount of time. You can also take your beat and overdub on it to create new and different polyrhythms as you progress through the song. If you have multi-track looper, you can switch between multiple loops to make changes to the groove or harmonies. You can set the quantization point of the multiple loops to be anywhere. For example, you can make the second loop quantize to the loop initiation point of the first so that that they always start "together" regardless of what's in the second loop. (this is "normal" looping). But you can also quantize the second loop to any other increment of time in the first loop (the next round 4th or 8th note after loop two ends). This means that if you have loop one length of 8 quarter notes, and loop 2 length of 3 quarter notes, and loop two is set to trigger at the next nearest quarter note, then you get a complex polyrhythm that changes every loop. The first time loop two goes from 1a to 3a of loop one, then it goes from 4a to 2b, then 3b to 1a, then 2a to 1b, etc. etc.
Additionally, when you are really truly using the looper like an instrument, you can't just "set it and forget it". You have to know where it is, and where it's going. You have to have set it up correctly, and you have to know what you are going to do with it at every moment in the song. Are you going to play against it, over it, with it? Are you going to pause a loop? are you going to double a loop length and add a part? Are you going to halve the loop lenght? Reverse it? Slow it down? Change the pitch? Are you going to change the quantize point mid song? Reset the quantize? Stutter a portion? Pause and restart a portion? You have to do all this while playing your harp and/or singing at the same time. It's the same (to me) as playing a guitar or foot drum, or any other instrument at the same time as you play harp.
I'll repeat what I said earlier. Just like the harmonica, it's quite easy to use a looper, but also very hard to use it well.
So, having said all that. No opinions on whether or not what I played in my vid falls into the OMB genre? Let me rephrase my question then: Do you have to be singing at one point for it to qualify as a OMB? IS there such a thing as an "instrumental" OMB, or is that just soloing? ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
isaacullah: If you feel like a 1 man band, you are a 1 man band. I can tell you from having done something no one else is doing can make you crazy if you try to convince the scene to your validity. I have just about killed myself mentally and physically during the 20 years I played full time. Telling agents, clubs, labels, press, radio, newspapers, that I make everything up as I go along almost always ended with a quick goodbye. I was able to book myself, create my own label, and thanks to some big time musicians, squeaked out a pittance of living. While my friends were winning big awards, living the high life, I was moving all over the world in search of places that would give me a shot. All these struggles were gifts. I learned how to play music the way I felt it inside. I had no real temptations that challenged that.
I felt, and still do, that I am on the brink of becoming accepted. By accepted, I mean that I will be able to play decent rooms/festivals and at least break even. It feels great knowing there is no competition. Some say that is the problem. I say that is the solution.
Anway, I don't understand what you wrote about looping and don't view your approach as a 1 man band because there are too many prerecorded things going on, even if you prerecord them as the song goes along. A 1 man band to me has to have everything done live in real time - all instruments played at once. If one stops playing any of them, they cease to be heard. So what is my opinion worth? Nothing. No more or less than anyone elses on this planet. We all are equally qualified with opinions. I bet once you get people that are into your approach, there will be a bunch of different definitions generated as to what is legitimate and not. Do your thing, forget what the world thinks. That is just wasting energy. I say this with lots of wasted energy spent on the subject. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
There are a lot of good points of interest being made. I can see Walters point about loopers....that they are prerecording things and don't fit his definition of a 1 man band.
Similar to if a person records a CD where they play all the instrument for each song...overdubbed....recording each instrument on top of the other. One guy is playing everything in the song...if he plays live improvised harmonica over the top of it...is he still a 1 man band?
I can see the point where one may end up having to work out much their layers of the looping in advance so your freedom to create using beat changes etc, is really inhibited. But your soloing over the top of the loop can still be creative and improvised.
I don't have anything earthshaking to add other that it's all interesting food for thought.
When a one man band stops the music stops ... When Dr Ross is going and feet are going .. And strumming cords .. all at once that is OMB .. PAul Osher .. OMB.. that man can sound like the little walter band just him ... Im a OMB .. the only efect i use is reverb ... and a few Mic's on my feet .. Singing on top of the music when it stops ... is hard as hell ... but i got a drone in my head that i can turn on ....I have never sat home and practice i just do it ... the Beat is in the music and my feet find it ...
@Deak you never practice?I thought practice was the only way-I did hear johnny shines said robert johnson never practiced he just played---have you been to the crossroads?
yes i have ...many times ....Im not saying i cant use some practice ... I just dont ...i play atleast 20 hours a week Between teaching .. and making harps ... and live shows .. sometimes more than that ...And im always listening to Blues in all veins ....I Live Sleep & Play Blues non stop ...
True...maybe I should have said since he plays, sings, and keeps rhythm....this is the most basic form of a OMB. Agree? It might be a good idea to try something like this to see if being a OMB is something you want to get into.....if so, add other percussion or instruments and build from there. Terry Bean just does the basic rhythm on a wooden box. Works wonderful with his style of play.
What a top little thread is this one! The Rubes perspective - 'band'=collection of sounds (not necessarily known/accepted instuments or methods), and 'one man'=sole producer, ideally making music acceptable to the ear! Now this allows for the looping phenomenom which my brain cannot fail to appreciate when done well. Some of the results are just plain awesome. However the timing aspect/argument carries weight and I feel that achieving pleasing music all by yourself without the aid of this 'other' dimension ie: loops, is a much more difficult thing to achieve and therefore will always receive greater admiration for the skills involved. Not to say the skills needed to operate a sophisticated looping machine at a high level are also to be appreciated! Just trying to understand how Isaacullah and others actually 'drive' those things just drops my jaw!! (and it sounds great!) Now I'm not a OMB but in my three man band we have-1 lead vocalist,1guitarist/vocals/stomp box, and 1(lil' ole Rubes on..) harp/vocals/foot tambourine. Responses are often 'how do you get such a big sound?' Well, two of us have a bit of the OMB thing goin' on, that's how. It's inspirational to see all these OMB and variations of, and I think it's great fodder for any performer to consider the possibilities of adding to the experience as a whole for the benefit of whoever's listening (hopefully paying!) My two Aussie cents worth anyway.........:~)
Last Edited by on Aug 01, 2010 6:39 AM
Sorry to revive this, but I was away all week end (in yosemite). I just was looking through all the posts I had missed and saw the remaining few posts here. I just wanted to "wrap up" my portion of this thread by saying that I definitely "feel" like a one man band when I do my loops, and I know it ain't everyone' bag (and I wouldn't want it to be), but I feel like many folks would like to hear it, and that makes me feel good. I'd especially like to thank Walter for his insights, which are always appreciated. I also want to say thanks to Rubes, who has helped define the fine line between the cats as set up by Adam. I feel that there is even less dividing them, however. As I've already said above, I really do feel that when you "do" loops right, you are playing the looper as another instrument. Therefore, when you are really looping, you ARE playing several instruments at once. I know many of you will never believe that the looper is anything more than a device, and that it's not a "real" instrument, and that's cool. But to me, it's synthesizer that I program with my voice and my harp and my foot, and that I control just like a keyboardist controls the synth sounds that have been preprogrammed to sound when depressing a key on his/her keyboard. If an electronic keyboard is a real instrument, then so too is the looper. ---------- ------------------ View my videos on YouTube!"
