I actually think the chromatic may be the future of music for me. But here...I laughed when I realised I couldn't do the hand vibrato on the chrom because I needed to use the button. There may be a better way to approach it. I'm not sure what key I'm playing in. I'm starting on the A. And that is the resolution of the first phrase, but then the second phrase resolves on the G, and the part that feels like the "main" section resolves on the D. Then the part which feels like a bridge to me, winds up on the A again...but it leads me back to start...I'm not very knowledgeable about how to work this out without a chart. Maybe I should look for a chart. Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised to find it could sit a bit easier on the chrom in a different key. Ah yes, reverb...I was thinking about my Univibe pedal too. I love the scenes in the movie of Sicilian countryside with this tune playing. I realised maybe I just like Nino Roti's work as I also love 'what is a youth' from Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet.
Superbee - my own chromatic journey has stalled, because of available practice time. I thought I'd have an outlet (and a strong motive for practising) by applying to those horn-section licks I was on about. But on our last gig I wimped out and played them on the diatonic - with substitute notes as needed.
I love the sound (especially amped) but decided there's too much scope for genuine clams unless I'm properly on top of it. A gentleman has his pride.
I still use it for particular tunes e.g. St. James infirmary, because I do know it pretty well, and blues-improve on that Dm position is hard to get wrong, and it's rewarding.
I'm very much swayed by what I'm listening to however, so if you keep posting chromatic playing it will likely have an influence.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Apr 02, 2016 2:08 AM
Cool MTG .... Im still working on em. I get lost in adding my own twists and whatnot. Ive come up with a few nice patterns from messing with em that i wouldn't have thought of. I like this figuring out licks buisness. With others i mean, this is fun. Maybe i should start a figuring out licks thread. ...lol.
Your video you posted about the 4 note triplet rythm got me thinking. Could you use the amazing slow downer and the bendometer together? Would it just spell it out for you? ---------- Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain.
Very cool. Learn new stuff everyday. Lol. I really wanna get that lick. It's a good one. Atleast the style and feel of it.
Tigger rereading some of this thread last night ... i forgot about that upload. ..lol. ill try to do it tonight. Its not all that great, its been built up now. It was just me learning to use the looper, but ill post it anyways. ----------
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Apr 06, 2016 5:18 AM
The reason for posting it though, is that i need to learn more shuffle type rythms like this. And all the standard type rythms really. But churched up a bit. Seems like theres alot of bread n butter riffs that i should know by heart, that i just don't. Anyone know any lessons with a bunch of basic harp rythms? I mean these aren't hard to figure out, but it would be nice to have a reference with a bunch of standard harp lines for each type of blues rythm.
The day i brought my jamman home, i started playing with it. And after about an hour of playing around, this is what came out.
Totally not what i intended, but it just morphed into this crazy thing. Its my first loop i ever did. I recorded it dry because i didn't think ahead and realise .. mic>>looper>>amp isn't going to record the amp sound. Duh.
So just now i ran the loop back thru the amp clean w/touch of reverb>>headphone out>>recorded with cellphone. So it has a slight reverb to make it sound a lil better. But other than the reverb and the drums i had in the backround as a metronome, everything else on here is harp recorded dry. No fancy tricks. It sounds like there is alot of reverb but it's really the doppler effect i was doing with the mic.
Disclaimer: This was never intended for public consumption. KillaHertz Inc. Is not responsible for Any injuries sustained to yourself or others.
----------
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Apr 06, 2016 2:00 PM
As for what he’s playing…seems to me he is doing a lot of 2nd position chord tone patterns and transposing to 1st and 3rd for the changes. I only listened to a few minutes at the start and then jumped to the last few minutes to see where he got to.
You can make these things up or study bass lines. A lot of this is kinda like bass lines. Studying bass is a good way to learn a lot about chords and rhythm. That’s what the bass is doing, outlining the chords and making a rhythm…well, the kind of bass I like does that.
At the risk of whomp whomp whomp whomp:
A good basic way to start on this…a very common pattern. On the harp it’s 2, 3, 4, +5, 5, +5, 4, 3
4/4 time, ¼ notes. So its one measure up, one measure back.
Like 2, 3, 4, +5 / 5, +5, 4, 3
So…if you play that on a C harp, key of G
The notes are
G, B, D, E / F, E, D, B
In scale degrees its
1, 3, 5, 6 /flat 7, 6, 5, 3
So those are the chord tones that make up a G7 chord…except the 6 is in there…well, the 6 is often the realm of bass…whether you use that or not…but for this example it’s in there…so this is a major kind of pattern, with a flat 7th…this is where the blues gets rock’n roll.
I’m just trying to break it down
So that is cool for the 1st two measures of the pattern.
The next two measures, do the same thing…except play the 6 blow instead of the 5 draw. The 6 blow is the same note as 2 draw. So you are leaving out the 5 draw flat 7 F (I’ll note it as b7 from now on) and replacing it with the 6 blow, 1 (an octave up…which I’ll just call the octave) G.
So that’s a 2 measure lick, played twice, with a variation the second time. Repetition with a small change.
(Try playing it over a track like a jimmy reed type shuffle…but make sure the track has the 1st 4 measures staying on the I chord. Some of them throw a chord change in on the second measure…what they call a ‘quick IV’. Its cool but not what you want here
Slow it down a bit)
It’s cool because it develops timing and teaches the chord tones.
You can play its straight 4/4 time, or swing it. you can switch between straight and swing…swing up, straight back down, or the other way around. Mix them up. Play 3 blow sometimes, 2 draw other times.
On the 5th measure when the chord changes, you can play the same thing but transpose it to the new chord. It’s different notes but the same rhythm and the notes relate to the new chord. The chord has changed to C7. C is the 4th note of the home scale (the home scale in this example is G: G A B C D E F# G) which is why it’s called the IV chord.
The pattern in scale degrees is 1 3 5 6 / 7b 6 5 3
For the C7 chord that is C E G A / Bb A G E
And this is where it starts to separate the sheep from the goats…to play that pattern its +1, +2, 2, 3” / 3’, 3”, 2, +2
You can use 3 blow instead of 2 draw
That’s the same thing as you were doing in second position, but now you are doing it in 1st position. It’s cool because it teaches to articulate 3”, 3’, 3”
You can vary it by playing the octave instead of the 7b…that’s the +4 instead of 3’. Interesting to hear what that sounds like. Personally I think it’s not as good. It’s not wrong
Back to the second position pattern for 2 bars
Then for the V chord…a D7 chord the pattern would be 1, 2’, 3”, 3 / +4, 3, 3”, 2’. That’s the same thing in 3rd position.
The catch is you only have 4 beats on this chord…so you can play the first half and then play either the descending half of the IV chord pattern or the ascending half of the IV chord pattern.
or you can just ignore the change and play the whole thing with the V chord lick
and then finish off with the 2nd position thing.
So that’s a basic thing, like a bass player might do. Now you are learning chord tones in 3 common positions, which happen to be the 3 common chords used in a lot of standard 12 bar songs.
Once you have the hang of that…make it a routine practice for a week or something…and once you know whats going on there…try a different pattern.
A common one is Root Octave 7b 5. That’s a box pattern on the bass.
On the harp: 2 draw, 6 blow, 5 draw, 4 draw.
You might double time it…I mean play 1/8 notes and hit them twice each beat.
For the IV chord its 1 blow, 4 blow, 3 half step, 2 draw
V chord is 1 draw, 4 draw, 4 blow, 3 whole step
You can do this the other way too.
Anyway…there’s no end to it. listen to blues bass lines, play them in second position, work out how to play them in 1st position and 3rd position and connect the dots. Throw in some turnaround licks,
The cool thing is you learn timing and rhythm, and you learn where the notes are on your harp, and what to do when the chord changes
I really like Voice 105. The repeated phrase over a descending accompaniment - that's the magic ingredient to many much-loved songs old and new. And that warble thing, nice.
On a technical note, if I understand you right, it would be interesting to review the raw sound - remember my assertion that the sound from the mic is basically 'clean' (but big and bass-y) and the amp adds the grit? Unless of course, you are overdriving the looper's input.
LMAO "@the risk of whomp whomp whomp" Im starting to get it now. Not SO whomp anymore ... lol.
Thanks Bee. I knew that basic riff you started with, so im half way there. It's one of the first things i learned, but i never played it much. So i only was able to play it well in single notes which is boring. So today i was messing around with TBing it and adding effects n some flavor to it.
I didn't know Why the notes were exactly. And i wanted to learn to change it up some because i hear TONS of little things people add into it.
Thanks for the breakdown. That's helps on so many levels.
I get the general idea of everything, but its kind of intangible until you have something like this to put it to work with. So thanks again for the explaination.
Ill have to start working with this for sure. ----------
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Apr 06, 2016 11:48 PM
I can certainly upload the raw version. Its really not much different. Very light reverb added. But i think overdriving the looper is a possibility.
Re decending accompaniment. Idk i just did what sounded good. Idk about all the tecnical stuff, but im gettin there. Ide like to know. I just trust me ears. But i was just goofin. Glad u like it.
It started with just the "Chucks" to the beat. And the more i added, it kinda turned away from blues to ..... well whatever that is. Just adding fills in layers. ----------
Last Edited by Killa_Hertz on Apr 07, 2016 5:49 PM
The School of the Blues (in San Jose) was started by Dave Barrett. Dave teaches harp. Guitar by John Garcia, drums by Kevin Coggins, and Bass by Frank deRose. In addition to lessons, there's a monthly jam at San Jose's Poor House Bistro for students.
Every six months, the instructors select some students to form a house band to run the jam. We back up the students who show up to play at the monthly jam.
At the end of the 6 month run, there is a Student Concert. The house band plays a set, and any students have the opportunity to play a song they've worked on and rehearsed with the house band. (Not a jam. They are part of the scheduled set at this concert.)
Good supportive environment and great opportunity for students to get up in front of an audience. I'm just now starting on my 2nd rotation in the house band. Lots of fun. It's good to work with the same group of guys over a 6 month period. ---------- Marc Graci YouTube Channel
I had actually been thinking about contributing to "The Lick Vault", but since SuperBee has posted a clip of probably every lick I know (and then some), I decided it would be a waste of my time, and yours'.
Lying noodling in the bath tub last night though, I suddenly realised I had finally hit a blow bend - well I reckon I got it to drop about 3/4 of a semitone - which opened up the possibility of working on a song I have loved forever. Still have to refine what I have so far, and attempt the missing parts, but the thread IS called "what are you WORKING on". As well as the blow bend, it's a great tune for working the draw bends in the 3 hole.
edited to add the widget
---------- One of the last of a dying breed.
Last Edited by Tiggertoo1962 on May 28, 2016 7:02 AM
Nice Tigger. For a first attempt it was excellent. What blow bends did you use?
Ive been off and on working on the blow bends, but i tend to not practice them much as even if i could do them i dont have much use for them.
Also im glad to see this thread come back around. I like hearing about what others are up to. Not only for the fact of just liking to hear about it, but also because i think it gives everyone ideas and maybe ecourages or challenges us all to move in different directions. Aswell as keeping us all moving forward.
What Im working on right now is a mixture of a few things. Possibly too many things.
I'm working on learning 3rd position. Which is going rather slowly. Because i need to actually sit and learn. I usually i do most of my playing/practicing on the go. And im in the process of buying a house, so time has been tight.
Also ive been practicing alot of TB stuff. New Effects such as Pulls and really heavy sounds and trying to figure out how to fit them in places without making them seem forced. Walter Horton influenced sounds.
I also am getting much better at TB bending. I can get all my 3 draw bends TB now. But some of the others aren't great. The 4 draw bend is crap. I can't get it to not sound muddy. And the 4 is a big one (as you all well know) so it's kinda frustrating at times. But that's when i just leave it alone and come back to it. But i can't get the bends fast enough(or the 4' sharp and clear enough) to do things like the 4' 4 5 triplet or things of that nature.
I can't quite hit bends on runs TB. Or even really do runs TB period. Im ok aslong as im doing the slap style single notes, octaves, etc. Mixed with effects. But when it comes to runs i just stick with LP. I can move up the harp fine TB but just not real fast runs. I'm not sure i will ever prefer TB runs, but i would atleast like to be able to do them. Same with alot of other aspects. I may always switch between the two, but i would atleast like to have the option.
I do not tongue switch however. I always LP the 1&2 hole. Ive tried to get the switch, but it just seems too wierd. I can switch when doing tongue warble, but not to play the 1&2 notes ... is that wierd?
Well if you ve made it this far congratulations. Sorry there is no prize. And sorry for rambling. Lol. Yall r the only ones i have to talk to about harp.
Hope yall keep sharing what your working on. I like reading and discussing it. ----------
Hey kHz. Playing it on a Bb harp, and the only blow bend is the 2 hole at the end of the 2nd/start of the 3rd bar (on the "were" of "were pretty looking people" part of the text). Hope too that people keep this thread alive. As you say, as well as being interesting, it's also great for getting new ideas.
Gotta go, as I'm doing a benefit gig with the wife and kids tonight. Hoping some people will turn up, but the organisers unfortunately put it on at the same time as a local beer festival, the European Champions League final, free outdoor concert, etc., etc. Just have to wait and see, I suppose ;)
That sounded really well Tigger. I was waiting for a high-end blow bend, but if I've got this right, and from what you say, you are bending down the 2 Blow from a D to a Db, is that right?
I think this is what they call a 'single reed bend', which is different to the 'double reed bends'. I think you made it pretty convincing there nice one. Even it if doesn't make it down the full semitone. In blues harp, they often substitute one note for another, even if the pitch isn't quite right.
Good luck with the gig, let us know how it went.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on May 28, 2016 10:42 AM
Cheers, MTG. That's exactly what I'm doing, is bending the 2 hole down to a few cents sharp of Db. TBH I'm not even exactly sure how I achieve it, as I haven't analysed it properly yet, and it's too late here to start that now. I think I have the tongue up directly behind my front teeth when I start blowing, slightly forward of where it would be if you were articulating a "T" sound. Now I can actually DO it, I suppose I should learn how to do it properly ;).
The gig went much better than expected, considering all the competition going on. There was a girl with an amazing voice on directly before us, singing a mix of folk and popular music. Some people had come to see her, and they stayed right til the end, as well as a few people actually coming in for our set. We have played this venue before - it's actually an atelier, where the owner has art exhibitions and stuff - and according to the owner and his wife, we have accumulated a bit of a following, which Mr Braindead here knew nothing about. All in all, nearly 900 euros were raised for a good cause, and we had a great night out while we were at it, so all's good :D.
Maybe with a bit of luck I'll get a chance to work more on The Ballad of Bonnie (looked it up ;) ) & Clyde tomorrow. If I do, I'll post the results.
I dont think ive heard anyone do that except with a valved harp. Very interesting And i like that tune. Havent ever specifically paid attention except that i feel i often confuse it with st louis blues
What I've been working on...reed replacement in 5 marine band deluxes, 2 crossovers, and 5 sp20s... All straightforward enough. I like putting new reeds in but the tuning and cleanup and all the assembly gets a bit tedious at times. I also have 2 manji here. They don't need new reeds. The C harp had a reed which was blocked by a stout hair...I'm telling myself it was moustache...harp played fairly well but needed tuning. Found it was factory tuned to 443, with 3 and 7 draw at 441, 5, 9 draw at 440, 2, 5 and 8 blow at 441. High end blow reeds behaved rather inconsistently. The D harp was tuned to 442 and by comparison rather awful. 1 draw was weak, and some glaring tuning aberrations throughout. I tuned the draw plate and check the blow plate, but it's too wild to attempt tonight. Looks as though someone has tried to tune it post-factory. Draw 1 and 3 showed signs of a rotary engraver used to lower the pitch. Oddly enough both these reeds were quite badly flat compared to the rest of the draw plate... This harp was also done up tight enough to travel into space... I was slightly tempted to attempt a launch but the mission was postponed
Hmmm. You Make me want to go check my Manjis now. I wonder if the customer messed them up or if the factory messed em up?
Im really tempted to buy a second Manji in A and/or C and tune them to 19 Limit JI or atleast crossover tuning. I really want to see what they would sound like. I'm not sure if it would enhance the Manji or take away from its trademark sound. The Manji is the best most solid harp i have seen yet. I love them. I just hate that darn comb, but i think that if i could make it sit flush in the front it wouldn't be so bad. So i want to try to open and elongate the holes. I have a handful of them. So if i mess it up ... oh well. But they flatsand pretty well, but ootb they are horrible. So flatsanded and modified to sit flush up front it would be fine. Like the promaster i think suzuki needs to step up their comb game. But otherwise their harp quality is unmatched IMHO.
Sorry for the rant. I'm not sure where that came from. ----------
Quote Harpwrench: "There are also technical factors, I was working on Manji reeds before there even was a Manji. They wanted my opinion on how to improve the prototypes, I gave it, they ignored it... I can build a pretty fierce Suzuki, ask Jason Ricci. They take longer though. Mostly because they have serious quirks when it comes to accurate tuning, that is a deal breaker for me..." end quote
Joe didn't elaborate on what the quirks are, but I notice they are hard to tune
Well here it is, warts and all. Took me three attempts to get it this close, and before I spend three weeks trying to improve it, I thought I'd just upload it as is to give a rough idea of how it should be.
Between 37 and 39 secs, there should be a 4 +6 4 4' +6 4' +4 +6 +4 3 phrase which I left out cos I can't play it quickly enough. If anyone fancies trying the tune out, you might want to include this to round it out properly.
Be warned, this was recorded on my phone without any attempts are mixing or post production, so you might want to turn your volume down before hitting play to save your ears taking a beating. There's also absolutely no attempt at phrasing , vibrato, hand wah, etc, as I was trying to concentrate on getting most of the notes right. Let's face it, if it was a finished piece, it would belong on the main forum instead of a thread about what beginners are working on... ;). If any of you decide to try it out, I'd love to hear what you do with it. Meantime, I'll go away and practise a bit, and try to post a slightly better version of it some time soon.
@ SuperBee - haven't checked it out yet, but are you telling me you can't really bend the 2 blow except on a valved harp? If so, maybe that explains why I can't get the note to drop the full semitone. About Manjis - I only have one in "G" and I couldn't tell you how it's tuned, as I still need to look deeper into all that stuff, but I think it sounds great for playing chord accompanyments. Don't think it sounds quite so good for melodies though, but maybe that's just my playing.
Yes, standard diatonics only truly blow bend where the blow note is higher than the draw note, that is, holes 7-10. Generally you can get a bit of 'single reed bending' in blow 1-6, but it won't go far because the draw slot will leak all the air out...unless you put a wind saver over the inside of the draw reed slot. Then when you blow, all the air must leave via the blow side, and with practice it's possible to bend the blow note right down, a la PT Gazell and others. Normally that bit of blow bend on the 1-6 holes is a precursor to 'stalling' the blow reed when seeking the 'overblow', which is the sound resulting from the draw reed playing while you blow. Putting the wind saver over the inside of the draw slot of course will prevent the overblow.
Nice work Tigger. Sounds to me like you've got it all basically there. I hear plenty of phrasing in there already BTW, length of notes, staccato etc.
Makes me think I might revisit the valved harp idea, if it's easy to do. If I can get some missing notes that would be good for my 'new brass style'.
Currently I'm working on leaps, rather than steps. Some are ok esp. at the low end. Some are ok right to the high end e.g. 9 hole. But ones into the middle are very insecure, and I wouldn't use them in company unless I can find a way to make them solid.
Thanks for the info and encouragement, guys. So far, I've studiously ignored all mentions of valved harps, as the standard diatonic with its draw bends in the bottom 6 holes was a big enough challenge for me.
Looks like I can't carry on in this vein though, unless I want to seriously handicap myself. After your comments and observations, I looked a bit more carefully at the charts of available notes, and discovered that if I want to hit this Db note properly (using the Bb harp for reference) I need to learn to overblow on the 1 hole. Even once I learn to do this, I can't see how I'm going to slide from the +1 OB to the +2, so it looks like this particular phrase would be unplayable in its current form without the harp being valved. OK I manage it more or less on this one harp, but apart from my G Manji, I haven't been able to replicate it on any of my other harps yet.
@ MTG - no idea how easy or difficult valved harps are to control, but I think you're right about it being good for the brass style, as it would allow you to do slides that you can't attempt on a standard harp - if I've understood the concept correctly. Re leaps in the middle octave, I've been working on trying to always have my right thumb hooked over the harp at the same place (round about the 8 hole) when I'm playing in the middle octave, so that I can judge which hole I'm addressing by where my thumb presses on my face. I seemed to be having some slight success with it, but it's too early to be sure, and I'm also wondering if I'm over thinking the whole thing, as there could be too many potential variables using this method to get any kind of consistent accuracy.
Yes a 1 OB is the conventional way, I can't seem to get that myself.
Re leaps, here's something I extracted from Superbee's suggestion in the Great Blues Albums thread, Big Moose Walter. It's something he plays in passing, but I thought it would be good repeated.
The leaps are in: 2 5 3' 2. I find this leap difficult to get reliable when fast, so I'd be unlikely to play this unless at a slow tempo.
There may be some tricks to making leaps into the middle, I don't know yet. I find it easy to loose position around the centre of the harp.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on May 31, 2016 1:45 PM
I haven't tried this lick yet. But a Technique i stole from Ronnie Shellist is to do my big jumps TB. It's awkward at first. But it'll become second nature in no time.
So i would start on 2 LP then kinda use my tongue to jump to the 5 outta the right side. That way you also kinda use your tongue as a place holder to get back to the 2/3 area. Because you can feel where the holes are. And i would (now that i can bend the 3 somewhat TB) experiment and see if it were easier to slide back down to the 3 keeping the TB or merely just pull my tongue in. Because when TBing the 5 hole the center of your mouth is basically over the 3, so really you could just pull your tongue in and switch to pucker.
Again haven't tried it yet, but that's my train of thought. ----------
Thanks, yes I do that too. That is a good device for some leaps, but it only goes so far. At the bottom of the harp you can easily leap an octave e.g. 1D to 4D, but there are more holes to leap over around the middle.
Sorry Tigger. I musta not scrolled up far enough. That sounded good to me. If it were through an amp with a bit of reverb to fatten it and a baking track behind it .. it would sound really good.
Re hand wahs and all that jazz ... you can't really do that until the thing your playing is just absolute muscle memory. Atleast i cant.
But i dig this new technique yall r talking about. So its like a pre OB? ----------
my personal experience with valves is not worth recounting. i'm not sure if they are compatible with tongue blocking, or whether it makes playing valved harps a bit trickier. i think it makes overblows a bit trickier. but it may make some leaps a bit easier. i think just practicing them 'enough' might work. i jump from 2 to 6 quite reliably. Gussow advocated an exercise of jumping to play all the roots, and all the roots and 5ths.
a pre-OB? nah, yeah sorta not really...but when you OB, if you do it slowly, just focus on bending the blow note down...it does happen but when you overblow you are trying to stall that reed and make the draw reed play instead.. with single reed blow bending, you just want the blow reed to play. usually it doesnt work very well, but if you block the draw slot you can get a quite useable note. try playing a harp with the covers off and block say draw 4, and play blow 4, trying to bend it down.. dont be too vigorous
Re the 2 blow bend, I still think it may be useful, even as rhythmic device. Here's what I managed with a Bb harp. I can't get the pitch down without it stalling, but even a little inflection may be useful musically.
I'm thinking of the 5 draw 1/4 step bend, where I've heard it used either as substitute for the 5B, or as a note in it's own right - like I say, a rhythmic device.
BEE Yea that's what i ment. We re on the same page. I will try it wuth the covers off. Good idea. Plus i have enough harps i dint play that i could valve and experiment with.
Mtg. I like small inflections. For instance i think it sounds good sometimes to flatten then 4 draw. I guess the resist desciption would be the blue 4th (or more acurately the blue 5th?) Anyways, tweaking notes this way and that can really make a big difference in what your playing. Or in what your playing says perhaps? ----------
I tried the blow inflections yesterday. I had a Manji apart and i decided to try it. That's pretty awsome. I think i might vavle one of my harps just for messing with stuff like that. That's really nice to be able to add those lil extra flares.
Yeah, know what you mean, guys. I'm a big fan of the 1/4 note inflections too - just seems to belong to the blues somehow. After a bit more messing about, I don't think I'll go to the bother of adding a valve, since I don't reckon the full 1/2 note bend is necessary after all; well not in this particular case anyway.
MTG - I like that Big Moose Walter lick there, but I don't see me having it down fast any time soon either. Sounds good slow too, though ;)
Decided to take kHz's suggestion to heart, and laid down a quick backing track with the guitar on my looper then played over it. Due to the fact I forgot to record a count-in AND slowed the whole thing down at the end, I could only guess when it was going to start and missed it, but I'm not going to spend all night on it since I'm back on early shift tomorrow. Also had the consequence that I got out of time for the "outro" as well, but most of the stuff in the middle is close enough to give an indication of how it should sound once it's finished. Not quite ready for the stage yet, but I'll get there.
Beginning to learn drums recently, they start you off with the 'easier' straight 8ths, rock-type grooves. Then later on they introduce the 'harder' swung 8ths, swing-time and shuffles as a more advanced and arcane thing. Like who wants to play shuffles, you want to play like Dave Grohl right??? Well, I do because the majority of the songs my band plays are shuffles.
Perhaps as a result of playing lots of blues standards I found that my shuffle time is better than straight. A standard stick-control exercise is to take a beat (at various tempos) and subdivide it into 1/4 notes 1/8ths, 1/16ths, 1/32nds and mine end up lopsided.
So I'm practising those on the snare drum, as the cows come home, and also doing a similar thing on the harp. I hope this will improve my timing.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jun 04, 2016 3:08 AM
@ Spderyak - yup, you and Bee are right on the money. The first phrase is totally St Louie Blues, but after that phrase the song goes its own way.
@ MTG - yes, you can get away with using the 1D, but there's something in me that just shouts "cheat" if I do that. It's a bit like when I play "Istanbul Blues" - 2nd time around, the melody goes: 4 4 4 4 +4 +4 3'' 3'' 2, 2 4 +4 3'' 3'' 2. The phrase then gets repeated, but with the 4D replaced by 4' - well it does in my memory, but I haven't heard the tune for probably upwards of 25 years. You can get away with just repeating the original phrase, but for me, the blues just demands that the 4D gets dropped down to 4' on the repeat. Don't get me wrong, I'm far from being an expert on the blues, but this is just what my gut and my heart tell me. On another note, respect to anyone who can play drums halfway decent. I tried it many years ago, but my feet and my hands just confused the hell out of each other. Better sticking to the harp, I guess ;).
@ kHz - I should probably lay down a backing track far more often than I do. Trouble is, all our gear is in the living/music room, the wife suffers from migraine pretty frequently at the moment, and I'm seldom in the house alone. Might just have to resort to using the JamMan with an electric guitar and headphones, instead of an acoustic played through an amp.
I use headphones and the jamman. It works great. I don't often make my own banking tracks. I'm not that skilled yet, but i aspire to hopefully someday be able to lay down all the tracks myself. No matter how simple they may be. I'm aquiring instruments as i find them cheap at flea markets and such. But don't know how to play much yet. Don't need to much more than rhythm licks on each. Just enough to make it through 12 bars. A good riff and learn the changes on bass. Then on guitar. A little drum machine action and some keyboard. Sounds easy right? Lol.
Ronnie Shellist has a few backing tracks cds available on his site. Rockin Rons has the ones i bought from Ronnie on sale now. I like em. There's 3 cds in total for about $20.
But yea, just play into the jam man. The best thing is you can run through your pedal board into the amp output to the jamman and headphones out. Plus run the backing track through mp3 player into jamman. It's a great setup. You can rock out and not bother anyone. ----------
Hi mtg, that lick above...was it from the 'Chicago bound' track? I'm moving between platforms trying to track it down... I should point out, that album is a collaboration using a band with a lineup which remains quite steady but on 6/10 tracks jimmy Rogers is the leader and big moose walker is not present. On the other 4 cuts big moose walker is the leader and jimmy rogers is not present. The harp on all tracks is billy branch.
It's from the first phrase on the first track, the track is also 'Chicago Bound'. It's just a throwaway phrase in passing in the song, but I've repeated it.
In that sense I feel I'm following in a tradition of picking out a phrase and repeating it :) The famous Juke (1952) opening riff, repeated eight times you can hear, just for one example, as a standard run-up on the sax in Louis Jordan 'Ain't nobody here but us chickens' (1946). Slighty different notes but basically the same.
What I've been working on...is a Peavey Classic 30. They are not the greatest amp to work on imho. This one had intermittent volume changes and then the owner decided to check the tubes were properly inserted, after which it stopped making sounds. There is quite a lot of stuff to remove to enable access to the soldered parts...and I suspect I should have just tried cleaning the valve sockets first...because although I found some pretty dodgy solder joints throughout the power tube heater circuit, and re-flowed them, I think the problem actually was right at the pin in socket stage. The variable volume points to s heater problem, and sure enough there was no light in the power tubes...so heaters not working...and the owners anecdote pointed to problem at the socket. After I touched up the solder and tested for continuity, I fired up the amp with just power on the heater circuit and tubes installed...no light...after s couple minutes I touched each tube in turn...right at the end I wiggled the tube and they all lit up. Yay. So I think...contact cleaner and a bit of a test run for reliability. And in future start with the most simple explanation.
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