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beginner forum: for novice and developing blues harp players > Slow news day: trivia from south of Australia
Slow news day: trivia from south of Australia
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SuperBee
4597 posts
Mar 28, 2017
2:06 AM
Trivial updates on my life with harmonicas:

I received a nice mic from Jon Atkinson last week. It's a JT30, 50s rivet tag shell, hammertone gray, fitted with a 1965 CM element. Really nice smooth sound. I did a side by side comparison with my other mics and it's my favourite of the CM/CR mics I have (1 black CR, 1 white CR, and 2 Other CM mics). I think my MC151 mic is a little more complex but I this new element is probably a bit fuller in the low end.
Nice. I might have to sell a couple of mics now.

I'm trying to line up some time with Dennis Gruenling. It's slowly getting organised but he's a busy guy so it's taking a while to schedule, especially because our time zones are so far apart.

And the band played a pretty interesting outdoors gig on the weekend in front of a decent sized audience. It seemed to go over quite well, and I think we were offered a couple more gigs on the back of it.
This was especially gratifying as it was the debut outing for our new drummer. Actually I'm not sure if he is officially 'our' new drummer but I do think the offer will be made.
He is a much less aggressive drummer, and this was his first gig ever I think. He is young, only been playing a couple of years I think, and I think he will only improve. I like that he is keen and is also a very good guitarist (more of a rock guy, but still good) and more than handy bass player. This indicates to me that he knows how to study and practice which is why I'm confident he'll improve on the kit. i think getting a player like this is probably better than picking up an older experienced player who is wrong style or with baggage, which is really what the choice came to. Not many good blues drummers around available to play in a struggling band like ours.
So I'm hopeful that phase 2 of the band is onwards and upwards. The previous drummer was very skilled and experienced and we were able to get a quick start, start playing paying gigs within a couple weeks of first jamming. But that group was never likely to improve or develop, so the change of personnel I think is good. After 10 or 11 gigs this summer we have established our name, have a small resume, and now we can build that through the quieter months of winter, polish the act and write some material, hopefully be a much better band next summer.
CalH
6 posts
Mar 28, 2017
2:26 AM
Do you have any more gigs coming up? Would like to hear your sound. Do you have a regular venue you play in or move around?
SuperBee
4598 posts
Mar 28, 2017
2:20 PM
I'm in Tassie, Cal. South OF Australia, as distinct from south Australia.
We move around; usually when we play somewhere they don't want us back.
CalH
7 posts
Mar 28, 2017
8:46 PM
Ahh yes, I remembered that after I posted the question! Cascade country! Oh well, never know I may get down there again one day!
SuperBee
4600 posts
Mar 29, 2017
5:14 AM
Our next gig, I don't know, I think we'll have to chase it.
I just heard we didn't get the festival I thought we were sure to get. But I also discovered I'd made an incorrect assumption about another venue we've played a couple times. Because they called us the second time, I assumed that's how it works, but I've just been told that's not how it works; we have to keep approaching them or they will forget about us.

Now it's autumn, school is back, guitarist is a teacher, very busy.
But practice is going well.

We did a few new numbers tonight. I have some things to learn.

One thing about playing harp in a band is to do with how much harp is too much.

When I sing, I don't care how much harp I play. I could play no harp, or I could play an intro and a solo, or I could play intro, solo and riff/fills all the way through.

If you're gonna play a lot of harp, I think it's gotta be coherent, definite, and if you're riffing or playing a lot of fills, horn lines etc, it's gotta be in tune. Flat bends are one thing in a solo but as a steady repeated feature in a song I think they are a major turn-off

I've really got some stuff to learn now: who do you love? (Trading licks with guitar), this is hip (not sure, probably a solo?), dimples (probably riff/hook, and maybe a solo), Spoonful (doubling riff in parts, fills, and solo), San ho zay (I think 3rd position, solo and maybe a horn line rather than just doubling), walking blues (I really don't know, maybe I'll still do the butterfield flat 7ths and roots, we've moved away from the butterfield approach though), key to the highway (it'll be a solo, but I don't know, there are some good ideas to borrow from. I can get away with just my own simple melodic idea but I think I can improve it too)

And the other thing I can report is something I've said before. The fender vibrochamp xd is an amp I am very fond of. I may be the only harp player who feels this way.
I practiced with it tonight and I think it was actually more audible than the SE6L6 10" combo I used last week.
People are scathing of it. When I put a picture of it on a harp Facebook group, it drew disparaging remarks about 'too many knobs'.
Yes, it has a few knobs. 7 knobs.

One of them is 'gain', another is 'volume'. They interact.

Another is 'voice'. It has 16 detent positions. If you set this to anything other than position 4, you will not think this is a good harp amp.

If you use voice position 4, set gain to something between 3 and 5, and volume to something between 6 and 9, you will be near the money.

It has another pair of knobs marked bass and treble. Bass goes fully clockwise and treble fully counter-clockwise.

That accounts for 5 knobs. So far, 3 are set and forget. There are 2 more; effect level and effect. Pick an effect. Reverb or delay are solid choices. Chorus is not bad. You can even combine some of them. And if you want to hear the effect more dramatically, turn the level up. If you don't want it, turn the level right down. Pretty easy.
"Too many knobs!" Pfft!

It's not a very sexy amp. It has a ss preamp chip and digital signal processing, then a 12ax7 'driver' and a 6V6 powertube. It has an 8" speaker. The cab is bigger than a tweed champ, and I think that helps.
Because I have lots of small amps and this one was just bought from a shop and hasn't been interfered with except for tube swapping, I sometimes think about selling it. I offer to sell for cheap price and receive zero interest. It must have a really bad image.

I would sell other amps but there are legal implications about selling electrical goods which you made or modified yourself.

But whenever I play it I receive kudos for the great sound.

I am back to taking different amp to practice each week, just so they get used regularly. I believe it's not good to let amps sit unused for a long time.

Ok. Now I am done.
Fil
290 posts
Mar 29, 2017
5:48 AM
So, Bee, what works for you learning songs? It's a slog for me. I use the Mimicopy slow-downer and go over and over a bar or two at a time and then work to string them together. Maybe I should put more effort into learning lyrics to give the solos and fills context. Maybe this is what you do. Any advice beyond this?
Your posts are interesting. I always get something useful out of them.
Thanks.
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Phil Pennington
SuperBee
4601 posts
Mar 30, 2017
12:32 AM
Hi fil
if I am trying to learn from a record I do much like you
If I think I can, i first just try to play along. Usually I start at the beginning and go for it phrase by phrase.
There is a bit of preparation, starting by really focussing on what you want to learn.
Is it the whole song, an instrumental, or the words plus a 12 bar break, or just a solo, or just a few licks etc

If it’s a 12 bar solo say, I'll just home in on that and get to where I can hum it or sing it. sometimes I dive straight in but nearly always will have to do this process at some point. Often I'll already be familiar with the tune, or at least I'll think I am, only to discover I hadn’t really been listening

When I began doing this, it was tricky and would take a while. Sometimes it still does but I believe I have been getting better at it.

So I do think it’s a good exercise regardless of whether you end up playing the thing you learned. I think you will play those things but perhaps more importantly the exercise of learning this way will develop your brain in musically important ways. Somewhat like the way in which playing scales will teach you to hear intervals and result in an improved ability to play melodies 'instinctively', I think listening deeply and copying what you hear will develop your ability to hear, and probably lead to better improvisation and singing

I'm sure there are more efficient ways to train your ear, but motivation and practice are key, and for me the motivation comes from needing to learn a song and that's where I make the effort. So incidentally I've become better at hearing and that has paid off in other ways, as well as improving the speed with which I can learn from records.
Which is not to say it's a complete doddle at this stage, but there's been incremental improvement.
You still have to be able to negotiate the phrases. But playing slowly is a good start towards full speed.
Anyway, where there's a template, something to copy, I find it's not too difficult.

That’s one way to learn a song. Once I have managed to play and memorise well enough to get through it, then I need to consolidate it over a few days. I usually put the words around it when I practice so I get the timing and feel the cues better. For me that seems to help. And I play as I walk, which might help with time as well, but that might be imagination
Fil
291 posts
Mar 30, 2017
10:11 AM
This is good. Thanks. Especially what you say about listening deeply enough, getting to the point at which you can hum or sing the piece, getting more familiar with it. I've tended to be too impatient to do that, ie "diving right in", and it's added to my difficulty.
Thanks again.

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Phil Pennington


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