Good stuff man! Actually I didn't find the solos too busy. I know what you mean though because I find I have that problem. But I thought you were right on. Some good licks there. Nice job. ---------- Seven times down Eight times up
I really, really like your playing and tone. I love how you use licks normally reserved for 1st position playing for the IV chord. For example, I hear lots of people start on 1 blow and move to 2 blow, then 2 draw or 3 blow in cross harp, but you moved from 3 blow to 2 blow to one blow which is to me more stylistic associated with 1st position. I will say the solo in the middle had me losing the progression in my head. I had to listen to it a couple of times to really hear the changes. I think you are suggesting the changes throughout the song but it was subtle in the middle.
That was great! The only "busyness" that I heard happened around the 3 minute mark, and lasted maybe 10 seconds. Everything else was spot on!
I've got a question for you: How much of what you play is licks you practiced and memorized for that part, and how much is improv? I'm mainly asking this because this is something I'm struggling with in my own playing right now. I've now started jamming with a guitar playing friend of mine, and I'm noticing that, since I have very few songs "memorized" I keep having to improvise, but that usually means going back to my same old stockpile of licks. Do you sit down and learn and entire song, note-for-note? Or do you learn the head and the hook and then just fill in with your own improv? I'm especially curious about your solos. Do you plan those out, or do you just create them on the fly?
Sorry for bombarding you with a bunch of questions, but I hope that knowing how you approach learning/playing a song will help me figure some stuff out in my own playing...
That's a great question isaacullah an I've thought about that also. I was thinking that I could end up playing a song differently everytime I played it! ---------- Seven times down Eight times up
@Michael: thanks. Your explanation about 1st position licks made me conscious of something I didn't even know I was doing. fun.
@Isaac: 90% improv. I don't know which notes I'm going to hit until I hit them. I do know that I'm going to go down low on the harp, play around the middle, or go up the harp...but these things are not planned far in advance (probably half a second before I play it). Of course, many times, I play a formal lick that I've learned from somewhere. However, I usually don't know I'm going to play that lick until I ear it happening. Hope this makes sense. :)
I'd be glad to continue this conversation. To be frank, I have no idea how I decide what riff I'll play ...I wouldn't mind having a whole thread on that. ---------- Heart2Harp
"I'd be glad to continue this conversation. To be frank, I have no idea how I decide what riff I'll play ...I wouldn't mind having a whole thread on that."
Heart2Harp, I'd be interested in seeing a thread like that also. Although pretty much a beginner and not near your skill at putting licks together, I understand what you are saying. I don't know if it is something that will change with experience but at this point, I might have a general idea of what I want to play but that idea is forming as I'm playing and not beforehand. It's a certain mood or feeling I want and try to express as I'm playing. Each note elicits a feeling for the next in my mind as I go....or something like that. Yea, I'd be interested in such a thread...at least reading through one.
I wish I had your tone and I wish I could sing as well as you do.
I don't really feel qualified to say anything because I an quite inexperienced. But I have noticed this in this and your other youtube posts.
One observation I have is that you fill every single second you play with notes, and often they are tongue blocked octaves or chords - it's a lot. Overload.
The only time you stop playing for any amount of time in this clip is when you switch from voice to harp and back and even then, you don't "waste" a beat.
Your tone reminds me of SBWII. But he plays about half as much as you do in the same period of time.
You leave space when you sing and that works really well. But you don't when you play harp - one (harp) phrase begins right as one ends and none of your phrases seem have any pauses in them.
You have great acoustic tone. I agree with the SBWII analogy. Your opening notes sounded like James Cotton - and that is saying a LOT about acoustic tone! ---------- /Greg
@Arzajac--That's an interesting observation, but I think it's incredibly effective in the context of playing solo harp. I think anyone who has picked up a harp and and tried to play it solo with just your voice and stamping your foot to keep the beat--no guitar, no band, no backing track-- realizes how hard it is to pull that off. I hear it like he's playing rhythm guitar and lead guitar at the same time.
So that I don't sound like a complete fanboy of H2H (which I am)--I completely agree that it's a different story when playing with others.
Well, enough gushing from me for now. Great stuff Mathieu!
