Baker
138 posts
Jul 13, 2011
1:30 AM
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First video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9ymR8qAa-k
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atty1chgo
104 posts
Jul 13, 2011
1:58 AM
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Humble man, eh? A good lesson for Blind Melon Chitlin.
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Stevelegh
250 posts
Jul 13, 2011
4:04 AM
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I've just watched these. I think a better description would be 'John Popper doesn't give harmonica lessons'.
That said, they are enjoyable to watch, they have some nice beginners advice and general music observations and it is really good to hear the guy talk harp.
Of all the 'big names' out there, he's always been quite elusive. Very interesting to note that he implies that he uses OTB harps, throws them away at the first sign of problems and also mentions something about Howard Levy 'heat treating' reeds. Kind of suggests he actually knows nothing about harmonicas or customising. Is he being a little disingenuous or simplifying for a beginner audience? I'd love to hear him talk 'shop' on a more serious level.
I look forward to more of these.
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Jim Rumbaugh
537 posts
Jul 13, 2011
4:43 AM
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It's a nice piece. I get the idea it is a one shot recording for HOWCAST.COM. IMO, and is appropriate advice for a raw beginner that just wants to have fun learning to play the harmonica.
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The WV State Harmonica Championship at The Diamond Teeth Mary Blues Festival Aug 27th & 28th 2011, Huntington,WV
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MrVerylongusername
1750 posts
Jul 13, 2011
5:23 AM
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@Stevelegh
I have heard of a few people who experimented with effects of mild heat (not enough to anneal the brass) and low temperatures - Chris Michalek was one, Dave Payne another (an interesting conversation between them still exists in the harp-l archive). I believe the guys at Hohner have experimented with freezing reeds in liquid nitrogen, but decided it wasn't commercially viable.
Temperature changes are supposed to relieve the stresses caused in the milling and rolling processes and extends reed life. Brad Harrison used to offer de-stressed reeds as one of the processes in his MB customs too.
Maybe the Filisko Guild do it too? - I presume Howard gets his harps from them
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12gagedan
100 posts
Jul 13, 2011
9:36 AM
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In concert, Popper would just drop our toss harps to the audience when they stuck on him. A tech would come out, opening a grey SP.20 box, hand it to Popper and away he'd go. I know he made rockstar money, but I doubt even Popper would toss customized harps to the crowd at the end of every show.
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12gagedan's YouTube Channel
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toddlgreene
3121 posts
Jul 13, 2011
10:09 AM
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Years ago, I laid down some harp tracks for a band here in New Orleans, and I found out while there that Blues Traveler was there recording only a few weeks prior. The engineer handed me a grey Hohner box with an SP20 in it that JP had used while there. He said the same thing:If one started acting funny, he'd toss it and grab a new one!
The engineer also offered for me to play it...no thanks.
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Todd L. Greene
Last Edited by on Jul 13, 2011 10:09 AM
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Diggsblues
892 posts
Jul 13, 2011
10:52 AM
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It was interesting. I found several more on youtube.
One thing I did find out was that he uses breath patterns for some of his fast stuff.
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Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind
How you doin'
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markdc70
83 posts
Jul 13, 2011
1:05 PM
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I've seen Blues Traveler live many times, starting back in '90 or '91. At every show I've been to, John always has done the same thing with his harps. He may throw the occasional troublesome harp to the crowd, but near the end of each show, he always throws at least 5 or 6 harps from his vest/case out into the crowd. There is no doubt he plays live using stock special 20's. Also, he has a very good sense of humor and the intro of those videos is done half tongue-in-cheek.
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MrVerylongusername
1752 posts
Jul 13, 2011
1:32 PM
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The fact that he plays stocks Sp20s and gets through huge numbers of them is well documented, but just because someone plays out of the box harp, doesn't mean, as was suggested, that they know nothing about customs. I gig exclusively with stock harps - no self tweaks, nothing - but I do know how to customise a harmonica and have put it into practice many times.
I was just answering Stevelegh's comment; heat treatment is a real, but relatively obscure customising process. To me that suggests he knows a bit more than he's letting on
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rharley5652
526 posts
Jul 13, 2011
11:26 PM
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John Popper is the man !!!Great sound !!
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Simply Unique Kustom Mic's By Rharley
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Stevelegh
251 posts
Jul 14, 2011
12:51 AM
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Hey Mr V,
Yes, that was kind of my point. I wasn't aware of heat treating reeds myself, but why start there? I would've though gapping would be more relevant, but then we have to ask the question, does he want to suggest to every new harp player that they should take their harps apart and potentially wreck them before they can actually play them.
I'm sure Popper knows a lot about harps and probably tweaks harps for recording and goes through each harp as he receives them to make sure there aren't any real problems.
As I say, I'd love to hear him talk seriously about his harps, but I guess those vids weren't the place.
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Ant138
1016 posts
Jul 14, 2011
1:26 AM
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Oh I've just spotted this thread.
Appologies for staring the other thread about the same thing
Doh!!!
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http://www.youtube.com/user/fiendant?feature=mhum
Last Edited by on Jul 14, 2011 1:27 AM
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walterharp
1022 posts
Jan 14, 2013
3:46 PM
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just ran across this.
this one is funny, in another he does an overblow
LINK
Last Edited by on Jan 14, 2013 3:50 PM
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1999 posts
Jan 15, 2013
1:59 AM
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A friend of mine got a harp tossed to him at a concert awhile back,By Popper
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Hobostubs
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