nimnam
1 post
Nov 11, 2011
1:27 AM
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Hello harpers this is my first time and i must say what a jolly good site this is.I've never used a rack just wondered has any body out there tryed using one whilst driving I spend most of my working day driving and when parked up the car is a great place to bybo. Apart from running the risk of looking a prize idiot a rack would let you drive and play safely legal or not i wouldn't no is this a silly idia what do you think.
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Chickenthief
171 posts
Nov 11, 2011
4:51 AM
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All the racks I've tried are incompatible with my full coverage helmet.
Welcome to Harmonica Land nimnam.
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MrVerylongusername
2052 posts
Nov 11, 2011
5:30 AM
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Welcome!
I take it you're not in the UK then.
I had a mate who got pulled over and handed a ticket for eating a chocolate bar whilst driving.
I play while I'm driving, but only when it's dark and only by holding it in one hand.
I've thought about a rack, but it would draw too much attention.
If I spot a cop car, I can just drop the harp into my lap.
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waltertore
1647 posts
Nov 11, 2011
5:35 AM
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IMO when one plays it should be the focus. If not, there is no point in doing it. Walter
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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
2,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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orphan
106 posts
Nov 11, 2011
6:30 AM
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Welcome nimnam!
I just hold harp in one hand and get along well. Walter has a point. I guess it depends on what you try to practice while driving. I save the intense stuff for the woodshed. There are a lot of deer running the road I take. Sometimes I have to just forget practicing and focus on dodging deer.
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Chickenthief
172 posts
Nov 11, 2011
6:31 AM
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@ walter - Yes. That's why I stopped "playing harp" whilst driving. One or both of those things are neccessarily compromised when they are combined.
I started out playing harp while driving a semi tractor trailer with a 53 foot trailer. I quickly realized I couldn't do both things properly so the job had to go.
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jimbo-G
38 posts
Nov 11, 2011
6:37 AM
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Iv always been told that every little helps, I think this is also true for learning an instrument. I also think you shouldn't have to completely focus when your playing it gives your subconscious a chance to shine and show how you are really feeling. Just my opinion. But the rack could be a good idea you should see how far you get before you get rogered by the rozzers.
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RyanMortos
1184 posts
Nov 11, 2011
7:33 AM
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Im with Walter. If you're driving you're not really practicing harmonica.
Admittedly I enjoy holding a harmonica in one hand and mimicking whatever song Im listening to while keeping focused on the road. There might be minor benefit to this but the second traffic looks iffy or something I drop that harp. I don't really consider this practice. I have real practice set aside for when I can focus on that & get full benefit. If you wanna practice harp so bad at that moment that you need a harp rack maybe you should pull over and park to practice instead, I see enough accidents already.
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~Ryan
"I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window." - Steven Wright
Pennsylvania - H.A.R.P. (Harmonica Association 'Round Philly)
See My Profile for contact info, etc.
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Steamrollin Stan
176 posts
Nov 11, 2011
8:03 AM
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N.S.W traffic rule:Section 3 pt; 4a,4b,2d,2b,6ob, "Ya can't harp n drive"
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Tommy the Hat
400 posts
Nov 11, 2011
8:13 AM
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Walter said that when playing that should be your only focus.
That is true, but playing harp isn't dangerous. I would think that more importantly "when driving that should be your only focus." If not then you run the risk of killing someone.
I'm sure it wouldn't be pleasant to have an airbag go off in your face while playing with a rack either. I don't use a cell phone when I driving...ever. I get off the road and stop to talk or text. That pretty much says all of what I think of the idea of a rack while driving.
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Tommy
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FMWoodeye
11 posts
Nov 11, 2011
8:17 AM
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I play a little when stopped at a light or while in a parking lot when I'm early for an appointment but not while actually operating the vehicle. I'm not that great a driver to begin with. Not a great harmonica player, either.
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oldwailer
1761 posts
Nov 11, 2011
8:18 AM
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"IMO when one plays it should be the focus. If not, there is no point in doing it. Walter" (hee hee) This is from one who plays guitar, harp, and a full set of drums and sometimes keyboard at the same time!
I found that a rack while driving limits the ability to turn my head and increases the danger--it's better for me to just hold the harp one handed. I have even done lessons while driving in very slow freeway traffic. I've learned a lot of good stuff that way.
The real thing that would work for me is a rack that holds the steering wheel. . .
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Oldwailer's Web Site
Always be yourself--unless you suck. . .
-Joss Whedon
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2011 8:20 AM
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waltertore
1648 posts
Nov 11, 2011
9:02 AM
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you brought a smile to my face oldwailer! I never have been a noodler with playing. When I sit down with an instrument(s) it is because songs want to come out. If that inspiration isn't there I do something else with my time. I never have practiced anything with the intent of trying to capture a riff, sound, mood,etc, other than a few months early on when I started playing with others and they wanted me to learn songs. That would last a few minutes and then I would go off on whatever was inside me. It also resulted in me getting asked to leave many a band early on. I am probably the worlds greatest unpracticed musician. Maybe that is what I need to start promoting.. :-) walter
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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
2,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2011 9:11 AM
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Joe_L
1599 posts
Nov 11, 2011
9:08 AM
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Does your car have an airbag?
If so, in the event that it deploys, what will happen to the harp and the rack? Is the potential thousands in dental work worth it?
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oldwailer
1762 posts
Nov 11, 2011
9:19 AM
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I understand and respect your intent, Walter--just couldn't resist the impulse to rib you a little.
I'm an endless noodler--so much so that every now and then I have to buckle down and learn new stuff just to get fresh noodles on my plate. Since I drive a lot on very slow freeways, it's a great place to noodle--and sometimes to learn new things. On a job I used to do, I was driving about 6 to 8 hours a day and I had a laptop computer set up on a little stand next to me. Of course I took the opportunity to load up on a few of Adams fine premium lessons and I learned great stuff with full video. I wouldn't recommend this at high speed--but it worked great through Seattle traffic--Seattle's nickname for "inline parking"
I have found that playing a bit of one-handed harp is great to keep one alert on long drives--I think it might be safer than dozing off. . .
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Oldwailer's Web Site
Always be yourself--unless you suck. . .
-Joss Whedon
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2011 9:21 AM
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KingoBad
982 posts
Nov 11, 2011
9:31 AM
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I agree with Oldwailer. I find that rack driving does limit your ability to look around.
I agree with Walter, but sometimes my aim is not only to produce music. I'm putting in "comfort time" on the harmonica. I'll experiment with vibrato, tongue position, etc. I will, of course, do this in a musical context mostly, but the music is not the point during this exercise. Of course music is what typically follows, as I empty myself to focus on these techniques, they inspire me to flow into music and off I go..
I have worked on my ability to compartmentalize my playing sometimes so that I can listen when playing with others - or attempt to be aware playing something else like guitar, and hopefully some more advanced foot percussion soon. While I work on of of these together, I still want the awareness of the audience instead of only concentration on the music. While I do play for myself, I also play to connect in a live situation.
It is a whole band in your head. -Not an easy task to do. So while I can appreciate Walter's comment - I am QUITE sure that he could produce meaningful music while driving. Especially if it was in that beautiful old Cadillac.
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Danny
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waltertore
1649 posts
Nov 11, 2011
9:58 AM
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Hi oldwailer: Whatever works I say!
For me to go into a musical experience with a preset idea or knowing I won't be making songs, doesn't hold my interest. My wife of 31 years can attest to the fact that I never sit around the house and noodle. I don't even have any instruments in the house. When we have lived in tiny spaces with my gear in the middle of it all, I never touched it other than to take it to load for gigs and or go outside and play on the porch or on the street corner. We don't have any kind of cd/record/tape player/radio either. I use to have a record player as a kid but once I left home as a teenager to play music, all that stuff was way to complicated to tote around. I never have gotten back to it. Friends tell me I am eccentric, but I feel normal!
We all know the way most learn an instrument, and with recording one will normally set up mics, preamps, and do a bunch of test recordings, listen back, tweak, do it again, tweak it, etc. This process can take up a ton of hours and is the normal process when making a studio recording. I just wanted to sing my songs and magically have it sound good. I went into recording myself with no knowledge at all really. I just put the mics in the room and intended to do the traditional tweaking process, but as soon as I start playing I go into a song. I can't tell you how many hundred of hours of songs I have thrown away because my mic/preamp setups were so bad. Instead of tweaking, listening back, tweaking, listening, back, and so forth till I got a good sound on the recording, I just moved them a little, reset some dials, and did it all again. Finally after 10 years of recording myslelf, I am figuring it out. I have learned to mostly trust my ears and let my instincts guide me as I record. It has taken on the same pattern as how I learned to play instruments. My approach to learning has "retarded" my playing and recording learning curve from a traditional approach but it sure works for me. I may not know as much as others, but what I do know continues to amuse and interest me to no end and as long as I am interested and inspired, that is all I care about.
Recording is a never ending simple puzzle that never ceases to fascinate me with how complicated it really is to capture a sound as you hear it played- I spend 3-15 hours a day recording, 7 days a week, and the byproducts are my songs that never cease to flow in the studio. Now I get approval from my friends that are highly respected pro engineers for the way I record my music. They say I have my own sound on it - sonically speaking. This is the same way I learned to play music. I never have been one for reading directions........
KingoBad: I spent a long evening in that old caddy with rick estrin. I turned him onto the 14 hole marine band in C. We played it for hours. Walter
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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
2,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2011 10:35 AM
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nacoran
4883 posts
Nov 11, 2011
10:40 AM
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I never practice my harp in a moving car. (Well, okay, if someone else is driving who isn't going to drive off the road in violent anti-harmonica retaliation I may pick up a harp and play quietly.) Unfortunately my radio/cassette deck is busted, so I can't even listen to music. (Hey, I'm driving an '87, I'm lucky it turns over in the morning.) If I didn't have a broken sound system though I'd be using it to listen to what I want to learn. I found I can play the basic melody for most songs once I can really sing the melody. You don't need a great voice, just one that can find the notes. The more you internalize a song the more easily it will come out on harp. If it was just my life I was risking I might be willing to play harp in the car, but since other people are at risk too, I don't do it. (I also don't use a phone while driving, and won't eat, except maybe something like a candy bar, and only drink beverages at stoplights. Of course, I have a standard without cup holders, so that limits me a bit.)
edit: Typo
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Nate
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Last Edited by on Nov 11, 2011 12:45 PM
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oldwailer
1764 posts
Nov 11, 2011
11:07 AM
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Jeez, Nate--how old ARE you? ;-)
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Oldwailer's Web Site
Always be yourself--unless you suck. . .
-Joss Whedon
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nacoran
4884 posts
Nov 11, 2011
12:51 PM
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Just barely old enough to be grumpy. :) (I just turned 40.)
I've become 'reformed' when it comes to distracted driving though, largely from riding around with my friend while he's talking on his cell phone. He swears he it doesn't effect his driving but it's a white knuckle experience. It got me thinking about my driving (my big vice was eating double whoppers on the run). I wondered if maybe, just maybe, I might be as distracted and oblivious to how badly I was driving as he was.
My worst personal distracted driving moment was at 75 miles per hour out in the Southwest, driving across country. I tried taking a pullover sweater off while driving and it got stuck. I was driving blind waaaay too long. Thankfully the roads out there are really straight! (A good friend of mine got in an accident once... well, did you ever see the movie Parenthood?)
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Nate
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BAG
103 posts
Nov 12, 2011
11:45 AM
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Never tried rack diving, but I get a lot of my practice in while commuting to and from work, sitting in traffic. Shortly after dicovering and appreciating the need for scales and scales and more scales, I discovered the art of scales and scales and more scales while driving.
Can also make playlists on the Ipod of songs in whatever key harp I want to play in the car that day and run em through.
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Twitter ~ BossoBrewingCo
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nacoran
4894 posts
Nov 12, 2011
10:35 PM
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Steamrollin, I suspect a Puck might get swallowed in a car accident (although since it's got open ends it might not obstruct the airways- they should bill that as a safety feature!) My Dad likes to tell a story about when he was a kid he was riding in the front seat of the car. His sister was in back with candy. He tilted his head back and she dropped him some candy. It got stuck. Thankfully, it was a Lifesavers, so I'm here today. Apparently it was stuck well enough that it didn't dislodge until it dissolved a bit. Of course, the hole through the middle might have also prevented him from being able to cough it up...
Hands free is better than using hands but the studies on cell phone driving suggest using a cell phone with a headset is just about as dangerous as hands free. The cell companies are coming around too, after years of claiming it was safe. Funny thing, they came around just about the time their fare structure changed from billing by the minute (where they had an incentive to have you on the phone no matter what) to unlimited (where they have an incentive both to keep you off the phone and keep you alive to pay the next months bill.)
In the long run (maybe 20 years out) I don't think it will matter. Google has already road tested technology that drives cars in everyday traffic (DARPA beat them to the punch but it looks like Google's tech is farther along now). It is, of course, in Google's interest to free your hands up from the steering wheel so you can surf the web where they can serve you ads. I for one welcome are car driving overlords. It will have some profound effects on society. It should speed up vehicles and ease congestion since vehicles will be able to follow closer together... although other studies show that as soon as congestion eases up people move farther out, which in turn restores the state of congestion. What will be really fascinating, aside from seeing people doing even crazier things in their cars, will be the effect it has police/public interaction. Most people are most likely to interact with the police during a traffic stop. If people aren't driving it takes a whole range of interaction out of the pool- everything from speeding to drunk driving to vehicle searches.
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Nate
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oldwailer
1770 posts
Nov 13, 2011
7:46 AM
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Yo Nate--I think the danger of swallowing a puck and choking on it during an accident rank right in there at about the same probability level as having a meteorite smash through the roof of my house and crushing my skull while I'm playing Dixie on my Cb harp.
It could happen--but I'm far more worried about learning 12th position. . .
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Oldwailer's Web Site
Always be yourself--unless you suck. . .
-Joss Whedon
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12gagedan
134 posts
Nov 15, 2011
5:06 PM
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I rejected rack-driving after about 5 minutes. I've practiced in the car most days for the past 10+years. The harmonica is a blind instrument. One's eyes have nothing to do with it, so they can stay on the road. As for focus, I suppose it depends on the individual. For me, playing harp in the car is less distracting than speaking to someone in the passenger seat.
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12gagedan's YouTube Channel
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Buzadero
896 posts
Nov 15, 2011
5:27 PM
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Playing whilst operating a vehicle works out for me just fine. No, not in traffic. Rolling down the open highway. You are driving, while playing the harp. You're not playing the harp while driving.
The harp playing is not (or, shouldn't be) the focus. Walter is correct in that if you are attempting to make 'music' from your heart and soul that your focus should be the production of that music. However, if you are breathing in and out through the harp as a secondary activity to your driving, you are benefiting yourself.
How? You are naturally going to try to make noises that work and are pleasing or natural sounding to your ears. Subliminally you are exercising the note layout, flows from lick to lick, etc.
Clearly, you probably shouldn't be trying to work out complex new arrangements and techniques whilst operating your motor vehicle. But, as a secondary activity, there are plenty more risky. Of course, not everyone has their own best interests at heart. That's why regulatory bodies can justify legislating us to death. Protect us from ourselves, as it were.
I'm not advocating that anyone drive and play. That should be your own choice. You should know your own limits. Whether you choose to abide by them should also be your own business.
Playing in a rack while driving? Now that's just crazy talk.
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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
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12gagedan
136 posts
Nov 16, 2011
7:21 AM
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For me, it's a question of never practice, vs. practice in the car. When you get to a certain point, you have to spend time just to maintain what you've learned in the past. I'm not making huge strides in my playing, but at least I'm not slipping too far either. Over the last few years I've mainly worked on maintaining my solo-boogie, and on old-timey fox-chase kinds of stuff. It's not "hard" per se, but the muscle-memory of it takes time. 30-min each way = a good chunk of time that's also entertaining as hell. Every now and then, a new instrumental comes out of it. (bonus)
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12gagedan's YouTube Channel
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FreeWilly
61 posts
Nov 16, 2011
11:13 AM
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Wouldn't rack driving turn into Wrack drivin' pretty fast? I never played with a rack, but i can imagine you can't move your head around enough to check mirrors?
I play while driving, but it pisses me off that you can't really hit it because of a lack in focus. That's why i stick to the otherwise boring nakataka and tookatooka etc. etc. And fast triplet stuff. And than at the lights I open the window and blow other peoples brains out :)I bet I've inspired many a kid to take up the harp that way.. or so I hope :)
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