K_Hungus
103 posts
Mar 15, 2012
2:14 PM
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@laurent2015
Yeah I have some thoughts on this. I feel/felt so frustrated with not getting better that I thought about the ‘artistic’ method a lot. With me not having it what could I do to go somewhere? This is what I can think of.
I think you’ve to start by knowing which notes to play, knowing the changes of a standardblues, that kind of stuff (a basic level is enough). And bending in tune, if the bends are really off it will never sound good. But I presume you know this is important.
A problem I had and (still have) is not knowing what to play at a certain point, I feel like I did all I know. You’ll get better at this by just playing harp longer, but that progress can feel so damn slow. There are ways to learn this more quicker I think. I’ll try name a few
probably most people start of with learing a few blueslicks. The thing is a lick, like 2 +4 +3 ‘3 2 is quite useless just written down. I’t gets that ‘manish boy’ feeling by the way you play it, how it is played in time. It can be played a million different ways.
So don’t stick to licks but explore all variations you can make. This will become automatic eventually. Hold notes longer, hit some twice, start them some where else. Hit the ending note twice or more hold it etc. And combine some with a pause in between (for the singing) and basically that is what I did with walter track, in two takes or so and some listening. If I hear the track back I feel I’m too repetitious and towards the end I black out
But I practised that making variations a lot. Just with backing tracks or a beat. And keep going if you black out or make a mistake..just set the track to repeat. after a minute of the same you’ll come up with something new or something you forgot you had. Maybe by doing this a lot those blackouts become shorter.this is just the way I play if I don’t think something out or practice a hard lick.
Then there are some tricks you need to have you can always throw in. I’m thinking of warbles, triplet patterns, octaves AND combining these with (made up) licks.
Another thing is, you can always make variations of a lick played in the same time. But just change the tone, let other notes bleed in, maybe some vibrato or not. Or that ghost chord stuff adam talked about in a very early lesson is a great way to play around with the 2 draw 2 draw bend.
Last point I can think of; licks that mimic the vocals a little always sound good, not necessarily he exact notes, just the timing. This creates call and response, and if not overdone sound great.
Last Edited by on Mar 15, 2012 2:18 PM
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laurent2015
45 posts
Mar 15, 2012
3:51 PM
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Thank you!
@Diggs: Obvious years far ahead from me!
@Hungus: Neat response, really accurate.
I have to know the changes of the song and listen to the melody untill getting it by heart(I think): it means actually that I was really the wrong way.
After that, yes, I acknowledge I should study more videos on youtube.
Well, I'll go on trying!
Thanks a lot.
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K_Hungus
106 posts
Mar 15, 2012
4:23 PM
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@laurent seriously you should type in to you tube gussow 12 bar blues. and you will get to the videos. I can't get it linked..I've to look up how to that again..
learn the blues scale played, google that first actually. You know, I don't know if you just got a harmonica or been playing some while. So I can't recommend based on the luck I got.
I will never have the patience of a whole book and a cd. I just had the gussow sensation first..that seems like a shameless plug. But if you combine everything he teaches for f'ing free with some books. And definetly his very minimilistic charged lessons, you cant go wrong
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waltertore
2090 posts
Mar 15, 2012
4:39 PM
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laurent2015: My advice is to let yourself be you and the right path will be clear and bright. I still don't know a scale, or even what keys I am in much of the time. Tuning into ones own internal groove and harmonizing that with ones music is the goal for me. I do know what sounds right and wrong to me and that is my theory summary. 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
3,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Mar 15, 2012 4:40 PM
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laurent2015
46 posts
Mar 16, 2012
11:11 AM
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Guys,
I'm afraid to agree with both of you.
@Hungus, I'll see that video, be sure, and also practice what you advocate.
@Walter, obviously working with feeling: isn't it the story of blues music?
I'll succeed in putting something good to your tune, I don't know when, but I make the commitment to doing it.
(Gee, what did I say now???????????)
Now I really think I'm impressed by your stuff, I don't
want to devalue it, that's my problem.
Thanks for your terse intervention.
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2012 11:20 AM
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belfast_harper
289 posts
Mar 16, 2012
12:22 PM
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I don't know anything about recording, I just used sound recorder to record while I playing with the track playing through my lap top speakers.
I want to make a demo of my playing that I can post online with an add looking for a guitar player in my area, so I need to learn how how to blend/mix the harmonica into a track.
There are no programs on my computer for mixing, is there anything that I can download for free?
Is cube base le4 any good for doing this, I have a disk for it that I got with my voice recorder?
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2012 12:25 PM
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Fingers
155 posts
Mar 16, 2012
1:59 PM
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@belfast harper! Audacity is free! i just need to work out how to use it!!
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waltertore
2093 posts
Mar 16, 2012
2:18 PM
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I wish I could help you Belfast harper I use samplitude. It is much like using a mixing board only it is on the monitor screen. Look at the recording angle as learning another instrument from scratch that has no connection to the one(s) you know. It can go real deep just like playing an instrument. Unfortunately there is not a cheap, push a button, and you got it, recording tool out there, that will yield high quality results. That is probably the best advice I can offer. Good Luck! 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
3,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
Last Edited by on Mar 16, 2012 2:19 PM
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billy_shines
228 posts
Mar 16, 2012
3:42 PM
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i did a recording i dont know how to get it online. its not very high tech. i will try youtube and i really hope i pass audition.
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K_Hungus
107 posts
Mar 16, 2012
6:10 PM
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@ Belfastharper, yeah you need a program like audacity. Heaphones, a mic, and an okay soundcard.
This way you can have the track played on your headphones and the harp recorded seperate of the track. Afterwards you mix them. The problem is with cheap soundcards there often is latency, your recorded harp will not be in sync with the track. There are ways to get rid of this problem in audacity, I know. But I cant tell you how to do this. I dont use it.
If you buy a soundcard that is made for recording, you dont have this problem. I use the soundcarde emu o404, I've had it for years. It works great but you need a little preamp. There is anohter version with build in pre amp. Second hand they dont cost much.
The mic you use is very crucial too, I have a shure shure beta 87a. It's not a studio mic, but better than mic bellow 100$. The more clean your harp track the better you can adjust, without getting noise interfering
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Diggsblues
1205 posts
Mar 16, 2012
7:50 PM
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If you get a MAC you don't need a sound card. It also comes with garage band that I did my version on.
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Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind
How you doin'
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belfast_harper
291 posts
Mar 18, 2012
3:47 AM
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Thanks for the advice, I will just have to make do with Audacity and my laptop until I get the money together for a macbook pro.
billy_shines, you will be able to upload you song to sound cloud, it's free.
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billy_shines
245 posts
Mar 18, 2012
4:14 AM
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ok off the cuff one shot deal computer speakers unamped harp.
http://soundcloud.com/billy-acrata/jam-with-walter
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waltertore
2104 posts
Mar 19, 2012
10:42 AM
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Hi Billy: I got to listen today. I wish it was recorded at a higher quality. It is hard to tell how it actually sounded. 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
3,800+ of my songs
continuous streaming - 200 most current songs
my videos
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