My sister-in-law is getting married this month. I was asked to be in the wedding and then asked to perform a song during the unity candle lighting.
I asked for songs and this was their #1 pick:
I thought it would be easy as my youngest sis-in-law is a fantastic piano player...as is her grandmother. The song is pretty much just arppegiated C and F chords (major, I think, but I haven't really started woodshedding it yet). The chorus goes to Am(?), but again, really easy.
Well, evidently it was decided without me (or the bride-to-be) that other family were not going to be allowed to perform music at the wedding. That leaves me with about a week and a half to figure out a way to do this tune, lol.
We talked about using an outside musician, using a backing track, or having me loop something. Well, she wanted me to try doing it looping (which is neither OT with harmonica, nor a characteristic of modern harmonica playing) with harmonica.
I'll start woodshedding tonight. I only need to play about 2mins total, so it isn't like a real song or performance, but I thought it was cool she wanted me to do it solo. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
I'll sing at least the first verse/chorus. I am undecided as to whether or not I will play any sort of "lead". I told her if I needed to kill more time, I could play a lead, but I'll probably play the progression once, then a second time to loop it, then a one progression harp line, and then sing.
That should give me a decent transition without sounding choppy..and it should let me re-record the loop if I f' up.
How about trying it old school TRULY solo, meaning vocals, then the break being something largely mirrors the vocal melody with a few well placed double stops, then followed by vocals again. On a tune like this, a solo that's closer to the vocal melody makes more sense with the groove and feel of the tune, and during the solo, use your hands very judicously to shape the sound more. I would even suggest even trying out a tremelo harp for this maybe in cetain parts as well. Above all, make the solo as understated as possible. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I agree...any sort of "solo" will just basically the melody. I am going to try avoid any sort of lead before the vocals, but I can see where timing the recording of the loop might be tricky...and if I can even play a fill like the steel guitar I have an "out" if I feel rushed or miscue the loop.
If I need filler after the vocals, I'd go back to an understated melody line...sorta like the steel in the above vid...no real "solo" as much as a fill here and there if the vocal timing would be off.
I will for 1,000% sure record my practice and solicit feedback. I just think of past experiences where the guitar/piano just keeps playing through the progression - well the loop is doing that.
i like to play echo harp when backing these sorts of tunes. i like the haunting quality of the echo... dunno- something to think about. a different angle maybe for a lead break if not the whole song. third or fourth position minors in echo might sound really sweet for a solo. and then again maybe not, being why god made woodsheds.
What sort of looping track would you play too/ create, or would you play guitar along with the harp like in the vid?
The guitar is wonderful too, in what sounds like a big open C tuning with lots of space for the pedal steel to sing and the vocals to carry. If you can make a custom harp that sings like a pedal steel, even better :)
I've been using a LLF# to loop just the verse, and will probably not loop a change for the chorus. I could easily with my looper and just jump between the two, but I dunno.
The chord is played 1-5-9-3, I think...so 2 4 6 7 and then 4+ 5+ 8 9+.
Honestly, I haven't had much time to practice, but I have the vocals down and have come up with a simple progression with a beatboxed snare at the end to emmulate his palm slaps. I probably won't do any real beatboxing or bass looping...just ultra simple. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
Still love hearing this song. I keep my 12 string in open C for playing traditional melodies, and with a capo on for C#, its really a nice accompaniment for playing along.
I don't have any LF# or LLF# harps but I can jam in C on guitar with a LF in the rack. The vocal gets a bit low down there. Good luck with the performance!
I learned the tune on guitar to make sure I was playing it right on harmonica. I can't really play guitar, but I have a crappy one I got for free that stays in tune for at least a few minutes. The strings are 10yrs old, lol.
I have the tuning for guitar down (Open Drop D tuned down a half step), and can technically play the song, but it is horrible! The finger positions, especially with barre chords are so uncomfortable! That is the main reason why I never really learned guitar. It hurts.
I am hoping to record a scratch track of it yet today with harmonica.
The first chord...C# is easy to play, I can get my hand down to the F# no problem, but I always screw up with my pointer finger trying to barre it. There is a G# on the chorus (I might be using the wrong note names, but I am playing it going from the I to the IV and then the V on the verse), but I could technically get away not playing that. ---------- Mike VHT Special 6 Mods Quicksilver Custom Harmonicas - When it needs to come from the soul...
Last Edited by on May 18, 2012 7:46 AM
@HarpNinja -- Icouldn't help but get a chuckle about that guitar story because in many ways, that's why I turned to harmonica and in the early 70's, I got a crappy $10 guitar guaranteed to give the Frankenstein Monster sore fingers because the action was unbalanced und ridiculously, which actually as I found out later, was correct for a resonator guitar and perfect for playing slide with it.
I later bought a better acoustic guitar and eventually got better at guitar playing, tho as far as I'm concerned not good enough for me to gig doing it. I learned open tuning playing many years later which was great for doing Elmore James/Hound Dog Taylor slide stuff, but I still use regular tuning most often.
Learning with some sort of chordal instrument really helps out a lot for learning anything. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I don't get why anyone would want to play guitar, lol.
Change of plans, in woodshedding I changed the key...moved it up a step and half(?) using a Low G harp in 2nd with a few fills on an A harp in 12th (like a two bar fill between the chorus and verse). I got the three chord changes down, though. I can serial loop three separate chords and just switch back and forth. The con is it limits extra instrumentation, BUT the song is really just acoustic anyways.
In all likelihood, I'll set up the loops before the wedding and play in unison through the first progression...that way I can't screw up. Live I wouldn't care, but it is a wedding!
That sounds like a much better key. I only learned to play guitar so I could play harp in a rack for that special challenge in ease of playability, tone and embouchure. Especially when the rack starts to droop out of the range of your neck reach in the middle of a solo.
For guitar geeks, I figured out that he is in an interesting open tuning on this vid (which I had at first thought was my usual open C tuning up a half step : C/G/C/G/C/E). But when I capo'd up to C# the chords still did not set up the way he plays them. In drop D (or drop C# as harpninja described) its a bitch.
What he seems to be using is an altered open C# tuning (starting with the lowest string).
Low to high:
C#/G#/C#/F/G#/C#
in C C/G/C/E/G/C
This lets you get the main tonic/ sus chord he plays with just one note/ finger, fretted on the 4th string 2nd fret. And all the others with bar chords and the same fingering up the neck. Much easier.
My preferred guitar tuning for sessions these days is DADGAD.
The night before, on a whim, I googled backing tracks for the song. Turns out, I was able to find a site that not only had one (had no clue this song was actually relatively popular at one point), but you could edit the mix before purchasing.
I ended up buying a track with acoustic guitar and synth. I played the steel parts on harmonica. I know it is cheating, and not something I endorse for performance purposes, but it was her wedding, and honestly, I wanted it to sound as much like the original as possible.
It went extremely well and I got a ton of compliments. It was totally worth using a backing track to make sure it turned out the best it could. Most of my in-laws have seen me perform multiple times and are very supportive. I was glad I could do something for them musically rather than the other way around.
