A a year or so ago I posted a video of me playing harmonica at a jam. Yesterday I decided to try it again. I'm a guitarist who just dabbles in harp. If you're wondering what my rig is, it's some cheap mic from the 70s my grandpa gave me called "Realistic Highball 2", and my Deluxe Reverb. I'm open to constructive criticism etc.
Has that mic got a short lead? Looks like you are on a short tether and it may be cramping your style a little, plus the front's hand signals seem a bit inhibiting. I haven't listened to Portnoy/ waters treatment of this song for a whole, but I seem to recall jerry comps pretty much the whole thing apart from his break, and it's an integral part of the sound. I don't think the guitar player needs to be shutting you down at all, you sound ok, and the comping part is straightforward, you understand rhythm, shouldn't be any reason you can't be part of the rhythm section in this song. But forgive me of I'm wrong about jerry's approach. Your sound is pretty good I think. And I think if you were just playing that groove, when it came time for your break you would feel easier about it, you'd be right there with it. I could see you were worried about your volume etc, just a bit unsure. Yeah, I think nick is right. You can play ok, and you'll get better. You can relax in performance. Seems you are playing pretty intuitively. You can probably pick up a few licks, make your solo a bit more interesting. Might depend how much you care about the harp, how much work you want to invest in it. ----------
that Realistic Highball mic was the Radio Shack brand version of a Shure mic. the Unispere or Unidyne i think.
overall i'm sure you'll improve if you just stick with it and get some instruction. (Jason Ricci does Skype lessons now) you should go there. most players-when they were novices, sound exactly like you do now. ---------- MP affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
I had a choir director once who said that a conductor who waves his hands around like crazy with big motions usually doesn't have much confidence. Whether he wanted you playing or not, watching him distracted from the performance. Tell him whatever else he does he can be more subtle. There is supposed to at least be an illusion for the audience that you have this stuff sorted out before you go up on stage, even if that's not really the case! :)
FYI, this was a blues jam, not a gig, so that's why my volume wasn't quite adjusted, and the reason why the guitarist was directing the drummer and bassist who didn't necessarily know the song.
