lumpy wafflesquirt
34 posts
Apr 17, 2009
3:17 PM
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How do you find the right hole on the harp for the start of a big solo.
Say you have a 'written' solo which you need to come in with an 8hole blow bang on the money with no lead in. You'll look really silly if you hit a 7 or 9 hole blow so how do you hit it?
Do you play it quietly beforehand to check?
or
run your tongue along the comb counting holes?
or
something else?
There must be a way to do it with confidence. With other instruments you can look at the fingering and get the right body shape [for want of a better term] but all the holes feel the same on a harp unless it is 1 or 10.
I shall probably find that you all suggest a different method and I'll have 127 to pick from :^)
Thanks for the help that I have gleaned from the other threads.
Lumpy
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snakes
187 posts
Apr 17, 2009
3:23 PM
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For me if it is on the lower part of the harp it just kinda' happens. If it is on the upper part of the harp then I take a peak at the hole to orient myself and then when I place it to my mouth there seems to be better aim. Granted that technique has its drawbacks. My notion is that as we get better they will be instinctually found with ease.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
36 posts
Apr 17, 2009
3:29 PM
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I have several tunes that need a 6HBlow so I have marked all my harps on the number 6 with a blob of white paint to ty and 'home in' on it having had a look, but it isn't 100% reliable, I think my eyes are 'going' a bit.
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Buddha
259 posts
Apr 17, 2009
3:50 PM
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There are 12 notes in the western music system. There are 7 notes to a scale. That means you have a better than 50% chance to hit a correct note. Nobody wants to hear anybody fumbling around to find notes.
The solution is to get comfortable with wrong notes. You always a half step away from a good note. And if you play a wrong note with intention and then resolve to a good note, the wrong note no longer sounds wrong.
The problem with most musicians is they are comfortable with only ONE note, you all would be doing yourself a huge favor by getting to know every note in the chromatic scale.
Thinking in terms of music rather than notes will gat you a lot farther than anything else.
The majority of my most recent music is just stepping up to the mic and playing. Music is made on the spot and it's beautiful.
You may note like this music but it illustrates what I am talking about.
http://www.harmonicapros.com/chris_music/jazz_gun/
Last Edited by on Apr 17, 2009 3:52 PM
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Oisin
201 posts
Apr 17, 2009
4:09 PM
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Lumpy...it get easier the more you practice. Like Snakes says it kinda just happens and becomes instinctive.
However we all hit the wrong note now and again and as Buddha says it easy to quickly slip right into the correct note again.You can even do the old cliche and play the wrong note again and call it jazz.
If it's still the first note your uncomfortable with then practice is probably the best option.
It took me quite a long time to know what sound I was gonna get each time I played, if you know what I mean...what note to expect I suppose is what I mean.
Once you got that then it became much easier, for me anyway.
Oisin
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Aussiesucker
251 posts
Apr 17, 2009
6:56 PM
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Yeah it just sort of happens. I am doing a course at present that has Irish fiddle tunes and some of the exercises have jumps more than I could at first handle. I certainly could not hit the right holes by following tabs but as soon as I was able to memorise the sounds it all fell into place ie I could do it easily by ear. I know what notes to hit but ask me which hole it is and I sometimes have a problem.
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snakes
189 posts
Apr 18, 2009
12:27 AM
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Yeah - good point Aussiesucker. I couldn't tell ya' exactly which hole sometimes, but when it is time to start playing your mouth just kinda' makes it the right part of the harp.
Buddha - you always take it to another level. Thanks.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
37 posts
Apr 18, 2009
2:31 AM
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Buddha et al
I agree with what you say, but that is fine for ad lib type stuff.
Maybe it's not strictly blues, but there's a very exposed harp solo in Broken Stones [Paul Weller] which if you miss that 8Hblow will be very obvious.
I can't find it on youtube to demonstrate.
I am thinking in terms of the music and there is a written 8Hblow not a 7 or a 9.
Think the National Anthem. If you picked up your harp to play it and were a few mm to the left and started on the wrong note would you be 'comfortable with the wrong note'? you might, but the audience wouldn't be impressed.
there must be a way to hit the note without 'guess work'
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gene
171 posts
Apr 18, 2009
2:50 AM
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Practice the same little piece of the song that your having trouble with. Practice just that piece over and over and over for a while. You'll probably get a little better until you start getting tired. Then you'll start getting worse. Quit. Wait 'til ya see what happens next time you pick up the harp! You'll be surprised.
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tookatooka
201 posts
Apr 18, 2009
3:25 AM
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You could glue a little plastic dot onto your harp just above the 8 hole. Kind of like braille for the lips.
----------
When I'm not blowing, I'm drawing.
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Buddha
260 posts
Apr 18, 2009
6:42 AM
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if you don't know how to put the harp up to your mouth and play any note you can think of then you need work. The only time I mess something like that up is if I get stupid and grab the harp upside down.
Think of a note and play it. Practice this everyday.
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KingoBad
33 posts
Apr 18, 2009
9:06 AM
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I think most "major" artist like starting the national anthem on an off note these days anyway. Then proceed butchering the rest of it too.. It is still very musical, just not exactly as it was written...
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Andrew
211 posts
Apr 18, 2009
9:15 AM
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If you start on the wrong note, just play in the new position. So, if you're playing the American National Anthem and you accidentally start on the 5 blow, play it in 4th position, and if you accidentally start on the 7 blow, play it in 12th position. Works for me, but your accompanist will need to be awake. Best to err on the high side - if you find yourself in 12th position, at least you don't have to worry about the 5 overblow. And the overdraws in 4th are a bitch.
And if you insist on playing it in 2nd position and accidentally start on the 3 draw, you'll have to play it in 5th position with that 5 overblow again, and if you start on the 5 draw you end up in 11th position with the 6 overblow.
Bet you wish you had a shitty national anthem you didn't want to play, like us Brits!
Last Edited by on Apr 18, 2009 9:26 AM
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rabbit
20 posts
Apr 18, 2009
11:54 AM
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I used small triangles of a thick tape on the top cover
over the spaces between holes 3 & 4 and holes 7 & 8.
I could feel the left side marker on holes 2, 3, 4, & 5 and
but not 1 or 6 and similarly on the the right side I knew
where was in relationship to holes 6, 7, 8 & 9.
I'll get around to something more permanent someday
as an experiment unless I really get the hang of nailing
my geography first. Using this crutch might help with
that though. I've thought of using a punch to make a
dimple from the underside of the cover on a junk harp.
Report back if you do this please. Thanks & good luck.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
38 posts
Apr 18, 2009
1:42 PM
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Andrew
I am also British, the Nat Anthem was just an example which I thought would strike a chord [pun intended] with the Americans.
Buddah... "the harp up to your mouth and play any note you can think of then you need work."
I agree, which is why I am asking here what that work is. Seems it is just practice make perfect, but as you [I think] have said it is not just any practice, but practicing the right thing.
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Buddha
262 posts
Apr 18, 2009
2:36 PM
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Lumpy, think 7blow and then pick up any harp and play 7 blow without looking at the harp. Keep doing this until you can do it. Then do it with all of the other notes.
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lumpy wafflesquirt
39 posts
Apr 19, 2009
2:18 AM
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I'll work on that over the next few days/weeks/whatever and hopefully it will get there - no, rephrase that, It WILL get there.
:^)
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