I've made this video this morning (obviously) and I think it sounds OK...I don't want to engage any controversy, this is really just for the fun....The harmonica used are: C, High G, and F.
To SCS: Because I wanted to make de chord progression of this song (G, D, C) with keeping the kind of Ska/raggae/jazz type of rhythm, which was not quite working for me with a single harp...and Try it, it's a lot of fun to play with all these harmonicas in one hand.
Nice. Did you actually need to use 3 harps, or was it for the fun of it ?
I joined a band a few weeks ago, they already have their own compositions in wich I jump in, but they are very open to new stuff, so I'm thinking about suggesting them to play a reggae song. The harp can be used to make some great dub effects.
edit : oops, posted same time, my question is already answered.
Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2009 5:32 AM
It always interests me how you are thinking when you actually switch harps as opposed to staying with one.
Years ago I was hanging out with another sax player who had flown into UK from the states and was doing one person demos at various jazz colleges and other such establishments using some computer stuff, synth etc. He would combine playing with the synth including speech would you believe and all sorts of stuff. At certain points of his playing performance he uses a foot switch or possibly even more than one to change things as he is improvising.
I thought that the improvisational thinking would be interupted momentarily while they clicked the switch although in their playing it wasn't always detectable.
When you switch harps in your head are you saying to yourself I switch now, right now I change or do you just see it as an extention of one instrument and thinking music?
I guess that would have a bearing on how you approach this way, particularly playing lines and phrases as opposed to chords.
Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2009 9:02 AM
"When you switch harps in your head are you saying to yourself I switch now, right now I change or do you just see it as an extention of one instrument and thinking music?
I guess that would have a bearing on how you approach this way, particularly playing lines and phrases as opposed to chords. "
SOP: In fact I'm trying on this video (I've made a way better version few hours ago, since this video), to replace a rhythmic guitar/Brass section, the chords are pretty easy to find, then you just have to place the harmonicas by order of priority or degree and to answer more closely, you can really feel the change of degree and it's automatic, you don't have to say to yourself which harps goes where and when....
Playing lines between chords this is just when you decide to
ZACK: I know that's not something that you may like more, and I'm respecting that, the thing is that I love to think that I can handle any music like Jean Jacques Milteau did along his life.
The last couple of weeks I've understood that seeking for perfection is NOT my goal at the end...I prefer to play something not perfect (still you should know some stuff LOL) but whith the feeling, instead playing a cold but perfect music and at some stage it's equally difficult.
I know that many recognized player like Adam, Chris, Jason, Carlos and so many more will not respect me for thinking like that, but this is just how I function: emotions and feeling. May be this is something that can be respected after all?
So this video is another try to express the huge joy I've had when I listened this music, just like the blues or any other music.
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Last Edited by on Jun 06, 2009 10:29 AM
Very cool. I don't think I could hold more than two without dropping one. If those Hohner 6 harmonica wheel thingies weren't so expensive I'd give one of them a try. I guess in Asia it's pretty common to use a C & a C# Tremolo together.
I was playing a C and a G together yesterday and I got a mustache hair stuck because I was holding one harp up above my lip as I was playing the other. Really stuck. It took me a minute to get loose.
To my idea, in music as well as in other arts, there is no perfection ; in a sense, perfection means death, because you cannot go further. Of course, you can learn a solo by Sonny Boy or someone else and play it perfectly, meaning you play it exacltly like him. But is there a point in doing that ? Where is the creativity then, where is art ?
I think that the emotion you can transmit in your music is something coming from the inside, and it's highly personal, even when you play a partition that's fully detailed, there is always room for self expression. Then, it's up to the listener's taste to like more one interpretation than an other.
Personnaly, I don't like music to be too clean. For instance, that's why I don't really like JJ Milteau, I perceive his playing as being too perfect, over-controlled to a point where it doesn't bring me any emotion. Of course, this is my own perception of it, besides I reckon he is an incredible harp player.
this is really cool, watched it a few times tonight and it looks like you're having a lot of fun with it.
hey Gloth, I like the way you think, perfection can be quite boring. I have the SWBII with yardbirds & Animals cds and they are by no means perfect perfomances by Sonny boy but they are all the more entertaining because of it. I like being a little bit faulty.... ---------- My granddad gave me some sound advice on his deathbed. "It's worth spending money on good speakers," he told me.
