Elwood
147 posts
Sep 25, 2009
4:34 AM
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G'day everyone,
I'm rather chuffed to announce that I just began a stint as a guest blogger on the UK harp site, www.harpsurgery.com.
Perhaps you'd like to read my first post, Figuring Out The Harp Player. There's loads more to come. I'd appreciate your comments and thoughts, either here or in the comments section of the blog.
Cheers,
Murray
Last Edited by on Sep 25, 2009 9:34 AM
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fishbone
10 posts
Sep 25, 2009
5:20 AM
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That was a good article!! First of many I hope.
I found out what I'm missing....an old ugly hat!!
Now for an English lesson...what's chuffed mean?
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Harpist
69 posts
Sep 25, 2009
5:51 AM
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Elwood,
I really enjoyed your article, good job. Let us know when the next one is finished.
"...chuffed"?
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fishbone
12 posts
Sep 25, 2009
6:19 AM
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It's a REALLY good harp site, I've book marked it.
I also have to 'Set my barrow down and get stuck in' and make a few trips to WIKTIONARY for my "English" lessons!!
Chuffed: Adjective
Superlative
most chuffed
1. (Australian, New Zealand, British, informal) Very pleased or satisfied.
AND
Barrow may refer to:
* a cart or flat rectangular tray with handles at each end
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congaron
146 posts
Sep 25, 2009
7:11 AM
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Excellent! "I got a gig" is my favorite. You know, even with on-hand cobbled together guitar gear and vocal mics and homemade cb mic variants...I have significant money in harps just trying to find my favorite. Maybe the Manji will end all that. If not, I'm trying a crossover and that's it for me....right.
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Elwood
148 posts
Sep 25, 2009
8:42 AM
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I should credit that "I got a gig" joke to Oldwailer, it's where I heard it first.
As Fishbone explained, to be "chuffed" is to be supremely, perhaps even overly satisfied with oneself.
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GermanHarpist
624 posts
Sep 25, 2009
8:43 AM
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Nice one! Looking forward to your next articles.
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germanharpist on YT.
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Elwood
149 posts
Sep 25, 2009
11:03 AM
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Indeed, stoked. Thrilled. Pleased as punch. Gladdened, gratified, ecstatic, ecstatic, jubilant, tickled pink...
Thanks for the comments, all.
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fishbone
13 posts
Sep 25, 2009
11:58 AM
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Real good web site with a lot of good info!!
congaron---Not to be confused with STUFFED the Australians have another meaning for that!
Elwood, another good piece of English humor or wisdom comes from a product review article I read (wish they had a credit) "more useless than the Pope’s knackers"
I love that site!
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phogi
34 posts
Sep 25, 2009
12:15 PM
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I've always understood chuffed to mean "bungled in the fashion of a beginner," the most common use being an insult. For example, "I went to the jam and no one there was any good, just a bunch of chuffers wanking on instruments."
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XHarp
180 posts
Sep 25, 2009
12:22 PM
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"Never mind that it will still sound like an asthmatic duck being throttled to death."
You must've have heard my playing....Now that you're famous, I want royalties.
Very well written indeed. Thanks
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"Keep it in your mouth" - XHarp
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Elwood
151 posts
Sep 25, 2009
12:48 PM
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Fishbone -- except for the guest blog which is done by me, everything on HarpSurgery.com is written by 'The Good Doctor', alias Wandering Wilf Taylor, erstwhile UK harp champion.
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bloozhead
1 post
Sep 29, 2009
3:30 AM
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Hi guys,
The Good Doctor here. So glad you enjoyed your visits to the Harp Surgery. Also enjoying the 'two nations divided by a common language' thread!
Indeed chuffed expresses a positive feeling. The antonym is be dischuffed or feel dischuffed with something/someone. While calling someone a chuffer is a softened, sometimes affection, insult. There is is also the expletive form 'Chuffin' Hell' or in the north of England 'Chuffin' Heck'.
I have also heard other phrases such as 'to get/give a kick in the Chuff. Meaning backside. And 'oh you Chuff/Chuffer' meaning idiot or arse/ass.
None of which are harp related unless perhaps you have put on a particularly poor performance!
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snakes
357 posts
Sep 29, 2009
4:27 PM
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So you are telling me I actually have to practice. Crap, I thought if I just spent a lot of money it would happen on its own. :-( (LOL!)
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jbone
156 posts
Sep 30, 2009
4:39 AM
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i'm no stranger to beat up hats. been through a few. lately looking to sport a decent lid instead and spent a few sheckels on something that's a bit nicer.
funny thing, i was invited to play many years ago in public with a very mixed- and mixed-up- crew at a bar one afternoon. a costa rican rich kid, an ol' country boy, an aspiring blues guitarist, and a flute player among others. an eclectic bunch to say the least. at the time i had next to no idea how to make a harp work, but i "made up for it in enthusiasm". thanks to the powers i didn't yet have a mic and amp! it was a long time before i ventured out in public again with a harp.
but honestly, i did get invited to play with bands long before i was really "good enough". that line about enthusiasm is true. once i got an amp- albeit too small to play out with the "big kids"- i felt i was ready, and certain others did also. these days i think it was an unintended but deserved insult to my skill level. these guys were looking for one more piece to round out a band and i was handy. it didn't matter to them if i had any real chops, since i could pull off a solo here and there and take some pressure off the guitarist.
it was learn as you go for me. i was a staunch jam-hanger-outer and still do that when i can. open mic/jam nights are where i learned a lot of harp tricks and also manners, met a lot of musicians, and ultimately was recruited into bands, and later recruited guys i'd jammed with to form new bands.
as years went by i realized how limited my playing was. not that i'd ever studied the harp seriously, i was too lazy to actually become a student in any formal way. but after several years- maybe 2 decades- of almost exclusively playing 2nd or cross position, i was befriended by a young man who was totally inspired to learn harp. in 6 months he had gone far past anything i had ever conceived of harp-wise. he was a drummer from a very early age and had studied music for years. he knew how to be a student, and how to actually do research into the style he wanted to play. he got great results. and soon he was my teacher of sorts. he turned me on to the west coast swing guys and 3rd position playing. along with another guy who was playing rhythm guitar in the band i was with at the time, who incidentally was also a very good harp player, these two sort of nudged me along in the good direction. it finally began to come together in the early '00's. i learned a couple of songs in 3rd and wore them out at jams and gigs. then came a period where i was not with a band for some time. i did get to sit in with some guys in the city i had moved to, and that stage became a laboratory of sorts. i dove deeper into 3rd position and discovered that i was also very lacking in 1st position playing, so i began to rethink and retrain in 1st also. these other positions ultimately led me to take a deeper look at what i knew about the venerable 2nd position, and the result has been, my playing has improved steadily for about 10 years now.
i always stress getting out and playing live as part of the journey. learning the mechanics and good wind control and technique, and amassing a bag of tricks at the woodshed is a good thing, but for me, learning how to best interact with other musicians was essential. and many have been the times i've had an a-HA moment right there on stage. things tend to click into place at seemingly odd times when you're out live.
i spent a lot of hours trying to play along with my heroes on cd and cassette. i also spent a lot of time on the internet digging up data on how to work these things successfully. and many mics and amps have come and gone, along with many bands, a duo or 2, and hour after hour of living room jams all the way out to opening for a national act a few years ago with the band i was with.
it's a helluva ride.
Last Edited by on Sep 30, 2009 7:16 PM
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jbone
157 posts
Sep 30, 2009
7:17 PM
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i forgot in my rush to the time clock this morning- Elwood, great blog!!
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Elwood
154 posts
Oct 01, 2009
7:39 AM
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Thanks for the comments, people. Looks like the blog is going to be a weekly fixture: every friday at the Harp Surgery.
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