florida-trader
253 posts
Feb 27, 2013
8:12 AM
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Yesterday, outside my office, I could hear the sound of someone playing a saxophone. I had no idea where it was coming from and didn’t think much of it. Then this morning as I was driving to work I spotted a young guy in a vacant parking lot across the street from my office standing outside his car with a sax. So I pulled in and said hello to him. He’s a beginner and he said that he wasn’t able to practice in his apartment complex. I congratulated him on his dedication and gave him a few words of encouragement. I told him that harmonica players call it “Woodshedding”, but what he was doing was “Parking Lotting”. It occurred to me how much easier, given the size, it is for us to practice our instrument compared to others – sax, guitar, piano, trombone, etc. We don’t nearly as much room.
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Tom Halchak
www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
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Gnarly
487 posts
Feb 27, 2013
8:19 AM
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Harmonica is so portable that you can take it virtually anywhere--
But it's too bad you can't mute it enough to practice in quiet places!
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Willspear
309 posts
Feb 27, 2013
2:56 PM
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Bagpipes you need like and acre in the middle of nowhere to practice.
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mr_so&so
655 posts
Feb 27, 2013
3:53 PM
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The portability of our instrument was not a factor in my choosing it, but it is the reason I've stuck with it, and have made significant progress in my learning. My woodshed is the street, as I walk to work.
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FMWoodeye
581 posts
Feb 27, 2013
5:31 PM
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My wife gets up at 3:00 a.m. for work, so she goes to bed around 6:00 p.m. I can practice the harp (unamplified) in the basement with the TV on as covering noise, no problem. Trombone or trumpet? No cigar, no matter how I try to mute them. Even a trombone with a blanket stuffed in the bell seems to cut through her dreams.
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BronzeWailer
904 posts
Feb 27, 2013
6:43 PM
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I was practicing at our local park where dogs are allowed off leash. A one-legged lady with four huge dogs in the back of her ute pulled up and let them loose. She was using her crutches as a pivot point and kicking a tennis ball with her foor for the dogs to chase, like a human foosball player. I played and sang Hound Dog for them. Luckily for me, the mutts didn't take offence.
edited to correct spelling of "hound"
My YouTube
Last Edited by BronzeWailer on Feb 27, 2013 6:44 PM
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Goldbrick
90 posts
Feb 27, 2013
6:48 PM
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Portability is one of the reasons I picked up the harp. years as a gigging drummer dragging lots of stuff around really made the harp attractive. Can sit in the cab of my pickup by the beach on a pretty Miami mornig and practice or bring a little crate taxi and a mic and folks ( hopefully women , but usually kids gather ,round )
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Aussiesucker
1261 posts
Feb 27, 2013
8:08 PM
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Interesting. The term Parking Lot got me as it is the name given to the Bluegrass book called 'Parking Lot Picker's Songbook' which is a bluegrass musicians bible.
So I looked it up in my copy of the book and this is the explanation> "The term 'Parking Lot Picker' grew out of the early bluegrass festivals where fans would stand around in parking lots adjacent to festival or concert sites and jam or pick."
Now, I think vacant underground parking lots would provide great acoustics for harp players.
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HARPOLDIE’S YOUTUBE
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nacoran
6538 posts
Feb 27, 2013
9:04 PM
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There is an electronic harmonica/synthesizer company that was doing a Kickstarter, Jamboxx (with 2 x's). I don't know if they got funded or not. They are in my neck of the woods, but I didn't get a response when I emailed them. I would have gladly written a review for a chance to play with one. I don't know if they have the ability to bend and overblow, but I know they weren't the only ones working on all electric harps. That would be great for quiet practice- just headphones!
The best harp for 'quiet' practice I've found is any harp with Piedmont covers thrown on it.
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Nate
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STME58
366 posts
Feb 27, 2013
11:07 PM
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i practice a few minutes every morning in my car in the parking lot at work. With a harp I can stay seated in the car and play. I have never stood beside my car and practiced my trombone! I expect the dedication shown by the sax playre mentioned will pay off.
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BronzeWailer
906 posts
Feb 28, 2013
4:14 AM
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When I was living Tokyo I could sometimes hear a sax player practicing in temple grounds late at night. Collest soudn ever.
My YouTube
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paulbunyn
63 posts
Feb 28, 2013
5:04 AM
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Beware of bank parking lots! I pulled up to the curb across from the drive thru lanes and parked while my wife went inside. It was a little busy so I pulled out my harp to play a bit. I guess I got the tellers attention, she alerted the guard and he called over another guard and they were concerned with what I was doing. They were starting to plot how to approach me. When my wife gets to the teller window on the inside of the building, she overhears one guard say, "It looks like he's playing one of those harmonica thingys." She defused the tension telling them, "that's my husband, he's waiting on me." She said things seemed tense there for a minute before she clued in on what they were talking about.
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isaacullah
2352 posts
Feb 28, 2013
5:16 AM
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A few years back, during one of my visits to Toronto, jawbone, x-harp, and I did some "parking lotting" down near queen street. X-harp had an inverter set up in his car so that he could plug in his amp. We had a nice old jam in the parking lot, and actually had a nice little crowd gathered around us at one point! Fun times!
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