Sounds like Big Steve put the hard word on her and got a knock back.
And firing a band member for having a beer on stage? Must be wonderful to have that many people lining up to play that you could sack them for that. ---------- Lucky Lester
Hey... I apologize if I came off as snarky. I was tired, and I am a pretty outspoken person IRL. What I said wasn't meant to be nearly as "angry" as it read.
No, Rick, no trouble here finding work; I just don't frequent the places where good bands CAN'T get work.
old girlfriend... there was a time when this old fart would have killed to say she was EVER a GF of mine LOL!
Again, my apologies. I do have to work on not only my "mouth filter" but also how I handle when people disagree with me.
Go back to your lives, citizens... thread drift over.
"Must be wonderful to have that many people lining up to play..."
Has nothing to do with having "that many people". Has everything to do with having people that don't treat the band like it's a jam session with a bar tab.
I know she was at a jam, and I know jams are supposed to be fun, and I am glad she was obviously having some. All I meant was that I'm coming from a totally different school when it comes to being an entertainer. As was mentioned in the "what to wear" thread, I (and many others) believe that there's a reason musicians are a "cut above" the crowd, and if we are representing on the mic, it should ALWAYS be as someone "a cut above".
ALL, of course, IMHO, and I do NOT mean to sound pissy. I'm just stating my grouchy, old-school opinion.
RICK DAVIS... paging MR. RICK DAVIS...
A few posts back I asked about how, besides the circuit, the MM amp differs from the Delta Sonic. What things are different enough about them to warrant either owning one over the other or owning (I wish) both amps?
There was a blues band in this area about 10 yrs ago. They were very successful. There name was The Beer Brothers Blues Band. I saw the harp player fall off the stage one night. BEER . They were a top draw and made top money. They were the ONLY blues band I can remember around here...Barley Nectar
Nice to see the Utes up there, Rick! Hope I have an excuse to come to Denver some day so I can be part of your jam. ---------- *************************************************** /Greg
Totally agree iceman ! The PA systems aren't as powerful as they are now, but it's not about volume, Muddy 's bands usually had the addition of 2 or more guitars including himself, piano. And harp and yet there was a dynamic and respect of each other, but the most important was Muddy's voice! The band always followed his every word , it was all about the song rather than the solo, sure, there was plenty of solos but everyone knows their place in the sound of the band, an unwritten rule, I'm also a guitarist, and I sing, so many jams in UK are too loud, and no-one is really listening to what each other is doing, there is hardly ever any feel or dynamics. The best band I recently went to see was west weston's. Bluesonics, if you get the chance. Go and see this band! If you love Chicago blues played the old way then you will not be disappointed, Steve weston also appears with Mud m Morganfield , and Sweden's premier. Blues band, trickbag. If you are in London, he regularly plays at ain't nothing but ' and occasionally at the railway hotel in Southend -on - sea.
I don't bother going to jams anymore in Devon UK because of grief caused when I complained that my requests to mic my little 5watt amp were being ignored. I pointed up to one of the organisers that that's what the old guys did .....and what Adam Gussow suggests. I sent a link to them of Adam doing just that and the organisers thought I was having a personal dig . The grief was effing TITANIC!!!
I then got a 100 watt PA amp with three Jensen speakers putting my signal thru that.....NOT LOUD ENOUGH!
The problem ....or the first one.....as my harp friend Mike says.....pre white guys playing blues or blues rooted rock the lead guitar didn't exist......guitarists were guitarists. All the R&B players knew this. They also dug the harp and what it could add to a mix. There's plenty of original old recordings where the harp is WAY up in the mix. That is VERY unusual now.
The second problem is frequencies....guitar frequencies are mids to highs . They slice thru a mix like a knife and become dominating , and there are an awful lot of very insensitive uncomprehending guitar players who don't get this. But the groovy harp frequencies are the mids to lows which don't transmit nearly as well....plus one tunes out the highs a bit to avoid feedback. It makes our instrument need a mutha of a bassman with gargantuan watts .....or one uses the PA and a vocal mic. It means that a guitar player with a 15 watt amp can overpower even a 30 watt harp amp. Put a second 15 watt guitar amp being played over loud and......well you might as well not even bother. And how can you play when you cannot hear what on earth you are playing?
It is SUCH a shame that the little instrument that entrances us and is so complex to master and play well is not fully recognised for what it is and what it can add to blues music .......particularly at jams . Worldwide it would seem. The only way is probably to get a group of more sensitive musicians to play with at jams ....pre arrange it......but that ain't easy.
Last Edited by aharpon on Dec 18, 2013 5:31 AM
Or.....there's a VERY well organised jam group in SW London called JAM PACT . Run by Pro musicians and attended often by session and pro players. I went to one of their jams in a pub near to a residential area in Barnes SW London. The pub had a built in noise limiter! IT WAS GREAT! It kept everyone's levels reasonable and made everyone play MUCH more sensitively . Maybe harp players need a sidekick to fuse the electrics when levels go too high at jams!
here are some of the locals at a blues jam they are good players and super super nice people
you can see someone who appears to be the owner immediately approach the bandstand and ask the band to turn down if they did it was not by much.
i know for a fact these guys are serious players what is needed here, is a harp player not playing sitting out waiting, no need to add to the volume when it is your chance to play, signal to bring it down, this would be a good gig for an unmic'd champ. if the guys are in fact pro's they will co-operate once they turn down,get the crowd involved tell them we are going to turn way way down, you will hear thunderous applause.
i am as guilty as anyone, i like to play loud there is a time and a place for everything this not the time or the place.
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica "but i play it anyway"
Last Edited by 1847 on Dec 23, 2013 10:14 AM
When I see three guitar players on stage I just walk away. Playing at those high volumes too long each week seems to kill the harps faster. I always try to play with the pro players since they respect the harp and want to hear what I'm playing. Having your sound in the PA can help and would try to hear off the house mains if you can. ----------
i played one song on the first set. i used a fender champ. is is not mic'd up... i think the sound level was appropriate i will include a song from the last set where the volume is abhorrent everyone was too loud including me, and i was not even close to full volume the last song i used my bassman.
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica "but i play it anyway"
I recall playing in a big theatre ,and the band i had been playing with for 3 years,mostly bars and little clubs, we were playin loud.and i had a 67 twin reverb and a 545 shure turned up to [9] yes feed back loud. but i had the amp 20 ft. behind me, with a lot of stage space. So i could control the feed back like a guitar player...the lead guitarist was freeked out because i was playing as loud as him and manipulating feed back. I wish harp players could have that much space between amp and harp ,but it don`t happen much, P.S.if blues jamers listened to Buddy Guy & Junior Wells [Viet cong blues ] they would know what playing intense music at a lower volume would mean ...
Last Edited by colman on Jan 14, 2014 3:05 PM
for the last song of the night, we have a band start off after they have played awhile, whoever is left in attendance can come up and tap you on the shoulder and play a bit hey we are just having fun here after all. as you can tell the volume has come up substantially. i am playing straight in to my bassman, no antifeedback pedal i could turn up a notch before it feeds back, but i am too loud already i have my volume on 3............... with the pedal i can turn up to 5 and a half or 6 so it was not at all necessary. i am using 3 12ax7's tubes in the preamp. my amp is set up for both guitar and harp i realize that goes against conventional wisdom around here, but it works for me. the other night a girl asked me... who are you going to please with that little thing? me!
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i get a lot of request when i play my harmonica "but i play it anyway"
