Some of you may recall from a post I made a month or so ago that I'm collaborating with a singer/songwriter friend of min on some of his songs. You offered lots of great advice, and I've been trying to incorporate it during our sessions. I've gotten him to play more rhythmically, and we're working on keeping our time together (his songs are not symmetrically structured, so a lot of this is me learning lyrical cues, and keeping an eye on his chording hand). Here's the latest song we were working on last night:
I greatly prefer this one over the one I posted in the previous thread... The groove is more in my wheelhouse, although the chord structure is far from the blues. I'm playing a G harp in second here, and I think it works okay (song is in D-ish). I'm trying to go up high for the solo, but the harp is not playing along with me (I need to adjust those reeds). Also, I accidentally had the recorder's noise gate turned up too high, so some of the quieter parts of the song cut out completely.
Anyway, I'm mainly posting this to share my progress with this collaboration, and solicit any feedback on my playing here. I know that the solo needs improvement, and that I'm missing/flubbing some notes in the chorus. On the chorus I'm playing a -4_, -4b --> -2b alternating with -4,-4,-4b --> -2b, and there's a sort of bridge in the middle of the chorus where I'm trying to go up to the -6____, then roll back to -4, but I flub it most of the time. On the solo, I'm trying to go up to the +10 for the transition, and then do some variations on -10, +9, -8, -9, trying to fit the groove and offer some flow. Any suggestions on those parts? What about the rythmic backing I'm doing for the verses (just chugging on -2 with some blow/draw chords and the occasional -3b)? ----------
On some of the chorded back up parts, I would cut back on the vibrato and play it softer volume wise because you're verging on almost drowning out the vocals and guitar at times (could be mic placement happening here or may be backing away from the mic a bit because with vocals, you need to be underneath it rather than almost overtaking it.
There are parts that hitting a major 7th would make more sense. I wouldn't worry about going up high so much just as long as you maintain the groove and feel of things.
Some of the chords need to be cut of a bit quicker and crisper, but some of this also applies to some the single note phrases at times also.
If you can get some sort of a progression diagram written out with all the changes, it may help you better prepare for them as some things can be played using notes in harmony (like a 3rd/5th/etc. from where the vocals are or the chord changes as well).
You may also want to consider the use of a country tuned G as well and for some parts, if you don't mind changing harps, using a high D as well.
You may also want to consider for some parts just laying out completely and in some just holding out the note but played really super soft when playing it.
You just gotta remember with this tune, the vocals must shine and this tune, for my ears, probably needs a bit more of a less is more approach. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
Last Edited by barbequebob on Feb 04, 2014 12:46 PM
Something sounds very out of tune. Keep working on it, I think it may come together nicely. ---------- Sun, sun, sun Burn, burn, burn Soon, soon, soon Moon, moon, moon
@bbqbob: Major 7th! Duh! That makes total sense, and clearly that's the reason that I'm having trouble transitioning through the middle of the harp. Clearly I should be using a country tuned harp. I'll have to buy a new G harp and tune that five draw up. Instersting idea about switching to a D harp at some points too... Perhaps that's a better way to work the Solo.
I will also work on making things crisper, and laying lower under the vocals. Some of that has to do with the way I recorded it (single electret condenser mic laying on a table closer to me than to him), but you are right that the words need to take center stage on a song like this.
I will try to get him to diagram the progression, but he's more of a "play by ear" kinda guy, and so often has trouble telling me exactly what chords he's playing. He uses a capo on this one, so it's even harder for him. I usually have to have him play, and then fumble through my harps trying to find a key and position that sounds "right" with what he's playing...
@Jinx: I hear it too. This is a pre-war marine band I'm using, so I'm thinking it's partially an issue of using a JI harp with a very melodic tune like this (but of course, my playing is to blame as well). After BBqBob's advice, I'll buy another G to make a country tuned harp out of. I'll probably buy a Suzuki harpmaster, since it's equal tuned to begin with, and hopefully that will help some. ----------
It helped me to learn a bit of guitar because I can recognize fingering patterns for a number of different chords and remembering each fret where the capo is represents 1/2 step higher, like for an example, if you recognize the fingering formation for a E chord and he has a capo on the 3rd fret, that means he's using the same fingering patterns moved up 3 frets and so he's playing in G.
If you use ET tuned harps, then the chords/double stops will sound lousy, so there's give and take, but as long as you're not playing really hard like the way the average player does, the differences between JI and ET will be less noticable. Just remember when you hit 5 & 9 draw on a 7LJI tuned harp on a tune like this is to avoid hitting that note hard because the pitch will get flatter.
If you don't want to make a country tuned harp, Hohner already stocks them as a production line instrument.
Witch country music as well as blues, changing harps is done all the time and maybe it's my perception of things, but it seems like too often if you play overblows, changing harps seems to be becoming sort of a harp crime, which is so totally nuts and if a player like Norton Buffalo can change harps 4-4 times within a solo, what's the big deal about it. ---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
