Iceman - I think it is pretty cool that you have a "personal groove". I have one too. I guess everyone has one. It is one I can play in my sleep and when I get lost I can always fall back on "old reliable" until I get my feet under me again. ---------- Tom Halchak www.BlueMoonHarmonicas.com
What a sweet even tone, and I like that your groove has a little nod towards the Honeydripper and a Big Walter groove don't know if that was intentional or not.Do you sing also? Thanks for taking the time to post. I think i'm gonna get me one of these newfangled desk top thingy mics!!! ----------
"Those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do"
Sweet even tone? Recording cold (second take), I thought it was a bit ragged - but I have no trouble playing in the moment, no warm up - warts and all. Also, no conscious little nod towards anyone else.
The thing about Personal Groove is that, as far as I know, there has been no focus on this aspect of playing. In the 90's and early 2000's, I used to give a seminar on "Momentum Playing", an early term I coined for personal groove.
If one develops a solid and simple Personal Groove, it becomes easy to attach notes to it, giving one's playing a more infectious sense of rhythm. Also, one may find ideas spinning out of it's center, like a rotating ball of fire - at a certain momentum, small fireballs come shooting out of it.
Listen real close to Little Walter's "Too Late" (with headphones if you have to) and try to hear his Personal Groove upon which he lays down his ideas. It peeks out between his lines.
Kim Wilson has a similar Personal Groove. You can hear it - not always - but occasionally between his lines, too.
No, I don't sing publicly, but singing (even somewhat badly) is important to playing the harmonica. In regards to melodic ideas (licks,riffs, etc), if you can sing it, then you can easily tell the harmonica how to play it. ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Sep 15, 2015 6:05 AM
Sounds groovy !!! There are tons of jam tracks online that you can down load and most likely just drop into a track into audacity and then dub a harmonica part. I would also check out Band in a Box. This program was made by geniuses. You put in the changes and you pick the style and it makes the arrangement. ----------
I do believe my Personal Groove stems from a 78 RPM record I had when I was about 7 yrs old. The song was called Raggmopp. It had a real snappy feel. That version is not on the web last check. My brother stepped on the record and it broke. Still sad to this day. Thank you Iceman. You are inspirational...BN
LOL, I think I found it. WOW! //www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_pQwQbF4AY
Last Edited by Barley Nectar on Sep 15, 2015 10:28 AM
Thanks Iceman on 2 counts. Firstly for helping crystallise something I'd been thinking about for some time, but couldn't quite grasp. Like so many great ideas it's what seems to be the simplest that eventually turns out to be the best. Secondly for posting that video after Barley Nectar mentioned it. It's wonderful.
