I know many of you play at church, so I thought I'd share.
The lead singers moving in a few weeks and I wanted to get a recording before he left. I'm thinking that I might use this as part of my Level of Achievement 10 submission.
The gear is a Hohner Special 20 in C, an Akai DM-13 mic, Lone Wolf Harp Delay, Lone Wolf Harp Break, JOYO eq pedal running straight to the sound board through a DI box.
It sounds a little "out of body" because the sound guy brought the file home and tweaked it, and I later inserted it into the video.
first of all you have nice technique, and very nice tone. i am not talking about the pedals, tone comes from within.
now i am no expert, there are people here that can tell right off what note is what. but i do hear a few notes where perhaps they should not be. i would have to play along to discern which notes they are, where as some folks around can tell right away .....if for example, a minor 6 th is being played where a major 6 th should be.
with just a few slight corrections, you will be blazing on that number. perhaps some of those folks will be willing to chime in? they at times need coaxing.
@1847, Thanks for the tone compliment. As to notes, I am one of those experts (college trained, but on trumpet) and I agree, there are some notes that don't belong. I would have liked more time to prepare, but this was likely my last chance to record with this particular singer with the drummer and keyboardist present. So, I jumped in and made it work.
@KingoBad, The first time I played this, I sang lead and played into the same vocal mic. I decided to go amplified this time for a few reasons. Fistly, the original recording by Larry Norman (embedded at the bottom) reminds me of the Rolling Stones, and I wanted to tip my hat to that. Secondly, I had never performed amplified before, so I wanted a chance to play with my toys. Thirdly, as the church worship leader, I wanted to see how the congregation would react to amplified harp. As any long time churchgoer will tell you, congregations can be picky about their music and resistant to change. If the applause was any gauge, they liked what they heard. This congregation is very tolerant of new things.
So, I agree with you, but I'm sure you understand why I amplified this time...even if only to play with my toys.
@KC69, I'm from New Milford, CT. It's the gateway to the Northwest part of the state, and my favorite part.
@MN, nice work. Looks like you have the pressure of a much larger congregation than I have.
@DiggsBlues, I love Buddy Greene. He's an inspiration. Also, since he wrote the music to "Mary Did You Know," I use him as an excuse to take a harp solo every Christmas.
@1847: minor 6th is not available in second position. But I know what you are reacting to and you are right. Both SteveTech's tune and MN's tune sound decent, but both would lay out perfectly if played major pentatonic which has the major 6th as a scale tone. Both players flirt with some major pentatonic tones bur slip into blues scale notes freely. Sounds ok, but playing strictly major pentatonic scale tones (and perhaps adding the 4th and 5b here and there, but It is totally avoiding b3 and b7) would really shine on this material. It is the difference between not playing bad notes and playing right notes. Excellent use of the tremolo harp by MN on the bible passage verse reminiscent of Mickey Rafael--absolutely perfect placement for that. Not so enthusiastic about the aesthetic of the Harp Break being used by SteveTech in the context of this type of material. Playing amped does not necessarily require crunch/distortion. But interesting stuff. Just my effort at constructive criticism FWIW.
Last Edited by hvyj on Aug 11, 2016 5:16 PM
I enjoyed Steve and MNs playing. MN who is the singer in your clip? He has a beautiful voice .Love to hear him sing Sam Cookes "A change gonna come" Or anything else if you have any more clips. Edit Ok just found him David Cowen Lotsa U tube stuff for me to listen to.
Last Edited by indigo on Aug 11, 2016 6:21 PM
@1847: Well, it IS the 6b of the V chord, if you want to look at it that way. But I was referring to the unavailability of the 6b in the second position KEY.
It is the 3b of the key. The major pentatonic scale (in degrees of the scale) is: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. Add 3b and it becomes what is alternatively referred to as the "country scale" or "major blues scale" BUT when playing certain tunes a straight major pentatonic scale is idiomaticaly or stylistically more correct, if you want a religious or gospel feel--as is leaning on the 6 which neither player did. It all depends on what you want sound like. Certain things are characteristic of certain idioms or styles. Btw, when playing major pentatonic you will inevitably hit the 4 occasionally as it is such an important chord tone--the minor 6 of the V chord is not diatonic to the key and seems to me to be a not so useful note choice for this type of material. But if you like how it sounds, go ahead and play it. But don't play it just because you know how to--that's not a musically valid reason, IMHO.
I mean, what does a limited player play? He/she plays what he/she CAN play. And if all u have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. Which I suppose is why so many harp players try to force fit blues licks over every type of material. I think that learning different types of scales and when to use which opens up a lot of interesting alternatives to the SOS. But, YMMV....
Last Edited by hvyj on Aug 11, 2016 10:51 PM
