I'm Interested to know what other instruments people have played or are playing other than the harp?
I learnt how to circular breath and play the didgeridoo before i picked up a harp, bummer that the technique can't tranfer because harp playing is mostly breathing in not out.
NZ18: I too learned Didj and circular breathing before harp. You CAN use circ breathing with harp. I do it all the time. You just use the air in your mouth to play (not from your lungs). ie. you use your cheeks like a bellows (the same way you do in circ breathing). This works best up high where it takes less breath force to sound the reeds, and where the blow notes form the I chord in 2nd pos. I didn't invent this. I read it first at Pat Missin's site, but have heard of other people who do this too.
In terms of other instruments, the first instrument I learned was drums. Then later on in life I learned the Didj. Then Harp. Now I'm learning to play cigar box guitar (open tuned with 1, 2, or 3 strings). I can play the flute a little, and now that I know music theory better, I can actually play the keyboard/piano a bit too. I also can play the button-box accordion a little too. I can also beat box now, which I suppose is a kind of instrument. Really, I just keep looking for things that I can use to make the kind of music I want to make. Harp is my number one instrument, but I really just want to make the music that's in my head, so I'll go to any instrument that'll do that for me.
Thats cool that you learnt that too. Yeh i never thought of that. when i first picked up the harp my breath control like any beginner wasn't the flashest so i looked to use circular breathing, but at that stage I only had an A harp and was generally using the bottom end. After a while i just gave up on the idea.
I might just try doing it on the high harps. Maybe it will give me some advantage that the average joe harmonica player doesn't have. Do you find it gives you any advantage?
I played the didgeridoo today for the first time in about a year, the lips are a bit rusty, haha. Same goes for for when i lip purse come to think of it, i have been tongue blocking everything except for like magic dick the ten hole bend and double/ triple tongueing and now when i try to lip purse i find it a lot harder than i used to. Maybe something i have to work on again.
Guitar (elec. and acoustic, lead and rhythm), vocal, bass (fretless, fretted and upright... elec. and acoustic), drums, dobro, mandolin, djembe, electric organ, jews harp, congas, and learning trumpet.
I play horns besides harp: cornet, alto sax, trombone...but by far the most unusual and popular is the Bass-Baritone Bugle. Looks like a giant trumpet, and has a booming presence...but an even mellower timbre than the bone.
One valve alone, switches from "G" to "D". Virtual chick magnet. Guar-on-teed.
would people recommend learning the saxaphone? have always wanted to. which one is the most popular aalto or tenor and which one did John Coltrane mainly use?
I've often wanted to take up Spanish guitar. And I've often thought about the sax, probably tenor. And the flute has possibilities, since I don't own an oboe, and flutes are way cheaper and easier to maintain. ---------- Kinda hot in these rhinos!
Yo NZ18 I'm dabbling in 1 string Diddley Bow, and 2 string cigar box guitar but Harp is my Main Focus, you say your thinking about a saxaphone check out these fun Little Units:)
Yeh the flute like that which is on canned heat- Going up the Country. Always liked that song. And yeh i would probably lean towards the tenor sax as well.
I played the baritone tuba when I was a kid. I've tried guitar and piano but I have bad tendons in my wrists, so I took up harp instead.
I've tried trumpet, but for right now I've set that down because of a chipped front tooth that's sore when I rest the mouthpiece against it. I sang in choir from high school on. I've tried the recorder and a few cheap percussion type instruments like maracas. I took some theory too, way back 20 years ago. Mostly though, it was always singing.
I'm relatively good playing guitar accompainment (jazz, blues, rock), egg shaker. Plus I can play some bass, piano, recorder, jew harp, melodica, ukulele but not too good. ---------- http://myspace.com/harmonicaboris
Last Edited by on May 17, 2010 1:53 AM
Sax was my first instrument. If you are considering playing the sax then most definitely look into getting a Tenor. Alto sax is ok, but most bands with small horn sections want a Tenor because the Alto is a little high.
My original band has a Tenor sax with a trombone. My percussion player plays didgeridoo sometimes. Check this vid
poor picture quality, but you get the point... Daylow
First learnt guitar and played in a couple of guitar bands in my 20's. Didn't play blues at all, though I did use the pentatonic scale alot. I like to think we sounded like early verve or early Radiohead. Played bass in a band too. Sold all my guitars and gear about 8 years ago. (including a fender twin). Still play on a cheap battered fender accoustic when I get the hump with the harp
I've got a friend whose girlfriend expressed an interest in learning the baritone sax, so he bought her one for her birthday - four thou or whatever. I don't think she plays any other instrument, so I don't know how long she's going to stick with it. ---------- Kinda hot in these rhinos!
I learned to play djembe for 7 years, 3 hours lessons a week, and even took some lessons with great djembe players like Mamadou Kante and Zoumana Dembele while I traveled Mali and Burkina Faso.
I learned to play agogo (it's a double bell that you hit with a stick) during one year at Brussel's Escuela de Samba.
I sometime play kazoo and jaw's harp, and been trying to play guitar for 8 months or some.
Firs instrument was Trumpet ,,, then Trombone .. Then i heard someone playing harp in the bathroom in school ... swiched to harp ... now in my 40's i been playing blues Drums .. i play a mean shuffel ....
My first instrument was a toy xylophone I got for Christmas when I was about 8 years old. Before long I was banging out "Jingle Bells", "Mary Had a Little Lamb" etc. by ear. Later on, when the school music teacher visited our class with a more grown up xylophone, I went up and started banging out the tunes I had learned at home. At recess I had a bunch of kids gathered around me awestuck by my musical talent. It was my first taste of stardom. Later on I graduated to guitar and harmonica... ---------- http://www.myspace.com/jeffscranton
7LimitJI "Too many instruments, not enough time :o("
Thats exactly the thing, according to studies, to truly master an instrument the rough estimate is 10,000 hours spent practicing. But with school, college/university work, family etc. finding that amount of time is near impossible for the average person, let alone taking up more than just one instrument. Might concentrate on the harp after some thought rather than learning saxaphone as well. Might leave that to Coltrane who mastered it and steal his licks for harmonica, save several hundred dollers and start chewing away some hours of harp. Plus you can't take a saxaphone in yopur pocket and play in the car etc.
Thats the thing that attracted me to the harp was the portability, that and the sound.
To put 10,000 hours into perspective, 417 days, no sleep 834 days, 12 hours a day 1664 days (4 and roughly a half years), 6 hours a day
but for me who plays 1-2 hours a day give or take its:
4992 days, (13.67... years) 2 hours a day
That really puts things into perspective i feel, people like Mark Knofler, Coltrane, etc. were said to always be practicing (Coltrane especially)
Anyway guess i better get practicing...
Although you don't need to master an instrument to have fun with it and 10,000 hours is just an approximation.
Last Edited by on May 17, 2010 10:09 PM
NewZealand18 You're right! I practice harmonica only. I stop practicing guitar about 6 years ago. I play guitar at rehearsals and gigs when song or song part don't fit harmonica. It's strange but I get better on guitar too. ---------- http://myspace.com/harmonicaboris
---------- I'll be playing with Andy Sharrocks @ The Leicester Square Theatre, London (UK) on Tuesday 18th May. Hokie Joint (feat Giles King on harp) in support.
I started out at about 2 years old climbing up on my grandmothers piano and beating it till we went home. Since then I have taught myself the harp, singing, guitar, lap steel, bass, uke, acordian, piano, drums (on my feet in the 1 man band and as real drummer) and have dabbled with the trumpet. A 1/2 century later, I still don't have a clue as to music theory. I just like to make music. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " No one can control anyone, but anyone can let someone control them"
