---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Hi Bob: I do that alot. In the past 30 years or so, only you, kim wilson and mark hummel have asked me about that thing. It is on the draw with my tongue going up and down towards the roof of my mouth. I think my diaphram is involed too. I can make it sound a lot cooler when I have my hands around a harp and put some hand induced wah wah on it. Thanks for listening! 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
cool! I take that as big compliment! I stumble on this stuff as I play (never practice). I hope if we meet you will talk to me. Hummel and Wilson asked me about that riff in private, and shunned me in public. I got tired of dealing with that and haven't spoken to either in probably 25 years. I don't hold any ill feelings towards them. I just don't spend my time around that kind of stuff anymore.
Here is one that I overdubbed the harp and some of that stuff and variations of it are on it. I played the drums, guitar on the first take and then overdubbed the vocals and harp. I rarely do this, but wanted to show some of the stuff I could do using my hands. It is about the newark riots. I lived through them. It was intense. The good news is I found a lot of burned out buildings to play in that had killer reverb. Walter
Here is another example of the tongue moving up and down. this video has an actor playing me. I sent the song to a filmaker who was doing a documentary on me, and this is what he did with it. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
wow Walter i was admiraing your farm market song,then i decided to check out the 1 wish video Wow,You have all kinds of talent,that was great.and your busking setup looks nice, great music you make with it .
thanks everyone for watching! I am always reluctant to share stuff recorded on a hand held camera. The sound quality is so bad, one can't really hear the details and the tones are mashed to hell via these built in mics but I wanted to show off the new guitar! Someday I am going to do a regular blues cd with a real band behind me featuring hand held acoustic harp and amped harp. Somewhere in me I feel the urge to showcase my style only holding a harp. Kind of like Picasso had to show he could paint classic styles to be accepted with his minimual approach. I started doing this with the video about the newark riots but lost interest with overdubbing. I will wait till the universe drops the drummer and bassist in my lap for a day. Or maybe I won't. The idea always sounds good when I am at a keyboard, but fades real quick when I start to play music :-)
My rack playing and doing all the stuff with the 1 man band limits one in many ways, but in my view, it really opens up new frontiers of simplicity. Simple stuff that gets the point across is the highest level of expression IMO. I am all about simple and the older I get the simpler it gets, the more it moves me because there is an endless universe of simple stuff still unexplored. It seems the harp, and all instruments are getting more and more flashy. I get lost listening to most of it because I hear no message. Just lots of confusion wrapped in techno whiz. Maybe that is the message?? The only stuff that is remaining simple is the covers of classic traditional songs and even they are getting hot rod licks thrown in alot of the times. I find the flashy stuff distracting and to be honest, not much of a challenge to play. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
thanks again! Yes that guitar is a sweet one. A one of a kind custom build with 30+ year old woods that is less than a year old. I still can't believe I picked it up for $275. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Dang thats a nice drum set you have Walter ... Have you ever met Paul Osher ? he has a tube that goes over his harp on a rack ....then you could have the best of both ... Love Yur Style ... on the spot playing no rules ... is what keeps it fresh ..... Thanks ... Deak Harp
Hi Deak: Thanks! No I haven't met Paul. I have seen his set up. I respect the amped harp sound, but I am drawn to the natural acoustic tone. When I was helping Sonny Terry get around I was big on amplified harp. Mark Werner schooled me into what to get. At that time it was pretty basic compared to todays stuff, but I had the bassman and green bullet. Then when I heard Sonny play, especially backstage with me an inch from him, I got blown away (excuse the pun) and dropped the amped harp sound and haven't gone back. I do dabble in it every now and then to see if it grabs me using my princeton reverb amp I use for guitar and a shure 57 mic.
The drum kit has been evolving over the years. I started out with just a bass drum and high hat. I learned that from Wilbert Harrision back in the 70's. He put me in his band, only little did I know that it was him as a 1 man band. I carried the gear and blew harp. I emulated that drum setup for years on and off but over the last 6 years or so, I have gone full time 1 man band. I figured the ride cymbal out using a beater pedal with a stick attached to it and the snare/bass drum via a modified double bass drum pedal. My goal is to make it sound like a real drummer. I have been working out thoughts in my head that will use sticks on my feet for playing the snare and ride cymbal. That way I could get rid of the beater pedals and hopefully get some of the wrist action going with my feet that I can do when playing drums with my hands. Anyway, it is an ongoing work in progress.... If you or anyone wants more info on my set up, let me know. Walter
here are some I did in January. I was testing the waters on amplified harp once again. I played the guitar first, then overdubbed drums using a regular kit, and then overdubbed the harp. It was my first time playing amplfied harp in about 15 years.
---------- 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Ant138: Thanks for listening! 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
thanks EddieT! If you get frustrated enough with other musicians it is amazing how many instruments you can learn and learn to play at the same time :-) I just wanted to be a harp player starting out.................. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
VERY NICE WALTER!! i like the first two clips best.
you know, i do that tounge thing too, and you're the only other guy i've heard doing it. that blew my mind! so much for my personal trick. cheers! ---------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
MP: thanks! I bet everything we come up with on our own has been done by someone else before. That doesn't really matter because the fun is in discovering it and making it your own. Getting ones own style is the result of all these little things. I have been doing that thing since the late 70's and call it donald ducking the harp. 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
i call it dad-a-loo-dah,dad-a-loo-dah for short. - PS just gave your amplified stuff a liten and it's cool too. no 'blues harp cliches'.
i like amplified harp sometimes, but,i can dig why amplified harp doesn't do it for you.
myself, i know i play just a bit better when i'm not cupping a mic.
too often gear is a crutch and i personally know a lot of cats who are nothing without their amplified rig. they can't stand alone and play the harp acoustically.
it is an acoustic instrument last i looked.--------- MP hibachi cook for the yakuza doctor of semiotics superhero emeritus
Last Edited by on Jul 12, 2010 5:15 PM
MP: Amplified harp has been the rage for as long as I have been playing and it shows no signs of losing its popularity. Distorted guitar has also been the most popular sound in blues as well. Whatever works for you I say. I just happen to be turned on by what is not in vogue- clean harp, clean guitar, in an electric band formant.
Thanks for listening Joe_L. That Newark riot song brought up a lot of scary and sad memories. I watched it all unfold with killings, guns, tanks, rage, going on our street corner. I saw a murder take place and the murderer tried to kill me. I got PTS from it. It was downright scary to be white during that time. The one man band limits my harp and guitar playing big time from what is considered serious playing. The harp rack, drums, keys, guitar and vocals all going at once has forced me to get real simple and use the instruments in different ways than I would if I was just playing one of them in a band context. This challenge has really kept my interest, much more than playing with others on only harp or guitar. I see it like Jimmy Reed compared to Big walter. I dig big walter, but will take the overall sound of jimmy reed anyday over anything BW did.
The older I get the more I hear most music this way- it sounds like a math problem/jigsaw puzzle. It all works just right with no real spontaneous feel to it, over rehearsed, and way too predictable. Jimmy Reed, Lightning hopkins and SBWII solo stuff has that complete musical sound yet lacked all the pieces and it feels spontaneous to my ears. I played with lightning and he really did have that let it unfold unknown to him feel when things were right. The one man band is taking me into that vibe, which is what has always turned me on more than the BW type player. I am not sure if I am explaining myself clearly. The one man band has helped me hone an overall sound, but over the past 10 years has lowered my popularity in the blues scene. That is cool because I dig what I am doing and I am the only one doing it. I feel like my odds of making it before I die are a ton better than if I was doing music the way everyone else is. Whether I make it or not is really not the thing, it is feeling like it is just around the corner that keeps life exciting! Anyway, thanks for the compliment! 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. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
