Hobostubs Ashlock
1054 posts
Sep 19, 2010
9:23 AM
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how long you ben playing?
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Hobostubs
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sammyharp
21 posts
Sep 19, 2010
9:26 AM
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Take up Buddah on his offer, if it still stands. It'll really help you out.
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Andrew
1186 posts
Sep 19, 2010
9:30 AM
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I don't know if this is quite the right place for sammy's ambiguous reply, lol!
There's nothing wrong with your harp playing TNF. I couldn't do that after a week.
Did anyone ever to tell you to watch Adam's YouTube videos, btw? I guess they did.
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Andrew,
gentleman of leisure,
noodler extraordinaire.
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Buzadero
553 posts
Sep 19, 2010
9:43 AM
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This is as good a thread as any. Why not?
TNFrank, I don't care how long you've been playing. I don't really care how you sound. There are plenty of members on here to give you adulation, critique, be "helpful", offer you advice on things you may or may not even ask for. I really don't care if you stay or leave.
The cost of your harps means nothing to me. It might mean something to someone who is well meaning, or to someone else who sells harps, or someone else who hates or loves a particular brand of harp. Again, I don't really care.
I'm not a harp teacher, a harp critic, or a harp salesman. I lurk this forum because I love the harmonica. My assumption is that everybody else (with the possible exception of the guy selling Louis Vitton purses every now and then) does too.
I will ask a couple of questions, though. Do you enjoy the harmonica? Do you enjoy the thrill of learning something new that you can incorporate into your own thing? Do you love the sound of the harmonica? Do your ears prick up when you catch a little sound of harp in a commercial, a radio jingle, or inside a popular song? Are you trying to improve your playing? Are you the master of your own success and happiness in life?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I'd like you to stay and enjoy. If you don't want advice, don't ask for it. If you get advice that you disagree with.....and, you did ask for it.....shut the fuck up and accept or reject it. Vocally or silently is your choice. But, here's my only advice, be prepared to receive the full range of responses.
You strike me as a guy who is on the front, enthusiastic phase of your new harmonica journey. I love that for you. It warms my heart that you are excited about it. It can be a wonderful trip. This can be a day hike or an expedition. Along the road, you may get mugged, you may get invited for lunch, you may get a ride for a little ways. But, since you bought the harps and left the house with them, you are now out in the world and the direction of your journey is where you choose to head.
That's it, I'm done. You guys can have him back now.
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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1055 posts
Sep 19, 2010
9:44 AM
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the harmonica is one of the hardest instruments to play ive played guitar 18 years never was in a band, but took up the harmonica ,got in a band 3 months later,had 3 paying gigs befor they dumped me,made me so mad i spend 3 or more hours a day praticing taking online lessons from 3 schools ,but not at the same time for a year and a half recorded 110 songs most with some harp,when i was playing with the band i thought this is easy, but now i relise hey this is hard to do.If you want to get good dont ask me cause im still trying to firgure it out:-)
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Hobostubs
Last Edited by on Sep 19, 2010 9:55 AM
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sammyharp
22 posts
Sep 19, 2010
9:44 AM
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I didn't mean it at all ambiguously. You're obviously a beginner (self proclaimed), but I can hear some musical ideas happening. Some basic skills would do you very well. A free lesson with a world class harp player should not be turned down just because you think you have some beef with someone after communicating a few sentences with them on a forum. It doesn't make any sense to me. I'm a professional classically trained musician who knows that a single lesson can change one's entire outlook. Do yourself a service and take the lesson.
1 suggestion of mine would be to practice some scales. Get used to where all the notes sit on the instrument. The better you are at basics, the easier it will be to express what you are feeling. 5 minutes a day of scale practice will make a big difference.
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sammyharp
23 posts
Sep 19, 2010
10:03 AM
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Don't be intimidated. There's no reason to be. The only expectation Chris had was to come with an open mind. I think you'd be quite surprised at what you can accomplish with a little help. It's not an audition or anything, it's a lesson! You don't take lessons to perform well for someone, you take a lessons to learn. The best teachers will teach you how to teach yourself.
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ZackPomerleau
1121 posts
Sep 19, 2010
10:35 AM
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Get to know him by chatting on Skype. That's how he does his lessons anyway.
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nacoran
2758 posts
Sep 19, 2010
10:36 AM
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I embeded it for you. For the time you say you've spent you are making good progress.
A couple notes/suggestions/questions:
You say you are using a cheap mic, are you holding it or do you have it set somewhere? It sounds like you don't have a great cup on the harmonica. It's particularly hard if you are holding the microphone, but a lot of people don't develop a good cup when they first learn. It requires different technique for holding a microphone versus not holding one.
Either way you are going to try to make an airtight cup with your hands. If you do it right you can get to a point where you will feel the difference in your hands and in the back pressure you get as you play. A good seal is one end of the spectrum you'll learn. Then you can learn to open that gap to control your volume, from effects like wah, to all sorts of crazy things you'll do later. I'm not sure which video it is, but Jason Ricci has a great vid on how to hold a harmonica. There seem to be two basic schools (and some variations for right/left handedness). One school is the 'Two Thumbs Up' technique. Watch Adams videos to get an idea on how to do this. The other technique involves holding the harp in your left hand (if your right handed) with your index finger running along the top and the thumb running along the bottom. Then use your other hand to create a chamber by wrapping your fingers around the back.
You can get good sound from a cheap mic, but I've found the easiest way to do that is to move away from it a bit and then boost the levels back up in Audacity- or, get right up on top of it and overload it for a great overdriven sound.
Tap your foot as you play. Even if you have experience on another instrument all the breathing in and out can throw off your rhythm a little. Make sure to keep a strong foundation under you.
You've got a nice start. Good luck!
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Nate
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Last Edited by on Sep 19, 2010 10:37 AM
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tookatooka
1717 posts
Sep 19, 2010
10:45 AM
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@TNF "is he going to fly in to the house"
Yeah! The Bhudda normally flies down un-announced and you'll see him standing on your porch wearing a long white diaphanous gown with a glowing halo and little bluebirds flying in circles above his head.
You'll be mesmerised by his presence and get all tongue tied and embarrassed. You'll have a one hour lesson which you'll forget immediately, then he'll cradle you in his big masculine arms and and carry you up to your bed. He'll then kiss you on the forehead as he lays your head on the pillow and you'll be a top harp player for ever more. Then like magic he walks through the wall out of your life and you'll think it's all been a dream.
Alternatively he just may use Skype.
Last Edited by on Sep 19, 2010 10:58 AM
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1058 posts
Sep 19, 2010
10:57 AM
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yea i thought i paid my dues cause of 18 years with guitar,hell i thought i was a harp prodigy then i woke up:-)
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Hobostubs
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groyster1
489 posts
Sep 19, 2010
11:03 AM
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TnFrank
Im just east of you in oak ridge-do the best you can-good luck on your progress-never give up and you will someday suceed believe in yourself blues harp is great music
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Diggsblues
523 posts
Sep 19, 2010
11:15 AM
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As they used to say on Ameican Band Stand "it's got
a nice beat and I can dance to it"
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How you doin'
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nacoran
2761 posts
Sep 19, 2010
11:21 AM
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Tooka, that's nothing. I've seen eharp restart the beating of a hummingbirds heart with a rhythmic pulsing of the 10 hole blow on a high F harp.
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Nate
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Hobostubs Ashlock
1060 posts
Sep 19, 2010
11:21 AM
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what happens at least for me is after the magic of the delusion of the ease of playing the harmonca wares off,then the work begins,it will get you depressed sort of after you relise just like learning the guitar was or the bass,that its a instrument just like them,and must be practiced just like learning a new instrument,you will have a advantage cause you have worked with a instrument but it requires the same dedication as the others did and theres no short cuts,I would and still do get kind of depressed at my progress,but if its something you really want you will endure,and day by day get a little better.
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Hobostubs
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ZackPomerleau
1122 posts
Sep 19, 2010
11:25 AM
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I'm almost certain Skype will work on your computer because I've seen Macs with Skype for quite a long time.
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MrVerylongusername
1241 posts
Sep 19, 2010
12:26 PM
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Minimum for Skype is a G4 and 10.3.9 . You can run it on your iMac. As Buddha has pointed out, you haven't exactly apologised for the things you have written about him here and elsewhere: "Buddha I forgive you" is not an apology.
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N.O.D.
209 posts
Sep 19, 2010
3:26 PM
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Man you are one rich mutha Im still pissed at the shit you layed down over the last few days hear and HC hay why buy 14 dollars harps man the usless to you buy a Kazoo and go away:(
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Period
Last Edited by on Sep 19, 2010 3:34 PM
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nacoran
2768 posts
Sep 19, 2010
3:42 PM
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Nasty, you made your point in the other thread. This thread is about playing. If you want to argue, please keep it in the thread it's related too.
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Nate
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Stickman
418 posts
Sep 19, 2010
3:43 PM
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Or let it die.
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The Art Teacher Formally Known As scstrickland
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nacoran
2769 posts
Sep 19, 2010
3:45 PM
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Yeah, or what Stick said. He Stick, you got any happy art pics? We could use a happy thread.
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Nate
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