chromaticblues
557 posts
Feb 02, 2011
9:39 AM
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I didn't know they built lefthanded harmonicas.
God I have to start pay attention more!
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OzarkRich
377 posts
Feb 02, 2011
10:11 AM
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1. Right handed
2. Left hand
3. Stagnant intermediate
4. Eating pasta as I type this. I like both red and white sauces. I prefer short noodles, but will chop up spaghetti if necessary.
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Ozark Rich
__________
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Ozark Rich's YouTube
Ozark Rich's Facebook
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marcos
13 posts
Feb 02, 2011
3:40 PM
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Left-handed.
Left.
Intermediate +
Holding out for the big bucks.
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7LimitJI
373 posts
Feb 02, 2011
8:47 PM
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1/Right handed.
2/Normally hold in left hand.
3/Advanced Gig regularly
Practise often holding in right hand. Don't notice any difference playing that way.
I don't think of moving my hands when playing.
I think of the hole, or up/down, or the sound.
Actually I don't know what I think of, but its not my hands!
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The Pentatonics Myspace
Youtube
"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
"It's music,not just complicated noise".
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Mojokane
271 posts
Feb 02, 2011
9:19 PM
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try this experiment. Using only one hand. Play your favorite riff. Then switch hands.
You're telling me, you don't feel anything different at all?
Now...drink a beer, smoke a joint, and stand on your head.
There...see? there is a difference NOW!
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7LimitJI
374 posts
Feb 02, 2011
10:08 PM
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"Now...drink a beer, smoke a joint, and stand on your head."
There's no way I'd do such a thing.......................
as Stand on my head!! ;O)
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The Pentatonics Myspace
Youtube
"Why don't you leave some holes when you play, and maybe some music will fall out".
"It's music,not just complicated noise".
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Spider
22 posts
Feb 03, 2011
1:44 PM
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I'm a lefty, and I play left handed.
Have been playing four years.
Play guitar left handed too.
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Blind Melon
41 posts
Feb 22, 2011
5:00 PM
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1. I am left handed.
2. I hold the harp in my left hand.
3. Intermediate level. Some sitting in. No regular gigs.
I am a lefty that does everything left handed (except shooting pool, golfing, and throwing a frisbee).
I play the harp with the numbers up and I do sometimes hold it in just my right hand, although it does not feel as comfortable.
When I was in 9th grade, I bought a drum set and set it up backwards for lefties (like Phil Collins does).
I wanted to play guitar but could not decide if I should learn to play right handed (normal way), left handed with right handed guitar upside down, or on a left handed guitar playing left handed.
Last Edited by on Feb 22, 2011 5:03 PM
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MEK
24 posts
Feb 23, 2011
7:19 AM
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Left handed
Left
Beginner buy trying
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Stevelegh
66 posts
Feb 23, 2011
7:55 AM
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Lefty. Hold harp in my left, numbers up. Gig all the time, but on guitar. I play that right handed.
The thing I can't do is the tongue waggle bit at the beginning of Whammer Jammer. I can go up and down, but not side to side, which makes for a happy wife, but annoys the hell out of me. Heheh.
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spaz
7 posts
Jul 22, 2019
8:01 PM
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just to prevent confusion....william clarke paul butterfield and sonny terry were all righthanded players.....look at phottos or youtube vids of them holding harmonica in their RIGHT hands......this makes them right handed players....ive heard butterfield was left handed as a person but video cleary points out he played with right hand therefore righthanded player
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barbequebob
3598 posts
Jul 23, 2019
8:10 AM
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Sorry, but I've PERSONALLY seen both William Clarke and Sonny Terry live (with Clarke, I also opened for him a few months before he passed away) and I can tell you for a fact. Spaz, that your assumption is TOTALLY INCORRECT and both were left handers. Lots of videos have been reversed over the years and that's more likely what you have seen. BTW< Butterfield was a lefty as well and the vast majority of any videos and photos are proof your assumption is wrong.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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spaz
8 posts
Jul 23, 2019
11:55 AM
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look at a video of sonny terry on you tube....maybe he played left handed.when you saw him.... i believe you....but in you tube videos sonny terry is playing with the harp in his right hand.....that means he was playing right handed that day......left is left and right is right ...we dont get to change what left and right is.....words must mean what they mean or they will be confusion....much like ..sadly the confusion we are having now in this discussion
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spaz
9 posts
Jul 23, 2019
12:12 PM
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barbecue bob i see from your facebook photo you are holding mic and harp in your left hand so i guess we both are lefthanded players......the you tube vid of sonny terry im refering to isnt reversed because brownie mcghee is playing his guitar right handed.....on a more positive note can you put some links on here of you playing? id quite enjoy that...have you written any books about your great blues playing history? bet that would be a good read
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Philosofy
917 posts
Jul 23, 2019
1:58 PM
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OK, I'll screw up all your data:
Things I do left handed:
Write
Skateboard
Shoot a rifle
Play a guitar (if I played.)
Things I do right handed:
Golf
Baseball
Pole Vault
Hockey
Things I am ambidextrous in:
Shooting a pistol
Shooting a bow and arrow
How do I play harmonica? When I play two handed, the harp is held in my left hand and I cup with the right. When I play one handed, I use my right hand to hold the right end of the harp.
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tomaxe
164 posts
Jul 23, 2019
7:42 PM
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Uh...maybe there is confusion in this thread about what is considered a "left handed' or "right handed" player.
To my mind the difference maker is NOT what hand you hold the harmonica...many players change that all the time depending on how they shape the notes, are doing a wah wah, holding a mic, etc etc...it is whether or not you have the numbers "up" or "down" that determines a major difference. I believe Sonny Terry and Butterfield played the harp holding it in a position that would be considered "upside down", with the numbers 1-10 ascending right to left not left to right. Whether that is a 'lefty" or a "righty" beats me...there are lots of photos of William Clarke playing Chromatic where he is holding the chrom and mic in his right hand but the button is on his left...hence, the harp is "upside down". Is this considered a "righty" or a "lefty"? All that is interesting is that he is playing it upside down...which is probably a lower % of players that do this....
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barbequebob
3599 posts
Jul 24, 2019
8:32 AM
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@Spaz -- The majority of right handed ploayers ALWAYS holds the harp and the mic in their left and the right hand does the cupping and wah wah effects, so that stills says you're right handed unless you learned things differently along the way or you're ambidextrous. Again, your argument makes no sense at all.
Right handed guitar players always use their left hand to finger the fretboard and left handers the exact opposite unless they learned like the way Albert King and Otis Rush did and just basically played a right handed guitar upside down and backwards.
The more important thing than how you hold it is that you're able to get a good, tight cup more than anything else. This argument borders on total sillines.
As classical chromatic harp virtuoso once said in one of his instructional kits, "You must learn to play the harmonica like you're blind folded."
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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dougharps
1981 posts
Jul 25, 2019
7:56 AM
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@ Spaz
At this point I hope you are satisfied that you have been able to express your opinions on this issue and are willing to accept that there are prevailing definitions established over time that most players will continue to use despite your differing position.
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spaz
10 posts
Jul 25, 2019
8:09 AM
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indeed dougharps.....ive learned theirs and they have learned mine thank you for your input.....i accept theirs and hope they can accept an alternative as well...happy harpin to you
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barbequebob
3600 posts
Jul 25, 2019
10:00 AM
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Last Edited by barbequebob on Jul 26, 2019 8:16 AM
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florida-trader
1440 posts
Jul 25, 2019
11:39 AM
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Sonny Terry played the harp with the low notes on the right and the high notes on the left - what most would consider upside down. So, if he played holding the harp in his left hand but played the harp upside down, would that not effectively make him a right handed player? I'm not trying to be contrary or stir the pot. The reason I ask is because one of the more serious conversations I have had on this subject was with Ronnie Shellist at one of his Hohner Road Show Workshops. He believes that by holding the harp in the left hand, and assuming you are playing the harp rightside up, with the low notes on the left, you are better able to cup the lower end of the harp and produce the many different hand effects used by harp players. If Sonny held the harp in his right hand and played rightside up, then, accoring to Ronnie Shellist, he would be limiting the availability of some hand effects. Since he played upside down, the hand he held the harp in, his right hand, covered the low end of the harp. Therefore, he was able to achieve the many hand effects that are an integral part of his music.
FWIW, I am right handed. I learned to play holding the harp in my right hand and so, after 47 years of playing I still do. I do not play professionally.
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Tom Halchak
Blue Moon Harmonicas
Last Edited by florida-trader on Jul 25, 2019 4:13 PM
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spaz
11 posts
Jul 25, 2019
12:12 PM
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thanks......florida trader....you are a gentleman .....mr. maglinte.......i dont know what you are talking about..... ive tried to be civil yet you keep getting personal......i feel you are in deep violation of the forum rules...lets not resort to anymore name calling......im here to interact with you and others....adam if you are monitoring this forum now i would appreciate you reminding mr.maglinite to adhere to the forum rules and good respectable decorum
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kudzurunner
6574 posts
Jul 25, 2019
2:05 PM
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barbeque bob: Your language "like a 3 year old taking on a tantrum" is plainly in violation of the forum creed. Please edit that. You've been a longtime and valued member and it gives me zero pleasure to step in like this, especially when you feel personally insulted in another context, but this forum is....well, this forum, and the forum creed is clear in the matter of personal insults.
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Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition
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Philosofy
918 posts
Jul 26, 2019
6:33 AM
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This is only slightly off topic, but something that has been bugging me. Pull out your air guitar. Go ahead, do it. Play it right handed: your left hand's palm is on the back of the neck, your right hand palm is facing your belly. Now, play a really high note. Channel your inner Duane Allman, and go below the frets. Your hands should be really close together. Now, imagine your guitar disappears, and they put a baseball bat in your hand. You're holding it left handed. Conversely, if you have a baseball bat in your hand, and someone tells you to play air guitar on it, you have to flip it and your hands around. Do I have a point? It just seems to me that right handed guitar playing should be called left handed, because your left hand is on top.
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nacoran
10154 posts
Jul 26, 2019
11:05 AM
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I switch hands all the time. If I'm playing two handed the harp is always notched in my left hand between my thumb and my pointer. A lot of the time when I'm out walking though I just use one hand. I find in that situation I have a little better control when I do things with my right hand (being predominantly right handed), although I still do switch back and forth.
But I almost exclusively play with the low notes to the left side. There are only two times I do it the other way.
1. I picked it up wrong. I immediately flip it 'right way' round.
2. I have a riff stuck in my head. Sometimes to break the pattern I flip the harp over for a minute or to just to unstick my brain.
Perhaps it's imprecise to call the styles left and right handed styles. Low Left and Low Right might be more accurate, but I think most of us probably, at some point or another switch hands. I don't know anyone who, as a practical matter, flips the harp on a regular basis.
Sort of related to what Tom said, I generally focus my cup behind the low notes. In my head, what I'm doing is creating a smaller space behind the high notes to try to knock down their volume a little bit, but that may not be what I'm doing. When I play with the harmonica in my right hand alone I often grip it so my ring finger and my pinky are lined up blocking the back vents on the back with the idea of knocking down some of the piercing volume of the high notes.
I think maybe why we call it left handed or right handed is because the other option- right side up or upside down seems kind of judgmental... it's right there in the name 'right side' as if it's the correct, not just the normal, way to do it.
Philosofy... I am a left handed air guitar player but (to the extent I play guitar at all) I am a right handed guitar player. Back when I was airfesting I didn't know how guitars actually work. :)
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Nate
Facebook
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First Post- May 8, 2009
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Buzadero
1344 posts
Jul 27, 2019
8:23 AM
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Big Bad Will Clarke may or may not have been left-handed, but I do know from personal witness that he dropped a half drunk feller that got grabby and made a move towards Bill's mic. That was a heavy downward chopping blast left. That dude had working man's hands and was no slouch in the physical confrontation department. It really was part of an awesome night. Probably in 1993(ish).
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~Buzadero
Underwater Janitor, Patriot
MBH poseur since 11Nov2008
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