I’m really enjoying the classical stuff. One of the things I love about it is that it makes it very easy to focus on just playing, because it is written out.
Improvisation is a blast and that’s part of what drew me to the harp and I’m (I think) pretty good at it. But I really enjoy playing music that’s already written too.
I’m of a different view, I really love William Clarke and Paul Delay who are sadly no longer with us. But I do love listening to Rick Estrin and Dennis Grunelling ( hope I’ve spelled that correctly) Rod Piazza,Mark Hummel, Kim Wilson and many others I think we are Lucky today to have so many skilled players with all different sounds and styles. But I do honestly listen to the Sonny Boys, The Walters big and little,James Cotton Carey Bell ( whose playing I was addicted to for ages) plus a load of Louisiana style players too. But I don’t solely listen to the blues. I listen to everything I like, I’m a Lyricist so I will listen to Gilbert and Sullivan just because the cleverness of the construction of the rhyme and the way it moves throughout the song. I’m very keen on Bach, and others in the classical mode. But I can also be found listening to Folk, Soul, early R&B country Rockabilly Surf rock n roll world music — I’m just scraping the surface. But I don’t think listening to one form of music is all that healthy or informative, I think if you are a musician or an artist or a chef you need as many flavors or colors that you can add.
Yep. I love all those guys, learn their lines, and listen to them for broth learning and just for fun.
But as a community we are undervaluing other genres and ways to play.
I feel a little sad when I talk to some players and they say “I’m just a melody player.” Thinking of it now, we should be lifting that up up up. I think I’ll start responding by asking “what’s your favorite melody to play? Can you play it for me? I’d love to learn it.”
Harps were designed to play Melodie’s and chords , and they do it very well.
Yes, I divide my practice sessions up into skill sets to do just that melodies and chords. I’ve always been lucky that if I hear something a few times I can pick it up pretty quickly especially melodies or vocal lines. Chords at the beginning I had problems then I figured out how to mix the melody or vocal line within the chords giving me a reference on the progression, the other magic ingredient was tapping my foot. It sounds crazy even to me now, but I never tapped my feet to begin with. But after seeing a few guys play I realized how valuable to keeping your Rythm this is. Breaking everything down playing it slow. And building it up. Then most importantly finding my own voice eventually.
Hiya! You will achieve whatever you decide to achieve. Your thoughts are totally yours. Just decide - you can do it!
lol. Social media is anything but social. Want to really benefit your life put the frigging phone down. Mine only works when I am at home. Yet, it still can add anxiety to my day. I am on a course that side steps stress that is avoidable. It frees my soul.
Admittedly I use my phone to look at this app. But your right. All social media is the opposite of what it implies. I used to teach self defense and the amount of potential mugging victims I spot on a day to day basis is incredible. Phones have turned the world into stooped round shouldered zombies. My wife and I love to visit our local park to enjoy nature and see the wild life. We see other people there looking at their phone oblivious to what’s around them. It’s such a shame.
I don’t usually play melodies, I’m more of a fills player, but I play a lot of country music. A lot of people also think that country harmonica is a monolith and should stay as one, especially as they think any country harmonica song past the 70s isn’t good except for the stuff with Charlie McCoy on it. It’s not that the old stuff was bad, it’s just that the very old players refuse to listen to the stuff I grew up on and are extremely resistant to change of any sort. If these older players have listened to Terry McMillan, they tear me down for having an “inferior” inspiration and call me “inexperienced” or tell me to give up for liking his stuff.
The reason why I don’t, and probably never, delete my account is because I want to connect with my family, friends and other harmonica players as there’s not many of those where I live. I just don’t want to be lonely and constantly reminded that I don’t have any harmonica playing friends that live close by. I also manage a group that will deeply miss me if I left Facebook. Also, how am I able to use Messenger if I delete my account? Messenger is my way to connect with other players. I know how toxic the main app can be, but there are some genuinely nice people out there.
Then I think you should just focus on the positives and ignore the negatives. Some people are only happy when they are trying to control or bring others down.
I’ve had people tell me all things. Heck part of the reason I wrote my book was I saw that without good support the Trochilus would be rejected by our fairly conservative community. But I’ve learned that if you just keep at it and show everyone that you are doing something significant, they come around eventually.
Well I got one would love to give the Trochillus a go
Nice! I’ve started focusing on the yellow solo tuned versions since I’m getting more and more focused on chromatic.
They play one-handed well, which is handy for walks and such.
Talk about it.
Let’s stay positive, inclusive, keep our ears wide open, and fall in love with hearing and learning new things!
@dk360 the next time you feel heartbroken, misunderstood, broke down, and frustrated, grab your harp and put all that emotion into it. YOu’ll be playing the Blues!
Please forgive the expletive, I think we’re all adults here, but to quote Miles Davis:
“Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent.”
Love that quote