Mr. Sandman Harmonica Cover by Alex Paclin

Did you know that harmonica groups were a HUGE phenomenon in the USA, prior to WWII?

They tended to consist of:

:arrow_right: 1️. A bass harmonica player covering the bass parts

:arrow_right: 2. A chordal player playing a special instrument that had all the chords needed

:arrow_right: 3️. A lead player, who’d usually play a chromatic harmonica.

The first harmonica group to gain national fame was created and promoted by Borrah Minevitch called the Harmonica Rascals. There was a lot of slapstick and showmanship involved in these performances, but also a lot of virtuosity.

But what do you do if you want to do a harmonica cover of Mr. Sandman by the Chordettes and there’s only one of you? :thinking:

You use the magic of technology, which is exactly what Alex has done to create this[ one-man-band performance of Mr. Sandman.

Since bass harmonicas are hard to come by these days, and computers are ubiquitous, Alex cleverly played the bass part on a regular harmonica and pitched it down on the computer. Ah, the miracles of modern technology.

Alex even added in some record hiss and “lo-fi effects.” Isn’t it ironic that in the days of pristine digital audio we now purposefully “dirty it up” to give it that old analog nostalgia?

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