Due to a disability, I’m unable to cup the harmonica for the ‘wah-wah’ effect. Are there any devices or contraptions that may help me?
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You could try a rack, although you will lose any hand techniques. But at least you’ll be able to play.
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Let me clarify, sorry. My pinky on my right hand and my pinky AND ring on my left hand are disabled due to a sawmill injury years ago. I can hold a harmonica but I can’t make the cup airtight for the wah effect.
I wish there was some kind of rubber cup or something that I could hold with my good fingers and my thumb to form a seal. Any ideas?
Seydel do a cup of some sort with their super six, which is literally a tiny can with a tiny blues harp, that just has the first six common notes and bend used by all blues guys. I expect if you just got a tin small enough that you could grip it and just cupping it over the harp at each end, move it to the middle when you play the central notes of the harp that might work. In fact you may even get some interesting sounds. One of the Blues men I used to know told me a story and unfortunately I can’t recall who it was I’ve met so many, but I can however recall distinctly that he said he went to see Big Walter with a band the one night, and he picked up a beer glass off the table and made it sound just like a Trumpet. How don’t know how true that is ( many of the Blues men I’ve met loved to embellish their story’s) but those small 200 gram Heinz baked bean tins might suffice? If you can find something a bit wider but about the same depth that might be better. You could even drill a hole in it and insert a small. Lapel coller mic and tape it to the bottom of the can. I think you might have fun experimenting until you find the exact one. I know that some of the cigar box guitar guys make harmonica mics from rusty cans etc. they might sell em on eBay but I’d really have a go yourself you might come up with a sound that you like that no one else has.
RockNProle
Every one has issues to deal with. Mine is no matter how long I practice spelling will never be anything close to what is normal. I am as bad with letters as i am with numbers. I was a banker and when writing a letter to a client and spell check was not here many times I had to rephrase a paragraph so the hated word was not needed. On occasion people told me how concise my letters were. I thanked them but never told anyone it might take a couple of hours to write it. I have come to the conclusion that what is taken from one hand is replaced by something else in the other.
I live in a great state and have three delightful kids, all of which are far more intelligent than I. No complaint just telling it like it is. I would imagine you will find a way to deal with the disability. All things considered I got just lucky as I am also able to convert air to noise via my harps abut will never be as good as I want to. I am now 69 and started playing 18 months ago and it takes years to be really great at anything worth doing. I guess I’ll just have to play till my last breath and be thankful I can at least play a few tunes and even bend notes, they are years away from being something that would help my playing.
As far as a a way to get around the wah=wah there ae many people that forgotten more than I will ever know about the harp so as helpful as this forum crowd is one will come up with a good suggestion.
Great question! I’m in a similar situation. I lost my finger function from a C5 spinal cord injury. I can hold the harp between my palms but that’s about it. Won’t be able to use my hands for sound effect at all.
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@AllenJP @scott4 @RockNProle
There are a lot of us on here that have disabilities including myself. I just want to reiterate something that Paul Butterfield said, he was a purser by the way. " I knew I couldn’t play like the old guys, the guys that I loved, Little Walter, Big Walter, Sonny Boy, so I realized I just had to play like me" the quote is not exact but it’s a long those lines. A hell of a lot of effects can be done in the mouth, it’s just experimenting and coming up what works for you. Some people love pursing, that’s fine, never heard anyone state that Howard Levy was a bad player. Some people love tongue blocking again there’s a lot of players that use this to good effect. Ever seen Sonny Boy play with no hands or Big Walter play through his nose? Don’t look at what you can’t do look at what you can do. Make a style all of your own with it. There are many famous harmonica players out there who in my opinion are bloody awful! And they only get away with what they do because no one calls them out because they are famous. No I’m not mentioning any names because I don’t wish to upset people and it might just be a taste thing on my part. The thing is guys you are focusing on what you can’t do? Not what you can do. Just keep at it you never know you might find your own way of doing things. We all wish we had certain attributes of other players ( great big hands like Sonny Boy Williamson II?) but we are who we are, End of. The more you stress about these things the less you’ll want to play more likely you will give up. Case in point. I’ve been doing the Train for weeks now something I did years ago, I couldn’t really get it up to speed back then due to the fact I’d lost a lung in combat, the whole point of the harp was therapy. Anyhow I came back to it recently after seeing videos of Joe Filisko and @davidkachalon, I got it up to 130 bpm on my metronome, but I know I can push it further but the problem was that I was running out of breath and producing a ton of saliva because of my respetory system being not great, I asked David for some tips he got back to me and I will be attempting those tomorrow. The point is as has been said on many posts we are all different we all have different sounds and approaches. I’ve been playing 30 years and I’m still discovering new stuff and I know there’s stuff I may be never able to play. But I don’t worry about it, I’m autistic and worry and stress is a constant but I never worry about the thing I love I just enjoy the ride
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Andy
If the harp was easy to master would you still playing? Other than sleeping late on a cold Saturday gold is the only thing I picked up. Billiards and baseball were very helpful but after I got fairly good I gave away my clubs. I will not have this problem with the harmonica. I still love waking up when i want to and that won’t stop till my ticker does.
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To be Truthful, I love the harmonica I have a real passion for it. In fact most of my friends who are into the blues will say that when they see a harp player playing for effect and someone says they are good they will say you need to see my mate Andy play he takes it very seriously. And hands up I do. I gave up for a short time twice for two reasons firstly I was in a really good hand playing blues, my best friend was second guitarist in that band and he died, I was devastated in fact in a period of 3 months I lost my first wife and my six month old daughter in a car accident, my grandma, and my best mate, so the furthest thing on my mind was harp. Secondly was when I had cancer my recovery time took a little longer than expected but I had to keep all my strength to get better. And that’s pretty much it. To answer your question there were several things I could do straight out of the box on harp, to this day I don’t understand why. There’s a lot of things I do now on harp, and I’m damned if I actually know how I do them and people ask me too. From day one when I decided to pick up a harp for my therapy from my injuries it was just fate, my missus whose a practicing white witch would say it was a meant to be. All I can say is she’s probably right
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Great points made here Andy2. Sounds like you have pressed through your physical limitations as well. Focusing on what we can do instead of can’t is a good point. I just need to find my own way and style as you mentioned. I’m bad about self doubting myself. I need to be more confident in myself for sure. I love the harmonica and definitely don’t want to give up. I just need to experiment with diff ent ways around the hand issue. As you mentioned, a lot of different sounds can be achieved using our mouth with the harp. Thanks for the message!!
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The pleasure and the honour is mine keep pushing on!
Andy
I have yet to figure out why good people are given such terrible blows through no fault of their own and doubt I ever will. You are obviously a very though person and frankly my family is the reason I got up, fought traffic for 3 1/2 hours or more a day commuting to a stressful job I never liked or was cut out for.
I am glad you beat cancer. My brother in law was recently diagnosed with a form of blood cancer. seeing him so weak when he has always been so active and took care of himself is tough. Big issue now is can the kidneys be able to function normally again. I have been lucky as I lost both parents 10 months apart and a daughter tried to take her life because a guy she was dating was stalking her. She did know what to do to rid herself of the pills she got. She is a beautiful person inside and out. Had I lost her I would have followed. I cannot believe I fathered her as she has it all. She was offered a couple of clothes model jobs but said no. She loves animals and helps a vet mucking stalls and getting up at 3.00 A.M. to help deliver a colt when needed in freezing weather. No pay
Things are finally settling out and now that my kids are grown and gone I have problems not seeing them very often.
like you the harp has been a god send. I hear a song I like that seems far out of my talent level but try to learn and each day or two the lines start coming together. Right now I am trying to get a song down El Condor Pasa. my son lives in Peru and its the favored song their. I play it or try to about a hour each day as after hearing it i wanted to learn it. Progress is slow but is coming. I hope in a year I will have the rhythm and notes down. Its played on the high end and the number of single high draws is a challenge. I know its the only way to really learn and when I hit a few good lines I regain confidence. I started from scratch about 18 months ago and knew absolutely nothing about music other than its fantastic medicine. I will be 70 in march but keep myself in good enough shape neighbors will still ask me to help them move or cut up a tree. I figure I have 12*15 years left and will never be a really great player but I am hooked on the harp for life.
One? How long did it take you to really learn to play the guitar to the point people wanted to listen and drain a pitcher? Only things I have going for me is my diaphragm use and persistence. My biggest achievement is not once have I let a harp fly out of frustration. I had a bit of a temper for years but its settled down now. I can tell you a human can put a bend in a aluminum baseball bat by hitting the ground when things were not going well. never le one fly so one was ever hurt. It was a $20 fine each time as the bat was useless. I am hard on myself but have infinite patience with others.
I hope the remainder of your life is more than fair with you. You seem like a stand up guy, which is a compliment in Texas.
Hi RockNProle,
There’s some synchronicity in your posting this question here now, as I was chatting with Luke recently and he suggested I come to the forum and share the new dyna-mic with the community.
I logged in now to do just that, and saw your post!
Here’s a link to a youtube video for you to check out.
This would be a great solution, especially if you are also looking to amplify yourself.
Playing amplified with a disability has been almost impossible until the invention of the Dyna-mic, and with the new model there is a small sensor built in that allows you to use just one finger if you like to get a “wah”.
I’m pretty adept of getting rid of stalkers wish I’d have known your daughter I could’ve helped her. As for my toughness, we’ll, I was a Royal Marine Commando for 9 years and then a bouncer for 30 in between IDid what I could from the age of 16 onwards there was no work in the UK so I had to do anything to survive. I sort of fell into bouncing. My wife was stalked about two weeks after we moved in. I sorted that out no problem. I hate blokes like that, their not men in my eyes just cowards who get a thrill from intimidating women. I’m still marine fit I do 100 press ups etc every day. One thing I never say is I’ve got X amount of years left, I say I’ll go when I’m good and ready. Having almost died 3 times myself, I think the old grim reaper is a bit wary coming around too soon. It took me 30 years to get where I am on harp amongst our tiny but burgeoning blues community I’m known as the guy. But I never rest on that or let it go to my head. 30 years and I’m still extremely hard on myself and I haven’t learned a quarter of what I want to learn. I still hear guys like Rick Estrin or Dennis Grunelling and think holy cow! How does he do that! That attitude and my love of the blues keeps me fired up. Thank you for your love message here it has lifted my day. I know how Proud you Texans are having been that way up to Austin a few times in the past ( I Lived in your wonderful country for 3 years and I still miss it daily) hope things get better for your brothers please give him my regards. We’re pagans my Wife and I so we don’t pray as such, but we’ll light a candle of healing for him tonight.