[Harp-L] Rack fame



> PS My buddy John Frazer is the fellow who got me started long ago being
> serious about harp, and plays drums and sings while playing harp in a rack.
> His tone is "pretty darned good", and he plays great and knows a lot of
> songs. One of these days he's going to bust out and at that point he'll be
> famous, so I thought I'd mention him now, for future reference. 'Course
> he'll probably have a drummer at that point.
> Gary

Thanks, Gary (and Bobbie G.), for the kind mentions. I hope to bust out
soon. When playing the rack, it is IMPERATIVE that the rack holds the
harmonica solidly in your comfortable playing position. The reason for the
rack is that your hands are otherwise occupied, so knowing the key before
the song starts is very important. If it is not comfortable, the facial
muscles and especially TMJ suffer.

Good acoustic tone is required if you want good rack tone. You can't use
your hands to shape, obviously.

When playing amplified rack and drums, I use an AKG dynamic element on a
two-rail boom arm (from a helicopter helmet) and run it through a tube
preamp. From there, it depends on the room and PA, and monitor set-up as to
whether I run it through a tube amp alone, PA alone, or split to both.


hj






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