Re: [Harp-L] Bluegrass

[David Payne <dmatthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Michelle made some great points, especially about using the tongue to make the 
chop. You're basically making air dam, building up pressure and letting it go. 
The hand thing she was talking about is also a very good point, I can illustrate 
what she's talking about with the hands with this video below. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNmhiwGPWV4 
It's certainly not the best rhythm I've ever played, but it illustrates a lot of 
points I want to make, including what to do if you screw up. 
A couple of things I can add about the chop, first if you watch a mandolin 
player (such as Steve Williams in the video above) you'll notice that it's not 
like they are holding their hand still until they chop, there's a false strum on 
the non-chop beats. That's another way the hands really help. If you are closing 
your hands on the beat you aren't playing, it helps you keep a better rhythm. On 
the 48 chord, you don't use your hands, so I wind up playing softly on the 
non-chop beats. It's really hard to skip a beat and hit the next one in time, if 
you're not doing something in between. I'm usually playing a real soft chop on 
the 1 and 3 three beats. On the diatonic, it's rarely audible. I just do it to 
help me keep the beat.
 You also don't have to chop every single beat. I usually play some kind of 
pattern with a rest or a riff at a certain point, just something to break up the 
monotony. 
The key to not getting lost is learning how to reset yourself and getting back 
on the beat. Don't be afraid to reset yourself if you have to. It happens to all 
musicians sometimes. At 1:02, I lose the beat. So I stop playing until I get it 
back again. Honestly, I was probably daydreaming and forgot where I was or 
something. That happens sometimes in informal settings - that's why they're so 
much fun. 
But it happens to even the best musicians. Below is an example of a Porter 
Wagoner reset on "Another Day, Another Dollar:" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImLLPm7Mjtc
Porter was supposed to kick it off, but the other guitar player jumped the gun. 
I think anybody starting to play music with other people could benefit watching 
how Porter handled it.  He strums really lightly, almost a false strum until he 
catches the beat.  Once he's found the new beat, he looks over at the other 
guitar player to make sure he's still going on the same time and not trying to 
make an adjustment to match Porter. After confirming that, he launches into the 
song full bore. If you look at the expressions on everybody's faces, Porter 
evidently was the only one who knew what the hell was going on... that's how 
smooth and slick he handled it. 
These are things you learn by playing with other musicians and a big reason I'm 
always an advocate of getting with other musicians as early as possible, as 
often as possible and surrounding yourself with musicians better than yourself.


Dave





Dave


From: Michelle LeFree <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Mon, January 31, 2011 3:41:24 PM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Bluegrass

sheltraw@xxxxxxxxxxxx asks:
> Great points David and Michelle
> 
> Do you have any pointers on how to get a good mando chop rhythm on the
> harp? Mine sound unchoppy at this point.

Sure. I'd start simply.

I assume you know how to count the "off-beat" (aka, "up-beat;" when you tap your 
foot to the beat, the up-beat is when your foot reaches the top of the "up" 
swing). You don't want to hit the downbeat. Leave that to the bass player if you 
have one in the group. Keep your eyes glued to a mandolin player if you are 
unsure. [I find it to be good practice to clap on the upbeat in an audience full 
of people clapping on the downbeat. Practice tapping the upbeat whenever you 
listen to music. You need to cultivate the ability to hit those upbeats in a sea 
of distractions. Bluegrass is fast-paced so you need to be able to keep that 
upbeat at speed. Remember that when you take that role of playing rhythm, you 
become the heartbeat of the group and people rely on you to be keeping the time 
exactly right. I'd go so far as to say that what you play is less important than 
when you play it in this context.]

Once you know you can hit those upbeats spot on, practice making very short, 
percussive chords on your harps. Once you get used to the whole concept, you may 
choose to not use them, but tongue articulations can be very helpful. Try 
articulating an abrupt "tuck" sound through your harp with just your tongue, no 
breath. Then try it combined with rapidly opening your oral cavity. You may be 
surprised at how much sound you can get out of a harp without breathing through 
it. But tongue articulations aren't enough to get that real percussive beat or 
good tone. You need to coordinate your in- and out-breaths with the motion of 
your tongue, timed with the expansion or contraction of your oral cavity. Think 
of your tongue as a piston inside your mouth. You can make a percussive little 
beat without any breath by moving your tongue from the front of your mouth to 
the back while simultaneously opening the inside of your mouth (and vice-versa). 
Now couple that action inside your mouth with some very short and choppy in- and 
out-breaths (for the blow- and draw-chords). As always, opening up your oral 
cavities and airways helps your tone.

Another key factor in accentuating the staccato nature of those "chops" is your 
hand cupping. If you start with a tight cup and then abruptly open the cup in 
synchrony with your "tuck" articulation and choppy breath, you can make that 
"chop" even more accentuated (and pleasing to the ear). This will require some 
practice and maybe recording yourself or enlisting a volunteer listener, but the 
effect is well worth the effort. Just understand that the timing of opening and 
closing that cup can further accentuate that "piston" effect you are shooting 
for. Careful timing of opening and closing your cup with respect to the sounds 
you are making with the harmonica is key to a great acoustic sound. (If you 
don't know what I mean take a listen sometime to great acoustic players like Joe 
Filisko, Grant Dermody or Paul Davies.) The ability to employ hand effects is 
one of the great joys of playing acoustic harp. And, once again, you can use 
your hand cup to expand the tonal palette you have at your disposal. Many 
players don't realize that their acoustic hand cup can actually make their sound 
louder as well as muting it.

When you become comfortable with the simple "tuck" articulations on the 
off-beat, you can think about what to do the rest of the time. Here are a couple 
of my personal ideas. I like to softly mirror or echo single (down-beat) notes 
that complement whatever the instrument taking the break is playing -- in a 
supportive way, say echoing simple tones from the melody or hitting harmony 
notes. [This also gives me an opportunity to cheat a little particularly if I am 
not terribly familiar with the song of the moment (you can't know 'em ~all~ ). I 
can (softly) and subtly practice what I want to play when it comes time for me 
to take a break. By the time it's my turn for a break, I will have heard several 
versions by the other musicians. That, coupled with my subtle "practice" usually 
enables me to acquit myself fairly well when it's my break. Of course, it's 
always perfectly permissible to deny being handed a break with a subtle 
headshake or motion to send it to the next player.]

Another thing you can do is embellish the rhythms you play using more 
complicated tongue articulations. Try making the "tuck" you articulate on the 
off-beat the much more accentuated of several "tucka-tucka-tucka's" (timed with 
the string instruments) before the next off-beat. Sort of a 
"TUCKA-tucka-tucka-tucka. Also, try leaving a gap between your lips and the 
cover plates to vary your tone on either the louder off-beat "tuck" or the 
softer ones that follow until the next off-beat. As I'm sure you know there's 
lots of different sounds that can come from a well-played harmonica. That's part 
of what you can offer to a bluegrass circle. The whole idea is to blend in and 
enhance the overall sound of he group. Only the player taking the break or 
singing should stand out.

A few words about bluegrass jam circle etiquette. There are two ways of 
selecting which player will take a given break. One is to simply hand the break 
to the next player in the circle (usually clockwise). Also, many circles take 
turns going around the circle to determine who will call the next song. Then the 
person who chooses the tune plays the intro and head and then the break will 
either hand off to the next player in the circle or s/he can point at any random 
player to take a break. Then when that player is finished, the person calling 
the song selects another player for a break with a head nod or pointed finger. 
When the song caller reckons the song is over, instead of handing off another 
break, s/he will lift one of their legs up off the floor a bit to signify the 
song's end (really). When one song is finished, the next person in the circle 
calls the next tune. (When you are "up" is when you really do need to know a few 
popular tunes.)

That should help some.

Closing note: Of course, rigorous study of the popular bluegrass melodies can 
certainly open (or keep open) doors for any wannabe bluegrass musician. But I 
wanted to make the point that even if you aren't a fiddle tune virtuoso, as long 
as you understand the genre and appreciate the roles that the various 
instruments play within it, it's actually fairly easy to fit harmonica into a 
bluegrass jam circle. Like Dave Payne, some of the most fun I've had playing 
music has been in late-night jam circles at bluegrass events. I suggest you try 
it out even if you aren't a Tony Eyers. :-)

Michelle