Re: Off-Pitch Tapes

[Richard Owen <richardo@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I too practice in the car.  On a nice straight stretch of freeway I can even
wedge my knees under the wheel and use both hands on the harmonica (!)  The
sound is not as good as in the bathroom but it's a great opportunity to
practice technique.

Anyway, my car's tape deck plays slow too.  I think it's the drag of the tape
on a weak motor that produces the pitch change.  It doesn't take much speed
change to cause a quarter-tone drop.  Some of the instruction cassettes are not
quality tapes and produce drag.  I have a Spanish tape that produces enough
drag to trigger auto-reverse on my car deck.  Also, longer playing cassettes
such as C110 and C120 produce more drag than a C60.

+Richard Owen

| 
| The tape play in my car (1992 Taurus) is one and 1/4 notes off
| which is a bitch. I do most of my practicing in the car during
| my commute. (My wife doesn't like me playing in the house.)
| I have to play a song or phrase on the tape player, turn it off,
| play a few notes on the harp to get the tape key out of me head
| and then try and play the riff I am working on. This has been
| going on for about a year. New tape players are expensive so
| I haven't replaced it.
| 
| Question: Does anyone have any experience adjusting the
| speed on car tape decks?  Honestly, I don't even see how 
| to pull the thing out.
|