First Posting

[eric@xxxxxx (Eric Pohl)]

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on this group for a week or so and I thought I'd fill you
in on my story. I've been reading through the archives (well, trying to--I
didn't realize it was going to be 5 meg! Sorta like drinking from a fire
hose) and one of the best parts was reading about everyone's personal
experiences, particularly how they got started. Makes you realize that
you're not alone, that there's better players and worse players than you
around but everyone's got something to offer.

I've been playing the sax since I was twelve (I'm 30 now) and messed around
with piano and a little guitar here and there almost as long. A friend of
mine had the Klutz harmonica book/tape kit by John Gindick (sp?) and he
didn't have time for it, so he sold it to me (this was about four years
ago). I picked up on the single note thing pretty quickly and even got the
hang of bending before too long. I really didn't play much with other
people, so I sort of 'coasted' from there for a couple of years, taking my
harps out every now and then and satisfying to myself I that I hadn't lost
the little bit of skill I had built up. I did buy a couple of additional
harps besides the original Pocket Pal: a Huang Star Performer in A, a
Special 20 in Bb, and (recently) a Blues Harp in D. I was surprised to find
that none of them played as easily as the Pocket Pal; they all seemed much
'tighter.' I have since learned on this mailing list that you gotta break
in your harps; even so, I still have a devil of a time bending a 3 draw on
the Special 20.

My interest in the harmonica was renewed recently, however. I play Baritone
Sax in a horn section for a rock band in Atlanta called Rad Man and the
Instigators. During one rehearsal, the band was rehearsing a new tune that
I hadn't heard before, sort of a country-rock Eagles-ish song. It didn't
seem to call for horns, but I noticed it was in the key of G, so I took out
my trusty Pocket Pal in C from my gig bag and started adding some fills
during the chorus. Everyone seemed to like what I was doing a lot, so thus
was born the start of my harmonica performing career. I realized I had to
practice a lot more to become more comfortable and confident when playing
gigs, so I've been doing a lot of harp playing during odd moments such as
watching TV or cruising the Net. I tend not to play too much when driving
as I found I don't pay quite as much attention to driving when I'm playing.

To make a long story not too much longer, our band opened for the Atlanta
Rhythm Section (remember them?) a couple of weeks ago, in front of 500-800
people or so in an outdoor amphitheatre, and I got to debut in front of a
real audience. I was a little nervous, so my breath control suffered and I
was having trouble sustaining notes on the first chorus. I did ok, though.

Anyway, I'm proud to be a newly-reborn harmonica newbie. This is a great
list; I've already learned a lot! Sorry for the longish post; I hope I
didn't bore anyone.

Eric Pohl