Re: [Harp-L] A harp live

[michael harp <diachrome@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been hosting the same blues jam on and off for 6 years now and have
shared the stage with a lot of guitarists and loud musicians in general. I
found 3 things you can do to remedy the situation.

1) rather then turn your volume up, turn you treble up. It will help the A
harp to cut through the BS. I re-eq my amps depending on the harp key and
stage volume. A, G and other low key harps need help cutting through the
bass, bass drum and guitar chording. I usually have the treble between 1-3
depending on the harp key and volume. It might be necessary to roll the bass
back a hair while increasing the treble.  Think of the rest of the band as
white noise. You need to change your eq to cut through the noise. Also don't
use a death grip on the mic when playing low key harps. It only makes them
harder to hear from the players perspective.

2) It's up to you to create the dynamics when the band is cranked. When it
comes time for your solo motion for the band to come down then gradually
build the volume in your solo. There has to be compromises when playing with
loud bandmates. Learn to take control of your solos if nothing else.

3) Practice building your tone and dynamics. There hasn't been a blues
guitarist able to drown me off stage in 2 years because I learned to control
the volume situation. The highest volume I use on any of my 30 watt amps is
3.  Generally I keep it on 1 1/2- 2.

mike




 on 10/3/04 5:44 PM, rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx at
rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> 
> I just played Friday and Sat so I'm beat. When you play live in E, especially
> with two guitars  how do you cut through? Probably the big 15 inch speaker
> doesn't help. Tongueing octaves on the low end hardly come through.
> 
> Rainbow Jimmy
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