[Harp-L] hippie space jam

[rainbowjimmy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Took all my equipment out into the woods to play at the annual non-festival jam.
Bunch of young guys/ladies playing so no blues. Got to play everything from
Violent Femmes and Edie Brickell to Hank Williams. Good crew. I asked if they
could play something in D minor, they immediately kick into a psychedelic jam,
which sounds real nice with jazzy chromatic riffs. Once the guitar volume
starts going up and the distortion starts cranking those John Popper high runs
really cut through. I did a solo version of Summertime on a melodic minor harp.
Melodic minor harps are a lot of fun, you can throw a lot of regular riffs out
and they sound very different.Went straight from Summertime to Stand Up for
your Rights to Ain't no Sunshine when She's gone.

With my level of musicianship, if I just play 2nd position standard tuned
diatonic it starts getting a little old, so interspersing some alternate
tunings and chromatic stuff really helps. We played a long jam on a D Eb vamp
that worked real well on the chromatic.

I worked hard trying to jam in 3rd position on the diatonic. I can do this at
home, but I freeze up playing live.I need more practice. I get nervous and lose
my place on the harp.

Playing live outside in the dark is a lot of fun. Playing with a bunch of
younger musicians, playing alternative, playing jam band stuff is a lot of fun,
gets me out of the blues rut.

Rainbow Jimmy
http://www.spaceanimals.com
http://www.soundclick.com/theelectricstarlightspaceanimals.htm