RE: [Harp-L] My Name Is Rooty and I Am a Harmonica Owner



Rooty,

I think your next step should be to get some guided assistance on your
quest. It's noble to learn all by yourself, but can be a bit frustrating
and lonely. I'd recommend getting Jon Gindick's Rock n' Blues Harmonica
(at half.com for $17
http://half.ebay.com/search/search.jsp?nthTime=1&product=all&keyword=gin
dick&x=0&y=0), it's a very fun and entertaining book/cd that is
certainly something that you would enjoy, given your own excellent sense
of humor! You'll like the story of Stone and the Caveboys as you learn,
and it will teach not only blues, but some rock, folk, etc. Takes you
from ground zero up through first, second, third position and teach you
the required basics of basic music theory and chord progressions. The CD
will let you hear what things in the book should sound like, quite
useful. Jerry Portnoy's Masterclass 3-cd and book set it excellent too
but more expensive. Paul Butterfield also has a pretty short book/CD
that I think is good, but it leaves you hanging in a lot of places.
Check amazon.com, half.com, or ebay for those.

Short of that, go to many of the instructional places on the internet
for free. I don't like harmonicalessons.com much (except for lots of
tabs). This site has a listing of them: http://www.harplinks.com/EDU.php
and I like this site, really start here because this one has it all from
start to finish: http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/Harmonica.html.
Also go to Jon Gindick's site for a lot of free lessons and audio files
and there is a discussion board there as well where you can ask
questions, etc. It's a treasure trove of stuff for the beginner, so I
highly recommend that one too.

Welcome to the club Rooty!!

-----Original Message-----
From: harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:harp-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Rooty Baegga
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 10:12 PM
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [Harp-L] My Name Is Rooty and I Am a Harmonica Owner


My Name Is Rooty and I Am a Harmonica Owner.  I bought a harmonica
today.

Because I know none of you will be able to sleep until you hear all
about 
it, I thought I'd spare you a sleepless night.

I went to my local musical instrument emporium to see what they had in 
stock.  I blanched when I saw the starting price of 12-hole chromatics 
($149.99 and up, but that's Canadian money).  I knew my budget was not 
going to withstand that.

That left my choices to be either a diatonic, or a diatonic.

I chose to get a diatonic.

I asked to see a number of them, including the recommended Horner
Special 
20.  I must have looked like such a dork, opening each harmonica case to

look at them.  To these eyes, they all looked pretty much the same.
Then I 
cradled each one in my two hands the way I've seen harmonica players do 
since the beginning of time.  To these hands, they all pretty much felt
the 
same.  I don't think I fooled the gentleman waiting on me at all.

To be perfectly honest, so many people recommended the Special 20, I had

already decided this would be the one for me.  However, they didn't have
it 
in the Key of C.  Being an instant gratification kind of guy, I started 
looking at the ones they *DID* have in C, because almost everyone said
that 
was the best key in which to buy a starter harmonica *AND* I wasn't
leaving 
there without a harmonica.

I eventually settled on a Horner Blues Harp MS.  Why?  To begin with, it

felt just as good as any other when I held it.  Secondly, and this was
the 
clincher, the guy behind the counter (who was really, really old.  From
all 
the framed newspaper articles and 8x10s on the wall I gleaned he was the

founder of the store way back when) told me that it was easier than any
of 
the other models for bending notes.  Say no more!!!

I also figured that at $29.99 (Canadian money still), it didn't break
the 
budget and I can always get a Special 20 in the Key of C, or any other
key 
of my choosing, at the same price later.

I haven't had a lot of time with it on my lips yet (less than 10 minutes

overall), but I am already frustrated.  I've been trying to pick out
Mary 
Had A Little Lamb on it.  I have the first note....I just don't know
where 
to go from there.  Moreover, I am not even sure it's the right first 
note.  DAMN!!!  This is going to be harder than I thought.  I learned
that 
song within 5 minutes on the touch-tone phone.

I was going to try and pick out the scale, until I realized that I only
had 
the white keys on the piano.

To quote Lenny Bruce: You need the white keys and the darkies to play
The 
Star Spangled Banner.

Any advice for where I should go from here?

=========================================
Rooty Baegga

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