OK, the gig basically went OK. The band and vocals were great and people seemed to enjoy it. I was able to pull off the part but had a couple issues:
1) Needed more of the harp in the monitor. Thought it was fine in sound check but when we played for the service it was way too low.
2) I was concentrating so much on the notes and timing during the first service I missed the slides? (Signature harp thing, don't know what it's called: you're on a note, quickly slide up then down to the next note?). Got it right the 2nd time through.
All in all it was fun. I know that 1 riff doesn't make me a harp player, but I want to keep working on it. Also got some tickets for an upcoming Blues Traveler concert and will catch Charlie Musselwhite next time he comes to town.
Thanks again, Charlie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List members,
Thanks to all who replied to my question. First, let me apologize if anyone was offended by my post. I totally agree that the idea of learning an instrument in 2 days is silly. I should have mentioned that I had played for a few months many years ago, and seem to remember the basics. But there’s a huge difference between the ability to make sounds and the ability to make music, it would certainly take years to become a player. Anyway in my post I actually meant to be self-mocking, like “I’ve gone and done a stupid thing, please help.� So any sarcastic answers to a sarcastic question are deserved (I especially liked the offer of Florida swamp land.)
Fortunately this is a relatively simple line, much of my sound will be covered up by the band, and we play for a forgiving crowd. And while I could play the line on synthesizer I’d rather take a stab at the real thing. Hopefully breath and soul will compensate somewhat for lack of talent.
Thanks for tips about the bottom E. Tried blowing through the lips only, with tongue out of the way using more eeee sound and this all helps. Also, the posting in Portuguese (from Gary L) suggested doing a 3 blow instead of a 2 draw for bottom E. This definitely cured the flatness, it changes the chord but works when blowing the E as a single note.
Oh, and I said the line has a G it’s actually G#, so a D harp probably wouldn’t work. It’s a little confusing because the recording of Desire is in Eb, sounds like they tuned the guitars down a half step and used an Ab harp. But we don’t have a crew of roadies for quick guitar tuning so we’ll do it in E. I used Windows Media Player with Chronotron plug-in to transpose the recording to E for playing along with. Anyone know who’s blowing on the recording? Is it a member of U2 or did they bring someone in?
Regards, Charlie
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Help, I volunteered to play with my church band this Sunday and I need to learn the harp fast....
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