Re: [Harp-L] Irish/celtic harmonica

["Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- In harp-l-archives@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Blunt White" <playharp@xxxx> 
wrote:

I am looking for suggestions on CD's to purchase so I can learn some 
irish tunes.  Been playing blues for over 30 years and looking for a 
new direction.  I have checked out Brendan Power's site.  Not sure 
which CD to purchase.  I need an easy one to start with.  Any 
celtic/irish style harp players have a suggestion?

==========Winslow says:

I made a similar transition and found a very steep learning curve, in 
that the tunes do unfamiliar things with chords and note sequences 
and do it all at a speed that in the blues only occurs in short 
bursts and sometimes not at all.

Listening to CDs by artists like Brendan Power, James Conway, Tony 
Eyers, Donald Black, and others will be very inspirational but may 
present some obstacles for someone starting out on this path:

1) the tunes go by very fast

2) the note sequences - the kinds of licks used, if you will - will 
be unfamiliar

3) Some of these players (Brendan, Tony) use special alternate 
tunings.

Some suggestions:

Get Brendan's beginner book/harmonica combo. There may be a CD with 
it. There's maybe a dozen tunes in it - not an overwhelming number. 
Brendan is a guy who has been there, done that and gotten excellent 
results and his advice is golden.

Lurk on some of the lists devoted to celtic, ITM (Irish Traditional 
music), bluegrass, etc. and ask about (relatively) easy beginner 
tunes. Most of these can be found on the web for free in notation and 
MIDI format and some even in Band-in-a-Box format (BIAB generates 
automatic accompaniment in the key, tempo, and style you dictate).

Many players of celtic tunes, fiddle tunes, etc., learn tunes at a 
slow tempo first, then speed them up. This is useful when practicing 
alone, but there are also sessions where people do this together. If 
there is an Irish pub, fiddle club, or any other way that people in 
your area gather to share these kinds of tunes, there may also be a 
regular "slow session" where people get together for the express 
purpose of working on playing tunes at a slow tempo. Get the tune 
under your belt slow and you then have a basis for speeding it up.

Don't limit your self to harmonica players in your listening for 
tunes and interpretation. They're relatively few in number in trad 
genres while there are a lot of fiddlers, accordionists, and 
whistle/flute players. You can learn from all of them, just like most 
good blues harmonica players listen and learn from guitar and 
saxophone in addition to harmonica.

Hope this helps.

Winslow