[Harp-L] special 20 problems of my own

["samblancato" <samblancato@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Folks,

 

I've been playing special 20s for about three years now, slowly moving away
from my Suzukis, GMs and Blues Harps.  Up until now I've had no problems but
as of late I've gone through 3 A's, a G and a C,  first by flattening out 2
and 4 draw and then having those same reeds break so that I've had to
replace them.  With the G I've gone back to my Golden Melody and it seems to
be holding up better.  But since I've been doing a lot of third position on
the G I'm getting that weird chattering vibration on 3 draw wherein a deep
bend seems to shiver and chatter.  What can I do about this?

 

As for Bob's comments about playing too hard, well, he's probably right but
it's hard to tell if this is in fact what I'm doing.  I've been playing Kim
Wilson's "Low Down" and I'll be damned if I can see a way to play this song
softly and get the tone I want.  Sure I could soften up on my draws but the
song would loose all its' balls.  Having said that, I really would like to
learn to play what I want to play with less pressure and as I'm sure you all
know it's really hard to do.

 

Another song I've been obsessed with as of late is Little Walter's "Last
Night".  I'll play this short solo perhaps 40 or 50 times a day. Really.  I
often play it at lunch or in my truck out in front of the coffee place I
stop at in the morning.  I urge you all to listen to this song, if you have
it.  This is one of the most challenging solos I've ever worked on.  You
CAN"T play it hard and have it come out right and yet there is a combination
of throat vibrato and laughing vibrato here that is just excruciatingly hard
to do softly. L.W. plays this song in such a subdued way and with such
control!  As I practice it I'm struggling to have the LV and TV work
together and I can feel the back of my throat and soft pallet at the
entrance to my nasal area stretching to get that constant quivering drag he
puts on the whole thing - It's really amazing how hard this to do.  Or is it
just me?  Any way, playing this solo really exposes the whole soft playing
issue.  As I said, if any of you guys have a copy of this song (it's on "His
Best" Cd) listen to it carefully.  If you play it hard it just turns into a
completely different song. 

 

Sam Blancato, Pittsburgh