[Harp-L] AARP & harp



    Wellllll Sonny !!!!
                              I recall the early days
of my harpdom well. 1967 was a fabulous time for
music. Beatles, Stones, Doors, Hendrix,Cream,Credence
Clearwater Revivial, Paul Butterfield Blues Band. My
God ! It was a cultural cornucopia. Uptight America
was blowing wide open. People's political awareness
had water splashed on its face. Sexual standards
radically challenged.
    I went on a surfing trip to Malibu and borrowed my
 friend's harp. I just stayed in the car and blew.
Never went out and the waves were good ! That day I
bought my own harp and started playing 8 hours a day.
Did the bathroom thing for the acoustics. Annoyed my
friemds. Fortunately my best friend had a blues band
and he explained what the 12 bar blues progression
was. Of course, Tony "Little Sun" Glover. Memorized
it. First Marine Band cost me $2.50. From the book I
learned about the various cross harp relationships and
bought a bunch of different keys.
I played with every song on every record I had and
wrote down the keys   
on the album cover .(No CDs then by a long shot.)
Started digging Butterfield and slowing his stuff down
to 16 (on the record player) to steal away. So, I
thought I was pretty hot stuff -sorta knew how to bend
notes and when I saw Rick Epping's harmonica class
advertised @ McCabe's (school of music in Santa
Monica) first I assumed he can't be better than me.
But the ad said :"Super harpist". So I took it. And
though he tried to talk me out of taking the class
because I was definitely not the total beginner it was
geared to I learned tons from him:how to properly bend
notes, that you actually get new notes, Irish fiddle
tunes, how to read and write tablature,octaves, more
advanced blues licks, etc.
    I jammed w/people whenever and wherever I could
and the 60's were definitely an era of jammin'.
McCabe's had a round table w/6-8 chairs around it and
at any given time famous guys and neophytes 
would grab axes and blow. The lawn @ Santa Monica
College often had 
people playing guitar, dulcimer and harmonica. Lots of
places to jam.
I had many late night solo adventures @ The State
Beach tunnel w/its 
amazing echo. Wore out "Traintime".
    I went to Musician's Contact Service and put
together a rehearsal band :"Down & Dirty". We may have
done one or two paid gigs but it was ALL about the
love of playing. Working w/other musicians really
helps you to learn about entrances, exits, dynamics,
rhythm, etc. and
using a metronome for personal practice is not a bad
idea. I took musicianship,harmony and singing classes
@ SMC then went to CSU
Stanislaus took more music classes (still a math
major) then switched 
to music major took jazz classes and advanced
musicianship @ SMC then several years later jazz
improvisation training @ The Jamey Faunt School of
Music.
    So, though there were no instructional DVDs (like
the series I'm about to release) and ,to my knowledge,
no seminars and masterclasses  there was no shortage
of places to learn about music though not harp
specific.
                   Thanks for the walk down memory
lane !
                                                      
                            Chris
                                               
t


Chris "Hammer" Smith
Hammer Smith Band
Official Myspace Page http://myspace.com/chrishammersmith
harpshredder@xxxxxxxxx

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