Re: [Harp-L] Beginner with harmonica quality problems!

[Buddha <groovygypsy@xxxxxxxxx>]

I respectfully completely and emphatically disagree!!

Harmonica players are among the poorest (I'm not talking$$$) on the
planet. In fact they might be one step below a bongo player on the
street.  I attribute the lack of musicianship to players not taking
the instrument seriously and not have professional level instruments
off the shelf.

I don't say buy a custom harp because I happen to be in the business
of making harps, look in the archives and you'll see that I've been
saying get a custom harp since about 1994-95.  Most of my playing
ability regardless of whether or not you like me style, comes from
having a properly set up harp from the get go.  Having a custom harp
is not synonymous with playing jazz or otherwise technical music. If I
had chosen to be a blues player, I would have embarked on a path to
become one of the best in that venue. Having a custom harps has helped
me immensely.

How did I get into them?  When I got serious about playing the
harmonica, in 1988 I had a Hohner 270 with a broken button. That's
when I met Dick Gardner.  He set up the chromatic to play perfectly
and then showed me how to do it with my diatonics.  After having a
well set up harp, I instantly became a better player.  Things were
easier to play and I was much less frustrated.

There's a lot to be said about hard work and dedication but at least
start with the right tool. If you have to shovel snow, you could get
it done with a garden shovel but what do that when you can use a snow
shovel?

EVERY model harmonica needs work when it's played directly out of the
box.  Heck you could spend $200 on a Suzuki Fabulous harp which
actually plays quite well out of the box but nowhere near as well as a
custom harp and most custom harps cost far less than the Fabulous
harp.

 Anybody know anything about Dog Training?  Some of you know this but
away from the harmonica, I train personal protection dogs.  The old
school way of training was to beat the dog into submission. If he
didn't do want you wanted then you'd yank and crank on his collar or
mush his head into the ground.  Now the way to train a protection dog
is to make everything positive. Everything is reward based, fun and
happy.

Give yourself a step up in the process and start out with a good
instrument. The difficulty in playing music shouldn't begin with
beating it out of your instrument.


On Tue, Oct 21, 2008 at 9:33 AM, Steve Shaw <moorcot@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Buddha wrote:
>
> < If you can't set one up yourself,
>> or can't find a teacher then it would be money well spent to buy a
>> custom harp... Having a pro-level instrument applies to more than
>> just harmonica. For example, when I started playing guitar, I didn't
>> buy a $200 student model. I bought a $3000 Martin. I'm not a guitar
>> player by the stretch of anyone imagination BUT having a guitar like
>> that got me much further along and faster than I would have with El
>> Cheapo Guitaro. There is so much more life and depth to a nice
>> instrument.
>>
>> For customizers, I recommend Jimmy Gordon, Richard Sleigh, Brad
>> Harrison and Joe Spiers. If you don't want to wait in their lines, I
>> also build harps and I am currently offering a free online lesson with
>> a purchase. (contact me offlist for details).
>
> The issue here, for a relative beginner, is that, ideally, you have to know what you want from a customiser.   There isn't much point ordering a "customised" harp costing several times what a stock harp costs unless you can either explain or demonstrate exactly what you need.  A better investment for the time being may be to listen to advice as to playing technique and mess about with a few inexpensive harps until you develop an idea of what it is you want (and overcome technical shortcomings if applicable).  Otherwise there's the danger that the shiny new custom harp will be just as much a disappointment as the OOTB ones.  I didn't order any custom harps in my early days and am glad I didn't, for I didn't know then what I know now, not by a long chalk.
>
> Steve
>
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