[Harp-L] Solo gig at Alpine Wines in Driggs ID

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I did my 2-hour solo gig at Alpine Wines in Driggs ID last night.  It was the first time I've done a 2-hour solo gig, and the first time I've used my new setup in live performance:

RP355 and fireball mic for harmonica
Shure SM58 and RP250 (for reverb and delay) on vocal
RP200 for electric strumstick
Peavey KB2 amp for all instruments and vocals
Boss RC-2 Looper in the effects send on the amp

This was a lot of gear (for me anyway) on the floor and the stage, taking much more than my usual 5 minutes to set up, but every piece turned out to be useful.  

I used the looper to set up accompaniments for either vocals or harp (or both) on a number of pieces.  The big revelation was that a beatboxed percussion groove, plus a bass line played on harp pitch-shifted down 1 or 2 octaves, plus a lead harp on top is a very viable sound for solo performance.  The great thing about the Digitechs in this situation is that you get maximum variety in the harp tones with a minimal amount of gear onstage.  I played "Lo Rider" as a solo with this approach, using an RP355 patch based on a Bassman amp model with a rotating speaker effect for the lead, and the layered sound that resulted was plenty satisfying.

I'll post mp3s and photos of the onstage rig soon.  In the meantime, I'm booking more solo performances.

Regards, Richard Hunter  






author, "Jazz Harp" 
latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
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