Re: [Harp-L] Sometimes ....

[Michael Rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

I love playing acoustically and have often (and currently) been in bands
where that is what I do.

Every now and then I get effects happy.  I spent a year playing a weekly
show with an array of effects through my bassman.  One night I forgot my
effects unit.  The crowd was a regular crowd and I had loads of people
saying "What did you DO to make it sound so great?"  At which point I
learned that a bullet mic through a bassman was all I really needed when
playing electrically.
Michael Rubin
michaelrubinharmonica.com

On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 5:06 AM, Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> David McCurry wrote:
> <I have had the same experience and recommend to all beginner to
> <intermediate players that tone comes from just you and the harp first, and
> <mic/amp/effect combos added with and to that. Not a big fan of the "one
> <size fits all" tube amp / "cupped" bullet mic "effect" for EVERY song.
> <Practice good hand, throat and articulation (and did I mention practice)
> <without a mic, but remember to also practice WITH a mic to build good mic
> <technique alongside what you do with just the harp.
> <
> <NO good and professional player I have ever heard or seen (most recently
> <Charlie Musselwhite and James Cotton) plays every song with at tightly
> <cupped harp and bullet mic all the time. They open their hands, fingers
> <(and nose and throat) to create a range of tone for each song. AND... John
> <Hammond (who played with them) plays his harp in a rack with his guitar
> and
> <had TONE APLENTY!
> <
> <All that said.. there is a very good and evolving place for pedals and FX.
> <Be very intentional about each new sound you create, matched to the
> emotion
> <and color of the song, and use all 64 colors in the box.
>
> I agree about 100% with 100% of the above.
>
> What FX do, in spades, is extend the range of sounds available to the
> instrument, opening up new roles for the harmonica in the band.
>
> But no FX device will make up for not knowing how to play your
> instrument.  Jimi Hendrix was a master of FX, obviously, but Hendrix knew
> what he was doing with a guitar long before he plugged in the wah-wah.
> When you put the knowledge of the instrument together with the extended
> tonal and emotional possibilities of FX... magic.
>
> We have to remember that when Little walter started playing through an amp
> with his hands cupped around the mic, it was an entirely new sound--a new
> "effect."  As Alan Wilson said once in an interview, "Who ever thought a
> harmonica could sound like THAT?"
>
> Regards, Richard Hunter
>
>