[Harp-L] BRMC - War Machine

["Evan Meagher" <meagher@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Harp-L, 

 

Long time no speak! I've taken a few years off from playing seriously and
I'm trying to get back into it. In the meantime, I'm also singing more.
Anyway, I've really lost the ability to hear a harp and immediately know
what position the guy's playing: I'm still pretty good at nailing it when
it's melodic and up front, but it's very hard when it's background/textural
type stuff. I think I might soon be singing and playing harp on BRMC's War
Machine - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hGociIxamM - and in the few times
I've tried to figure out what the lead singer is playing on harp, I haven't
really hit on it. I'm kind of suspecting that he's just playing simple cross
harp, but I haven't really nailed it like I used to when I was playing a
lot. 

 

You hear it at 0:56 in that youtube video, a little bit at 1:35, 2:04-2:12,
and then 3:12 to 3:46. Any ideas? My ear used to nail these things, and I'm
just out of practice.

 

By the way, it's kind of fun to post to Harp-L again. I have been on here
with different email addresses since I was in *high school*, back since like
1995, when I was still subscribed to HIP (Hey Winslow!!! Long time no see).
Maybe some of you guys can reach out that I've (my fault) fallen out of
touch with; I'm looking at you, David Barnes and Ray Beltran and countless
others. And while I've been subscribed, I haven't really paid nearly as much
attention, so if Harp-L is still going to produce comments to this post like
"You shouldn't play that rock noise that subjugates harmonica to textural
background noise, get up front and center!" and "you should play Little
Walter instead!" let me just say that look, I get it, I love Little Walter
as much as you do, etc, but they can't all be My Babe, ok? Doesn't mean we
shouldn't try to elevate the instrument by using it well in whatever genre
we choose, yeah? 

 

Cheers, 

 

Evan Meagher

 

p.s. I haven't had to replace a harp in a while because I haven't been
playing much. I always thought that Steve Grimm's Dude Harps were the best
value in terms of bang for the buck; are there any other custom harp makers
I should know about?