[Harp-L] Drinks and playing harmonica

[harpoon@xxxxx]

I perfer a short cigar between sets ...


On Sun, Jan 22, 2017 at 4:25 PM, Wilbur Euler wrote:

> Good common sense.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Jan 22, 2017, at 10:57 AM, David Brown <nonidesign at xxxxx> 
>> wrote:
>>
>> I'm 54 and have been playing since I was 16. Countless gigs.
>>
>> Here's a ten dollar answer for a one dollar question:
>>
>> My own rules:
>> 1. I eat at least 2 hours before the gig. I don't like that heavy gut 
>> feel
>> during a set.
>> 2.PLAIN BOTTLED WATER AT ROOM TEMPERATURE (better for the vocal 
>> chords) in
>> a plastic bottle (doesn't break when knocked over).
>> I drink nothing carbonated as it may make me burp while playing.
>> 3. NO SALT Dries out my mouth.  Also, salt, in general, makes my 
>> tongue
>> feel, for lack of a better way to describe it, "thick".
>> 4. NO SUGAR.Its probably just my imagination but I think the sugar in
>> typical soft drinks like Pepsi, etc. transfers to the reeds and
>> occasionally makes them stick.Is it carried in my breath? I don't 
>> know. I
>> don't have a lot of saliva in my mouth when I'm playing.
>> 5. SPILLS Keep the water away from the harps. Some idiot (probably 
>> me)
>> bumps into the drink and guess where it spills ;-).
>> 6. SCATTER Keep the harps away from the other band instruments and 
>> players
>> or the harps will, invariably,  get knocked all over the place. 
>> Whether its
>> my amp or some other player's on stage, I never put my harps on an 
>> amp or
>> speaker cab.
>>
>> Other rules (while I'm on a roll....):
>> 7, DRUNK DRIVING  I drink two of anything I want when I walk into the 
>> door
>> and chase them with plain bottled water at room temperature so that 
>> the
>> sugar or salt in the drinks don't get breathed into the harp (See 
>> Rule 1).
>> After the gig I can then drive home without worrying about a drunk 
>> driving
>> issue with the cops. If I want to drink more than I ought to, I 
>> arrange(
>> before hand) to have someone else (who isn't over the limit) drive me 
>> home.
>> 8, TROUBLE It doesn't happen much anymore, but in my earlier days I 
>> played
>> in some very rough places... so.....I didn't drink to excess. I 
>> didn't want
>> to get into shit I couldn't see coming coming.
>> 9. WOMEN (See Rule 72).
>>
>>
>> Yes, I know, all this is obvious, common sense butI have to learn 
>> things
>> the hard way.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 21, 2017 at 4:54 PM, ian osborn 
>> <davidianosborn at xxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Quick poll question for everyone..
>>>
>>> When out jamming or gigging and having a drink and then playing the 
>>> harp,
>>> what do people feel?? In the sense of getting gunk and stuff into 
>>> the reeds
>>> etc..
>>>
>>> A. Don't worry, just clean your harp later??
>>>
>>> B. Whatever you drink, make sure to have a glass of water nearby to 
>>> for
>>> when you play to rinse out your mouth a bit
>>>
>>> C. I find drinking (fill in the blank) never seems to affect my
>>> harmonicas...
>>>
>>> Thoughts???
>>>
>>> Ian
>>>