I played this here for HB in 2011, some people said it sounded like old cartoon music. Seven years later, I found an old cartoon with the same groove, took out the original music, and replaced it with mine.
In 1982, I got onstage with some friends and played the very, very simple harp part to Neil Young's "Oh Lonesome Me." I really didn't like being a center of attention like that and I decided playing onstage was not for me. But....
There is a legendary blues jam every Saturday in Riverdale, Maryland, just outside of DC. I finally went and expected only to listen, but I brought some harps just in case. There were about 15 guitarists, four harp players, and it was very easy to just join in. I was rusty, but very well received. We jammed all the great blues tunes for a few hours, then two jazz guys came, which changed the focus and left me out in the cold. I did try to play the jazz tunes, but I always need to practice a jazz tune a lot before I can take a stab at it. So I started out feeling really good about my playing and then got humbled in a heartbeat. But that's okay, I met a lot of great guys and one nice lady. I badly need to buy new harps, but once I do, I will return.
The jam is part of The Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation. It used to take place at Mr. Edward's barbershop. He died in 1998. He was a good bluesman in the Piedmont style and became friends with Mississippi John Hirt.
It's finally up! Harmonicaboogie.com Best of Singers and Songwriters!
When I did the Best of HB Volumes 1 and 2, most youtube users had a ten minute limit on their videos. So I didn't do a vid for songs because it would have to be longer than ten minutes. Well, things have changed a lot, and long videos on youtube are common. Actually, this vid is only about 18 minutes long, but I can't see it being any shorter. I could've made it a lot longer by including complete songs, but the world's attention span just keeps getting shorter and shorter. The video isn't perfect, but it's good enough to enjoy. Expect a lot of laughs and maybe even a tear or two.
I completely forgot to mention slidemeister.com. That site is a gold mine for chromatic harmonica. Use the search and you can probably get any question of yours answered. G is a popular key for chromatic, C is the most popular of course. Tuning is a big subject at slidemeister, many do not use the Solo tuning chromatics are usually tuned to. Also, I have used Tinus Koorn's overblow.com site for the chromatic charts, that has save me a lot of time. Tinus used to be a frequent player here. I have used both square and round holes, I greatly prefer round. Good players seem to be fine with either.
I felt from the beginning that I was unlikely to learn jazz with any real proficiency. But I wanted to play it, at least sometimes. The answer for me was to stick mostly to the pentatonic or blues scale. That has its limitations but at least you are far less likely to play wrong notes. Sometimes I will look at a chord chart and focus on the root of each chord, but staring at a chart messes with my groove and timing, as it did with the jam I have up now. I have been very happy with some of my efforts using "chord tones", but it's almost like composing and the furthest thing from improvisation. I take a chart of a song with the chords and then write the notes to each chord above it. Then I goof around with those notes until I get something I like. It takes some work but it's fun and a bit like working out a puzzle. That jazz musicians can do it in their head, on the fly, amazes me. I did try learning some other scales. But jazz musicians switch scales frequently, sometimes from measure to measure. It always overloaded my brain. One tip I have: blues is a lot of i-iv-v. Jazz is a lot of ii-v-i. Get familiar with that progression, work some melodies for it around in your head, and that may help you. Speaking of ii-v-i, there are a lot of tricks jazz musicians use to make their job simpler. One is to learn the standards well, and the famous riffs that have been used on them over the years. (Jazz guys keep playing the same old stuff.) You can pass at jams doing that. But even that may not be easy, it is not for me.
I played some really dreadful "jazz" on HB for years, and people let me know it. It's still not very good, but sometimes I have a moment. Guess that will have to do. Good luck, I'm sure your path will be unique to you, so tell us how it goes.
If I were starting, I'd probably get a Suzuki Chromatix 12 or 14 hole. The 14 is nice if you want to play the complete head on some of the standards.
I emailed briefly with Peter Holliman, he is well, he gave permission to repost a couple of his BTs I still had on my hard drive. He will be on HB's Best of Singers and Songwriters youtube vid whenever I finally get around to making it. Along with the Lips brothers, Harp and Floppy.
You sound like every one of us here, we all made some powerful connection with the harp and had to pursue it. So you found the right place. Jam participation has been low for a while, but I'm always optimistic it will pick back up. It took me six months back in 2006 to get the gear I needed and post to the jam, but what a rush when I finally did. With your tech background, it shouldn't be the hurdle that it was for me. I haven't been jamming myself lately, but I hope to change that in 2018.
What kind of backing track is your school looking for? Karaoke-version.com is a great source for backing tracks and only two dollars per track. If that doesn't work, give me all the details for what you need, and maybe I can help.
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