Amplified chromatic
I’m fairly new to playing chromatic, I’ve studied the ‘no sweat’ lesson, memorised ‘Fast Large One‘, worked up a version of ‘I’m Ready‘ and a little more.
oh, ‘speak softly, love’ is a tune I’ve worked on in a couple of keys
my question though, relates to playing amplified.
i don’t mind my version of Fast Large One through the amp, but when I play I’m Ready I find it lacks punch. Sounds fine, to me, acoustically but I think it is not up to scratch when I play amplified. I’ve been known to swap back to diatonic just because I can’t hear the chromatic very well on stage. I tried it at rehearsal tonight and found I could crank the amp a couple more notches and that helped But I still wasn’t thrilleD. It’s a bit better if I play splits, and maybe that’s all there is to it, but I’m wondering if there are some mic handling technique things I should be looking out for.
Thanks, Winslow. I shall focus on that and see how I get on.
I paid special attention to the mic/harp grip and results were much improved. Thanks again!
Watch video of players like Bill Clarke, who played 12-hole chroamtic a lot, or Rod Piazza or Denis Gruenling, and note what you can see of their grip.
Cup the chromatic and mic together as tightly as you would a diatonic.
You can't get the entire chromatic into the cup, but that doesn't matter. Cup the part of it that you play the most.