Playing Harp on a Rack
Hello Teach,
I'm new here. I'm a subway busker. I sing and I ukulele daily and I accompany myself on just about everything with diatonic harp, played on a rack. I play RISA Solid soprano electric ukes. I stepped out of the woodshed with a couple of tunes on guitar about a year ago. I maintain about a two and a half-three hour repertoire. I'm totally committed to live sound. I love fermata, for one thing. I love changing tempos midstream, for another. You can't cheat the time signature of a backing track, which is one big reason I'm opposed to performing with one.
I bend notes, and I throat-tremolo, and I mostly play single-note passages. I prefer Suzuki ProMaster valved harps for my jazz and tin pan alley songs. But I have a few Special 20s kicking around in my harp case as back-ups. I set up a separate Shure PGM-58 for harp on a mic bracket the attaches to my vocal mic's boom stand. I keep the bass turned right up on the harp mic, and it uses its own channel on my Roland BA330 Portable PA. That lets me get a warmer harp response. i don't worry about phasing, as there is about a foot separating the two mics. Also, the harp mic is only turned up to about a third of the vocal mic level. I'm self-taught.
(Well, who can really say that, anymore, these day? I have all kinds of lessons on uke and guitar and harp o DVD or downloads, which means I have lessons from some of the best players in the world available to me at the click of my finger on my mouse.)
I signed up here for a month in hopes I'll learn a thing or two. And, I did right off the bat! So, maybe I'll stick around and do the LoA thing for awhile.
I learned I'm a pucker player. I play mostly first positions. But I do play Love Me Do in cross-harp. You've convinced me that, perhaps, I need to start learning how to tongue-block.
What prompted me to look around for some new ideas on harp playing is my desire to start playing both guitar and harmonica in the styles of Jimmy Reed and John Hammond. I've had the Homespun Tapes Lesson of John Hammond for years, but I've only recently developed enough guitar chops to approach a couple of songs from it (Just Your Fool, and Honest I Do).
This leads me to ask a few questions, please.
Are there any issues to consider in playing hands-free harp using tongue-blocking techniques?
Was Jimmy Reed, with his first-position overblows played on a rack, a tongue-blocker? Or, would you classify him as a pucker player?
And is John Hammond a pucker-player, or a tongue-blocker? Now that I know a thing or two about covering four holes with your mouth at a time and using your tongue, I've gone back to watch John play, and he may well be tongue-blocking, at least part of the time. I don't really know but I'm hoping you might.
One final question i have is still related to hands-free harmonica. Would it be appropriate for me to accompany myself on guitar and play harp on a rack, rather than use the canned tracks? I mean, playing harp on a rack is my goal, after all. However, I can appreciate that hand-holding the harp offers much greater opportunities to mold and shape reed sounds. And I'm not morally opposed to using backing tracks as a learning tool. Anyway, I just thought I'd better ask.
Cheers, Some Clown, aka Jimmy J (but that handle was taken)
PS. I used to clown. But then I picked up a ukulele, and it changed my life. I'm still a big fool, though.
Thanks for your timely reply, Teach.
Here is a YouTube link for a recording of an entire John Hammond concert. His first song, You're So Fine, starts at the 1:00 mark. He's in E so he's playing cross-harp. That song is fairly indicative of John's cross-harp style of harmonica playing.
At the 9:15 mark, he plays Lightnin' Slim's The Train My Baby's On, in Dropped D guitar tuning and he plays cross harp in G. I think he's pucker playing on this in order to get a good tone from those long, low reeds.
At 14:30 he plays a Robert Gedden's tune called My Time After Awhile in Bm. He plays this with his A harp, third position. He starts a harmonica break around 16:10, and if he used tongue-blocking at all, it might be most evident here.
If you scroll down to the remarks, you'll see I added the song title, key, and time code for the entire performance.
Now that I've watched a bit of this again, I suspect John is predominantly a pucker-player. Does he ever use tongue-blocking?
Cheers, jj
Thank you for the links. Listening to those examples it looks like he's puckering and every now and again using the tongue block for octaves (you can hear the octaves most prevalent in the first tune). A side note, "good tone from those long, low reeds" can be achieved with either embouchure.
Thanks, Teach!
You've confirmed my assumptions about how John plays the voodoo he do. Using octave notes is a great idea!
Perhaps I can steal that trick without much effort. Would that alone be worth the subscription fee for the month? It would, you know, if I can immediately start using it.
I'm working on my right side smirk. Even though it's only been a few days, I surprised myself by being able to pick up my harp today and blow a clean fourth hole note with a tongue block! Perhaps you will be able to convert me from puckering. But, I'll be in the woodshed with tongue-blocking for awhile. It's too soon to say if I'll ever be able to tongue-block while performing. In the meantime, I'll have to keep puckering up. Besame Mucho!
Perhaps the best way for me to fast track this process is to now start looking for spots to play octaves in my repertory. I'll start thinking about that while I'm working a pitch.
Maybe I can get my foot out of my mouth just enough to make room to stick my tongue in the door?
Cheers, jj
PS. Ain't that a grand mixed metaphor? Ooh Wee!
Sure, adding octaves (4th hole and above) is a fine way to start utilizing tongue blocking in your playing. You don't have to "convert" to tongue blocking, just add it's cool sounds to your bag of tricks. Some players do switch to all tongue blocking down the road, but your own playing style will dictate if that's something that makes sense for you. Right now, go for it, just add the octaves.
Hello Jimmy J, welcome to the site. Thanks for your background. Answers below...
1) Are there any issues to consider in playing hands-free harp using tongue-blocking techniques?
No, there are none.
2) Was Jimmy Reed, with his first-position overblows played on a rack, a tongue-blocker? Or, would you classify him as a pucker player?
He didn't use tongue block specific techniques (or at least I haven't run across them yet) on the high end, so there are no clues given by those techniques to tell us if he tongue blocked. He could have, he's just not making it easy for use to know. In general, you can pucker or tongue block the high end of the harmonica, no issues with either. P.S., he didn't use overblows, he used blow bends.
3) And is John Hammond a pucker-player, or a tongue-blocker? Now that I know a thing or two about covering four holes with your mouth at a time and using your tongue, I've gone back to watch John play, and he may well be tongue-blocking, at least part of the time. I don't really know but I'm hoping you might.
I'm not familiar with John's playing. If you would like me to listen to a passage that you think he might be using tongue blocking, send me the link and time code and I'll listen for you.
For you, the answer is simple, you no doubt should learn how to tongue block. Study all five of the study songs I've written for you. Then it will be up to you where you use the tongue block to achieve the sound you want for a given passage. In general, most players coming from your background will eventually play holes 1-3 in a pucker (where you bend a lot and can "fake" the sound of tongue block techniques like slaps and pulls effectively), tongue blocking everything from holes 4 and above (less bending here, so utilize the bigger sound of tongue block slaps, pulls and octaves). You'll pucker when you bend (including the high blow bends), staying in a pucker if it's a bend-focused passage, even above hole 3, or switching back when it makes sense to a tongue block to give you access to those sounds.
4) One final question i have is still related to hands-free harmonica. Would it be appropriate for me to accompany myself on guitar and play harp on a rack, rather than use the canned tracks? I mean, playing harp on a rack is my goal, after all. However, I can appreciate that hand-holding the harp offers much greater opportunities to mold and shape reed sounds. And I'm not morally opposed to using backing tracks as a learning tool. Anyway, I just thought I'd better ask.
Feel free to stay on the rack, no problem there if that's your context. I would like you to use the jam tracks I've provided in regards to study song submissions though, this will ensure you're developing your timing as well.
Best wishes on your studies...