Gig two

It didn't go so well for me last night. Various solos went awry and it took ages before people seemed to start enjoying themselves. Completely mad dancing bloke was quite funny though, in a scary sort of way.

Beer festival

Awesomely fun beer festival gig tonight! Lovely comment afterwards from a lady who'd enjoyed it, "What a difference you make!" Awwwwww :)

Tomorrow night is the Morgan Owner's get together. Looking forward to it!

New vintage Chromatic Harp!

So a few months ago there was this chap who liked my playing. I couldn't go to the pub last night but when I arrived at work today I was presented with a new harp! This chap had been back and given the harp to D! Turns out it is a vintage Hohner Chromatic which could date back to 1926!

The man is coming back to our next gig so I intend to work some harp stuff out on it. Time to let him hear it played! Yay!

Easter Holiday Over

Nearly finished the Easter holiday and have had plenty of time to practice the harp. I've got my groove back and found it huge fun. I've tried to get some triplet runs going (in the style of Paul Butterfield) with some success. What else have I done? Ah yes I've slowed music down to help me figure it out. Adam Gussow plays some fast runs which I've sort of got but the speed is still massively beyond me. Now, as the new term looms, I have my traditional mouth ulcer-a-thon which makes playing painful. Oh well, at least I've had a few weeks off from them! Still completely neglecting the chromatic I just can't get my head round it so I'm using it for just 1 song in the set at the moment -And She was.

And that's it!

Tales from the pub (again)

Last Wednesday (20.11.12) I played at the pub for what will probably be the final time this year (because of L having theatre commitments). At the end this chap who'd listened to the set came and had a word. He was glowing in his praise and really full of warmth about my playing. It was a really nice confidence boost. As I was about to leave, he said he had a chromatic from way back which he would like to give me! Whether that materializes is unimportant, I just took it as a huge compliment to my playing. Yay!

Tudhoe gig

Played last night at the Tudhoe Victory Club. We were the first of three bands. It worked out pretty well and I think a good sound was created overall. I was feeling fairly confident and the B/Blues lead and solo worked out well. The solo for Grapevine was good too. I think I'm doing ok.

Yay

I finally plucked up courage and sent a short message and video clip (of the solo in Grapevine) to the outstanding harmonica player and teacher Adam Gussow. I was really pleased that he was kind enough to reply and also greatly encouraged by his comments.

Thanks for your thanks, and the clip. You've got a strong groove and decent tone--loud, solid. Actually, you've got very good single notes. You're definitely not playing mush-mouth harp. What you need next is some vibrato. I'm glad I helped you find your way to third position. You're definitely the sort of player whom I would urge to keep at it, rather than somebody who I would point towards basket-weaving or the like. Not everybody inspired by my videos actually has enough talent to make it worth their while, but I think you do. Keep having fun! Thanks again.

Yay!