Practice: 1st octave

I don't play blues in 1st position because I can't overblow and I think the upper octave is too shrill especially when amplified. However, yesterday I tried "King of the Road" in 1st on the first octave. What made is particularly challenging was that I used my F harp. It needs some work but was useful for trying to get holes 2 and 3 in tune when being bent.

Worth more investigation.

Also "When the Saints" 1st position (start on 1 blow) then 2nd position (start on 2 draw) and "Amazing Grace" 1st (3 blow) and 2nd (1 draw) are good for getting the bends working. I don't think I can play any of them in 3rd because there is no way (without overblows?) to get the major third.

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.