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RasputinsGhost posted:TTFA, do you have any other squeezeboxes for sale? lol I'd want one too, thats pretty sweet. I have so many instruments now... I.. I think I have a problem. 
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Jan 17, 2013 20:41
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Butch Cassidy posted:The patch has a date with some velcro to be used on everything. Glad you like it, picked up that one in Tajikistan. Have you had much chance to muck with the Anglo yet? Finding it intuitive? Already opened it up to see how it works? Arsenic Lupin posted:I've already had my hands on a Harpsicle and hated it. I didn't like its voice, and I didn't like the feeling of its strings. I'm sure the Waring will have slack strings as well; it will have to. However, a $130-plus-shipping toy harp is a lot more attractive than a $400-plus-shipping toy harp. The Waring is really close to the angular harp plan that Denis Havlena has on his site: http://dennishavlena.com/harp.htm Depending on how handy you or your family is, and how much you enjoy tinkering with wood, just making from scratch could be an option. I wouldn't do it "just to save money" unless you have way more time than money on your hands, since it'd probably be false economy compared to just getting the kit. Do note that, in either case, you can always attach just whatever resonating body to the instrument to amplify the sound, not just the stock cardboard. Havlena also has one where he used a beater dulcimer body on such a harp:  I actually have a dulcimer body sitting around (it was such a horrible dulcimer I just disassembled it to get it out of circulation), so I'll eventually put it free on Craigslist for any DC folks to use for such a cheap harp project. quote:TTFA, do you have any other squeezeboxes for sale? lol I actually have three more like that one, but two of them need re-sleeving, and I can't even be sure if the reeds are fully okay until I get them up and running. And I have one I already re-sleeved and made new straps for (the old ones looked fine but were so dried out they snapped in minutes), but I need to do some tweaking on the pads before it's running right. I also have a huge Chemnitzer concertina (here's me playing it, here's the band 16 Horsepower playing one). Also I'm going to eventually sell the little Russian garmoschka; it's cool but I honestly should just focus on Hayden Duet concertina since that's my main 'box. quote:I have so many instruments now... I.. I think I have a problem. Yeah, I know the feeling. I did a headcount recently and I have like 40-some instruments not counting small cheapies like tinwhistles (more than a dozen of those), etc. Some of them are beater dulcimers to use for workshops, but setting those aside I should probably try to trim down a fair bit. Glancing around the room, I'm thinking of cutting back to around a dozen-ish large items and then the various small ones.
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Jan 18, 2013 13:46
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Glad you like it, picked up that one in Tajikistan. Not yet, in-laws visiting, skiing with the kids, breaking in a new pair of Koflachs, and work have me spread thin the last couple of weeks. I plan to dig into it Saturday or Sunday evening while a concertina-having friend is hanging around.
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Jan 18, 2013 14:21
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Butch Cassidy posted:Not yet, in-laws visiting, skiing with the kids, breaking in a new pair of Koflachs, and work have me spread thin the last couple of weeks. I plan to dig into it Saturday or Sunday evening while a concertina-having friend is hanging around. No worries, looking forward to hearing your impressions. In a way I'm kind of surprised that we haven't had more goons get into concertina. Though I guess four isn't bad, one Anglo, one English, and very unusually two Duets. Concertina has a relatively simple interface (you press buttons, and move your hands apart), has some good affordable models on the market, and puts a lot of versatility into a compact package. Anglo is particularly intuitive, though (for beginners at least) less flexible than the others. A 20-key is basically two harmonicas side-by-side; a 30-key adds a bunch of alternate buttons and chromatics in that third row. Butch, if you find any YouTube tutorials that you like that work for the 20-button, that'd be good to hear, since I think a chunk of the tutorial materials online is specifically for the Irish-style 30-button. 20-button is very underrated these days, does nice work for a lot of traditional singing and dance tunes. Here's a neat clip of a beginner making up a tune on an Anglo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_H0_PIyb3U
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Jan 21, 2013 08:45
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:No worries, looking forward to hearing your impressions. I've fiddled about with the concertina for a few hours over the last few days and it is looking to be pretty intuitive right now. Picked up this book http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-Concertina-Method-Yet/dp/0825653681/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1358871816&sr=8-4&keywords=concertina and it is a decent song book. I'm working on smoothing out my performance of Careless Love right now. As for Youtube, I have pretty much struck out. There are a decent number of bideos of people playing and the best I can think to do is try to emulate them with the good old-fashioned "loop the video and guess/check guess/check guess/check until your wife files for divorce" method.
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Jan 22, 2013 17:28
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:In a way I'm kind of surprised that we haven't had more goons get into concertina. Though I guess four isn't bad, one Anglo, one English, and very unusually two Duets. Concertina has a relatively simple interface (you press buttons, and move your hands apart), has some good affordable models on the market, and puts a lot of versatility into a compact package. I also have a couple of English concertinas, though I've played them before I discovered this thread. In fact, it was the picture of a concertina in your banner ad (a Wheatstone duet?) that brought me here. My favorite instrument is my Morse treble Albion. It is surprisingly light, and I've found the English concertina to be the easiest instrument to sight-read musical scores with. Also, fast note runs are fun and easy on this instrument.
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Jan 22, 2013 18:50
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So I received a package in the mail today. It was complete with adorable hearts that replaced the i's in my name. I thought I had a secret manlover, but I could only be so lucky. It was TapTheForwardAssist, sending loving goonmail.  What's this? Guitar Amp Stickers? My favorite. Also a coin roll thingy and an information sheet on the various parts of my body I can get pierced! Not pictured: Burger King coupons; They wouldn't honor most of them at the BK here in Germany, but I did get a free double stacker. Score.  No way. Not one, but TWO books on the Scottish Smallpipes. Thanks TTFA! Also TTFA, the guy I talked to on the Dunsire Forums (you linked me to his thread) had decided not to sell his Gibson Firesides in A, so I'm probably going to buy new, since no used Pipes have popped up in a few weeks. I'm waiting on the retailer to open up on Monday. Now that I have received these books, I'll probably buy a new set of Firesides from Gibson or a retailer on Monday. Is there any real reason to for bellows over mouthblown, or is it just preference?
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Jan 25, 2013 23:39
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I've been interested in learning the accordion for a long time. I fell in love with the musette style of playing years ago and think accordions are fabulous and awesome (they're so pretty and sparkly and gypsy-like). This thread has gotten me excited again, so I decided to look and get a feel for what was available in piano accordions (I've played piano for 20+ years so it seemed like the obvious option for me). I found Liberty Bellows which has a great selection of used accordions for less than $1,000. They're still too expensive for me right now, but it's something I can save up for. Anyway, I just had to share this with the thread. Currently on sale at Liberty Bellows for $695 (although the youtube page says $995). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRxN_lXauY
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Jan 26, 2013 06:12
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I think I might have a first for this thread. It's gotten me a job. Back in this post from August 2011 I talked about getting my washboard from a guy who runs an online music store out of his home in St. Louis. Fast forward to two weeks ago, he makes a post on Facebook looking for someone to bring on-board making musical bones and handling various administrative tasks while he delves into creating a wholesale division to supply brick and mortar stores with old-time percussion instruments. Two nights ago we got together and hashed out the details. Starting next week, I'll be learning how to hand craft rhythm bones out of natural bone, slate, metal and wood along with assembling washboard playing gloves and performing various other tasks, like doing research and writing up little blurbs about the different varieties of wood used for making bones and other such things. So thanks TTFA. This could turn out to be a full time gig making the same cash as I make at my lovely non-musical day job. Also, if you want to see me playing the washboard and baritone uke (among other things) whilst forgetting the lyrics to the song I was singing, the show I did last week is archived here and should be up for a few more weeks. The video quality blows but the audio is pretty good.
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Jan 26, 2013 07:29
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Brother Jonathan, I've got some concertina follow-up I'll aim to post in the next week or so. In the meantime, the Albion is supposed to be a great piece of gear, but did you buy an Albion (37 key English) over a Geordie (47 key) because you bought before the Geordie came out a few years back, or for some other reason (Albion is smaller/trimmer/faster?)? quote:Also TTFA, the guy I talked to on the Dunsire Forums (you linked me to his thread) had decided not to sell his Gibson Firesides in A, so I'm probably going to buy new, since no used Pipes have popped up in a few weeks. I'm waiting on the retailer to open up on Monday. Now that I have received these books, I'll probably buy a new set of Firesides from Gibson or a retailer on Monday. Is there any real reason to for bellows over mouthblown, or is it just preference? Yeah, it seems a lot of the time used prices on Firesides aren't that much lower than new, so if you're not seeing current good deals on exactly the variant you want, buying new isn't bad at all. Definitely get one in A though, so you can play along with instructional materials, and also A is better than the other keys for playing along with fiddlers, tinwhistlers, guitarists, etc, for doing tunes in D and in A. So far as bellows [EDIT: started a long explanation but it was too technical] the main reason is to keep your breath humidity/condensation off the reeds. This is a bigger deal with cane reeds, or really agile/fragile reeds like uilleann and Northumbrian. In an SSP it's slightly less of an issue, and in an SSP with synthetic reeds it's way less of an issue. Unless you're really keen to get bellows, there's nothing wrong with getting a mouthblown set with synth reeds (which most of the <$1000 ones are). Nione posted:I've been interested in learning the accordion for a long time. I fell in love with the musette style of playing years ago and think accordions are fabulous and awesome (they're so pretty and sparkly and gypsy-like). This thread has gotten me excited again, so I decided to look and get a feel for what was available in piano accordions (I've played piano for 20+ years so it seemed like the obvious option for me). There are a few ways you can go with this. As you note piano accordion would probably be the easiest transition, and are also the easiest to find in the US. Buying a small-mid PA of decent make in good shape isn't necessarily too expensive, just do a little homework about how to buy. Personally I'd avoid buying any old off-brands unless they're really cheap (like <$150) since service might be tricky, and similarly be cautious with really old boxes even of good make. For such reasons, I'd tend to go with buying locally, or from really reputable sellers, as eBay can be a crapshoot with free-reeds since most sellers have absolutely no idea if a box is good or not. 90% of auctions have something like "I don't know anything about accordions, but this one sounds nice and seems to be in pretty good shape"; that could mean everything from "nearly mint" to "half the reeds are missing and it's playing a quarter-tone flat on the average key". Are you in the Philly area? Some guy in KoP has what looks to be a relatively recent-make Paolo Soprani (good brand, not sure of the value of this particular model) for $350: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/msg/3573137978.html If you want to get a PA and try musette, just keep an eye on Craigslist, and read up a little on how to thoroughly check out buying a used PA. Plus showing a seller that you have a critical/experienced eye is a great haggling technique. If you're in Philly, definitely drop by Liberty Bellows and check them out, say hello and all. Further down the line, you might want to check out the old-school option for the musette: Chromatic Button Accordion (CBA). From what I can tell glancing around, the PA is a totally acceptable modern alternative, but the CBA is the traditional way and has its virtues. They're generally a good bit pricier, though Hohner has some offshore ones starting at $1200 new, and Liberty Bellows will surely have some CBAs for you to try out just to feel out the idea.  quote:I think I might have a first for this thread. It's gotten me a job. That is indeed a first, keep us posted! TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 06:15 on Jan 28, 2013 |
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Jan 27, 2013 23:10
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:In the meantime, the Albion is supposed to be a great piece of gear, but did you buy an Albion (37 key English) over a Geordie (47 key) because you bought before the Geordie came out a few years back, or for some other reason (Albion is smaller/trimmer/faster?)? The Geordie hadn't been invented yet when I bought the Albion. I've been tempted to get a Geordie sometimes, but the range of the Albion is just fine for all of the music that I've been playing. I never felt as though I was lacking any notes! Also, I like how small and light the Albion is. That is one thing that has kept me from trying the duet concertina: They're huge. Since you have a duet, can you tell me if they can be played standing up, or do you need to be sitting to support the weight of it?
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Jan 27, 2013 23:26
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Are you in the Philly area? Some guy in KoP has what looks to be a relatively recent-make Paolo Soprani (good brand, not sure of the value of this particular model) for $350: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/msg/3573137978.html Unfortunately, I'm not anywhere near Pennsylvania, I just found Liberty Bellows online and really appreciated that they had videos of all of their accordions being played so you could hear them. I'm actually in Missouri, in St. Louis. I found a couple of people in the city that teach accordion playing. I'm going to email one of them and ask about lessons, I'm sure he'll be able to help me find a decently priced starter accordion in the area. He may even have rental or loaner accordions that I could use to figure out what I like. Thanks for all of your help!
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Jan 28, 2013 06:30
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Can I add to the squeezebox chat? If you know my questions are answered elsewhere in this thread, tell me and I'll read back through it. I've wanted to play the piano accordion for a while, and have a few questions, even though I've done a lot of reading on the subject over the last few months. In terms of music I'm very interested in playing eastern european folk, balkan, gypsy, klezmer, russian, that kind of thing. I also like french cafe music, but thats of secondary importance to me (these are just the two kinds of music I associate most with accordion). I've also been looking at sizes of box, I'm 6"2 myself so not too worried about weight/size as what I can play on them. I know I would be unhappy with a 12 bass instrument, so I'm kind of veering towards 48 or 72. Is 48 enough to play the genres I mentioned, or would be 72 be better, ie everything I need. Another thing I dont understand too well is the importance of the number of reeds/voices. More is always better? Seems like my first accordions going to be pretty expensive, especially if I'm avoiding the chinese makers. Hobgoblin music sell scarlatti accordions, which are made in china but rebuilt by themselves. Anyone know if they're decent?
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Jan 28, 2013 14:09
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Brother Jonathan posted:Also, I like how small and light the Albion is. That is one thing that has kept me from trying the duet concertina: They're huge. Since you have a duet, can you tell me if they can be played standing up, or do you need to be sitting to support the weight of it? Which Duets are you thinking of that are so huge? The 35-key Concertina Connection "Elise" model I have is 7" across the flats, and CC's mid-level Peacock Duet is 45-key and 7" across the flat. For reference, your Albion is 6.25" across the flats, and the Geordie is also 7". The Stagi Hayden Duet (46-key) is, granted, 7.5", and while that's pretty clunky it's not necessarily enormous. In any case, my Duet isn't as trim as an Albion, but it's still small enough to play standing up with no trouble. I do vaguely intend to eventually drop the cash on a Peacock, but my concertina is probably a distant fifth place among instruments I play the most. quote:I know I would be unhappy with a 12 bass instrument, so I'm kind of veering towards 48 or 72. Is 48 enough to play the genres I mentioned, or would be 72 be better, ie everything I need. Another thing I dont understand too well is the importance of the number of reeds/voices. More is always better? Seems like my first accordions going to be pretty expensive, especially if I'm avoiding the chinese makers. Hobgoblin music sell scarlatti accordions, which are made in china but rebuilt by themselves. Anyone know if they're decent? Piano accordion is one instrument I freely admit I don't know a ton about, and I haven't found any really good forums that focus on piano accordion. Kind of odd since it's way more common than concertina, which has its own very active forum. Maybe just enough PA players are already keyboard players and so have less to discuss? In any case, so fas as choosing between 48 and 72, I'd suggest pulling up the fingering chart for both and seeing if you're getting the bass and chord options you'd need on a 48 or no. So far as Scarlatti, their concertinas aren't great, though if Hobgoblin is working with the company and QCing the product it could be they're better in that line. Their 72b compact looks kind of cool, but for nearly £500 I'd imagine you could find much better deals on older Italian or German instruments in good condition, maybe off Gumtree for your area. London has a number of 48/70/72 bass for £100 or less, and if you do a thorough check for tuning and action before buying you could likely find a satisfactory starter instrument. Though like with our goon above, if you're going to take lessons you can probably get a rental or get some good guidance from the teacher about what to get. Sorry I don't have more specialized PA data, but hopefully one of the goons following might be able to shed more light.
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Jan 29, 2013 13:42
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Bitter Mushroom posted:Can I add to the squeezebox chat? If you know my questions are answered elsewhere in this thread, tell me and I'll read back through it. I am also looking into getting an accordion. I'm not at all an expert, all I know is something I read on an accordion forum (https://www.accordionist.org). Someone on there was looking for a piano accordion and the advice someone gave them was to not get anything below 96 bass. I don't know why, specifically, but I'm guessing you just have a much bigger range. You might check that forum out and ask them your question, I don't know how active it is or how reliable their information will be, but it'd be a place to start.
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Jan 29, 2013 14:18
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Which Duets are you thinking of that are so huge? The 35-key Concertina Connection "Elise" model I have is 7" across the flats, and CC's mid-level Peacock Duet is 45-key and 7" across the flat. For reference, your Albion is 6.25" across the flats, and the Geordie is also 7". The Stagi Hayden Duet (46-key) is, granted, 7.5", and while that's pretty clunky it's not necessarily enormous. I was thinking of the old 60+ key Maccann duets. I'm not familiar with the new models, and I was astonished to learn from your post that there are duets made with fewer than 40 keys.
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Jan 29, 2013 18:28
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Which Duets are you thinking of that are so huge? The 35-key Concertina Connection "Elise" model I have is 7" across the flats, and CC's mid-level Peacock Duet is 45-key and 7" across the flat. For reference, your Albion is 6.25" across the flats, and the Geordie is also 7". The Stagi Hayden Duet (46-key) is, granted, 7.5", and while that's pretty clunky it's not necessarily enormous. Number of inches across the flats isn't very meaningful for if it is light enough to stand with, number of buttons is more relevant. As you get more buttons, they get much heavier. It seems people using a support strap to play while standing if an instrument has greater than 50 buttons. It's of course it's possible to play the larger instruments without a strap, just look at Alexander Prince and his 70 button monster.  When I was researching whether to get a duet or an EC, it was very clear that the vast majority of duet players prefer to play huge instruments. I think this is something which is pretty important to consider about duets. The "student sizes" for duets are 35 keys for Hayden, 42 for Crane, and 47 for Maccann. All small enough to play without being really heavy, except duet players by and large seem to prefer instruments with 60+ buttons. There are a couple of ways you can see this. First of all, if you simply ask most what the ideal amount of buttons is you'll get an answer in the 60s or 70s. Secondly, virtuoso duet players and professional players practically exclusively play instruments with 60+ buttons. Sometimes they play instruments with 80+ buttons! Third, if you stalk duets on ebay prices start to climb when an instrument has like 55ish buttons and then starts to fall off once an instrument gets more than like 70ish buttons. So compared to the Anglo (ideally 30 buttons) and the English (ideally 48-56 buttons), duets are kind of massive. The Hayden is also the only duet where a significant number of players say that their preferred instrument has less than 50 buttons. However, I have to wonder if there are economic reasons for this. A 60+ button Hayden cannot use hybrid reeds to keep the costs down (hyrbid reeds are too large and won't all fit). Traditional concertina reeds are really expensive to make. A 60+ button Hayden costs around 8.5 grand. Periodically I see people lamenting that nothing ever came of a Russian plan to make an inexpensive 64 button Hayden duet, so clearly a desire for big Haydens exists even if many people are happy with instruments with fewer than 50 buttons. thousandcranes fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jan 29, 2013 |
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Jan 29, 2013 19:18
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A LOVELY LAD posted:
I'm fixing to buy a new banner, so going to contact A LOVELY LAD to pay him for this one with a few tweaks. Anyone have any suggestions? As noted before, I think banners have to be moderately work safe, so I think "Guitar Is Dead" might get the same point across without naughty words. For the images before the "Weird Instrument" the lute-thing looks good, likewise the gemshorn and valiha, but I think the double-NAF is hard to recognise as anything, fife looks a little plain, not sure what to think on the Cajun squeezebox. I'd like to try and get at least one or two more modern/electronic-y things in there to bring in the arduino and synth crowd. Also was pondering whether a hurdy-gurdy would be more eye-catching on that far right large item position. Open for any suggestions, and will PM the maker to get this sorted out. My impression is a lot of folks have wandered in based solely on the ad, so I'm game for keeping the banners going. I've gotten a shitload of value out of SA over time, so I don't mind chucking a little cash their way.
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Feb 3, 2013 00:35
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Count me in as one of those people that wandered in thanks to the ad. Reading this thread convinced me I needed some more music in my life (drum sets and small apartments don't mix), so in a week I'm going to be the proud owner of a 5-string kantele once it gets shipped. I ordered it from kantele.com listed in the OP and have to say Gerry is a very cool guy. Originally he said it would be 2-3 months because he doesn't make many in the winter. Apparently the lady who makes the cases went out of business though, so he upgraded my order to a solid bottom one instead at no cost and has it in the mail. That brings me to my first question, any recommendation on where I could find a kantele case in the US? Paying $200 to get one from overseas is a bit much for my wallet.
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Feb 7, 2013 23:42
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:That is indeed a first, keep us posted! OK, here's an update. So far I've been doing a little recon work tracking down new suppliers and filling orders, but the primary focus of the job so far has been manufacturing product. First up was attaching the bottle caps to the washboard gloves. The gloves in the picture are my personal gloves, which were a gift from the owner and are worlds better than the home-made pair I had been using. Played my first show with them last weekend and they were rad as hell.  I'm also about a third of the way through creating musical rhythm bones out of sun bleached ox ribs. Attached are pictures of me cutting the ribs into segments using a wet saw and doing the rough shaping and sculpting with a wet sander a 60 grit paper. Still to come: gluing to patch any holes, grinding the ends, two more trips on the wet sander, and a final buff and polish before they go up for sale.   On the washboard front, I have been playing the board in a punk band since August. I've also added to the collection.  Left Rear: The cheap board I got at a feed store shortly after finding the thread. It is brash and lo-fi sounding, like snotty garage-rock guitar. Left Front: National Washboard Co. Glass King #863 Has a tiny corrugated pattern on the rubbing surface. Somewhat high pitched and plinky when tapped and sounds like a guiro when rubbed with something that has an edge. Right Rear: National Washboard Co. Zinc King #701 The board I play on stage. It has a dull clank when tapped and somewhat muted ring when scraped. Right Front: Another gift from the new boss, this is a no-named glass board with large cornrows like the 701. It has a dull clank with no resonance or sustain when tapped and sounds like a fat man with a head cold snoring when rubbed. Here is a video of my boss boning it up with Dom Flemons and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Here is a video of the boss demonstrating the different tonal variations that can be made in the hands of a skilled player. The bones in this video are made from ox shin bones, which is the closest thing I could find to the ones I'm producing, which are from ox ribs.
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Feb 8, 2013 04:09
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'Hustle, not ignoring you, will get in a reply later in the week.Avynte posted:Count me in as one of those people that wandered in thanks to the ad. Reading this thread convinced me I needed some more music in my life (drum sets and small apartments don't mix), so in a week I'm going to be the proud owner of a 5-string kantele once it gets shipped. Outstanding, the 5-string is a great minimalist instrument, and certainly isn't going to bug your neighbors. How much music experience do you have up to this point? If none you'll find this easy to learn, if some you'll find it has some interesting possibilities. My main point of advice is, once you get the very basics down, don't be afraid to experiment with different tunings (particularly pentatonic ones) within the limits of the strings' ranges, and try "extended techniques". That is, try plucking at different parts of the string, try flicking your fingernail at the strings, try bouncing a pen off the strings, rubbing them with something ridged but non-damaging. Find all the safe ways you can to get different sounds out of it. You may be really surprised how many possibilities a 5-note instrument can have when you explore.  quote:That brings me to my first question, any recommendation on where I could find a kantele case in the US? Paying $200 to get one from overseas is a bit much for my wallet. Two options spring to mind: get a soft "gig bag" for some instrument of similar size, or get a light but hard shell rectangular case of the right size (there are aluminum camera cases, tool cases, etc. that work well for this for around $20) and put some padding in it to hold the kantele in place. An alto saxophone gig bag looks a good shape, but its measurements may be too large for a 5-string. What you want is a case that has no internal bracing/stiffening (so not the slightly more expensive semi-hard foam cases with an actual saxophone-shaped molding), but just a quadrilateral case with a bunch of soft stuff around the cavity.  If an alto saxophone gig bag is too big, there's probably some smaller rectangular gig bag used to some other instrument or audio gear; maybe go to the Musicians' Lounge subforum with the measurements for your kantele and see if anyone can brainstorm a similar size soft case. There are also some decently affordable hard cases you can adapt; here's the kind of aluminum-framed/sided camera case I'm thinking of. Some have foam you can cut, others have these little wall-like pieces you can arrange in a grid. They can be as cheap as $20-30 online: 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 21:16 on Feb 9, 2013 |
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Feb 9, 2013 05:54
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I'm not sure if this is the weirdest instrument but I didn't see an appropriate place to ask in ML. I plan on getting a melodica soon, I am looking at two in my price range that are both Hohner. Does anyone know what the actual difference is between the instructor and student models? Or does anyone know any lesser known awesome brands in the 50 dollar price range? Also, every time I read reviews it seems that one or two people get lovely ones. Is that just a risk I have to take. I suppose I could just exchange it now that I think about it. Any help would be appreciated!
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Feb 15, 2013 15:11
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Behold! A Elk! posted:I plan on getting a melodica soon, I am looking at two in my price range that are both Hohner. I can't answer your question, but the "one or two lovely ones" that people received reminds me of a complaint I have about Hohner. The name brand is excellent for some musical instruments, such as harmonicas and accordions. However, their concertinas are cheap, Chinese-made junk. It is disappointing to see a major manufacturer hurt their brand name by licensing it to makers of bad products. I made the mistake of buying one of their wooden alto recorders, but it was a cheaply-made instrument. I then bought a Küng, which cost three times as much but was a better value. But as for their melodicas, someone else can maybe tell how good they are.
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Feb 16, 2013 02:23
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The first button on the right hand of the concertina TTFA sent to me started sounding like a dying truck horn on the push and further inspection revealed a randomly bent reed. A dab of tape has the offending reed quarantined. Is there any way to straighten a reed without trashing it or is tape my best option outside of re-reeding?
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Feb 17, 2013 00:07
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Butch Cassidy posted:The first button on the right hand of the concertina TTFA sent to me started sounding like a dying truck horn on the push and further inspection revealed a randomly bent reed. A dab of tape has the offending reed quarantined. Is there any way to straighten a reed without trashing it or is tape my best option outside of re-reeding? Is the model you have 2 reeds per note, not just for the push-pull, but as in has two reeds playing, say, D simultaneously? So when you've isolate the bad reed you have one other still playing for that note? Bent reeds I'm not totally sure, but these Italian concertinas are pretty user-serviceable. What I'd suggest is to go to the repair forum at Concertina.net, post a couple good close-up photos of your reed, and ask their advice. If you can't figure it out with them, let me know and I'll see if I can help track down a drop-in spare reed for that one. To clarify, this diagram has "push" notes on bottom and "pull" notes on top, which note has a bad reed? 
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Feb 18, 2013 17:35
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Is the model you have 2 reeds per note, not just for the push-pull, but as in has two reeds playing, say, D simultaneously? So when you've isolate the bad reed you have one other still playing for that note? Yes and yes. And this note:  I'll head to the concertina forum and ask them, thanks. Edit: Anyone know anything about the kemenche and what to look for in one?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhNjf62F1XE http://www.susato.com/konakart/String-Instruments/Kemenche%2C-Rebec/Mid-East/Kemenche%2C-3-string-with-Rosin-%26-Case/KEMC/2_2809.do Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Feb 18, 2013 |
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Feb 18, 2013 18:38
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Thanks for the great tips TTFA! I never would have thought about the potential for a saxophone case to be used with a kantele. It looks like I'll be hitting up some of the local music stores this week to see what they've got. The kantele itself has been really fun so far. I can see what you mean by it being a fun instrument to kick back and zone out on. I've got a lot to learn when it comes to stringed instruments, as all my musical background is in percussion, but it'll be a fun project. You were right on about trying an empty pen on the strings too, it opened up a lot of possibilities for sounds. 
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Feb 18, 2013 21:23
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Hey Tap, a while back you helped me identify my brac. Well, I was playing it the other day and I snapped one of the strings, which is not surprising considering how old they are. Any idea where I can get some new ones? Searching google for "brac strings" doesn't seem to be much help, but I thought maybe like mandolin strings or something similar to that would fit on it.
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Feb 19, 2013 16:24
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quote:I'm not sure if this is the weirdest instrument but I didn't see an appropriate place to ask in ML. I plan on getting a melodica soon, I am looking at two in my price range that are both Hohner. Does anyone know what the actual difference is between the instructor and student models? Or does anyone know any lesser known awesome brands in the 50 dollar price range? Also, every time I read reviews it seems that one or two people get lovely ones. Is that just a risk I have to take. I suppose I could just exchange it now that I think about it. Any help would be appreciated! We had one goon who got one of the less-expensive ($25?) Hurricane Harps models, and rather liked it. But that's still a dice roll at the price range. My best suggestion would be to buy one of the affordable Hohners, but buy it new from a reputable seller with a good return policy, use the hell out of it while you're in your window for the return so you can ID any issues, and return it promptly if there's any trouble. I mean really check it out, like play it against an active electronic tuner (there are free smartphone app ones that are pretty good). Before you buy though, make sure the seller's return policy applies to harmonica-type instruments, as a lot of stores either have a policy, or sometimes (so I've heard, allegedly) state law saying they can't accept harmonica returns. Contrary to the normal case, your best bet for a cheap Hohner is not a small shop that cares about melodicas (unless the shop specifically pre-tests, qc's, etc their cheapies), but a mass seller large enough to shrug off a $40 loss on a melodica to keep their high feedback rating and will promptly refund you if you get a dud. Sound like a course of action? Nuggan posted:Hey Tap, a while back you helped me identify my brac. Well, I was playing it the other day and I snapped one of the strings, which is not surprising considering how old they are. Any idea where I can get some new ones? Searching google for "brac strings" doesn't seem to be much help, but I thought maybe like mandolin strings or something similar to that would fit on it. Okay, you've got a small Balkan mando-guitar type instrument.  The thing to bear in mind is that of the plucked steel-string instruments, very few of them have any kind of really specialised string they have to have. Generally guitars, banjos, dulcimers, and things along those lines just take "standard" strings, with the option of ball or loop ends, and some slight variances in wrapping/winding methods on thicker strings. Generally as long as you have the diameter right and the right kind of end (loop in your case) it's all the same. What you want to do is carefully and labeling everything as you do so undo all of the strings, trim off a few inches of each (again keeping the bits labeled for where on the instrument they belong), and if possible take them to a decent music store. Like not Guitar Center, but like a place that can actually do basic guitar repair. What you need is to have them take a micrometer (they're not a real music shop if they don't have one) and mic the strings. They should be able to say "this bit is a .32 string, this one is a .24" etc. and then just sell you an individual loop-end .32, a .24, etc. Alternately, if you've been playing the brac in a specific tuning that those old strings have worked fine for, you can find any online or downloadable "string calculator" and plug in "string is 24" from nut to bridge, and plays an A" and the calculator should tell you "at standard pressure a .32 plain steel will do that". I haven't used a string calculator in ages, so you'd have to google around to find whatever the recommended one is. Even after you get your new strings, keep the old labeled ones in an envelope somewhere for a long while until you're totally sure you're happy with the new strings. Just on the off-chance it turns out you miscalculated one or something, that way you can always go back and reference the old one. That's also why you take (or mail) just a few inches of the string to a music shop, so you're not screwed if they loose or confuse your string. Any of those sound workable?
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Feb 21, 2013 05:07
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Let's say I got a bonus at work, hit the local brewpub with a friend, came home and ordered a 13 string gadulka and totally not a bottle of rose brandy. What should I tell my wife when it comes in? If I mix her a drink with the something other than no stamp paid brandy I didn't order, will she be less likely to club me with the wonky Bulgarian fiddle-thing for not double-checking first? Edit: At least I had the self-restraint to not order a tamboura while I was at it. And I want one pretty badly. Butch Cassidy fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Feb 24, 2013 |
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Feb 24, 2013 03:58
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A lot has been said about the ocarina and a little about the recorder. But I don't think they've been compared. Is one much easier than the other? What are the disadvantages and advantages?
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Feb 24, 2013 09:38
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Bigos posted:A lot has been said about the ocarina and a little about the recorder. But I don't think they've been compared. Is one much easier than the other? What are the disadvantages and advantages? Solid question, there are a few key differences both mechanically and culturally. Both instruments are "fipple flutes", which means they produce sound by having a mouthpiece you blow through that directs the air across a sharpened blade, which lets you avoid all the annoying head-angle adjusting of others in the flute family (classical silver flute, shakuhachi, etc). However, the ocarina is a "vessel flute", which means that after the blade the air gets trapped in a body, rather than continuing straight out a tube like the recorder and tinwhistle. The key physics effect of this is that the ocarina largely lacks overtones, giving it that more clean, straightforward, almost electronic-sounding tone. Vessel flutes also have pretty flexible fingering since it doesn't matter where the fingerhole is so much as how large it is. That's the main physical difference between the two, and as a result ocarinas tend to have a range of an octave or just a few notes over, but most recorders do two octaves or more. In terms of culture/market: as a classical instrument the recorder is reasonably standardised in terms of fingerings and pitches, with a well-developed family of different sizes that are used to play in recorder consorts/ensembles. About any recorder you buy is going to be very similar to all other recorders of its size, with slight variations in design, and the main difference in price being QC and materials. Good recorders are pricier than ocarinas, but there are plenty of used recorders floating around due to global popularity. Ocarinas, on the other hand, are a folk instrument where anything goes: sizes, pitches, fingering systems, appearance, body shape, everything is up to the maker and buyer. Overall, of the main fipple flutes popular around here: - Recorder: get this if you want to play baroque or early classical music with actual sheet music, play in a baroque or early ensemble, etc. - Ocarina: get this if you want something to play casually by yourself or with a friend, want something more ethereal and mellow sounding, like a wide variety of individualized options, and want something somewhat compact. Very durable in synthetics, very fragile in ceramic, so that goes either way. Pretty flexible for tunes, just not with the range needed for art music, but great for playing folk melodies, following vocal lines, etc. - Tinwhistle: get this if you want a louder/harsher, brighter sound that can stand out over fiddles, drums, and banjos. I believe it's not just stylistic, but that this one can also be played much faster than the others. Can be had dirt cheap, many of the models very durable (or cheap enough you don't care if you bust one). A bit crude for classical, though you can do it, but covers most folk genres, does fiddle parts pretty well (though lacking a little low end). Wide variety of materials/finishes, but basically the exact same functional design from all makers. - Native American flute: many of the same advantages/disadvantages as ocarina (great simplicity but limited range). The NAF is larger/longer than ocarina, but readily available in really low pitches. It doesn't have the same harmonic-less sound as ocarina, but does have a conceptually similar mellow/spacey sound. Does best played slow and chill, not a fast-burning instrument. Simplest basic fingering of any of the above, so easy to improvise on. quote:Let's say I got a bonus at work, hit the local brewpub with a friend, came home and ordered a 13 string gadulka and totally not a bottle of rose brandy. What should I tell my wife when it comes in? Maybe tell her that you were composing some musical piece about the depth of your love for her, but were frustrated by the inability to properly express it with your currently-available instruments? That or point out that at today's prices you can't afford not to have a gadulka. quote:Edit: At least I had the self-restraint to not order a tamboura while I was at it. And I want one pretty badl Eh, unless you're specifically playing Balkan music, I think either a Turkish baglama/saz or a Persian setar are a better deal. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 10:31 on Mar 3, 2013 |
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Feb 25, 2013 14:28
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8bfUMxk0gA On the subject of the Baglama Saz, some awesome artfully shot footage here done by the guy who does La Blogotheque
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Feb 25, 2013 17:41
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quote:On the subject of the Baglama Saz, some awesome artfully shot footage here done by the guy who does La Blogotheque Yeah, you really can't go wrong with a Turkish saz or Persian setar if you want something moderately Eastern-y to mess around with. Both of those can be found for about $100 on eBay, and they're convenient in that a Westerner can get music out of them pretty easily, but if you want to get more serious about playing Turkish or Persian music you can segue into that easily. From what I've seen, the Indian sitar, for example, is a little harder for a guitar player to just pick up and mess with and sound fluid, plus pricier. But anyone who can play pretty much any string instrument can sound cool (if not authentic) on setar or baglama in short order. I wanted to put out one comment about buying free-reeds online: accordions and concertinas take very little month-to-month maintenance since most of the fiddly bits are inside and fixed in place. So you don't have to mess with tuning and adjusting them on a regular basis, which is nice. However, every few years to decades or so (depending on playing time, storage conditions, etc) they do need to be spiffed up by a professional, to swab off the reeds, tweak any reeds that are going off tune, check the bellows and action springs, etc. So when you buy a used squeezebox you ideally want to get a pretty good idea of where it's at condition-wise. This can be extremely variable due to factors and luck: I bought a nearly century-old Hohner 1-row buttonbox where the reed-plates had fallen loose and were rattling inside the body, but once replaced was reasonably in-tune and airtight with good action. On the other end, this week I bought a Weltmeister (pretty decent German make) 1-row for cheap, and a good 1/3 of the reeds are clogged or muffled, and the whole box is sharp of C pitch. What I usually do (and failed to do on the Weltmeister because the auction was almost over when I saw it) is to message the eBay sellers and ask if I can call them and have them play it over the phone. Even for non-musicians, I can walk them through it: "Don't move the bellows unless holding at least one button down. Start with the top button, press it and pull the bellows open a foot or so, then press all the way closed, now the next button". I just did that two nights ago on another Hohner, established it was in C and in-tune but had a few pads askew and was leaking air. Got an email from the seller last night saying they're carefully opened it, found the loose pads and clipped them back in, and it was playing fine now. Ideally, a smart seller would include a YouTube clip of them just playing each key back and forth to demo it, but the vast majority of accordion/concertina sellers on eBay know nothing whatsoever about what they're selling, so you have to walk them through it. For the Hohner they were selling, in "mystery condition" it might bring in $150. With clear photos, and a video walkthrough, it might make $400 easily. EDIT: Huh, the people I called for a demo ended up making a YouTube demo like I recommended. Now to see how knowing what key it's in and having a demo does for their sale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mch85uqABBo If you're a complete novice to free-reeds and the above sounds too involved, no worries. Just stick to buying used in person, used from an actual player on an enthusiast forum (Concertina.net/forums, forum.melodeon.net etc.) who can accurately tell you its condition, or new from a reputable seller, not just a drop-box shipper that sells guitars and just re-boxes the instrument straight from China. All the above said, since I've been messing with Anglo concertinas a bit the last month or so, I wanted to put in another pitch for the Anglo since I don't think we've had any goons pick one up besides Butch.  We have a few goons here who play English concertina or Duet concertina: both of those are slightly later concertinas made for the art music of the day, something for better-off people to play classical and light opera in their parlours, or virtuosos to play violin solos and the like for concerts. The Anglo (known as Anglo-German until WWI) was the earlier version, suited more to a working-class audience, played in pubs, etc. The English and Duet are chromatic (play in all keys), and play the same note whether you're pulling or pushing the ends together. The Anglo plays in a limited selection of keys, and changes pitch with change of bellows. You know how you can just jam a harmonica in your mouth and breathe in and out, and you get chords? The Anglo is exactly that, just powered by bellows vice breath. So even an illiterate coal miner or factory worker could pick up an Anglo and pretty quickly figure where to mash his fingers to back up a three-chord song. Accordingly, while the English (and to a far lesser degree Duet) found success in upper-class homes in London and Boston, the Anglo concertina found success all over the world from probably 1850 to about WWII.  Even if you have no musical experience, an Anglo concertina is a good place to start if you're interested in playing any of the Western European folky styles. If you want to play more complex fiddle-like tunes (particularly for Irish Traditional Music, which is as developed as any pre-1800 Classical music) you need a 30-key/button Anglo. Those have one row in C and one in G; each row is pretty much a harmonic, so like having two harmonicas welded to bellows. The third row is a variety-pack of chromatic notes to get your extra sharps and flats. The hands-down option for an affordable new Anglo is the Concertina Connection "Rochelle" model; runs about $400, and some retailers (like Button Box) will accept it back at full value towards a nicer Anglo if you later upgrade. I think ButtonBox (in MA) also rents them in the US, as do some smaller sellers like Elderly Instruments in DC; I imagine there are some similar options in the UK and maybe Ireland. A used Stagi/Bastari 30-button is also a good option provided you buy it from an honest player, or have a player inspect a used one for you. The 20-button Anglo is rather out of style these days, but a perfectly good instrument if you don't need to play in a lot of keys. If you're doing stuff like American Old Time, traditional English/Welsh/Scottish/Irish folksongs, sea chanteys, etc. a 20-button is a nice minimalist piece of gear. There are Stagi and Bastari 20b on eBay ever week or so for under $100, if you're willing to roll the dice, or call the seller and ask for a demo. Don't buy any vintage German ones (like Scholer), as they haven't aged well. If you're not comfortable buying used, there are a bunch of labels for generally equivalent Chinese-made boxes: Excalibur, Musician's Gear, Berkeley, Hobgoblin, Trinity, Bonetti Morelli, Scarlatti, etc. These show up new for as low as $129 in the US, £139 in the UK; Thomann (Germany) had some good deals on cheap concertinas but I'm not seeing any up at all this month. With these cheapies, buy them new from a big established seller of the kind that won't mind refunding/replacing if you get a lemon, and don't pay more than US$150 or so for Chinese (other than Rochelle which is actually QC'ed). Buy it, test it out thoroughly when you get it. Bear in mind these will be stiff (especially when new) and slow actions, so stick with slow/easy songs, bear in mind it's a very limited instrument, and be ready to upgrade within the year if you fall for Anglo. For a little more money, there are some Stagi/Brunner makes that run $179-250 in the US (plastic bodied, ply bodied); Jim Laabs Music has the best US prices, but they're apparently total douchebags so factor that into the savings, or visit their stores and hand-pick if you're in MN or WI. Fundamentally, when Anglo-shopping you can pay $400 for a good student-quality 30-button, $175-250 for a decent Italian but with patchy customer service, $125-175 for a Chinese but check it out thoroughly and aggressively demand replace/refund if needed, or $50-100 (only buy an Italian) for a used Stagi/Bastari on eBay and roll the dice. Or go on a forum and buy an old Stagi for maybe $100-200 from another player. Hope the above spergfest isn't too confusing to follow. I hate to have to get into more detail about buying than about the instrument itself, but just wanted to give folks a clear idea of the affordable end of the Anglo market. I'll post in a few days some more pleasant info on just Anglos and music. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Mar 2, 2013 |
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Mar 2, 2013 19:03
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Be careful of Anglo concertinas if you are like me and have a learning disability that prevents you from being able to handle bisonoric instruments.
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Mar 2, 2013 19:25
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I have recently picked up the harmonica. At first, a $10 Hohner in D, then my wife found her old Lee Oskar in C. I can play melodies in key just fine -- I belt out a PERFECT Bach's Minuet in G (in C or D) after only two weeks' practice. Not that the tune is that hard, mind you... I don't use whatever the hell tongue blocking is, I just make a small embouchure to hit singles. What intrigues me is this SECOND position / Cross Harp technique. I can bend the lower notes down (my chromatic tuner says so, but I don't really hear the difference) a half-step, but no more. Bending the exhale notes at the top is really finicky, usually resulting in a squawk as I hit, then pass the bend, back to the natural note. I get the musical theory, bend the seventh and you can play a C harmonica in G... but how do I play in G with the gaps in that scale that arise? i.e.: A C harmonica's first few holes have C, D, E, G, B, C -- missing G's second. I get that you bend the inhale G down to F# to get the leading seventh, but the two is left out to dry. Also I can't bend the 5-hole's F down. Is cross harp just supposed to be in Mixolydian scale? Also, I can play Neil Young harmonica solos, but they seem to all work in first position, not second. An old live video of him playing Heart of Gold confirms this - he draws a G harmonica for the E minor song. Does he not play in cross-harp? Everything I read says that the majority of harmonica music is played cross-harp, so I'm a bit confused.
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Mar 5, 2013 19:39
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OK, after some trial and a lot of error, the first batch of ox rib bones have been completed and are officially up for sale. It's been an interesting past month or so, since prior to this gig my jobs have always been retail or office jobs. I wasn't sure how I would acclimate to power tools and doing actual hands-on creation of product from scratch. The boss says that he is thoroughly impressed with what I've made so far. They aren't perfect, but they are pretty drat good from someone who's never made them before. The boss has given me a few pair of bones so I can get to know the product, so here come a few pictures of my stash.   These are the ox rib bones that I've been working on for the past month or so. They were made by hand in St. Louis, MO by yours truly from sun-bleached ox ribs that are sourced from a cattle farm somewhere in the Western US.  These are the biggest seller at the store. Joe Birl Rhythm Bones are made from maple and come in in natural or black finish. They are standard minstrel style bones that have a patented notch carved into the curve that makes them easy for beginners to hold. The notch is easier to see in the group picture below.   These are Aaron Plunkett Blue Bones. The thin version is on the left, stout on the right. These bones are made of a urethane resin that is infused with stone and metal particles and are cast from a mold made from Irish goat bones. These are very quiet compared to all of the other plastic, wood or natural bones. I mainly got them to play at home without getting kicked out of the house.  Here is the whole collection all together. You can see the notch in the Joe Birl bones from this angle. Once I get the chance to sit down and put some effort into it, I plan to do a content post about bones and bones playing. Until then, have this video of Dom Flemons of the Carolina Chocolate Drops demonstrating how to play the bones. You might also want to check out this video of Scott Miller (my boss) demonstrating the tonal variations you can get by shifting the position of the bones in your hand. I'll also post a bonus video of Dom Flemons and Scott Miller running through a medley of the old minstrel era tunes "Brigg's Corn Shucking Jig" and "Brigg's Breakdown" before they played together at a Carolina Chocolate Drops show in 2010. EDIT: Added link to the product page of the online store. BigHustle fucked around with this message at 08:23 on Mar 6, 2013 |
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Mar 6, 2013 08:01
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TapTheForwardAssist, from where did you buy your garmoshka again? I am in Sweden for the next few months and since Russia isn't that far, maybe I should order a full-size garmoshka finally. Also my small one seems to be getting worse and worse out of tune, so even as I get slightly better at playing it I still sound terrible.
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Mar 12, 2013 17:59
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EDIT2: While we're talking accordions, if anyone has been meaning to get an English concertina and watching for a deal, there's a CC Jackie on eBay for $235 with BIN of $260, so that's about $150 or so below retail. These hold their value pretty well since they're the hands-down recommended starter English, so a 'box you could probably sell for about what you paid for it if you upgrade or switch to something else. Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Concertina-Connection-Jackie-Concertina-Great-condition-/261183835228?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ccfc50c5cdesert diver posted:TapTheForwardAssist, from where did you buy your garmoshka again?  I bought mine from eBay seller olgader, but there are several sellers in Byelorus/Ukraine/Russia who are continually listing garmons and bayans on eBay. My particular seller doesn't have a ton of feedback, but perusing some of the other sellers one or two of them seem pretty serious accordion specialists, and some claim guarantees of condition which appear to be backed up by feedback. The catch is that most of these have huge shipping prices, like $100-150. And that's not just to the US, even to Sweden it's the same huge flat price. The only reason I bought mine is that it was a reasonable $60 + $40 shipping, and fortunately even though not a major free-reed seller mine came in pretty solid shape and in-tune. Sorry to hear about your little one; remind me again, is yours a pretty established make or more generic? Accordions do tend to need maintenance from time to time, so given that yours has some family sentiment to it (and is a neat little design) you might want to consider holding on to it and some time when you have some loose cash see about getting it tuned or even re-reeded. I can't say as to the feasibility since I'm not a reed-worker, but if the size/type of reed is similar enough to commonly-used stuff, it's quite possible someone can outfit it with deluxe reeds for maybe a couple hundred. Not cheap, but if the action/bellows/body are solid, and you already own it for free anyway, at some point if you get serious on your full-size garmon it might be worth tricking out your small one. Then again, you're hearing this from a guy who spent $110 putting Italian reeds into Chinese toy accordion. Actually, I've done that like four times, and sold three of them for what I paid for them just to get more small D melodeons circulating in Newfoundland since there's such demand for D 1-rows for trad music there. My most recent $100 Chinese toy is sitting on my dresser as I type this, and I've probably picked it up and played a few bars on it every other day for the last month or two, so I definitely feel I got my money's worth. Long explanation, but overall I'd say stick with garmon unless you have a strong desire to move to bayan or to chromatic button accordion; though CBA is pretty popular in Sweden, maybe check a few shops and at least play with one. EDIT: Though the eBay sellers don't cut any shipping slack for being close to Sweden, that might not be a bad time to contact the couple of garmon making factories still active in Russia and see if you can get a decent shipping price from them. I think I pasted you some addresses and quotes when all this first came up in the thread. quote:Also, I can play Neil Young harmonica solos, but they seem to all work in first position, not second. An old live video of him playing Heart of Gold confirms this - he draws a G harmonica for the E minor song. Does he not play in cross-harp? Everything I read says that the majority of harmonica music is played cross-harp, so I'm a bit confused.  I have like zero blues-harp skill, so I can't do much with your other questions and hopefully someone else will drop in, but this one I can cover. Short answer, yes, your less-bluesy more-folky rock musicians play "straight harp", playing in the key written on the harmonica. So Neil Young, a lot of Bob Dylan (especially his earlier stuff). Google also notes Woody Guthrie, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen. Once you get used to noticing it, straight harp sounds really distinctively different; not just the major scale, but a more direct, breathy/punchy feel to it. I felt vindicated that a common example of straight harp on forums is precisely what I mentally picture: the breaks from Piano Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se9rfWucgeY&t=3s TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Mar 13, 2013 |
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Mar 13, 2013 04:20
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It's funny that you mention Piano Man. On my way out the door yesterday morning, I started singing it to myself. I didn't really realize that it had harmonica until I hit that part and started humming it. I laughed my rear end off at not having remembered it. It reminded me of after I started to play flute, and then I heard the flute EVERYWHERE. I have been trying to play cross-harp rather unsuccessfully. I get the initial draw draw blow draw rhythm, but can't seem to move that into a meaningful solo. That said, I am really digging playing the harmonica, and I want to pick up something that is a little more... melodic. Having read what I can, my options seem to be:
1 would allow me to play more tunes, having more full octaves but still leave me unable to play anything chromatic. Unless I got a valved model or something of the like that allows chromatic notes via bending. 2 is pretty expensive for a decent model. 3 is interesting because it's effectively the same a 1 but sounds ~pretty~. Except for the holes being different, there being a few systems of notes and oh god where do I start? My goals are really a) to play more songs (via chromatic notes or more full octaves) and b) to sound good. The $10 Hohner sounds like garbage with tons of air leakage, and even the entry level Hohner chromatic ($120?) that my friend has sounds pretty bad compared to the Lee Oskar, which is starting to have problems on a few notes. Any suggestions? I'm probably looking at a $50 or maybe $100 budget if I can convince the wife. Also she wants me to get a pBone pretty badly, but maybe I can transfer that budget over to a harmonica if that's what it takes to get a decent one. Also, an aside: Music really enriches my life! Thanks for this thread!
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Mar 14, 2013 15:36
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