hey neighbor! i live in jacksonville. usually play around little rock/north little rock. if you ever feel like it and can get down this way, let me know, we can meet up for a jam or show. my wife and i have a duo act we're developing, JAWBONE and JOLENE. we do a couple of happy hours in north little rock, on tuesdays and wednesdays. we're working on booking some weekend dates too. nice to meet someone fairly close by!
I guess I forgot to mention that the C harp is a Hohner Sp-20. My A harp is a Lee Oskar.
I've also made a couple of discoveries this weekend. While I am in the car I can only play one handed which means I can't cup the harp like I would otherwise. I put the CD in the home stereo and played along. Being able to cup my harp made all the difference in the world.
Jawbone (north), Harp Hack, Jbone - Thanks for all the help.
Jbone, What part of Central Arkansas are you from?
this may also depend on what brand of harp you're using. the lee oskars are tuned a couple of cents higher, so they will sound brighter. i think they may last longer as well due to this. as they begin to flat out over time they land more on than below the true pitch. and some harps- huang $5 harps and the cracker barrel hohners, which are also $5- well they just aren't harps that pains have been taken to tune. taped material does have that flaw of changing pitch also, gradually lowering as the tape stretches.
frustration can lead either nowhere, or someplace good. when i have hit a wall, there were times i just gave up for a while and put them dang harps away. never threw them out or gave them away fortunately. after a while i'd get them back out and try some more to make progress. i'd get a-HA moments where something would fall into place. gradually i began to have a deeper view of what playing was about for me. and a deeper understanding of where harp fits into music in general. i never thought, for years, that this simple instrument would be such a challenge! but then i realized that guys like sonnyboy II, charlie mcoy, mickey rafeal, sonny terry, william clarke, and many others, have ridden around the world on a harp. i'm a gin joint player still after many years, though i've had a high point or three. it's much more about the pure journey for me. i can't imagine a time when i am bored or intimidated by playing music, this is what i'm doing until i can't any longer. in fact my wife and i plan to travel once we're retired, and play every place that will let us, and meet lots of good folks along the way.
didn't mean to get too philosophical there! suggestion: get another brand of harp in C and try it with that material, see if it sounds flat also. it will tell you if it's the harp or the material.
GREY - That is when i do most of my practice also. Plus when i am waiting for my kids to finish practices of their various activities. Just stick with it and have fun. there will be some frustration at times like with this "out of tune" thing, but you will get past those times and move on. I have been at it for a year and a half and still consider myself a beginner. Mostly because i really have nobody to compare myself with. Which is ok...I just want to learn this thing well enough to make myself happy when i play, and if i ever get asked to play along with someone else, i can do it competently. I used the bendometer once and it was cool...I think you can even subscribe to it if you really like it. Best of luck, and don't worry about asking questions. sometimes you will ask things that others have never thought of.
Heck No Grey - We don't know you well enough yet - Now if you play better than us we won't like you - just kiddin' - if your beard is as grey as my mustache, you're OK in my book. jawbone (north)
Hi Hack - That could be it, I have never used it. Grey could probably check his tuning with it? Grey - I tried my copy of Rock n' Blues. It was an old tape from the library, and it is about 20 cents sharp on my tuner. So when I play along I sound quite flat. I checked my harp with the tuner and they seem pretty close. Hey on the bright side, it wasn't a dumb question and you got a couple of answers. Still great instruction, just hard to play along with. jawbone (north)
Hey Grey - I'm almost afraid to answer, but - Double check that you are supposed to use a C harp. I thinks some, or at least one, I can't remeber which one, of Jon's lessons was done in E so you would use an A harp. Also some of the lessons used to be on tape and I noticed that I need to use a player with a speed control so I could adjust as the tape stretched with age and use. Is it just one or two notes or everything? There is a program on the internet that you can use as a tuner, you could check your notes. Does anyone remember were it is? Hope this helps. jawbone (north)
New here to the forum. I have been working with Jon's "Rockin' Blues" CD for about a month now and it has been great. Jon makes learning alot of fun.
I do have one problem. My C harp sounds out of tune when I play along with the CD. It sounds slightly sharp. I have an A harp that I play with a couple of songs I have downloaded and it sounds fine.
Is this common to beginners or is Jon playing slightly bent notes to get that bluesy sound?
