Anyone play harmonica?

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 7:57 pm

I play with some harp players. This is one from a festival last year. The video is shakey but you'll get the idea. We had 2 harmonica players and 2 drummers. This was a mixture of a bunch of local bands. We opened for the legendary chess records pianist Henry Gray. Henry was Howlin Wolf's piano player and he's considered one of the original blues piano players. It was rad. I'm in the middle with a light blue shirt on and a gray hat, right behind the post. They had a bike ride and an art walk and the party moved inside later. There is a bar on the right under the green signs. This is one of the last hostel's around here and i love going there. It's called Blue Moon saloon.

[youtube][/youtube]

Peter Bond · Post by **Peter Bond** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:48 pm

robert(original) wrote:how are you faring peter? i now have two marine bands in "a" and "c" and i have a special 20 in "e" im starting to be able really bend and get it to sound like i know what im doing. its been pretty cool when im writing acoustic tunes i will pick one up, jam around for a minute, it helps me come up with a vocal melody that isn't predictable or mundane.

I bought a cheap no name thing in C to mess around with but I have given up on it a little bit at the moment. I'm suffering quite a bit of wrist pain (possibly tendonitis) so I might lay off the guitar and give the harp a go. I like the idea of using it to come up with a vocal melody as its something I struggle with, seems like a cool idea.

Peter Bond · Post by **Peter Bond** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 8:54 pm

[quote="brandonwinmill"]I play with some harp players. This is one from a festival last year. The video is shakey but you'll get the idea. We had 2 harmonica players and 2 drummers. This was a mixture of a bunch of local bands. We opened for the legendary chess records pianist Henry Gray. Henry was Howlin Wolf's piano player and he's considered one of the original blues piano players. It was rad. I'm in the middle with a light blue shirt on and a gray hat, right behind the post. They had a bike ride and an art walk and the party moved inside later. There is a bar on the right under the green signs. This is one of the last hostel's around here and i love going there. It's called Blue Moon saloon.

That looks and sounds cool as. I'd love to go to something/somewhere like that.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 9:08 pm

Peter Bond wrote:
brandonwinmill wrote:I play with some harp players. This is one from a festival last year. The video is shakey but you'll get the idea. We had 2 harmonica players and 2 drummers. This was a mixture of a bunch of local bands. We opened for the legendary chess records pianist Henry Gray. Henry was Howlin Wolf's piano player and he's considered one of the original blues piano players. It was rad. I'm in the middle with a light blue shirt on and a gray hat, right behind the post. They had a bike ride and an art walk and the party moved inside later. There is a bar on the right under the green signs. This is one of the last hostel's around here and i love going there. It's called Blue Moon saloon.
That looks and sounds cool as. I'd love to go to something/somewhere like that.

It was a blast. I was tore up but we did good. I played in the first and second annual festivals. It just passed and i didn't show up. I'm really mad at myself for not going but I was dealing with some issues. You know we played for 5 hours and most of the musicians haven't played with each other before. They are all real pros so it worked but i was shocked that we were able to play anything without rehearsing. I was lucky to be part of it. There are some truly elite musicians up there and i was honored. This festival is called the Bluesberry Festival and it has local artist and blueberry farmers and blues musicians come in to play it and we are the "house band". It's in Lafayette Louisiana. Thanks!

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:43 am

brandon, that vid was fukin wicked!

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 12:30 pm

robert(original) wrote:brandon, that vid was fukin wicked!

Thanks!

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 6:02 pm

I hadn't seen this one in a while. They pulled me out of the crowd because that's my best podna playing guitar and he's a lefty so i couldn't play one of his. They gave me a scrub board to play. At this time i had never played one before for real and it shows in the video. I got one now just in case this happens again. They were filming that night for a local tv station to play on sunday morning and i didn't know that. It's kinda long but my friend does this "pastor julian" thing at the end and it's funny cause he's not christian or anything but he likes old gospel. I may have posted this one before but here it is again. The sax player is so loud but he's world class. He's played with Robert Plant and Elvis Costello. It was fun as hell and i was loaded! Fall down drunk nearly. Good times..You need a scrub board dave!
[youtube][/youtube]

robert(original) · Post by **robert(original)** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:47 pm

that vid is awesome funny. i played accordian for swing hailey in L.A. a few years back and i looked just like you did in that video. i really didn't know what i was doing, or even where the sound was comming out from, tho i wasn't drunk. it probly would have helped out a bit if i was tho.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 8:52 pm

robert(original) wrote:that vid is awesome funny. i played accordian for swing hailey in L.A. a few years back and i looked just like you did in that video. i really didn't know what i was doing, or even where the sound was comming out from, tho i wasn't drunk. it probly would have helped out a bit if i was tho.

ha. it was pretty obvious that i was lost but you can see me laughing in the video which is pretty rare...I realized to follow the snare drum with one hand and then keep with the guitar part. I know the song so i really should have just sorta strummed the board. It was cool though. I can play one now. I'm going to use one in a song coming up.

Can you play the accordion Robert?

Peter Bond · Post by **Peter Bond** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:32 pm

Do you play the board with a pick or something?

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:46 pm

Peter Bond wrote:Do you play the board with a pick or something?

You play it with different things. You can wear these things on your hands like a metal fingerpick. I'm using what many use and it's like an metal hook. I'll take a picture tonight. I have a friend who wears gloves covered with beer twist tops and she kills it! She plays a bass drum and sings and either plays guitar or plays a washboard. I'm going to use one in a song for the comp coming up and i'll filter the sound a bit and it sounds creepy as hell. I think i used one on the song for the last halloween comp. I'll find some videos of my friend using one. She's fucking amazing. Her name is Megan Jean.

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 9:48 pm

Check this out! FUCKING AMAZING! I love her. She's the best. DAVE WILL LIKE IT!

[youtube][/youtube]

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:34 pm

brandonwinmill wrote:Check this out! FUCKING AMAZING! I love her. She's the best. DAVE WILL LIKE IT!

[youtube][/youtube]

I DO BRANDON VERY MUCH!

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Fri Aug 16, 2013 5:40 pm

YAY!!!!

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:44 pm

i forgot to post pics of what you use to play a washboard...Like i said, you can use hooks like one you'd use to keep a porch door closed..I don't know what you call them..or gloves with cool things stuck to them or ..this is what they come with...Bottle openers.

cur · Post by **cur** » Sat Sep 07, 2013 12:50 am

^ church keys

Brandon W · Post by **Brandon W** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 5:56 pm

cur wrote:^ church keys

What is church keys?

Allanr · Post by **Allanr** » Sat Feb 15, 2014 1:33 am

I'm a big fan of Lee Oskar harmonicas. Also like Hohner Golden Melody harps. Remember that blues is played "cross harp". That means that your "C" harmonica will play melodies in the key of C major, but will play blues in the key of G. Since so much guitar blues is played in "E", your should also get a harmonica in the key of A.

I read (MANY MANY years) after I learned to play that the best way to cover only one hole is to use your tongue to block two of three holes that your lips cover. But since I taught myself to play when I was still a kid, I just learned to play one hole at a time using my lips. By changing my emboucher I can get chords and grace notes happening too.