Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 08:31:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Bob Loomis Subject: Big harp comeback
I played harp (and a little washboard and resonator ukulele) with the Dan Freeman Texas Country Band on Saturday at Camp Parks Reserve Training Facility in Dublin, CA. It was the first gig I've had in years where I played a lot of harp. I had a jaw muscle problem around 1990 when I was trying to be a blues harper and traced it to movements I was making with my jaw to bend notes on cross-harp. I've since found that if I play straight harp, the problem rarely occurs. Anyway, it was a pleasure to find myself able to fit right in with the country tunes the band plays. I took my share of leads and people seemed to like it. It was also nice just to be a sideman instead of having to sing almost every song as with my band Grab Bag (wherein I play guitar and plectrum banjo and John Barclay plays harp). I've been playing harp quite a bit lately (ironically because I'm resting my ailing left hand) andreally enjoying it. I'm finding diatonics much easier and more suitable sounding to play for country and bluegrass than chromatics, though I did play some chrome at a bluegrass jam last week. Anybody else find this true? Is this why Charlie McCoy and others mostly seem to use diatonic in country music? Or am I wrong in that observation ... I am playing 270s and I find they are a bit like driving a truck where the diatonics are more like a sportscar.
Harpy Webtrails, Bob Loomis The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com
