[ee40oztofreedom]

k i wanna start playing harmonica and i want to play some simple songs with it, can u give me some?

and where and how much can i get those little headgear things that hold the harmonica?

[airdog4125]

check out some springsteen, or angie aparo (if you know who he is), Dylan

[annoying_2001]

yeah, the boss, dylan, and neil young solo stuff.

[pimp_vince]

you can play "bring it on home" by zeppelin on harmonica and acoustic.

also look for tom petty stuff like mary jane's last dance, you don't know how it feels.

[dadfad]

Dylan is the easiest thing to start with. Fairly easy straight-harp work (harmonica can be played either "straight" or "cross". For the difference look at posts in the Other Instrument Forum, there are LOTS of them). But for just beginning to play solo guitar/rack-harp "straight" is easiest. Which also answers your second question, they're called "racks" (or neck-racks) and they cost from ten to twenty dollars usually. Just make sure it has good springs on it to hold the harp well and all that (I make my own for perfect fit, adjustible heigth, and heavy spring-tension, but most people aren't as ridiculously obsessive as I am about stuff like that! ).

[evileye]

Neil Young and Bob Dylan are my favourite harmoinca artists. The harmonica rack's are only in around ten dollers, and you can get them on Ebay or in a decent music store.

[capo2nd]

Dylan is the easiest thing to start with. Fairly easy straight-harp work (harmonica can be played either "straight" or "cross". For the difference look at posts in the Other Instrument Forum, there are LOTS of them). But for just beginning to play solo guitar/rack-harp "straight" is easiest. Which also answers your second question, they're called "racks" (or neck-racks) and they cost from ten to twenty dollars usually. Just make sure it has good springs on it to hold the harp well and all that (I make my own for perfect fit, adjustible heigth, and heavy spring-tension, but most people aren't as ridiculously obsessive as I am about stuff like that! ).

Here, I was going to ask you if you knew how to build a neck-rack yourself. I want a special one that fits me as well. What do I need for it, how do I build it?

[dadfad]

You sound like you're pretty handy with craftsy-type things so briefly here's how I went about it.

-I used 1/8" sheet metal for the harness part. I made most of it about 1/2" wide, with it being wider on the ends. Sort of like this...... O=========O. I made the end wider because this is where I wanted to be able to pivot the harp-holder-rods forward or back and adjust the height up or down. I drilled holes in each end slightly over 1/4" so I could use 1/4" bolts. I bent the sheet metal strip around with a curve to fit my neck (use something to bend it around so it won't get a V-shaped bend). By the way, I'm simplifying here (as you probably know). I made a card-board strip first to get the length right, etc before I sawed it out of the sheet-metal, etc. I'm just going through the basic steps here.

-Now, I wanted to be able to tilt it forward or closer to my face so here's what I did. I took a short steel-bar. First I drilled it like this >||| so it was like a tube with a small just over 1/4" hole through it (the bar was about an inch in diameter). Next, I drilled it again perpindicular to the first hole..... V . Now I have a short piece of bar (tube?) with a hole through it from two directions. Then I sawed the bar in half through middle the second hole (this is the hole thru the side of the cylinder). Which gave me two pieces....each with a half-hole through each, or I should say ON each, because it is now a sort of groove on the side of each one (with a hole through the middle). Sort of like a thick washer with a groove across one side (two of them). This is what will be used to allow for adjustments. A rod (actually two rods...one on each side) can slide up or down in the grooves. A bolt through the middle (holding them to the sides of the harness) allows them to rotate forward or back. Two short 1/4" bolts with wing-nuts allows them to be tightened or loosened....locking/unlocking it when you move the rods (which are going to be the "legs" of the harp-holder) up/down and forward/back.

-Next the actual harp-holder. I again used two strips of 1/8" sheet metal about 1/2 wide. Both the same length (including a ____/--------\_____ bend in the upper one where the harp will fit). I drilled a hole on both ends of both. I put two 1/8" rods through them (I used two 1/8" welding rods with the flux broken off but any 1/8" rod will do of course). The one piece ( _____/--------\_____ ) I put at the top of the two rods (the legs) and then crushed it against the rod ends (locking them in. Now you have a piece that looks like this |____| sort of, which is upside-down, actually more like TT . I think you know what I mean. I slid the lower strip with a hole in each end up next to it like |=====| this now (except the legs are of course longer and there's that hump in the middle of the top bar where the harp fits). I bought small springs at the hardware. I slid them up over each leg then I took (on each leg) a small washer and nut that just fit over the rod and pushed them up so it compressed the spring(s) and the again smacked the nut tight with a hammer, locking the springs in the tensioned position against the bottom strip. It looks sort of like this (sideways) now.......

CODE

======================[////////////////]||==||
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  \\
                                        ||   ||
                                        ||   ||
                                        ||   ||
                                        ||   ||
                                        ||  //
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  ||
                                        ||  ||
=======================[///////////////]||==||

Now those legs (when the wing-nuts are loose) can slide up or down to adjust height and rotate forward or back to adjust closeness.

-On the harness-part (first step) you might want to mess around with designs a little. I had the wide-ends (the bolts go through) off-set downward a little so the sort of rest on my chest. What ever works best for the individual.

-I waited till the end to describe this so as not to make the earlier step more confusing and complicated. On the bottom harp-support strip, I didn't cut it perfectly straight on one side. I cut it like this (sort of)

___________|^|_________|^|___________
|____________________________________|

Those little tabs sticking out of the one side....I bent those up so they would prevent the harp from slipping forward out of the holder when I used it.


Okay, that's basically it. Of course there's more to it. Little steps (or changes you might want to make) etc. But that's the general way I did it. I actually made another. With a holder for an actual SM-58 attached! (It worked but was waaaay to cumbersome to be practical. I wound up cutting the mic-holder part off and giving it to a friend who plays with a rack (he loved it). Anyway, I hope that (sort of) helps. And now................HOW OBSESSIVE ARE YOU???????

Good luck!

[Cortez The Killer]

Ok i got some songs....

Bruce Springsteen-Atlantic City
Bruce Springsteen-The River
Neil Young-Heart Of Gold
Neil Young-After The Goldrush(acoustic version)
Neil Young-Helpless
Bob Dylan-Maggies Farm
Bob Dylan-Shelter From The Storm
The Beatles-Love Me Do
Paul Butter Feilds Blues Band-Mystery Train(live at The Last Waltz)

there some great ones, i hope that can keep you occupied.

This post has been edited by Cortez The Killer: 02 April 2004 - 11:24 PM

[Cortez The Killer]

Also DADFAD or anyone, being on the topic of harmonics. How do you bend a harmonica note?? And what are some other teqniques. Please show me

Thanks

[pimp_vince]

Also DADFAD or anyone, being on the topic of harmonics. How do you bend a harmonica note?? And what are some other teqniques. Please show me

Thanks

while inhaling, push the outer part of the harmonica toward your nose and make the inside of you mouth AS HUGE AS POSSIBLE.... and voila, your first draw bend. works best at first on lower hole numbers.

p.s. is it normal not to get a draw note out of the 10th hole?

[Cortez The Killer]

Also DADFAD or anyone, being on the topic of harmonics. How do you bend a harmonica note?? And what are some other teqniques. Please show me

Thanks

while inhaling, push the outer part of the harmonica toward your nose and make the inside of you mouth AS HUGE AS POSSIBLE.... and voila, your first draw bend. works best at first on lower hole numbers.

p.s. is it normal not to get a draw note out of the 10th hole?

Thanks vince. Do any of you guys know anyother teqniques for the harmonica?

[capo2nd]

Thanks alot, John. That was very helpful. Now that I'm back from my vacation, I can start working on the holder during week two of my easter break here.

[pimp_vince]

Also DADFAD or anyone, being on the topic of harmonics. How do you bend a harmonica note?? And what are some other teqniques. Please show me

Thanks

while inhaling, push the outer part of the harmonica toward your nose and make the inside of you mouth AS HUGE AS POSSIBLE.... and voila, your first draw bend. works best at first on lower hole numbers.

p.s. is it normal not to get a draw note out of the 10th hole?

Thanks vince. Do any of you guys know anyother teqniques for the harmonica?

there's a warble... where you basically just "trill" (move the harmonica really fast) between two holes, like 4 and 5 on a draw... that's a warble.

just listen to "not fade away" by the rolling stones... it's got all the techniques you should need for now. unfortunately i can't even play that... well the harder parts anyway.