Steel players nightmare

Nicholas Dedring · Post by **Nicholas Dedring** » 2 Sep 2004 9:20 am

I find that I hear a reasonable number of fiddle players who have pretty grim intonation problems.

It just really puts my teeth on edge, no matter how quick and versatile a dude is, that grating problem just makes me want to throw my hands up in a playing context...

My problem of late is that fills or breaks will come up, and I often can't really tell whether the fiddle player (who goes through the PA, which I can hardly hear from the back, where I'm sitting) has started taking a break or a fill or whatnot... Nobody seems to particular about assigning those spots in a planned way, so I am always on the edge of my seat to do something if there's "dead air".

HowardR · Post by **HowardR** » 2 Sep 2004 1:59 pm

Gerald, when I saw you at The Rodeo bar with King's County Queens a few nights ago, I thought that the harmonica player that came up and played one tune with you guys was pretty decent. He didn't play all over the place. He knew where and when to play, and when to lay out.

What did you think?

Dan Sawyer · Post by **Dan Sawyer** » 28 Sep 2004 9:48 pm

In the early days of bebop jazz, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, etc always jammed at a club in Harlem called Minton's. Of course, all the young jazzers wanted to sit in. But if a musician tried to sit in that wasn't very good, the house band had a great way to make hum shut up. On a predetermined hand signal, the whole band would modulate to some foreign key. Unless, the sitter-in had great "ears" he would be completely lost, stumbling around trying to figure out what key they were in, looking like a total fool. If he did manage to find the key, they could always change again.

Chris, great story about tuning to 435! That would make the harmonica player sound sharp. It might even be funnier if you guys tuned to 445, then the poor harp player would sound flat, which usually sounds worse than being sharp.

And why is it that harmonica players are always the worst offenders? So many (not all) of them seem like amatuers or beginners. Most other musicians feel like they must achieve a certain level of professionalism, a certain level of "chops" before they would even think about performing in public. What is it about harmonica players that make them so bold about playing so much with so little musical knowledge?

Another thing you could do is: if a harmonica player asks to sit in, insist that he or she play the "chromatic" harmonica. That should seperate the wheat from the chafe.

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Dan Sawyer
Fender Deluxe 8® (stringmaster), Fender Deluxe 8 (trap), Gibson EH-150, Wayne Lap Steel

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 29 Sep 2004 2:21 am

Forgive my ignorance, what is a chromatic harmonica?

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 29 Sep 2004 2:40 am

A chromatic harmonica is one with all the notes of the scale avalable.
As played by Stevie Wonder or Toots Theilman.

It has a lever on the side to open the sharps or flats for each mouth hole.

You must understand the sharps and flats in a given key to know which notes to play in other than the key of C.

I had several lessons on chromatic harp, once upon a time, from the leader of the HarmioniCats, considered possibly the best harmonica group ever.
I also got to play those giant harmonic wheels they played on Ed Sullivan.
I saw them do Flight Of The Bubblebee amoung others. Quite impressive.
[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 30 September 2004 at 04:11 AM.]

John Steele (deceased) · Post by **John Steele (deceased)** » 29 Sep 2004 5:03 am

Jerry Murad...
Cool !
-John

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 30 Sep 2004 2:25 am

Thank you David, I didn't know that.[This message was edited by Chris Forbes on 30 September 2004 at 03:27 AM.]

Dan Sawyer · Post by **Dan Sawyer** » 30 Sep 2004 10:11 am

The idea about having a volume pedal for someone else's amp is not so far fetched. I once saw a band playing in a hotel in the midwest. At the end of their songs they did the most perfect fade-outs i'd ever heard. Then, i noticed the leader had a volume pedal for THE WHOLE BAND! He was the one making the band fade out. If you're scratching your head about the drums, they used a drum machine and everything came out of the PA.

Drew Howard · Post by **Drew Howard** » 30 Sep 2004 3:10 pm

I wish there were ANY fiddlers around these parts!!

Drew

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Fessenden D-10 8+8 / Magnatone S-8 (E13)

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 30 Sep 2004 7:27 pm

Yeah, Drew, I used to wish for that too. All I can say is, "Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it!"

Chris Forbes · Post by **Chris Forbes** » 1 Oct 2004 2:15 am

Drew, I know of at least one I'd LOVE to send your way.

Rick McDuffie · Post by **Rick McDuffie** » 1 Oct 2004 4:13 am

Bad musicians aren't instrument-specific.

Shoot him

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 1 Oct 2004 5:36 am

Yeah - shoot him! (We'll all give you an alibi....)

RR

Andy Greatrix · Post by **Andy Greatrix** » 1 Oct 2004 2:02 pm

My uncle Bob told me, when he worked in lumber camps as a young man, that some guys would practice their fiddle after work. Back in those days there was no electricity. If a guy played really bad, they would wait until he went to sleep and then rub his bow and strings witha a piece of pork rind. Problem solved!

Jim Peters · Post by **Jim Peters** » 1 Oct 2004 5:29 pm

I'll never be in another band with a harmonica player. The notes cut right thru me , and it always sounds too loud! On another note, I was fortunate enough to fill in on 6string in a country band a few years back.( I am not a country player.) The extremely excellent steeler(PatHeller) was/is amazingly talented and tasteful. During one song, I don't remember which, I finally just quit playing, and stood there like an idiot, watching him play! After a moment, he looked at me and said "Jim, you gotta play!" I said" Why, there is nothing I could add to make it better." I meant it as a sincere compliment. JImP