Tuesday, April 16, 2013

What Did You Miss This Week? (Week 308 #352)

Rapid Recall!!!

Joe moved on to pages three and four of his rapid recall phrases and went through them to demo each cut. Be sure to spend some time working with this technique and ear-training tool if you haven't already!

We also had an impromptu demonstration and conversation about delay pedals. Al Taylor brought in his Danelectro DE-1 Dan-Echo pedal and had it hooked up to the Kalamazoo.

As recording in the 70's turned away from tape and moved to digital, players missed that tape delay sound and manufacturers began making digital pedals to replicate it. If you imagine yourself playing in a large hall or cathedral (or maybe a stairwell is more fitting for a harp player!), that is a full, echo-laden, "wet" sound situation. The opposite would be a phone booth that has no room to echo - the term for that is a "dry" sound. A pedal can help you overcome a dry room situation and give your harp sound and tone a little fuller sound. It is no replacement for your technique and tone, but it can round out a dry situation.

What is delay? It is essentially an echo. Pedals like the Dan-Echo let you select how many repeats you want. And what is reverb? Larger amps often have a built-in reverb option and what that does is produce a single echo that falls off, or decays, over time.

Many would argue that a harp is inherently a pretty dry sound so a little delay or reverb is in order. If your small amp has no such setting, consider a pedal like the Dan-Echo (a favorite of folks like Gary Smith and David Barrett) or another such pedal popular with harp players is the Lone Wolf Harp Delay.

R.J. Mischo!!!

Class favorite R.J. Mischo is back next week! Come join us in B1 to learn from this incredible player. R.J. is particularly adept at hitting the road solo and playing with pick-up bands where ever he travels and we plan to grill him on how he manages this, how he leads a band that he may never have played with and makes it look effortless and rehearsed! Come see how he does it and hear some terrific playing.

Also, he's gigging Saturday night at Nick's Beergarden, so catch his show so you know what he's about when you see him in class Monday!

Class Notes
  • Note that we've added a new Tab to the top of the YouMissedMonday website titled Rhythm & Chording Resources. This page lists great examples of relevant R & C techniques and players on youtube. These are must-see videos for those of you in the rhythm & chording class...and highly recommended to everyone! Check back to this page often for updates as we get them.
- Grant Kessler, B1 Blues Crew