Posted by Rod on June 26, 2002 at 08:58:48:
In Reply to: My Questions? posted by Bluzharper on June 22, 2002 at 07:06:44:
: What got you interested in harmonica?
Back when I was about 14 years old I used to put up hay on a farm in Iowa during the summer. The work was hot, dirty and hard and paid $1 per hour. The perks were that at the end of the day the old farmers wife would cook a huge meal and feed the farmhands. Afterwards the old farmer would break out his Hohner Echo Harp (tremolo I guess) and play some songs. I believe he used a lot of tongue slapping and I couldn’t tell you what songs he played but they sure sounded good. I played around with a harp a little back then but never had much success. I didn’t really have access to any instruction material. Now, twenty years later I decided I needed a good hobby and this is something I always wanted to do in life so I got started about eight months ago. I’ve treated myself to a couple of personal lessons with Jon Gindick, purchased a lot of his materials, and the Portnoy Master class set (all excellent stuff), immersed myself in the blues (both live shows and CDs). I feel I’ve made more progress than I originally imagined I would have. I’m really enjoying this journey and have experienced a lot of associated benefits.
: Ever get in a musical rut? How do you get out?
Ruts, as for now, I’m so new and there are so many directions in technique that I can work on and quality material to use to do it with that it hasn’t been a problem yet. What I’m hearing in terms of ruts from the harmonica veterans are more issues of style and creativity. Some day I hope to be in your league.
Thanks to everyone and their contributions to this site.
Keep on harpin’