Harmonica Thinking

Meet Dave Ferguson

I first met South African Harp player and singer Dave Ferguson on the London Blues scene several years ago. Now based in Italy, Dave and I caught up at my place recently during his visit to the UK. 

Dave was one of the first people to develop a one man harmonica show using loops and effects pedals to try and offer something different and practical from a touring perspective at the same time.  His whole touring rig fits in one brief case. He turns up, takes the lid off, plugs in and he's ready to go. Needless to say, a lot less hassle than taking a band on the road. 

The use of harmonica, beatboxing and loops was of course popularised by the stellar Son of Dave, who Mr Ferguson knows personally and cites as a major influence on his music. Having heard Dave play over the years and close-up last week there's no question he has his own sound and musicality. Over the years Dave has refined his music and show and now has over 40 original songs and tours all over Europe and regularly in his home country where he says the music scene is buzzing. Dave has yet to release an album despite a wealth of material but he's hoping to make his debut next year. Come on man!  

We jammed, exchanged tips and ideas and I was blown away by the songs Dave played using his rig which we ran through a little practise amp I had kicking around. Check out the tone he gets! He kindly agreed to let me video a couple of takes which I've posted here.

In the first one Dave talks us through his fantatsic pedal board and then dives straight into a tune called 'Love Hurts'. The first few minutes are definitely for all you harp geeks out there but watch the last few minutes for a soulful tune which showcases Dave's style. 

 

The second video is Dave playing a up tempo house groove where he plays around with the beats, building up to some mean vocals.

I had a great time hanging out and I hope you enjoy these vids which give a glimpse into Dave's music. Check him out on MySpace and lookout for an album next year, will be worth the wait! 

Review of the Hohner Thunderbird (Video)

One of the great things about the diatonic harmonica is that it's an instrument that comes in a wide range of shapes, sizes and options, for instance different tunings like such as Brendan Power's new "Powerbender" (I am a massive fan, get one!). Options like different tunings, enable a player to experiment like a guitarist might with different tunings to achieve bluesy or country sounds. Many harmonica players don't investigate these options though sticking to standard harps and playing them in the three main positions ( 1st, 2nd and 3rd). In some ways this makes sense, learning to play the standard richter tuned model well is challenging enough. 

Low Tuned Harps

A simple way to add something new to your sound and bag of tricks without much effort is to try a low tuned harmonica. Most models are standard tuned so your existing knowledge applies although you do have to adjust your technique a little bit to get the most out of them. Breath control becomes vital. Most harmonica players will recognise the sound from Sonny Boy Williamson's Bye Bye Bird where he played a  Hohner 364 which has 12 holes and is tuned to low C. Low tunned harps are great for backing another harmonica player or riffing like a horn section in a band. 

The Hohner ThunderBird

Hohner has recently released the Thunderbird which is a range of low tunned harp based on the Crossover series. The range includes 9 harps which run from Low F to Low Low F. That's very low baby! They kindly sent me one to try out and here is a video of my thoughts about this new model which has a clever cover plate design by harmonica craftsman and legend Joe Filisko.

Yes, it's in tune!

In summary, the Thunderbird is terrific. It's surprisingly responsive for a low tuned model and Joe's cover plate design eleminates the reed buzz associated with these kinds of harps where the low reeds actually hit the cover plate when resonating. Best of all though, the model I was received was perfectly in tune and playable straightout of the box. I can't overstate how refreshing and important this is to someone who loves the Hohner sound but historically found their manufacturing horribly inconsistent.  Innovation does not count for anything if the fundamentals are not in place. For a musical instrument this means it must be in tune, without that you may as well throw it away.

The idea that you should ever need to do customisation work on a harmonica so it's in tune when you've just bought is ridiculous! I do not want to work on my harps, ever preferably, I just want to play them. I did not take up the instrument to spend anytime at all with a file in my hand. A harmonica must be in tune when you buy it. Such basic quality should not be "phew that was lucky". It's a must have. It's table stakes. I am delighted to say that the Thunderbird was perfect in this regard, so the wider benefits and clever design were not instantly undermined. Congratulations to Steve Baker, Joe Filisko, Richard Weiss and the Hohner team.  

 

 

 

The Mastery 'App' Mindset

I receive some excellent questions about playing the harmonica from people via Facebook, YouTube and directly by email.  Trying to answer them, where I can, is both enjoyable and often cause for internal examination - yes how do I do that? 

There are two standout themes in these interactions which I find interesting, at times amusing and at others perplexing.  I don't mean what people are asking, rather, what lies behind their questions. These are:

a) An appreciation of just how long it takes to master something and...

b) that some things do not have a 'magic bullet'.

The 'App' Mindset

It seems to me that these 'mentalities' both stem from unrealistic expectations which apply to both questions of technique (the mechanics of playing an instrument) and musicality (what you do with your technique). It's obvious that people's motivation for asking questions about anything that they themselves are trying to do is to accelerate the learning process: why spend ten years replaying a lick backwards and forwards trying to replicate every nuance if someone has already done that.  I'm surprised though by the extent to which people believe learning can be accelerated or that there is an 'oh just do this' answer to questions such as 'how do I sound interesting'. Yes someone actually asked me that last week.

Unfortunately, some things have no back door short cuts, be it related to technique and especially musicality.  There just isn't an app for that. Many aspects of playing any musical instrument can take years and years to master. For instance tone, or on the harmonica specifically - vibrato, tongue switching or overblows. Some things you may never conquer no matter how much you try. 

Mastery iteslf is about more than knowledge. If you gave someone who has never played the harmonica all the knowledge in a book they needed to play 'Juke' by Little Walter, would they be able to straightaway? Clearly not! The knowledge has to be embedded into the brain through practise so the person can execute the thousands of complex actions.  Alvaro Pascual Leone at Harvard Medical School states this concept brilliantly:

" Playing a musical instrument requires more than factual knowledge about the musical instrument and the mechanics of how it is played. For example given complete information about hand position, finger motions and the sequence of keys to push for how long and with what force, I would still be unable to play even the simplest piano sonata"

The book I am currently writing is very much about this idea. The process of skill acquisition takes time even if you have the information. Today information can't just be downloaded to the mind like in the Sci-Fi classic "The Matrix". 

The Value of the Learning Journey

All of this begs the question, if you could learn something instantly would you? Acquiring some kinds of knowlegde is a bit like saving for something. There's huge satisfaction to be found in the learning journey itself, gradually seeing your mental and physical 'handle' on something becoming clearer, stronger and more controlable day by day. This is in a way like mental 'ownership' or 'acquiring' something.  It's a real buzz.  

It's understandble that we crave simple solutions but at the same time in trying to master an instrument like the harmonica, which looks deceptively easy, being prepared to battle and persevre is both essential but also a source of tremendous reward.