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View Full Version : Who plays both mando and harmonica?



smilnJackB
Mar-01-2004, 5:04pm
Do many of you mando folks also play harmonica? #
Can you play them both at once? #

# I do play both and I have the wire apparatus to play harmonica with my hands free for the mando. #But I have not been able to play both at once and sound decent. #
# # #Smiling Jack # #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

mandoplayer15
Mar-01-2004, 5:09pm
I can play Harmonica as well as Mando and I tried once to play both but i didnt do that good,
it was hard to concentrate on both at the same time. lol

John Flynn
Mar-01-2004, 6:09pm
I have performed with a harp (harmonica) in a rack (the "wire apparatus") with the guitar before with some success, doing a Dylan-esque kind of thing. I have tried it with the mando, but I don't like it. I find that there is too much overlap, and therefore potential conflict, between what I might try to accomplish musically with the harp and the mando. The guitar backs the harp nicely and I find I can keep what I am doing on the guitar distinct from what I am trying to do on the harp. But I find the mando and harp tend to clash, at least when I play them together.

Now that I think about it, I can't think of a single good piece of music where the mando and the harp are actually playing simultaneously. I think there may be a good reason for that. I am not saying it couldn't work, I am just saying I can't do it well and I have never heard anyone else do it well.

Tennessee Jed
Mar-01-2004, 6:18pm
I'm not a good enough musician to play 2 instruments at once. I have a hard enough time playing one or singing while playing. When I play the harmonica it is usually in the blues style and I need my hands to get the tremolo effect or to give the harp more support for warbling and bending.

Rich Michaud
Mar-01-2004, 10:52pm
I play harp a lot. You really can't do both very well at the same time. Playing harp without your hands leaves a lot out. Yes I have tried the rack-per Dylan-or Jimmy Reed-but I find cupping the harp makes a difference. I recently started playing harp in bluegrass jams and found that as long as it is not overdone, folks like a harp in there now and again. So I carry 5-6 harps in a harp belt at festivals.

mandocrucian
Mar-02-2004, 8:49pm
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Now that I think about it, I can't think of a single good piece of music where the mando and the harp are actually playing simultaneously.</span>

Harp and mandolin can work fine together. As with any pair of instruments, you need figure out how to keep them from gettin in each other's way. #

On my On Fire And Ready! album, there are a number of tracks ("Honky Tonk Blues", "Summertime Blues") which pair mandolin (myself) and harmonica (Phil Wiggins) as the front line, backed only by upright bass and drumkit. "I'm Ready", "Mandocrucian Hop" and "Low Down Blues" adds piano (Ann Rabson) but still no guitars. Hendrix's "Fire" uses mando/harp/bass/drums + flute (overdubbed by the drummer) for a Hendrix meets Tull slant on the tune.

Niles Hokkanen

mandobsessed
Mar-03-2004, 12:59pm
I don't like playing harp snf sny other instrument. I can't get the bluesy bends I like so much on a rack. I am in the process of recording a track with both harmonica and mando and I like the sounds, especially with open string dornes on the mandolin.

On a side note I remember reading about a harmonica player from the thirties who played tow harps at once. Does anyone know his name? Did he record?

smilnJackB
Mar-03-2004, 4:19pm
Thanks for the feed back. I do think harp and mando sound good together. I like some country blues songs with harp and mando: Alberta, Since I Met You Baby, Midnight Special, Ain't Nobody's Business- to name a few. I guess I will play guitar on those, have my wife play mando and do a break on harp -without trying to play anything else at the same time.

Jack's Harmonica Page has lots of harp songs for sale and some free ones too. Good luck to you mando/ harp players. Playing both is fun and adds to the mix.
Smiling Jack

Shake well and buy often.