Christmas Harmonica Songs

Lou from WI asked me to play some Christmas songs so I gave it a go.

Check it out. Here is the link below


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12x_CZ0lCBQ
Untitled URL Link

Well, Larry--you're a braver man than I am!!

Very nice, and I'm blaming you for the fact I had to dig out the old Special 20 and see how well I could do, particularly on "we wish you a merry Christmas"!

What were you playing for a harmonica?

ALLRIGHT SIR> AND I MEAN ALL RIGHT. Do you have a band? If Not you should have. Your timing is great, selections perfect for this season. tell ya what I'm gonna do. I'm going to play Back up for you so you can see what a string section would sound like behind your harmonica. I'll play along with yor video so together it should be O.f. Not studio quality mind ya, but should do the job. Now where's Roy with his guitar?

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed your playing, and merry Christmas!

Thanks for posting. Made a nice break from studying for exams. Thanks again!

Hurst

hey, that ain't too bad. i think you've played that thing before

Larry
That was great, I couldnt do that, had me panting just watching. Really nice to see some of the folks we "talk" to as well, wishing your family and all those on this site a wonderful and blessed Christmas, Mark

Pretty neat Larry. I fall in the catagory of one trying to carry a tune in a bucket with no bottom.

SA-LLUTE !.. nice job..

That sounds great. It looks like you are playing a chromatic harmonica if I'm not mistaken. Do you have a set of them to play easily in different keys or do you learn to play multiple keys on one? Thanks for posting the video.
Zach

Well pal, You inmspired me to TRY AND DO the String part.2nd part piano, and I had fun. You Know it is a great combination ,Harmonica & Strings. kind of reminds me of the movie with Steve McQueen,The Get Away .where he was swimming in the water with Alie Mcgraw.Toots Theilman did the harmonica part With Strings. If you never heard it, you would love the sound. any way Here we go. Not bad for NON STUDIO TIME. Thanks for letting me doa small part. Merry christmas,Will have a 2nd video tomorrow for you. Reguards Musically yours LOU.
pokee here

Very good Larry and Lou !!!
I was going to suggest that we each lay out a track
individually Some one wanted the "YT band" to do that and he was going to put them together in a previous post that seems to have gotten deleted I don't remember who it was now. and I lost his email he had opened for the guys that were interested.
He even had a special program down loaded to do this .. sounded interesting. he could even change key without distorting the tempo. and adjust volume of each individual. still with the same thought of not a studio quality recording.

hey Lou., thank you so much, I think you are great! I didnt even know such a thing was possible. I really dont know much about music, I just started playing at the nursing home where my mom is, and it just kind of came to me. I wish I would have done more with music when I was young.

Old Roy, thank you for thinking of the idea, it was a lot of fun. Merry Christmas to you and your family

thanks, I really dont know much about music I just wing it, but I looked at the Harmonica ,it says Suzuki su-24 Tremolo 2 timer it is not a chromatic My wife sent for it on line for me for an early Christmas present so I could play some Christmas songs at the nursing home

Thanks, Larry! I've often said one of the nice things about playing a harmonica is that you can play the same ones the pros play for under $50, which certainly isn't the case with most instruments!

that is the key of c and a 24 hole Tremolo I dont have a chromatic,but I do have a smaller Marine band Hohner in the key of g but I like the 24 hole harmonica better I dont know a lot about any of it I just kind of wing it , My wife sent for the one I was playing on line and it said it was a good choice for gospel and church songs, and that is what a lot of the people in the nursing home that I play at like, ... Merry Christmas to you and your family..... Larry

Geeze Larry!

I was gonna go out in the garage this morning and see if I could still play.

After listening to you guys, I'm having second thoughts, big time.

SUPER JOB!!! Thanks for sharing.

Allan

I proposed trying to put some tracks together. Did not have anybody take me up when I requested drum/bass tracks and got busy on a paying project here so let it slide. Probably can"t put anything together before Christmas now which was my original plan.

I have put a little more thought into this and think I can make it a little easier to submit tracks if there is enough interest to try this. Pretty sure I can strip the audio from a video file and use it for the recording which should be easier since everybody seems to be up to speed on making videos. It also has the benefit that for most of us the microphones on our cameras are probably better than anything else in the house. It would be a good idea to try NOT to hear the base track as you make your contribution so play it through headphones/earbuds or at least turn the speakers away from your microphone and keep the volume down to a minimum.

So.....instead of a basic drum/bass rhythm track to start I am going to propose that Lou in WI give us a very basic piano track as a base to get started. Since the purpose of this "base" track is only to try to keep timing consistent try to keep the embellishment down and you can submit another track with more "guts". Pick something everybody will know and a key that is singable, I had proposed Silent Night, but now anything goes since it won"t happen before Christmas anyway.

Kirk

please play, lets keep this going, I cannot thank Lou enough, I never knew something like that could be done,Lou is a great guy, I am so happy to be part of this great tractor site and to be lucky enough to find it and cross paths with all you great people ! Merry Christmas to you and your family.... Larry

That sounded great Larry, love listening to a good harmonica player. Keep it coming. Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Gosh Lou that was great. I had a lot of tape cassette of my wife playing the church organ made back in the 70's. Wanted to get them on to CD. Went on line and got a deal from DAK costed about 70 dollar. It worked real neat and took all of the scratches and excess noise off of the old tapes and put them on MP3 CD. My e-mail is open if you want to know more about it.. YOu both shound great. Want to save these rare moments.
gitrib

There he is right above you --- It was Kirk that came up with the idea.... just got lost or deleted somewhere awhile back.

If we cant get a bass or percussion to come in... here is a tool we can use.

I will suggest "Your Cheating Heart" {in "C" at 80 BPM }as all will know that one... need someone to start it out so its not a "dry start" also need to know how many wants to contribute so all can get a break .
metronome

Fantastic!

Hi ALAn. I have listened to your video and you do play. Sometimes I must come on as a hard nosed jerk, or I'll bet it seems so to the readers, butttttttttttttttt,that isn't the case at all. What I have is a non schooled musical education from some of the great players in all KINDS OF MUSIC. FROm Jazz to BLUEGRASS. There are scores of tunes that have little substance in chord structure and really lacks what I lovingly refer to as Color.meaning the emotonial feelings transcribed from the performer DIRECTLY through and into the instrument ,out to the emoptions of the listener. I'm not sure as to the reasons most don't take the time to smell the roses (as it were) and REALLY LISTEN beyond any 3 chord structure. I can remember the feelings of just holding hands with a girl and wishing for the first kiss. Oh Oh here comes the basis for my thinking. What Music the soul produced at that exact time. Words were so important before the kiss and right after. Now here's where my reasoning and thoughts start. The feelings are music, Lyrics have to make the rest of the picture, much like an artist selection of paint/brushes makes to the canvas,so the person who looks at the painting has indeed felt the electricity of the painting. Now when you pick up the instrument, it becomes a comunication device between you and the listener. It is NOT MENT TO SHOW OFF THE TECHNICS,but rather to GIVE AWAY part of your soul.NOW thats the reason to have color in music displayed, to make your conversation as something beautifull and worth while. I have said that Just 3 chord structure doesn't quite do it for me. I have a lot more inside my soul to give away. So I'll stop here and not fill up this post with my thoughts. What Is important is to Share your feelings with the listener. Keep on playing Alan. Hope I made sence to all who read this. Now You guys and gals who read this have a greater insight into my thinking, rather then the opinoins that you formed earlier lol. I truly do appreciate this forum and the patients YT board has with this old duffer. MY PROFOUND THANKs LOU.
ps. I truly do appreciate you guys music and the effort you give. I'M not judgemental into your ability at all. Keep the music going.

If this were ever to come together, I would only consider my controbution(SP) as a back up. I really don't think I could hold back color. The music then would become Just Sound ,with no emotional feelings. Having done my share of studio time, I can tell you thats what the musicians look forward to and the studio engeneers are aware of this as well FEELINGS .
However I would be willing to try provide color with NO RESTRICTIONS. My efforts would be just to provide feelings, not to crowd the players, and be a show off.Thats not in my make up at all. I'm like what one would call a studio musician that contributes. I would NEED to know ,and a sampling of the engeneer tactics before I would commit to a project like this.In other words I wouild like to hear a sampling of your techniques(sp). Would let my E.mail address open for you to reply when your ready to embark on this voyage. Reguards LOU

LArry, MY THOUGHTS EXACTY, Thanks ROY. I had a lot of fun playing behind your harmonica (way behind I hope) lol . Have A great Christmas.Your musical pal. LOU.

Hey , LOU If I practice Silent Night and send it your way could you do your magic with it? I ll give it atry before Christmas if its ok with you

Please don"t construe this as trying to restrict anybody. Just trying to set some ground rules to keep everybody together (synced) if we really try to do this. That is why I suggested another track with "guts" (or color/feelings/whatever it ends up as.) The only reason for suggesting a "plain jane" base track was to not restrict anybody else as they were led to lay tracks down. Can"t really say what direction this will take until we see what kind of tracks get submitted. I would hope not everybody would try to "lead", but can"t say until it starts to come together. I would not rule out that the "base track" would be used, but I would not anticipate it right now. It is only a means to try to end up with a final product that is a little cohesive. I certainly am open to other ideas. As far as tactics and techniques I will be pretty happy if I can get 3-4 tracks sounding reasonably cohesive and together given the wide disparities of skills (both technical and musical) of the potential players making submissions. If we can do that, then we can start thinking about trying to make "Music".

Over riding goal is to try to have some fun together, realizing we are never going to generate anything close to what we could together in a real studio. That"s not to say we can"t try to do something pretty good, just recognizing the realities or limitations of the process.

Having said all this, I am open to any and all suggestions. I am mostly trying to act as a facilitator in this process since I brought the lame brained idea to the board, if it dies on the vine I will certainly not be insulted at all.

Hope you are all staying warm,

Kirk

Bring it on Pal. Do you Need my E.Mail Address? I was wondering how long these post will last on Y,T, Sure Hate to impose . But sure I would be pleased to Back you up. Reguards LOU.

Your senerio sounds O.K. on it's merit. Now given the fact that there is indeed a bass line needed, ?w/drums,that is all possible for me to do with my sequencer,(which I havn't used in years)as I made C.D's for my friends several years back, Not so sure as I can remember how to use it but my Son certainly does with a little back reading. I was never a purist in my own C.D's as there is a lot of mistakes, (not in time rythms) but in notation ,.because of age slowing down accuracy of the fingers. Any way give me a NARROW CRITERIA, and what would be easier for you to accomplish. Reguards LOU.

Software can import a variety of audio formats as a track. I can import a midi file, but can't play or edit yet so it is not really much help. I previously requested mp3 audio files, but I should be able to strip the audio out of pretty much any video as well which might be the easiest way to make submissions.

That is about as simple as I can make the technical stuff, somebody needs to decide on a song and key and see if we can get a couple of tracks submitted once we have a usable "base" track. Since this is going to be something of a trial project, I would suggest something pretty simple and straightforward. When I was trying to do something for Christmas I had suggested Silent Night.