Harmonica sites

Subject: Harmonica sites
From:
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 12:45 AM

Since the doctor told me that I had to move my finger around as little as possible for the next two weeks, I am experimenting with the blues harp--the only instrtument I have in my posession that doesn't require fingers.

Does anyone know of a site devoted to the diatonic harmonica?

Murray

Subject: RE: Harmonica sites
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 03:46 AM

Murray,

You would be aware that the Australian character is such that one would never enquire as to how you actually damaged your finger(s), but that should not stop people from speculating (loudly) about the fact. So, I won't ask.

There is a shareware program known as HARPING which in my view is a fun way to give blues harp a try. You may be familiar with the ZDNet site, which is where I got it. The local service is zdnet.com.au. HARPING has 8 or so tunes you can play along with, shows the blow and draw note numbers and allow you to change key and tempo. As I recall you can import any standard MIDI file to play along with as you wish.

Enjoy, John

Subject: RE: Harmonica sites
From:
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 04:00 AM

Thanks John,

I don't think I have the technology to use that program, but I will give it a try.

Note that it was my finger, not my beak that was damaged. I simply cut it with a knife while slicing onions.

Murray

Subject: RE: Harmonica sites
From: Mountain Dog
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 10:48 AM

Dear Murray,

Here's a good place to start looking for info on the blues harp.

http://www.island.net/~blues/faq/faq.htm

Hope you heal up quickly!

Subject: RE: Harmonica sites
From: John in Brisbane
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 07:00 PM

Murray,

I couldn't live without a sound card on my PC - and while I admit that I have a bit of a Holy Grail mentality to pursuing more realistic sounds, I still have the Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 that I bought last year for about $AUD 110. I have since bought cheap clones from PC recyclers for $10(ish) for other people to share music, and they appear to work just as well. You can pick up second hand real SB16's for about $50 through the Trading Post or similar classifieds.

I am thinking of investing $300 (Aus) on a Yamaha daughter board to dramatically upgrade the sound realism, but if you are more interested in the music than the sound, then the up front cost can be very modest.

My PC is a 486 running Win 3.1, not exactly state of the art, and I enjoy immensely picking various kinds of music from the Web. Apart from the tunes on the DT (which strictly don't need a sound card) there are vast riches of other folkie stuff, especially Celtic. I don't know about compatibility with previous generations of PC's.

The real trick seems to be picking up and installing the sundry sound drivers. I would hope that a number of Mudcat readers, including myself, could help in this regard.

Regards John

Subject: RE: Harmonica sites
From:
Date: 06 Aug 98 - 09:36 PM

Thanks Mountain Dog. I hope I don't have a sudden miracle recovery after going through all the trouble to get started with the harp ;-}

John. I don't use DOS or Windows or Mac, but rather a free UNIX implementation called Linux. It is a far more flexible system for interfacing with hardware, and all drivers are free too. So I have a real cheapo sound card that Windows doesn't know what to do with but which Linux takes in its stride. This means all software has to be UNIX software.

When this old computer breaks down, I will probably try to get better sound equipment with its replacement. (I just knocked wood--that is one reason there are so many network problems--installations don't have a piece of wood to knock on!).

Murray

Subject: RE: Harmonica sites
From: Hokumsheik
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 12:28 PM

http://harmopoint.com
you play what you see!………… & now ………. all for FREE!!!