Are you learning to play harmonica and conscious about improving your tone or buying a nice expensive mic? Do you feel that using a new tube amplifier will leave an audible impact on the sound? Are you an ‘object estimator’ or a ‘technique enthusiast’ or a balanced mix of both? In this blog post, I’m gonna share with you some useful, thought provoking notions on harmonica gear and its connection with learning to play harmonica.
Is that you who’s playing the gadget or is that your gear? I want to listen to your tone when you play bare-bones version of harmonica, so put down that $200 microphone and switch off your vintage amp and let your voice alone make the impression.
All those who start playing harmonica, somewhere during their expedition, fantasize that an expensive harmonica – may be the one customized by an expert that comes with a top-notch amplifier besides an added excellent quality microphone – will surely yield them melodious harmonies. Ask me about my own experiences and I’ll tell you that I’ve been there too, and I’m a great admirer of state-of-the-art harmonica designs and their futuristic accessories, not to mention the amps beautifully designed by those who just love harp: you’ll find it clearly visible on my website pages published in the gear section. The conclusion I would like to put forward is that engaging latest technology willdefinitely raise the quality of your tone but it can’t foster your ability to perform.
If only a custom-made or an expensive harmonica can impart the feeling of comfort to you while you play, please check it with a standard harp too if you can possibly generate the same vibes or not as if you failed, there’s something you’ve overlooked. If you want to play overblows then you have no choice but to rely on a customized instrument. But in all the other cases, there’s simply no reason behind using a revamped harmonica; the only exception allowed could be showing off what you own because it’s ‘unique’, something built ‘especially for you’. Its worth will now be calculated in terms of sentiments as someone has got his hands on it and expended his time remodelling it, making it valuable enough for you to spend money on it.
You know, the place where I live, door-to-door vendors will sell a vacuum cleaner for $2,000 and everyone buying it would brag about its robust cleaning property that leaves their houses all cleaned up in no time now, but believe you me the floor of my house appears as clean as theirs, no matter I use an electric broom for it which costs me around $70. Sometimes, It costs me some extra effort but as I’ve some handy tricks up my sleeve; I can make my floor sparkle!
In a nutshell, buying an expensive harmonica could never guarantee that you’ll learn or play better, you are required to perform well on an ordinary instrument too. Good music!
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