Ten Puka Man to help me "woodshed," after i have figured out what harp key a recorded song is in, i note that in my iTunes library with the title followed by harp (h) key (e.g. Muddy Waters "I Feel So Good" hC [harp in key of C]). then i make a playlist titled "Harp C" and put all the "hC" songs in list. so whether at home or walking i just need to take certain key harp (hC) along and play the "Harp C" playlist to woodshed in hC
Ten Puka Man to help me "woodshed," after i have figured out what harp key a recorded song is in, i note that in my iTunes library with the title followed by harp (h) key (e.g. Muddy Waters "I Feel So Good" hC [harp in key of C]). then i make a playlist titled "Harp C" and put all the "hC" songs in list. so whether at home or walking i just need to take certain key harp (hC) along and play the "Harp C" playlist to woodshed in hC. hope this idea helps you organize your "woodshedding" session.
i set up my "woodshed" in my closet/office in my garage. this way i can work on the "ten puka" without the wife getting bothered (except after 10pm). i watch you on my laptop and work on licks and techniques. my other "woodshed" is mobile. in slow traffic i listen to you, carey, james, muddy, and others and play one handed or 2 handed at stop lights. good discoveries that enter into my catalog of harp stuff. again, adam, mahalo (thanks in Hawaiian) for the lessons on playing the "pilapuhipuhi".
Adam, it makes perfect sense for a Blues harp player to invoke Coltrane. In fact, on the album "Done with the Devil", Jason Ricci literally recreates a portion of Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things". The fact that Jason knows Coltrane's music gives great insight into his style. The more I study the greats of the past, the more I recognize their echoes in the present. As a harp player, you've studied more than just other harp players. It's valuable for students to know that.
This highlights one of the reasons I love your playing adam. In this video you can really hear some of the jazz influences in your playing in a very intense bluesey context.
I'm looking forward to the one man band version of this song, I'm sure you'll knock it right out of the park!
kung fu masters are developed in the high mountain forests....harp masters in the woodshed...so cool, adam, that u let us see the man behind the curtain...the wizard of wahhhs....just stomp your red shoes 3 times and you'll be home....shuffle, baby
hi adam , i am very interested in the process, after all that is how we progress ,it is like a paint along with a so and so tv program,just because you see the artist painting the picture from start to finish , it does not take away from the painting at the end. By the way,the pause i was referring to was on the tambourine,and it sounded like music to me. respect.
Its like that isn't it? Just as well my neighbors are tolerant, think I should build a soundproof room out of consideration for them. I wouldn't like to have to listen to my practice sessions!
Adam , you already ARE scaring everybody (and I mean with the high intensity harpin,,not just that Romulon thing you do with your forehead when you do not wear your glasses (00:05) LOL :)
thank you for yet again inspiring me to get back to WORK on my music....
and you seem to have gotten Sterlings beat nailed on that drum !!! Whack Whack WhackA Whack A Whack !!!
Thank you for giving us this peek into your woodshed. Practice sessions are very personal and really expose your self. The fact you share this shows you really care about teaching and keeping the art alive. I can only speak for myself, but I'm sure others agree, this is a rare opportunity to see a master at work. I absolutely care about the process. (I wouldn't mind being your neighbor!)
adam, youre the baddest mother fucker on the planet. i love the drum/tamborine set up. the music you play is the music i hear in my head. THE ONLY time i develop is when i practice like this. just wail nonstop. work the harp like a drunk pick up on a saturday night. i dont even know what im doing half the time, but i just do it and it sounds amazing. i record it on my phone, and play it back. and change up notes and go again. people ARE interested in the process. I cant thank you enough.
Hey Adam, I am a college student stuck up in a dorm with a roommate and two other individuals right next door behind the half an inch walls. I have no idea where a good woodshed for myself would be but I miss valuable practice time because of it. Do you or anybody else have any good ideas to find a place where I can just let loose?
@Seanbmr@Seanbmr : dude if youre in college, find the music building and talk to a music teacher and ask if you can use a soundproof room once in a while. if not, in the car works well. sitting on a bench and playing at rush hour works well.
@Seanbmr: I always used to take long walks down along whatever river I could find. You can let loose there. Also, tunnels in parks, as long as they're not in places where bad people hang out. (Needless to say, I don't consider harp players bad people.)
hi adam i know you are just feeling your way on this one and i love it ,but you are forgetting what you taught us,, to pause for the cause,, loved that lick at 6.34 . my humble opinion ease back from time to time on tambourine, thanks again for great lessions.
@rockerrolling : This is a woodshed session. I'm blowing my face out. A pause for the cause, as you put it, has absolutely no place in what I'm doing here. I'm conducting a series of experiments. I'm not making music. I'm not trying to make music! Pauses are a part of music making. They have no place in this particular practice session.
You've done me a great favor, though: You've convinced me that people aren't interested in the process. I thought they were. My bad. :)
Adam, I really appreciated this, I do the same thing. I found that if I didn't record some of my "discoveries" I would forget! So I try to remember to keep a voice recorder handy. Doesn't always sound great but get's the groove back. BTW: Can't make it to Mississippi, did John call you about the Bean? Hope to see you there.
I really hate to say this, but it's been on my mind for months.
I just hate the sound of that bass drum/tambourine thing. For one thing, the bass drum's tone is flat and annoying without the depth of a good bass drum, and it's always too cutting and loud. Secondly, the beat never seems to really groove in a satisfying way, and the tambourine never seems quite 'on'. I know what you're going for, and I respect that, but samples would actually sound much better, though I hate to say that.
No problem. Not everybody loved Sterling Magee's homemade trapset. It had absolutely no bottom end; it was all clack and crash. Luckily he didn't worry about the people who disliked it. He just made the music he heard in his head. We learned how to mic it in the studio to maximize the bottom end. Satan and Adam, with that "flawed" percussion, did just fine. As for the groove: in this video, obviously, I'm barely grooving at all. I'm starting and stopping. It's a woodshed session.
Obviously when a musician shares the process in mid-process, as I'm doing here, rather than waiting to unveil a final result, some negative judgments--and misunderstandings--are inevitable. I get that. One common misunderstanding involves the sound of the drum in these videos. Since the drum is much closer to the camera than the very small amp, and since the camera mic has no bottom end whatever, the result is obviously a loud, flat drum sound. So? That's an artifact, not a core fact.
The tambourine pedal was sticking, and so it's not always giving full volume here. (I'm working out that problem.) Even when it's not sticking, my awareness was focused somewhat more on working out the harmonica part, not on creating an integral sound. The drummer, in effect, was marking time. All by way of saying that your observations, considered individually, aren't entirely wrong. But neither are they entirely relevant.
As i originally said, I've been thinking this for months and have just refrained from mentioning it until now. I've seen several videos featuring the drum thing, and it never quite works for me. I'm really disappointed by this fact btw, as I love the idea, and originally thought of getting or making one. . . but I find I just don't like it. It doesn't sound good, and the groove never seems really dancable in my opinion. Sorry again, it's just my opinion, you're the one with gigs, CDs etc.
You know your biz far better than I but, as much as I love the harp playing, I consider the percussion a serious drawback. I find I can't listen past a minute or so, though i could listen to just your harp for hours. I do admire your desire to do it mechanically, so much so that I wish i loved it. . . but I just can't take it. Truly, I suspect it plays better on the street where the cutting factor would be an advantage. On videos it sounds too in-your-face.
I hear you. It's just not working for you. That's cool, and I don't mind it. When you get a minute, you might take a look at the video where I'm playing solo and DO stand by the sound--as a full, grooving, integral style, rather than in-process stuff. Search youtube for Adam Gussow superstition. If that video--where I'm doing Stevie Wonder's song--doesn't work for you for all the same reasons you've articulated here, then you really are hearing my music differently than I am.
is that bottom of the harp to the top of the harp lick 2 draw, 3 draw, 14 blow, 14 draw, 25 draw, 36 blow, 37 draw, 48 draw, 59 draw, 69 blow. or 2 draw, 3 draw, 14 blow, 14 draw, 25 draw, 36 blow, 47 draw, 58 draw, 69 draw, 36 blow?
Heck if I know, but it's definitely one or the other, and you've got good ears. As long as you've got the split-second timing that makes it all come alive, it doesn't really matter which of those two patterns you do.
Thank for the compliment. I'm actually a pretty terrible harmonica player. I live in a dorm, so I don't get a lot of time to practice full throttle even in my free time. Plus I just can't find any good blues guitarists to jam with...
I REALLY like some of the new licks! Your playing was always funky, but it's starting to reach new levels of funkyness. Keep up the practicing, it's working!
This doesn't happen to me very often, but it happens occasionally. When it happens, I take the small blade of a Swiss Army knife and trim the wooden comb-teeth; I shave 'em down. They recede below the level of the cover-plates when the harp dries out, but the moment you start playing, after five minutes or so, they come back out to flush, and you're set.
I am very thankful to you for not stopping these lessons I haven't watched them all but I started learning on your 10th video! You will live in history of youtube forever. thank you and thank you Satan. (the black one)
You are in the zone! I know Jason says that he stomps his foot all the time when he practices and drives everyone nuts in his hotel or house. I tell you, my family and neighbors would just love me big time if I bought a drum like that! Even if I was in the garage...I can feel the love....well it was there a minute ago... : )
To me, the most impressive thing about this vid is your ability to keep the beat on the bass drum even while you practice/find your voice on the harmonica. Are you sure you're not a closet drummer? :) Loved your playing since Mother Mojo. ThankS!
just to let you know i was killing myself to get a decent sound on the 2nd hole draw. Had a look at your vid on that subject and got it. It's not perfect by any means but I can get it now, so thanks.
hope this iTunes idea helps you in your "woodshedding"...aloha
TenPukaMan 1 year ago
Ten Puka Man to help me "woodshed," after i have figured out what harp key a recorded song is in, i note that in my iTunes library with the title followed by harp (h) key (e.g. Muddy Waters "I Feel So Good" hC [harp in key of C]). then i make a playlist titled "Harp C" and put all the "hC" songs in list. so whether at home or walking i just need to take certain key harp (hC) along and play the "Harp C" playlist to woodshed in hC
TenPukaMan 1 year ago
Ten Puka Man to help me "woodshed," after i have figured out what harp key a recorded song is in, i note that in my iTunes library with the title followed by harp (h) key (e.g. Muddy Waters "I Feel So Good" hC [harp in key of C]). then i make a playlist titled "Harp C" and put all the "hC" songs in list. so whether at home or walking i just need to take certain key harp (hC) along and play the "Harp C" playlist to woodshed in hC. hope this idea helps you organize your "woodshedding" session.
TenPukaMan 1 year ago
i set up my "woodshed" in my closet/office in my garage. this way i can work on the "ten puka" without the wife getting bothered (except after 10pm). i watch you on my laptop and work on licks and techniques. my other "woodshed" is mobile. in slow traffic i listen to you, carey, james, muddy, and others and play one handed or 2 handed at stop lights. good discoveries that enter into my catalog of harp stuff. again, adam, mahalo (thanks in Hawaiian) for the lessons on playing the "pilapuhipuhi".
TenPukaMan 1 year ago
Adam, it makes perfect sense for a Blues harp player to invoke Coltrane. In fact, on the album "Done with the Devil", Jason Ricci literally recreates a portion of Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things". The fact that Jason knows Coltrane's music gives great insight into his style. The more I study the greats of the past, the more I recognize their echoes in the present. As a harp player, you've studied more than just other harp players. It's valuable for students to know that.
OmniphonProductions 1 year ago
This is truly blues morphisising into "Modern Blues Harmonica!"
Is that a Triumph Bonneville you have there Adam?
stephenmald 1 year ago
@stephenmald : It's a 1973 Honda CL-350 Scrambler.
KudzuRunner 1 year ago
@KudzuRunner I had that honda when i was overseas
leesbo55 1 year ago
This highlights one of the reasons I love your playing adam. In this video you can really hear some of the jazz influences in your playing in a very intense bluesey context.
I'm looking forward to the one man band version of this song, I'm sure you'll knock it right out of the park!
lizardmantsc 2 years ago
kung fu masters are developed in the high mountain forests....harp masters in the woodshed...so cool, adam, that u let us see the man behind the curtain...the wizard of wahhhs....just stomp your red shoes 3 times and you'll be home....shuffle, baby
blueshawaiiharp 2 years ago
hi adam , i am very interested in the process, after all that is how we progress ,it is like a paint along with a so and so tv program,just because you see the artist painting the picture from start to finish , it does not take away from the painting at the end. By the way,the pause i was referring to was on the tambourine,and it sounded like music to me. respect.
rockerrolling 2 years ago
i love your c.c rider on the satan&adam cd i bought from you at a gindick jam camp in quite a few years ago.
eharphyde 2 years ago
"Ahhh, My neighbors are gonna kill me! "
That's quite the practice session Doc!
harpman06 2 years ago
Its like that isn't it? Just as well my neighbors are tolerant, think I should build a soundproof room out of consideration for them. I wouldn't like to have to listen to my practice sessions!
MrDidjcripey 2 years ago
You're a damn great teacher Mr. Adam !, Thank you for be so clear in your teaching.
sundiga 2 years ago
Adam , you already ARE scaring everybody (and I mean with the high intensity harpin,,not just that Romulon thing you do with your forehead when you do not wear your glasses (00:05) LOL :)
thank you for yet again inspiring me to get back to WORK on my music....
and you seem to have gotten Sterlings beat nailed on that drum !!! Whack Whack WhackA Whack A Whack !!!
frogafone 2 years ago
Thank you for giving us this peek into your woodshed. Practice sessions are very personal and really expose your self. The fact you share this shows you really care about teaching and keeping the art alive. I can only speak for myself, but I'm sure others agree, this is a rare opportunity to see a master at work. I absolutely care about the process. (I wouldn't mind being your neighbor!)
chilidan 2 years ago
thanks for sharing your woodshed session. I'm jealous I'm not a neighbour
mcdookus 2 years ago
Totally interested in the process for sure....
thanks for showing us Adam...
Woody
gosiawoodman 2 years ago
adam, youre the baddest mother fucker on the planet. i love the drum/tamborine set up. the music you play is the music i hear in my head. THE ONLY time i develop is when i practice like this. just wail nonstop. work the harp like a drunk pick up on a saturday night. i dont even know what im doing half the time, but i just do it and it sounds amazing. i record it on my phone, and play it back. and change up notes and go again. people ARE interested in the process. I cant thank you enough.
hotjackson17 2 years ago
Also, you mention the quote "You got to play with full power- from the bottom to the top." Who is it that said that? Thank you.
Seanbmr 2 years ago
@Seanbmr: Coltrane said it, as far as I know. I should track it down.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
Hey Adam, I am a college student stuck up in a dorm with a roommate and two other individuals right next door behind the half an inch walls. I have no idea where a good woodshed for myself would be but I miss valuable practice time because of it. Do you or anybody else have any good ideas to find a place where I can just let loose?
Seanbmr 2 years ago
Comment removed
hotjackson17 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@Seanbmr @Seanbmr : dude if youre in college, find the music building and talk to a music teacher and ask if you can use a soundproof room once in a while. if not, in the car works well. sitting on a bench and playing at rush hour works well.
hotjackson17 2 years ago
@Seanbmr: I always used to take long walks down along whatever river I could find. You can let loose there. Also, tunnels in parks, as long as they're not in places where bad people hang out. (Needless to say, I don't consider harp players bad people.)
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
I just realised....unseen, behind that closed garage door are 36 kids... all hanging out listening to this groovy neighbour.
gosiawoodman 2 years ago
As Rockerrolling noted, it is certainly a chance for us to learn off you.......as are ANY video's you share....
gosiawoodman 2 years ago
Adam, I am in no way qualified to comment on your one man band. What I want to know though, is why you want to do it alone ?
It is only my opinion, but a decent bass player would add much more to your work than the kick drum and tambourine can.
I am a big fan...
Woody
gosiawoodman 2 years ago
hi adam i know you are just feeling your way on this one and i love it ,but you are forgetting what you taught us,, to pause for the cause,, loved that lick at 6.34 . my humble opinion ease back from time to time on tambourine, thanks again for great lessions.
rockerrolling 2 years ago
@rockerrolling : This is a woodshed session. I'm blowing my face out. A pause for the cause, as you put it, has absolutely no place in what I'm doing here. I'm conducting a series of experiments. I'm not making music. I'm not trying to make music! Pauses are a part of music making. They have no place in this particular practice session.
You've done me a great favor, though: You've convinced me that people aren't interested in the process. I thought they were. My bad. :)
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
Adam, I really appreciated this, I do the same thing. I found that if I didn't record some of my "discoveries" I would forget! So I try to remember to keep a voice recorder handy. Doesn't always sound great but get's the groove back. BTW: Can't make it to Mississippi, did John call you about the Bean? Hope to see you there.
rbeetsme 2 years ago
I really hate to say this, but it's been on my mind for months.
I just hate the sound of that bass drum/tambourine thing. For one thing, the bass drum's tone is flat and annoying without the depth of a good bass drum, and it's always too cutting and loud. Secondly, the beat never seems to really groove in a satisfying way, and the tambourine never seems quite 'on'. I know what you're going for, and I respect that, but samples would actually sound much better, though I hate to say that.
Sorry.
ironbuttermilk 2 years ago
No problem. Not everybody loved Sterling Magee's homemade trapset. It had absolutely no bottom end; it was all clack and crash. Luckily he didn't worry about the people who disliked it. He just made the music he heard in his head. We learned how to mic it in the studio to maximize the bottom end. Satan and Adam, with that "flawed" percussion, did just fine. As for the groove: in this video, obviously, I'm barely grooving at all. I'm starting and stopping. It's a woodshed session.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
Obviously when a musician shares the process in mid-process, as I'm doing here, rather than waiting to unveil a final result, some negative judgments--and misunderstandings--are inevitable. I get that. One common misunderstanding involves the sound of the drum in these videos. Since the drum is much closer to the camera than the very small amp, and since the camera mic has no bottom end whatever, the result is obviously a loud, flat drum sound. So? That's an artifact, not a core fact.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
The tambourine pedal was sticking, and so it's not always giving full volume here. (I'm working out that problem.) Even when it's not sticking, my awareness was focused somewhat more on working out the harmonica part, not on creating an integral sound. The drummer, in effect, was marking time. All by way of saying that your observations, considered individually, aren't entirely wrong. But neither are they entirely relevant.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
As i originally said, I've been thinking this for months and have just refrained from mentioning it until now. I've seen several videos featuring the drum thing, and it never quite works for me. I'm really disappointed by this fact btw, as I love the idea, and originally thought of getting or making one. . . but I find I just don't like it. It doesn't sound good, and the groove never seems really dancable in my opinion. Sorry again, it's just my opinion, you're the one with gigs, CDs etc.
ironbuttermilk 2 years ago
You know your biz far better than I but, as much as I love the harp playing, I consider the percussion a serious drawback. I find I can't listen past a minute or so, though i could listen to just your harp for hours. I do admire your desire to do it mechanically, so much so that I wish i loved it. . . but I just can't take it. Truly, I suspect it plays better on the street where the cutting factor would be an advantage. On videos it sounds too in-your-face.
ironbuttermilk 2 years ago
I hear you. It's just not working for you. That's cool, and I don't mind it. When you get a minute, you might take a look at the video where I'm playing solo and DO stand by the sound--as a full, grooving, integral style, rather than in-process stuff. Search youtube for Adam Gussow superstition. If that video--where I'm doing Stevie Wonder's song--doesn't work for you for all the same reasons you've articulated here, then you really are hearing my music differently than I am.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
thanks! - can you upload only your drum? :D (few minuts :))
karlwerner89 2 years ago
Its hard to keep the neighbours happy but we have to put the time in somewhere.
Very cramped Adam in the garage but you seem to be doing ok.
Good to see we are all in the same boat.
belleray2 2 years ago
is that bottom of the harp to the top of the harp lick 2 draw, 3 draw, 14 blow, 14 draw, 25 draw, 36 blow, 37 draw, 48 draw, 59 draw, 69 blow. or 2 draw, 3 draw, 14 blow, 14 draw, 25 draw, 36 blow, 47 draw, 58 draw, 69 draw, 36 blow?
joekata3 2 years ago
Heck if I know, but it's definitely one or the other, and you've got good ears. As long as you've got the split-second timing that makes it all come alive, it doesn't really matter which of those two patterns you do.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
Thank for the compliment. I'm actually a pretty terrible harmonica player. I live in a dorm, so I don't get a lot of time to practice full throttle even in my free time. Plus I just can't find any good blues guitarists to jam with...
joekata3 2 years ago
I love your enthusiasim on this one. Nicely done. C.C. Rider is definitely one of the songs i`m going to woodshed.
lozlmao 2 years ago
I REALLY like some of the new licks! Your playing was always funky, but it's starting to reach new levels of funkyness. Keep up the practicing, it's working!
samuraifliphop 2 years ago
This doesn't happen to me very often, but it happens occasionally. When it happens, I take the small blade of a Swiss Army knife and trim the wooden comb-teeth; I shave 'em down. They recede below the level of the cover-plates when the harp dries out, but the moment you start playing, after five minutes or so, they come back out to flush, and you're set.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
I really think your version of C.C Rider from the lesson (just harmonica) carries wonderfully on its own. Very potent with no accompaniment.
OscarCommie 2 years ago
The house next door to me in vacant! Inspirational,Thanks
Spl20 2 years ago
God I love you.
DirtyDeck 2 years ago
You are off the charts inspiring! Thank you for your posts!
kilo3086 2 years ago
Nice !!!!!
skyboofer 2 years ago
you are a MONSTER!!!! get over it...lol
roysrod 2 years ago
Ahhh, but compared to 99.9999% of the world's harp players, you already *are* a monster!!
ToddAllenGates 2 years ago
this is great one of my cats dislikes harmonica too
TheEttingoff 2 years ago
07:03 lick - i like it!
gronki1 2 years ago
I am very thankful to you for not stopping these lessons I haven't watched them all but I started learning on your 10th video! You will live in history of youtube forever. thank you and thank you Satan. (the black one)
KypHeM 2 years ago 4
My neighbors have never complained but it's my cats that go nuts when I amp up my woodsheding, especially when I hit those high notes.
boufgreg 2 years ago
you just pounded that groove into me... i must get better at this
kristophershaun 2 years ago
We are a better world with KudzuRunner.
StellarChi 2 years ago 3
You are in the zone! I know Jason says that he stomps his foot all the time when he practices and drives everyone nuts in his hotel or house. I tell you, my family and neighbors would just love me big time if I bought a drum like that! Even if I was in the garage...I can feel the love....well it was there a minute ago... : )
joch230 2 years ago
To me, the most impressive thing about this vid is your ability to keep the beat on the bass drum even while you practice/find your voice on the harmonica. Are you sure you're not a closet drummer? :) Loved your playing since Mother Mojo. ThankS!
-Park Murgatoid
TheGr8LuThez 2 years ago
liking you in the woodshed!
MISSBEBEBLUE 2 years ago
are there any satan and adam vinyls floating around?
DBrownofdc 2 years ago
No, we never made a vinyl. The closest to that would be the cassettes that we sold on the street.
KudzuRunner 2 years ago
The neighbours....hehe
I always like hearing your approach to learning and practising,and a lot of other thoughts around music.
Don't stop!
Thanks
MusicMan20061210 2 years ago
Thank you Adam! It's very interesting.
nambugoto 2 years ago
just to let you know i was killing myself to get a decent sound on the 2nd hole draw. Had a look at your vid on that subject and got it. It's not perfect by any means but I can get it now, so thanks.
Bluebuthappy182 2 years ago