Foot Stomping
In the Solo lesson "Quiet World", you use what I hear on a lot of similar solo play - what I'll call "foot stomping". I've tried to record a number of bars on Garage Band and then extend it. It's been my foot hammering on the floor, my fist hammering on the desk, but it just doesn't come out 'musical'. I've searched through the loops in GB but don't see anything that is just a single beat. Any suggestions or tips on how it's done?? I'd like to use it when I submit Quiet World (if I ever get there) and use it for other solo harp stuff.
And for the record - Joe Filisko's videos on tongue splits are great. We are lucky to have him as a contributor. Thanks for adding those!!
Jon is dead-on... thanks Jon! Most players will put a wood board under their feet and wear shoes with a hard sole or tack tap shoe "taps" under their shoe(s). That will usually be picked by the mic, but you could have a mic near your feet as well. There are "tap" pedals you can buy... but low-tech is fine ;-)
P.S., thanks... I agree... having Joe on the site is huge... he's the man!
"On another note Madcat uses a high hat and instead of a cymbal he puts a board in it and the top nut hits the board.
I was wonderin' what the heck that noise was. Seems like it would be a lot of stomping though, on a high hat for something as light as a foot tap.
I've seen folks use the board (and even shoes with a heavy tack in the toe) along with tap pedals.
Here's the rig but it looks like it's been modified since I saw it last.
Love it!
That's quite a contraption he uses for the tapper. I also love the high-tech binder clip he uses on his harp!
madcat has a variety of sounders that he switches around on his high hat.
For those of you not on Harp-l here's a video showing how BRendan Powers gets the foot stomp with a ring finger (so is it finger stomping). Also demonstrates a loop machine for effects. Total fun video with Brendan Power's class playing!!
I've always wondered why more harp players (both blues and rock) don't use more of the pedal effects you see in the guitar world. It seems like it would add an air of a mystery instrument to the sound - but still allow that style that only a harp can have.
I love listening to music where I hear something completely unusual and I rack my brain trying to figure out what instrument it was. With today's sampling and synthesizers, a lot of that can be faked, but I'm always amazed when someone does it with a traditional instrument and I find out: "Wow, that was a violin?"
When I get good at this, I'm planning on running my sound through a variety of pedal effects to see what kind of cool stuff I can get. I still have a couple of my old synthesizers up in the attic too that I bet I could get some cool effects from.
Hank: As I remember the "foot stomping" you hear on Quiet World is John Garcia on a wood floor in the studio with hard shoes. On another note Madcat uses a high hat and instead of a cymbal he puts a board in it and the top nut hits the board. You can also watch Paul Oscher tap his feet on a board wearing hard shoes here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5KoP4o4Xc