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Jukin' Steady

Posted Wed, 06/29/2011 - 20:08 by walterjuke
walterjuke's picture
Audio: 

Well, here goes. The backing track is the 'Big Shuffle in E' from the Ultimate Blues Jam. The original jam track went on for almost 4 minutes. Nobody would want to listen to me for that long, so I spliced out a few choruses and made a new jam track. The harp track was recorded in one continuous take however, no overdubs or anything.

Steve

June 30 - I've resubmitted a slightly different mix of the same take. I noticed when playing the previous submission back in garage band it went into the red a lot, indicating clipping. So I backed off the harp track volume just a tad to get it out of the red. It seems to sound a bit smoother in those spots now, but it could just be my imagination.

Comments

Judging

David Barrett's picture
by David Barrett - 08/04/2011 - 08:12

CH1 - Big tone hits! Nice relaxed shuffle feel / good use of Chorus Forms
CH2 - Love how you played the 3' for the AA B-little change/A C Chorus Form, well done!
CH3 - Nice 1 draw focus note here / You have a tendency to want to play that 4 draw too much... let's see what happens as the song goes on.
CH4 - Glad to hear you going up to the 5
CH5 - Ah, shake... I was ready for a texture change
CH6 - Octaves, great idea to use octaves here
CH7 - Head returns, like the shake variation

I super solid instrumental... great use of the elements taught in the site.

Bell like tone

Mark Hummel's picture
by Mark Hummel - 07/12/2011 - 14:08

I know the Tillis tune Rick mentioned-it does have that quality to it. Koko Taylor did a version of it. I like the space you leave & ideas you have-good timing too! You sound Comfortable in the groove-very important. I liked your amplified tone as well-kind of a bell-like effect!

Thanks Mark for taking the

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 07/16/2011 - 12:21

Thanks Mark for taking the time to listen, and for the positive feedback. Coming from such a great player like you it means a lot.

I dug it!

jimsammy's picture
by jimsammy - 07/06/2011 - 17:39

Cool!
You have a nice relaxed feel, a good groove and your bent notes are real precise.
The ideas flow really well and you don't seem in a hurry or desperate to impress. I really like that!
Melodically it reminds me of "Steady" (naturally) but also of an old country song by Mel Tillis called "Honky Tonk Song". In any case, real good job! I enjoyed it!
Keep working on that tongue blocking. It'll fatten your sound up naturally.

Thanks for the feedback! I

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 07/08/2011 - 13:32

Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it. Yeah, I like Mel's "Honky Tonk Song," and that style of country in general. I love me some Hank Williams (senior!), Patsy, Dolly, George J,Emmy Lou, etc. Not sure if I should own up to that on blues harmonica site! (just kidding)

Sweet!

jodanchudan's picture
by jodanchudan - 07/04/2011 - 14:35

Great playing and a really well constructed instrumental. Each chorus has a distinct idea and builds up very well - cool stuff!

Great!

Wheel's picture
by Wheel - 07/01/2011 - 00:13

That's what I call real chicago shuffle! Great tone, great riffs, great timing!

Thanks man. I really dug

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 07/01/2011 - 05:12

Thanks man. I really dug your sound on your number too.

Steve

Mellow and easy

Sunnyside Bob's picture
by Sunnyside Bob - 06/30/2011 - 10:40

What a great sound! The whole number flows nicely, dripping out of my speakers. Feels like butter. Beautiful playing. Bravo!

Thanks

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 06/30/2011 - 15:56

Thanks Bob. Coming from you that means a lot because you have a great sound on your entry. I'm basically an acoustic, pucker player but I'm forcing myself to tongue block all the time and do the amped thang. David's lessons are great for this. It's really opening up a whole new world for me.

Sweet!

robfraser's picture
by robfraser - 06/30/2011 - 03:48

You've captured a great sound there WJ, a Big Walter vibe to my ear! I like the muted tone of your harp and the way you develop the theme of your track. Nicely done!

Thanks

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 06/30/2011 - 06:28

Thanks for the comments. They're especially gratifying coming from a past prize winner. I listen to a lot of LW (as you can tell by my signin name), but recently started listening BW too, so maybe that influence showed up too. Gotta love the walters!

Signed, sealed and delivered

frank's picture
by frank - 06/30/2011 - 02:54

Signed, sealed and delivered - ready to be sent off to Mountain Top record company, wax that one baby, :)

Thanks Frank

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 06/30/2011 - 06:36

Thanks frank - I love the way you phrase your comments! You know how to pump people up!

Thanks too for the Mountain Top reference - I hadn't heard of them before but it looks like they've got many of the great, currently working blues harpists on their roster. I'll have to get some CDs from them.

Steve

Mellow Tone!!

hank stefaniak's picture
by hank stefaniak - 06/29/2011 - 21:25

Sure like that mellow tone and easy flow to the melody lines. You got those chorus forms working well for interest sake. Hey, with this kind of classy performance, I could handle the 4 minutes, no sweat!! Well done!!

Thanks

walterjuke's picture
by walterjuke - 06/30/2011 - 06:34

Thanks for the nice comments Hank. After my first attempts I was worried about my tone being too harsh, but the comments have said 'mellow' and 'muted', so maybe I went too far the other way. But whatever, it's done! As you remarked on your entry, doing this was a great learning process.