“The clean up”

[Freddie]

#24666

https://app.box.com/s/zsbm6aja75u1v2g0vkf0th221fn8zgz1

Hey all! Well Udo’s effective nudging and encouragement has gotten me to finally share this one!
This is my attempt at reproducing “The clean up” plus Mitch’s improv on guitar and harp at the end of lesson 14. I heard Mitch play this one and I was in full geek out over it! He makes it look and sound so damn effortless that I was like… “that sounds simple… I’m gonna play that!” 😂
This one has been such a long journey… I have played harp with my banjo before but it’s been more in the style of Bob Dylan never anything like this. I had NO IDEA how hard this would be!! It was like learning how to drive a stick shift while in reverse😂. Like there was no longer a banjo and a harmonica separately… It was like playing one instrument.

I mean trying to learn Mitch’s improv… I had to play it on .4 speed and then try and reproduce it on the neck stand. Each step felt like it took months! One of the hardest things was figuring out how to drop in with the harmonica once I started picking the first banjo part.
I’ve always wanted to play my banjo and harp together with the blues like this so I feel so thankful to have put the time in to learn this… Hope you enjoy!

[Rooftop Cat]

#24667

Cool!! I’ve been dabbling w/ harp and piano before, but nothing quite like this. Your change-ups on the banjo make it sounds like there are two players and your timing on multiple drop-ins was spot on. That must have taken some serious time. I’d love to hear more of you with both. They both go so nicely together.

[Freddie]

#24668

Thanks so much for those reflections Ryan… I really appreciate it!

[Udo]

#24669

Shawn,

This put a smile on my face and a “cool” on my lips.
Your performance was worth every single step it took.
Keep on going with this one instrument of yours.

👍

[Freddie]

#24672

Thanks for the encouragement for my “one instrument”… reproducing a piece of music is one thing… but I still sit back and stare at the harp and banjo and am like… ok but how do I do it?!! Sometimes when something feels like an enigma… I tend to just observe it instead of diving in. But I will start out at square one and put in the “weird hours” and try to figure out crawling because playing this piece felt like running! Thanks for your reflection.

[Jonathan]

#24675

You smashed it dude.. I loved listening to this, it’s awesome. I also listened to Udo on another post, sounding really good both of you. I’ve kind of underestimated how much effort you have to put in to accomplish pieces like this. The first few months of learning have been great but as you put more into the music it really does take time to get there. And that’s just me and a harp, no other instruments… well done both keep up the good work 🤙

[Freddie]

#24679

Thanks so much for your words Jonathan… I really appreciate it! I agree with you about the “effort” comment. Looking back at my journey with this.. I think if I didn’t put down the harp when I hit Road blocks and just kept playing a little at a time I would have had to put in a lot less effort! 20/20 right?!!

[Author]

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