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www.xaphoon.comA friend of mine plays this, it sounds very cool. He has a limited repertoire, but travels and sits and plays on street corners all over (photographer). I'm thinking of downsizing. One for the wife, one for me, the Mini Cooper and a very small hairless dog. My present dog will NOT be happy. LOL. I am kidding about my lab, she's my baby, and in charge of cuddles. xaphoon players here?
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I got a Xaphoon a couple of Christmases back. It's enough like a recorder to cause confusion. The stretch is wider than a recorder, and it took a while to get used to the reach. Because of the stretch, it's less comfortable than playing a recorder. Unlike the recorder, the back hole isn't an octave hole. It didn't take long to decide to replace the bamboo reed with an artificial reed. That certainly didn't help the tone, but it lasts a lot longer! I found intonation to be a challenge, especially in the higher register. I never got that good at it, and haven't played it in a while. For the price, it's definitely worth getting. If I had the money, I'd probably get a Clarineo instead. I've not had a chance to play one, but I've got a Nuvo Flute by the same company, and I'm pretty happy with it. From the sound samples, the Clarineo sounds a bit more buzzy and plasticy than the Xaphoon, but it's probably worth it for the expanded range and chromatic scale.
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John Conley
Musica est vita
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I've got one around here somewhere, used to whip it out in jazz combos occasionally instead of the trumpet, sounds enough like a sax to make the sax player mad atcha.
Easy to play, especially if you've ever had any recorder fingering experience.
The big secret is to simply stay within range when improvising. The minor pentatonic scale can go a long way on a xaphoon...
--Mac
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I want them all - I just love music ; ) ...yeah, I know, that's one of the reasons I can't play as well on my 'chosen' instrument...but I don't care, I love music : ) Quote:
"especially if you've ever had any recorder fingering experience."
at about 10, I learned to play the 'snake charmer' song - is that enough ?
...and I'm willing to learn the pentatonic scale.
IMHO - watching a person that plays one instrument well, drop that instrument and pick up another for a brief moment that fits the song...can be very exciting -for both performer and audience (I've seen it done only a couple of times - most guys stay behind one instrument, except for the harmonic -which you'll find on Bruce's or Neil's neck and played at times at the same time as their guitars - lot of musicical bang for the buck with this combo)
Does anybody out their play more than one instrument during a typical performance ? How's that go over with the crowd ?
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My Ex plays the Buffoon, does that count?
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Quote:
Does anybody out their play more than one instrument during a typical performance ? How's that go over with the crowd ?
Well, Joe, by now you must realize that I'm a multi-instrumentalist, Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Pianos, Organs, Keyboards, Synths, Theremin and, of course, Guitar.
Bob "Notes" Norton is another who frequents this forum, a saxophonist (with the nickname of "One Take Jake") who also plays guitar in his act.
I only will switch instrument if absolutely necessary to make the song happen, though.
Switching instruments can take a toll on the performance, if the instrument you switch over to is not played with as much skill and conviction as the one you started out with. Audiences are people and thus cannot be fooled, which is my way of saying that the audience will see through any attempt to pick up and play another instrument just for the sake of doing so.
The real aspect of the thing is practice, practice, practice - and not rushing to take that second instrument out for performance until you really have worked up the ability to perform on it. That doeswn't necessarily mean "mastering" said instrument, but it does mean that you at least know the instrument well enough to be at home with it in circumstances other than a memorized small repertoire.
That said, over the years (yes, it takes years but this is a labor of love) I have found that spending the time to learn and play a different instrument has other joys associated with it. For example, my piano playing skills jumped up to a new plateau from working out hard on the guitar those many years ago. Working hard to read notation without TAB, I found I had to deal with different note stacks in chords, lots of the more or less standard guitar chord voicings that are easy to grab with the LH on a guitar neck are kind of hidden when confronting the linearity of a keyboard. Single note lines from Trumpet and even Clarinet books yielded guitar drills that greatly improved single note soloing capabilities, note choice, phrasing, etc. Many of the great jazz guitar players mention practicing Horn Solos on the guitar, this to better emulate the phrasing inherent in singing or playing a horn. That concept of playing a line, then the "pause to take a breath" before playing the next line really can change much guitar soloing for the better. You tend not to just keep on playing lines, lines, lines, which, in certain genres may be a good thing, but in others doesn't make for a solo that makes more coherent sense.
--Mac
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I watched the video at the NAMM jam . . . kept waiting for the snake to appear.
PS: Mac . . . We need a Rim Shot emoticion
later,
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Quote:
lots of the more or less standard guitar chord voicings that are easy to grab with the LH on a guitar neck are kind of hidden when confronting the linearity of a keyboard. Single note lines from Trumpet and even Clarinet books yielded guitar drills that greatly improved single note soloing capabilities, note choice, phrasing, etc. Many of the great jazz guitar players mention practicing Horn Solos on the guitar, this to better emulate the phrasing inherent in singing or playing a horn. That concept of playing a line, then the "pause to take a breath" before playing the next line really can change much guitar soloing for the better. You tend not to just keep on playing lines, lines, lines, which, in certain genres may be a good thing, but in others doesn't make for a solo that makes more coherent sense.
That's a great lesson Mac. I've often wondered why soloing of different instrument players sounds so different - for example horn vs. guitar. At least in part, it's obvious it's the layout of the instrument, and what notes are easy to reach and play. The guitar lends itself to shielding a player from knowing the notes in chords and keys because it's so easy to learn on voicing, and move it all over the neck to change to the corresponding chord in a different key. Also, the guitar having only 6 strings lends itself to tablature - again shielding... The piano does NOT allow this. It is not easy to write tablature for the piano that's as easy to read as guitar tablature. Having 2 hands lends itself to more easily fingered voicings with wide interval skips, and most likely, different chords. Also, on piano, some keys must be much easier to play than others given the difficulty of playing black and white keys at the same time (esp. when a fat middle finger has to play a white key next to a black key that's not being played, and the outer fingers are also on black keys).
Why horn solos sound so different harmonically than guitar - I've no idea, no knowledge. What other types of things do horn players easily do on their instruments that's difficult for guitar players, given the layout of both instruments ? I'm thinking maybe arpegios. I think horn players use these more than (many, not all) guitar players in general. Arpeggios are kind of hard to master on the guitar (if one's teacher does not emphasize and require it - which my early teachers really didn't).
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Quote:
<...> Does anybody out their play more than one instrument during a typical performance ? How's that go over with the crowd ?
I currently play saxophone, wind synthesizer, guitar, and flute on the gig. I could do bass and keyboards, but that's too much to schlep. I used to bring a keyboard or a guitar, but now I just bring the guitar - it's lighter in weight, makes for a better visual, and more difficult to put on our backing tracks.
How does it go over? Great! More often than not a few members of the audience are impressed enough to ask, "How many instruments do you play?"
IMHO playing more than one instrument is good for the show and good for the music. That is, as long as you can play them at least decently.
I started doubling on bass many years ago in a cover band when there was no sax part. The bass player in that band also played guitar, so he would pick up the guitar. I learned each song that I doubled on but didn't consider myself a real bass player. Eventually I had a short tour with Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon playing bass.
Eventually I did the same on rhythm guitar and keyboards. Learning the part on the instrument. I'm fortunate, I pick things up quickly.
The limited doubling experience on the bass, rhythm guitar and keyboard sparked my interest in them enough to buy a bass, keyboard, and guitar and to seriously apply myself to them. The many hours spent practicing didn't seem like work, but play. And when you apply yourself to a second or more instrument, it's easier than the first one because you bring your knowledge of music theory along with you. I can now double on any of these in a pop band, but would not venture into a jazz jam with anything but my sax or wind synthesizer.
And as Mac pointed out, learning an additional instrument actually helps you play your first instrument better.
Quote:
<...> What other types of things do horn players easily do on their instruments that's difficult for guitar players, given the layout of both instruments ? I'm thinking maybe arpegios. I think horn players use these more than (many, not all) guitar players in general. Arpeggios are kind of hard to master on the guitar (if one's teacher does not emphasize and require it - which my early teachers really didn't).
No matter what you play, violin, cello, sax, guitar, trombone, etc., if you are playing melody, it's important to phrase and breathe like a good singer. That is what relates to the audience.
But the differences between wind instruments and guitars are sometimes great. It's due to the instrument, not the player, although the better players can overcome many of the limitations of each. Here are a few of the obvious differences between my main wind instrument (sax) and guitar (piano or synth would take another post).
- First the most obvious: guitars can play more than one note at a time, saxes cannot
- Guitar notes decay after being articulated, sax can hold for as long as the player has wind plus change the volume during the hold (guitars can change the volume with a pedal or a finger on the volume knob, but without the sustain, it's not the same)
- Guitar is a transposing instrument, change keys, move the hand, fingering is the same. Sax fingers entirely different in each key
- It's more difficult to read music on the guitar than the sax (I don't do TAB, just regular notation)
- Guitars are slower instruments than saxophones (woodwinds are especially good at speed), but that doesn't suggest that either one makes better music
- There are plenty of others, and once you pick up your second instrument, your ears will open up even more, and you will learn them
To quote Charlie Parker, "You don't play the sax, you let it play you." The same goes for all instruments. You learn what that instrument is capable of doing, and you use that to play expressively.
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Thanks for the post on the Xaphoon. I think I would also be interested in learning to play it. Currently I play guitar, bass, banjo, and ukulele. Charlie Christian one of the early electric jazz players phrased his lines similiar to the horns. DennisD
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