sgusers9的部落格

Source: Tulsa World, Okla.迷你倉Jan. 05--When Mike Peace would blow out a reed on his harmonica, he would usually just toss the whole thing.The rest of the 19 reeds would usually work fine, but hitting a bad reed when Peace was on stage could ruin a song."I figured out that was stupid because those things had gotten expensive," Peace said.So he opened it up. With help from some colleagues and the Internet, Peace pieced the instrument back together and fixed his instrument, good as new. And cheaper than buying a new one.With that, Peace, 68, started repairing his friends' harmonicas and then harmonicas from professional musicians across the country. Peace, of Tulsa, became one of the few people in the country who repairs and builds custom harmonicas.What some see as a kids' toy, Peace sees as a delicate instrument that is essential in folk and blues music. It's what got Peace interested in the first place."Anybody can play the harmonica. That's the reason it's always been considered a kid's toy," Peace said. "A kid can play it and make noise with it. But it's a difficult instrument to play well, like a lot of instruments."He played in several bands in the '70s and '80, running in the same circles as Tulsa musicians such as J.J. Cale, David Teegarden and Jimmy "Junior" Markham. Now as a harmonica repair guy, many see his services as invaluable."He's very good at what he's doing," Markham said. "It's great to see somebody take that on. It's a lot of patience and a lot of work."But when Peace first picked up the instrument, it was more of a prop than a future.Peace was 22 in the Army in Alabama in 1968 when he started to pick up on guitar techniques. It was the folk music of the era that really connected with him."I thought I wanted to be Bob Dylan -- I got a harmonica with a rack around my neck," Peace said. "The first time I ever heard Bob Dylan I was a freshman in college, and that was the beginning of the civil rights movement. Some of his lyrics just blew me away. I thought that was really cool."The harmonica ended up getting in the way more than enhancing the sound. He focused on his guitar work but still didn't see it as a way of life. So after the Army, he found and kept a day job.Peace settled in Tulsa and was one of the first people in the area to sell the large satellite dishes that were so popular in the 1980s."I've always been an experimenter," Peace said. "I've always liked something different."One of Peace's bands was The Dinosaurs, which had two guitar players already in the band. Peace decided to revisit the harmonica to see what it could bring to the group.It turns out, a lot. Harmonicas work by the player blowing out or sucking in air through holes on the front of the instrument. The air passes over small reeds that vibrate to make a sound. The length and width of the reed determines its pitch.Simple enough. But hidden in those reeds are more notes. One harmonica can't play a full scale. It takes practice to find those hidden notes."I have to bend that on the draw, and I do that with technique," Peace said. "That real bluesy sound, thatself storages how you get that: by bending the notes."That's easier said than done, though. Peace's best advice to bending a note is practice, knowing the instrument. Once it's achieved, it takes the small metal instrument from a toy to a tool, a sound that makes a rich contribution to blues, folk, rock or any genre if played right.But Peace can help players get to that point of bending notes. It's all in the guts of the instrument, which he discovered after repairing and building his own harmonicas."If you modify these and make them more airtight, it's a whole lot easier to get that," Peace said. "I equate that to buying a cheap guitar with the strings high up off the neck or having a nice guitar with nice low action to hit the notes and bend the notes."Peace uses a tiny scraper and a huge magnifying glass to carefully scratch the brass innards of a harmonica. Each scrape changes the delicate instrument's sound, so one too many could ruin that reed. It takes some trial and error, but using a tuner, Peace can find the sweet spot.For those who play professionally like Markham, Peace's work makes the difference."He can rebuild them and/or hot rod them. It's not your everyday normal specs," Markham said. "In the hands of someone that does play professionally, there's a difference. To the everyday ear, it probably wouldn't be noticeable."Now that he's retired, Peace has a lot more time for the harmonicas. Peace's services have been used by harmonica players across the country. He's had work from players in Chicago, Alabama, Arkansas and locally, including jazz and blues singer Cindy Cain.Peace still enjoys playing the instrument whenever he can. He regularly attends the Route 66 Harmonica Club meetings in Tulsa, which includes a monthly jam session with several area harmonica players. His workshop behind his house doubles as a professional recording studio where several have made albums, including Tulsa blues guitarist Little Joe McLerran.He also has been a part of the Harmonica Summit, a day of workshops and lessons for all ages to learn the ins and outs of the instrument as well as concerts that stretch into the night with several area bands and harmonica players. The fifth year of the summit is coming up March 1 at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, Peace said. It's open to anyone interested in playing or learning about the instrument or music, all experience levels welcome.With a resurgence of the folk music genre and blues' perpetual presence, Peace said he sees more people looking at the kids toy a little differently."If me and some friends go to a jam session and there's umpteen guitar players coming up and jamming, to get people's attention, you whip out a harmonica and start playing," Peace said. "It brings another element to it. It's not the same old same old. If it's done right and done well -- or even if its done badly -- you get people's attention."Jerry Wofford 918-581-8346jerry.wofford@tulsaworld.comCopyright: ___ (c)2014 Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) Visit Tulsa World (Tulsa, Okla.) at .tulsaworld.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷利倉